Box Score Recap 7-2-2012

Box Score Recap

Lehigh Valley won on a walkoff wild pitch, Tim Kennelly pitched a scoreless ninth in the Reading loss, and Aaron Altherr drew a walk-off base on balls in the 11th in Lakewood. 

In normal, not weird baseball results, a good night from Adam Morgan, (he was due for one).  6 shutout innings, 3 hits, 1 walk, 7 Ks.

LV  REA  CLR  LKW  WIL  GCL  DSL  VSL

 

139 thoughts on “Box Score Recap 7-2-2012”

        1. He never went back into the game after he was hit. He will be out for at least a couple days.

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          1. He was hit in the bottom of the 4th, and replaced as a pinch hitter in the bottom of the 5th. (assuming the play-by-play and mitch rupert are correct).

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  3. Lino with a nice game. The more I read on this kid, the more I get excited, I think we got a really nice prospect. Ruben did a great job with the Thome deal.

    Hopefully nothing serious with Walding.

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    1. Its been two weeks, let him dominate GCL for a half season and next year decide whether he’s ready for Lakewood, or just Williamsport. The transition from HS to professional baseball is so difficult that if the worst thing is he just overly dominates this league, so be it. I’d rather that than see him have success for two weeks, we promote him, and he struggles the rest of the season in Williamsport.

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      2. Agree with all you said, but selfishly, I really wish I could see Cozens when Williamsport comes to play in Brooklyn this week…

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    3. Yea drafting him ahead of Alec Rash was a big mistake I don’t know what the Phillies saw in him. He hasn’t done crap to show the Phillies he was worth taking!

      Meanwhile Pullin doing his best Chase Utley immitation, getting HBP twice in a game.

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  6. Castro continues to be hot. 2-3 with a 3 run HR. You can scream BABIP. You can hoot about lack of BBs but at some point you’ve got to acknowledge that Castro does this year in and year out. He’s got to be one of the most exciting Philly minor leaguers we have. Whether it translates to the Majors or not, if you like baseball, you’ve got to like Castro. I think of him as the hitting equivalent of JRod. Until these guys fail, at some level, I will sing their praises. You do realize that I just heaped the kiss of failure on them. JRod had a lousy outing yesterday and that was before I wrote this so you can’t blame me for that.

    I know he’s not a Phillie Pharmhand but Bill Hamilton stole his 100th base of the SEASON. 78 games it took him. That’s insane.

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    1. I remember a quote last year early in the season from the FO guy who left abruptly last year, can’t remember his name, was it Chuck Lamar? Anyway, he said that Castro just “keeps on hitting at every level so we’ll see about him”. The comment was in some ways a compliment yet somewhat shocked by the success. The tone of the comment was more like “I don’t know how but he just keeps on raking”.

      Not sure what we have with him, but I think a late season promo to AAA seems in order. AAA seriously needs some prospects to make our boxscore viewing more interesting for all of us. After Cloyd, Aumont, Rosenberg, and D Brown, there is nobody to watch. Would love to see Pettibone, Cesar, and Castro bumped.

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    2. Well, he took a walk yesterday, so he had an all-around middle-finger-to-the-doubters kind of day. How is Castro’s defense in the outfield? I think that might be the crucial factor with him, because if he sticks, at least initially, it’s going to be at a 4th or 5th OF.

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      2. 12 assists in Lakewood 2 years ago, He has 6 assists this year. He plays all OF positions but corner OF is where he spends most of his time. He has 5 E’s so far this year which is historically high for him.

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    3. So what are we really talking about? If your point is along the lines of “hey, we may really have a decent 4th/5th OF here” then I don’t really disagree. More than that? BABIP isn’t really the big objection here, his absurdly low BB rate is, and yes it matters, for all the reasons I won’t now repeat. I will note that his BB rate over the past 2 years in the minors is less than 1/3 the career rate of “free swinging” Rollins, and about 1/4 the rate of the “free swinging” Victorino.

