Box Score Recap 8-9-2012

Box Score Recap

I imagine you’ll all want to talk about Adam Morgan now.  I guess that’s fair.  Also in that game, big nights from Ruf, Asche and a nice welcome back HR from Tyson Gillies.

LV  REA  CLR  LKW  WIL  GCL  DSL 

97 thoughts on “Box Score Recap 8-9-2012”

    1. Good call, we’ve been watching them so closely lately it’s easy to forget they started the year pretty far down the prospect lists. I’m happy that Asche has been flashing more power now that he’s adjusted to AA. He’s taking advantage of a hitter’s park. Maybe to paraphrase Chris Rock, I’m “giving him credit for doing what he’s supposed to do” but it’s good to see. Not much to say on Morgan, even the national guys are talking him up now.

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  2. Reprinted without permission from another board:

    “Made it Out To Trenton

    Morgan: it’s hard to ask for a more dominating start from him. He only had three balls go out of the infield, everything else was a ground ball or weak pop up. He was consistently inducing weak contact and the only rough spot of the game was when he gave up a lead off double and then a walk. He then proceeded to induce a double play and an foul pop up to end the inning.

    Guys were flailing at his off speed stuff (no velo reports because Trenton is terrible having no gun) all night long. Ump wasn’t even giving him the inside part of the plate and he still made it look trivial. Absolutely dominating, well worth the suffering needed to go to that game.

    Asche: Made a couple of nice stops, no errors! Hit the ball very hard for a double that went off the wall in left center. Add that to another double in the left corner and a single smoked to the right side, back on the bandwagon.

    Ruf: Only bad AB was his first against Rondon (everyone had a bad AB against him, 3 IP 6 K it was comical) otherwise very solid contact. Wall ball in right center, missed a HR by that much.

    Gillies: Looked great, made solid contact all night including a laser out to left field and a sparkling grab in the 7th. Drew walk in the 9th, had the pitcher quite nervous.

    Joseph: Looked good behind the plate, his bat just wasn’t there tonight by oh well.

    Myers: had a game at the plate that reminded one of why he’s fallen so far off the prospect status. 0-4 with a FC and 3 Ks