      Beyond that, no, I don’t have to acknowledge he does “it” year in and year out. Of course one has to ask just what “it” is in this context. His performance has been pretty consistently … okay. 2009 in A- aside (and even there his peripherals were nothing to write home about), he’s been mostly a little above average, with a disappointing 2010 thrown in. He’s .. what? A guy with good but not great contact skills, mid range power, some speed which hasn’t translated to an ability to steal bases at a decent rate, and horrible plate discipline.

      Now if that sounds overly negative, I would point out that he is only 23 in AA, so there is room for growth, and the holes in his game matter less if we are talking about a 4th/5th OF.

      The JRod comparison is not valid for a lot of reasons, only some of which I will touch on. The criticisms of JRod aren’t based on his statistics, but based on scouting reports (and “stuff:). I don’t know if those criticisms are right or wrong, but Castro is almost the opposite – his actual measurable performance does not scream major league regular. Where JRod’s numbers are great, the only question being just how transferable his performance is to the majors.

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      1. Last year Ed Wade had a choice….Santana or Castro as the PTBNL in the Hunter Pence trade. Though Castro was injured at the time, IMHO he saw more potential with Santana at the mLB level then Castro as a 4th/5th OF at the same level.

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        1. If that is the case, he was right to choose Sanatana and, if given the choice today, I would of course choose Santana. He has a much higher upside, has more power, draws walks at a decent clip (although he strikes out like crazy) and, the key is that he is one level below Castro, but is TRHEE years younger. It’s possible that Castro could end up being a better player, but Santana is the better bet at this point.

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        2. Santana has more boom or bust potential. I don’t think Santana would ever be a 4th or 5th outfielder. Castro’s ceiling appears more limited, but he’s a better bet to at least stick in the majors in a limited capacity

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      2. Larry, you crack me up. What “is” is is simple (how about that 3 is’s in a row). In 2010, he was 2nd in the Phillies farm system as a run producer. 81 RBIs and 78 runs scored. I’d argue that was his best year. He has always been among the tops in that category. Will he be an all-star, 99% not. Will he be a regular in the OF, probably not. Could he be a 4 or 5, I think he’s got a good chance. He can play D. He can knock in runs. He can run. He’s fun to watch. He seems to adapt to pitching. He has his slumps and then he goes on a tear. Like he is now. What else do you want from him? Until he falters, I’m on the bandwagon. Just like JRod. I’m not penciling him in to the 2014 OF or anything.

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        1. “Runs produced” is really a poor stat to judge a player by, especially a minor league player, especially in terms of aggregate versus players that didn’t get nearly his plate appearances. He was up with such notables as Tagg Bozied, Cody Overbeck, and our manager at WPT. 2010 was unequivocally a bad year for Castro at the plate.

          Regardless, this is a silly argument, as you seem to agree that he is likely destined for a 4/5 OF spot, at best. Every system has half a dozen guys that can be 4th/5th OF spots, and those guys aren’t top 30 prospects for an organization because you can find them anywhere.

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        2. As JMB said, it’s silly to belabor this as we aren’t that far apart in terms of our conclusions. But as for 2010 specifically, you probably can guess how litle weight I place on the RBI and (especailly) run totals. Much more signficant was the mediocre .256/.303/.405 line (not to mention the very poor SB%). That said, he is fun to watch and/or follow, he might indeed end up as a 4th/5th OF, and, as with all of our players, I wish him the best.

          I think there are a bunch of minor league players like him who are fun to follow but are marginal propects at best. Some people around here let the former effect their evaluation of the latter, but you aren’t one of them.

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  7. That Lakewood game was pretty wild. Between the 2 teams in a 4:47 11 inning game, there were 30 hits,22 BBs, 25Ks, 3 WPs, a balk and 2 Es. Altherr’s line sums it up: 5 ABs, 2 H, 1 R, 3 RBIs, 2 BBs and 3 Ks. The lines for everyone in the boxscore is about the same. Brock Stassi had a HR and 2 SFs. His stats are interesting (SSS). He has more BBs than Ks (6 to 5) at Lakewood. The thing is he had more BBs than Ks last year too. He had to be Howard’s caddie for a little while there but he might have gotten something out of it.

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    1. “is” should be “are” after boxscore. I should reread the darn post before I click post.

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    2. was anyone in attendance at the Lakewood game last night? Would like a scouting report on Tim Carver, I know he was a college senior at all but just curious if he’s org filler or if he’s a guy that could move through the system quickly and be something.

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      1. He was a college guy not drafted until the 19th round. It would be highly highly unlikely for him to suddenly turn into a true ML prospect.

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  8. I’m getting really excited about Franco’s progression – he’s lifted his average from 206 to 225 in what seems like a week or two. I’ve seen him play a few times this year and he just seems like a very legit prospect even when he wasn’t hitting much. One game he hit a ball home run distance but foul and it had to travel over 420 feet down the line, was just crushed.

    As for Lino, agree with the poster above, the more I read the more excited I am. Nice to see him get off to a good start.

    What does everyone think about Dugan? He seems to be having a pretty solid season and was a high pick, is anyone excited or hopeful?

    And who is this Carver guy batting leadoff for Lakewood?

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    1. On Dugan, I think he’s just now getting enough at bats to make an opinion on him, he’s previous high in games played was 47.

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    2. Tim Carver must have decided to leave the booth for one last chance at glory on the field! (ha ha)

      Carver is the Phils’ 19th round pick this year. He went to Arkansas and is 23. At Arkansas this year he hit .299/.341/.379. He seems like a quality college guy to have in the system.

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    3. Carver is a 23 year old college guy drafted in the 19th round this year.

      For Dugan, I can’t seem to get a handle on how I view him. He is no longer playing CF this year, and primarily swapping between RF/1B. I generally go by the assumption, right or wrong, that he can handle the OF fine and playing 1B is a way for others to get playing time. He has missed time over the past few years to injury, so while he is a touch old for the level, his experience level is about on par. At Lakewood, he is in a pretty neutral hitting league, but his home park is very pitcher friendly. His BB% rate is rather solid, but his K rate is a bit of a concern. His ISO had a big jump this season, and is above average, but not really elite. Basically, I’m giving him a slight pass for the past couple years due to injury, and want to see how he does next year. If he can keep him BB rate the same and cut his K rate below 20% or so while keeping or improving his power a touch, he isn’t too far behind to still be a prospect.

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    4. Franco .341/.356/.488 over his past 10 games. He’s starting to put it together. I have a feeling he’s going to take off in these last few months.

      I’m suddenly highly optimistic about the 3B potential in the system: Asche, Martinez, Franco, Walding, Zach Green. This from a system whose two highest profile hot corner prospects in recent years were Anthony Hewitt and Mike Costanzo …

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  9. Tim Carver was a 5th-year senior SS out of Arkansas, drafted this year and placed aggressively by the Phils. Nice to see him start out well.

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    1. He hits well at this level. Of some concern are his errors, which have been numerous in his first few games. Hopefully, it is nervousness.

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  10. Speaking of draftees, anyone heard any updates on Rash? We are past that July 1 cutoff some people were mentioning as an impediment to him signing.

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    1. Rash’s High School team advanced to some kind of Iowa state tournament for the first time in a couple decades. It doesn’t finish until July 26 or so. He may be trying to stay with his team and friends, as long as he can before signing.

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      1. Makes sense to me. I’m fairly optimistic that he signs, but without any real data to back that optimism up. Anyone else?

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  11. Nice pipe line developing at catcher for the organization. With Cooch at the big club and next yr Valle in LHV, Rupp (who seems to have figured something out at the plate), and Lino in Clearwater.

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    1. Don’t forget Numata at Williamsport. He is young and the Phillies seem to have him growing into the position well. Moore and Gosewisch are excellent defensive receivers.

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    2. Don’t think Valle will start 2013 in LV. He’s more likely to return to Reading for at least the first half based on his current performance.

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      1. Why would the Phillies break up Valle’s handling of May, Pettibone, Jrod, and other pitchers he has worked with since GCL? The Phillies seem to value the handling of pitchers over batting averages within a reasonable range.

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        1. Because Valle is no where close to being major league ready, while May and Pettibone are probably only a year away. You really think they would ruin the development of Ruiz’s heir just so he sticks with the same pitchers?

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          1. I agree with you. I think repeating AA is probably in order for him, but I wouldn’t be shocked if they do move him up. It depends on how he does the second half of the year. He had a hot June at the plate, with a .291 average, but somehow managed a .292 OBP in the month.

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      2. Unless he falls off the face of the cliff for the remainder of the year, I would be shocked if Valle isn’t moved up. For a C in AA at age 21, he’s been good enough to keep getting promoted.

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        1. But why the rush…from the whole defensive aspect of the position, he just may not be ready. As a catcher from many many ions and years ago, there is a lot more to catching then giving the pitcher the ‘finger’.

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          1. I don’t believe moving him would be a ‘rush’, nor do I see any reason to believe he wouldn’t be ready next year for AAA.

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            1. Concern with moving Valle to AAA is his BB%/plate discipline. Hes’ going to see more breaking balls from AAA pitchers who tend to be older, more fringe velocity guys that he will in AA-ball. His defensive development is the priority but it won’t help to have him struggling offensively

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        2. Every organization has its player development patterns and one I think that stands out for the Phillies is to be extremely conservative in the promotion of catchers. I think they believe strongly that catchers need to really be students of the game at a deep level. Think how Ruiz, Estella, Jamarillo, Lieberthal and Marson progressed in the minors – very slow, deliberate and conservative. I can remember strong calls for Estella to move quicker after his one monster season (in Reading I think).

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    3. I see Valle playing several years at AAA while they work on a bunch of things with him. I think it would do him good too.

      P.S. Loving the Lino trade. Ruben did a very nice job on that one.

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        1. To me, Valle’s upside is a medicore starting catcher. Then again, I never would have guessed Ruiz would have turned out to what he has. :/

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        2. All-Star? Likely not. But if he proves to be a valuable defensive backstop, this is room for him as a mid-level starter. His offensive projection reminds me of Miguel Oliva.

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    4. Rupp has figured out what exactly?? He’s a 23 year old college player in High-A hitting .230/ .300/ .406 – he has almost no value at all offensively.

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      1. He’s a catcher, so most of his value is with his defense. The offense your hoping for at that position is going to be a lot less than what you’d look for at prime offensive positions. Rupp’s biggest issue with me is that he’s still a bit overaged for A+. He’s actually seen his power jump a bit this season, from below average to average or just slightly above average, which is encouraging because he is playing in a pretty big pitchers league. He has also maintained his decent BB rate, while lowering his K rate to a merely acceptable level. If he continues to make some progress, he could be an option as an ok backup that brings plus defense and decent power. Not a great deal of upside so likely not a top 30 guy, at least for me.

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        1. I’d agree that his upside is as a no-offense backup at the major league level. And that’s if he improves.

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      2. Rupp’s been hot lately. Maybe that’s where the suggestion came from that he’s figured it out. Whether he’s turning a corner or just seeing it well right now and that goes away, remains to be seen.

        He has power potential, (ISO this year is .169, though his streak is presently inflating that number). He’s reportedly a good receiver, and has shown 33% and 35% CS rates the last two years, which are 3 and 2 % points higher than his league averages, respectively, so you don’t lose much there.

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        1. If you’re referring to his most recent 10 games where he is indeed hitting at a higher than normal rate, that is at best misleading. His recent surge has done nothing other than push his OPS to .707 – 3 points under his 3 year minor league average of .710. His [now] .237 BA is 10 points under his 3-year average. Yes his slugging is up a tick, and barely that. I think its pretty clear what Rupp is at this point being that he’s 23, playing in High-A, and has posted very similar OPS rates of .697, .720, and .707 in his 3 years.

          We know how this story ends, and its called Jason Jarimillo.

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          1. That’s why I said “Whether he’s turning a corner or just seeing it well right now and that goes away, remains to be seen” and “his streak is presently inflating that number”.

            I thought all of the stuff I said about Ruff before this year, and I will after this year. He’s old for his league, but moving up every year, and blocked by a much better prospect, so that’s not going to change. He has some pop, and he’s good on defense. Upside I would guess is a second division starter during his prime, (2-4 years at best), more likely a career backup, which I think is about what people thought of Jaramillo when he was coming up. Some value there, not a ton, but I’d call him a safer bet to be a career big league backup than a lot of the toolsy outfielders at his level and one below.

            Jason Jaramillo is a fairly ok comp IMO. Rupp projects more power, Jaramillo had slighlty better discipline in the low minors. Jaramillo hasn’t stuck at the big league level, but I would guess there are some guys with similar profiles who did stick in the majors as a backup for longer stretches and did wind up as starters for short periods as well. I’m not going hunting for those right now.

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  12. I’m always intrigued by Steve Susdorf, mostly due to his high BA, but he has no power. It’d be like Juan Pierre minus the speed. I assume I’m not missing anything, as he is 26 and in AAA.

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    1. Susdorf had a great at-bat prior to the walk-off wild pitch. He laid off two very close balls that were low and was right on some fast balls, which probably prompted the wild pitch that was very low.

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    2. Strangely, the “Steve Susdorf is overlooked” movement has never taken off the way the way it did for Ruf/Overbeck/Rizzotti.

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      2. I know Ruf is a 1b, but was he tried out in Lf? Anyone think this kid has a chance to make it to the show?

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        1. Had one of the Phillies minor league coordinators tell me Ruf will play in the big leagues whether it’s for the Phils or another team. Would love to see him get a shot.

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      3. Maybe if he started showing up to camp 100 lbs overweight he’d have more of a loyal following??

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    3. I think if given the chance he could maybe have a career as an extra OF. I don’t think he’s a butcher in the field or anything, and he gets on base pretty well with a few doubles. More likely he appears in some ML games but ends up a AAAA guy.

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  15. question—> why doesnt amaro/manual feel cloyd isnot ready for the ML? he has got to be better than KK at this point.. wasnt Vanimal flying under the radar – considered a ‘non prospect’ and now in the bigs, has far exceeded any of the pundits expectations– when will the big club learn, these are not just trading chips – many of them represent our future core..

    couldnt hurt to try cloyd out in the bigs

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    2. I think Kendrick’s next start will be his last for a while. He serves well as the long man out of the pen, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Cloyds name called instead of Kendrick should we need another starter down the road. With Halladay looking to return shortly after the break, we shouldn’t have need for another starter in the short-term. In the interim, let’s hope Cloyd continues to pitch well as he can certainly up his stock still

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    3. Worley was not under the radar. He was a 3rd round pick that most pundits thought could be an MLB reliever with a good FB and slider. His path and Cloyd’s path are not comparable at all – they were both drafted in 2008 and Worley is now in his second year in the majors.

      Cloyd doesn’t have great stuff, which is why I think the decision-makers that be have not called him up. He has below-average velocity, even for an LHP, and he apparently gets outs with his pitchability. His BABIP of .241 and LOB% of 84% suggest his future results will not be as good as his previous starts this year.

      When I think of Cloyd, I think of Joe Roa in that year when he was awesome in AAA. Good control, not super stuff, not a lot of Ks but not a lot of walks either. Roa had a FIP of 4.57 in 2002 when he started 11 games for the Phils. To me, that’s about the best Cloyd could be.

      Kendrick’s FIP right now is 4.78. I don’t think Cloyd could be much better and indeed he easily could be worse. If the Phils are out of the running, then go ahead and give him a shot. But otherwise, I’m not sure why it makes sense to have Cloyd up instead of Kendrick.

      By the way, I am not a Cloyd hater. I was pretty high on him when he was in Lakewood. I just think we need to be realistic about what scouting reports say combined with his peripherals this year in AAA.

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      1. I could have stated my first sentence better – Worley was not under the radar, though no one projected him to be this good. So in that sense, he was never considered a top prospect and I suppose one could call that “under the radar”

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      3. To me, the argument for calling up Cloyd is he probably wouldn’t be much worse than Kendrick has been lately, and has a chance to be better. Also, Kendrick going into the bullpen might give them a lift there in the short term. It’s low risk, moderate reward at a time when the team desperately needs something to go well. It might be too late at this point as I thougt Cloyd should have been up 3 Kendrick starts ago. The way Kendrick has pitched it’s like losing games before they even begin.

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  16. I have to say, I’m a bit suprised at the sucess of Cozens. His performance so far in the GCL to me has more the justified the phillies position over mine upon his drafting. I thought he was an Hewitt clone, but it doesn’t even look remotely close (as in huge project at the plate). In reality he looks polished.

    I know it’s only 40 plate attempts, so this entire post is really about his potential upside based on those 40 at-bats and the fact that the phillies believed in him enough to draft him (and pay him) where they did.

    Disclaimer aside…. a .313 .405 .594 line is amazing and something Hewitt has never been able to do over any sucessive 40 PA’s throughout his entire minor league career (especially that walk rate in conjunction with the power). On the down side he’s got a 18.9% k rate… but with his ISO at .281 that’s perfectly acceptable. I don’t know about everyone else, but i’m sick of the line “his power should develop” and Cozens start has been very encouraging.

    That said, I am with most of this board. He stays at GCL for the remainder of the year and then a decision can be made if he goes to Lakewood or WPT starting in 2013. If he finishes the year near his current splits, LKW is a no brainer.

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    1. Ok, let’s not forget that Domingo Santana put up a .388 OBP and a .897 OPS in the GCL his first season. (When he was 16!) He struggled mightily at higher levels once he started running into pitchers with a bit more skill and experience. He’s putting it all together now, sadly in another organization, but its taken a few years. It’s a long process, and this is the first couple weeks of it. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

      That said, I’m pretty damn excited.

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      1. Santana had good numbers in the GCL, but he also had a 31% K-rate.

        Cozens’ 20% K-rate is very promising. Hopefully he can keep it up!

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  17. Crazy hypothesis here. Could all these walks be because the organization is telling their new draftees and Williamsport prospects to work on plate discipline…the players hearing this, then are simply choosing not to swing instead of actually recognizing bad pitches? I say this because I heard that Andy Tracy blew up on the Williamsport squad after the game last night after so many called strikes looking. It’s great that they’re taking walks but it also appears that they’re missing a lot of strikes down the middle.

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    1. I wouldn’t say he blew up, more just a stern lecture. I think a lot of the players right now are getting caught getting pitches instead of going up there with an approach and sticking with it. There’s an approach to jump on fastballs early in the count, but when they get more than a couple pitches into an at-bat they start guessing, and it’s not everyone, but a lot of the young kids.

      From my perspective, and this doesn’t come from talking to anyone, I think a lot of the young kids are almost too business like in their approach. Guys throwing helmets or bats if they’re not happy with an AB. I think this team has to remember they’re playing baseball for a living and while it’s great to be serious about your craft, you gotta have fun, too. And if you can’t have fun playing for Andy Tracy you might be in trouble because Andy is always having fun and smiling.

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      1. Thanks for filling us in, Mitch. I appreciate the insight you can give us into that team. I hope Tracy is able to work with them in terms of the best approach for each one at the plate.

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      2. Mitch how has Tyler Greene handled his early struggles? Apparently, lately he seems to be coming out of it.

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        1. Haven’t had much of a chance to talk to Tyler, but he seems fine. He’s usually pretty stoic whether things go well or bad. I think he’s been one of the ones who have been caught guessing pitches instead of reacting lately. He watched two fastballs down the chute for strike three Monday night. You can see the tools are there, for him it’s probably the mental part of the game that needs to be sharpened more than anything. When he makes contact he seems to square the ball up well, Obviously his strikeout rate is a little alarming, though.

          After this trip to New York this week, Cutters will be home for much the rest of the month. Hoping to talk in depth with Tyler, Jordan Guth and Larry Greene when they come home.

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    2. The Crosscutters offense is 10th in the league in walks taken out of 14 teams. They have the 2nd highest number of strikeouts, trailing the leader by only 1.

      As a team they haven’t walked a whole lot, but the production is coming from the right players IMO. In fact, L Greene – 11 (3rd most in NYPL), Pointer – 9, Quinn – 7 and Serritella – 6, account for 33 of the teams 49 total walks, with the rest of the roster accounting for the remaining 16.

      I’m not sure this represents a change in organizational philosophy. I simply think we have a few good picks here as far as pitch recognition and plate discipline. Too soon to draw conclusions perhaps, but a good showing so far for some of the younger guys (L Greene, Quinn, Pointer). Pointer for one is doing exactly what I had hoped after a bit of a struggle at Lakewood. Although I was hoping he would stay put, it might be good for him to see some lesser pitching for a few months

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      1. Same point applied to the GCL Phillies who rank 12th out of 14 GCL teams in walks taken. Cozens leads the team with 5, and though many other Phils have respectable BB rates, none are anything spectacular.

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  18. Ok can anyone explain why a Juan morillo with his 7.06 era is in Reading and tyler knigge with his 0.66 era is still in Clearwater ???

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    1. Juan Morillo is older (28?) and they want to see what they have. He needs to be at the higher level. Also, I think he is also coming off surgery. Knigge will be higher before the year is out, but it is important to see if Morillo and his power pitching can help.

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    2. Dom you post something about friend or knigge everyday asking the same things, we get it already

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      1. That’s his shtick. Pick out an older college pitcher every year and beat the drum for him in every post.

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    3. If they think Knigge is ready, and Morillo is the guy in his way, they’ll move Morillo up to AAA or down to A+ or release him. He’s been in the bigs a bunch of times and clearly not having a good year in AA, and coming off two full years out of organized ball. He has a big FB, if I am not mistaken, and those guys get chances, but he’s not a prospect holding anyone back.

      I don’t disagree that they should move Knigge up. I just disagree that not doing so has anything to do with Juan Morillo.

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      1. Didn’t Morillo have one horrible outing that ruined his era but he’s been good since?

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    4. All velocity. Morillo is in the mid to high 90s so if he ever gets command the Phillies must think things will click in a hurry.

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      1. From what I understand, Knigge is in the mid-90’s as well. I’m really surprised they didn’t promote him when they did Friend.

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        1. I saw that too though I think it was more touching the mid-90s. I was more explaining Morillo than Knigge. If Knigge does have decent velocity than he should be pushed to a more age appropriate level. Of course the Phillies could have him working on things. All of us on this board do not know what the developmental goals are for each player.

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    5. I can’t answer for where Knigge is, but Morillo has a job because he throws almost 100 MPH. That kind of arm gets a guy a lot of second chances.

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  19. @steve from tampa and @letsgoeat Thank God if it is Kendricks last start!!! they will probably start Lee, Worley, Hamels, Blanton, Doc out of the all star break or some small variation. If it gets to a point where they need another starter, it has to be Cloyd. I read they were hesistant to move someone off the 40 man for his potential spot start vs Pittsburgh last week, so it was more of a roster thing than anything. You know, it would have ruined the season if they released Hector Luna or Mike Fontenot??? Its tough to point to 1 game through 162, but the “bullpen game” will be something the Front Office and/or Charlie will regret a ton come the end of the year. It really seemed to me they could have really started going with a W there before the All Star Break, but maybe Im wrong.

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  20. Carlos Tocci will pick up his 3rd professional AB here in a few minutes. GCL Phils down 3-0 after 1.

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    1. Got to love the GCL. The Braves catcher has 6 passed balls in 6 innings so far today. On a side note, the Phils must really believe in Tromp, that despite his 2-20something start at the plate, the trot him out there as a 18 year old and bat him 3rd. He proceeded to get his first professional HR today. Tocci 0-2 and plays just half the game again, that OF needs to thin out a bit…

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  21. Cozens 1-2, BB, 2B Dude is a monster. Mentioned in BP’s daily minor league update:

    Dylan Cozens, OF, Phillies (Rookie-level GCL Phillies): 2-for-4, HR (2), 2 R, 2 RBI. Second-round pick of physical monster at 6-6, 235; .313/.405/.594 in first nine pro games.

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    1. Gotta love the new draft slotting and signing deadline in terms of getting these kids experience a couple weeks after they’re drafted.

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  22. Do we have any update on what’s happened to Tyson Gillies? He had a concussion, right? Doesn’t seem like that would keep him out this long.

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    1. I saw “returned to baseball activites” last week, (maybe?). I think he was shagging flies and running at the time. Concussions can keep football and hockey players out for months sometimes. Plus I don’t think we know if he has a history of concussions, and we don’t know how bad this one was. So who knows.

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        1. Concussions are really serious. The only way to prevent them, is to be completely healed up before you play again. The concussions get especially bad, and permanent damage is more likely to occur, when a second concussion is sustained shortly after a first concussion (or, even worse a third shortly after a second). My stepdaughter had multiple concussions from hockey (including one that landed her in a hospital unit overnight) so, unfortunately, I know all about it. It’s really scary stuff.

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    2. The thing I hate about following the players in the minor leagues is that there are rarely any updates regarding an injured player. I heard that Gillies had a concussion and hurt something else too. If it’s a concussion, even a moderately serious one, I agree that his time out is very long, even if one were being conservative and careful with the injury. Either he had a really bad concussion or the other injuries were particularly bad – perhaps both. And what a shame! The guy can really play and he just got over his other injuries. This one looks like it was just plain old bad luck. What can you do?

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      1. Yeah, such an exciting player, I loved watching him in spring training a couple of years ago. You never know, he could still put it together, look at Quintin Berry this year. But obviously it’s getting to the point where he may end up doing it in another organization. Not sure if they’ll be able to protect his 40 man roster spot much longer.

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  23. Colvin with a nice start. 6 hits, but four of them were ground ball singles to the OF. Only two hard hit balls in the air that went for hits.

    And nesseth with some killer innings in relief! I wonder if he could get some starts in the second half of the year?

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    1. Definitely one of his best, if not best, professional performance. Despite making the sally league all-star game this year, he has been kind of mediocre/average. Throws mostly 91-92, touching 94. Used to throw a curve, but has been using a slider this year, at 85-86. Changeup as 3rd pitch, but still work in progress. Was drafted late round (33rd) out of high school in Canada in 2009, so likely didn’t have a ton of great competition. His K/9 and BB/9 have improved this year, but he is really getting hurt with HRs. He is firmly outside our top30, but could sneak in with a strong second half.

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  25. OK, I need to look at all the boxes then post, but josh Warner!! Anyone know the scouting report on him? How hard does he throw?

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    1. International signing from Australia. Still very young, 19 years old. Got the opening day start for GCL last year, and WPT this year. He is more advanced in his abilities, having two decent offspead stuff at his age/level, but his FB still needs to improve (sitting 88-91, from reports). Its not unusual at all for teenagers to gain MPH on their FB as they build muscle and arm strength — but its not a given.

      He’s pretty much our best pitching prospect at WPT, and him and Vargas are the best young guys in low-A/rookie ball until the Watson/Rash/Gueller trio start pitching. (yes, I know Rash isn’t signed yet).

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  26. Can someone tell me WHY with a 0.00 ERA Darrin Ruf is not already in the big league rotation?!?!?!
    I mean c’mon!!!!

    (This is a joke. This is only a joke.)

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    1. According to Sickels. But he favors high floor, proximity players more than the other guys.

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        1. Yeah, and also sobering that the only one of our prospects he considered for the list is Asche. Generally confirms my impression, which is that we have pretty slim pickings at the moment, with few interesting prospects above the rookie ball level.

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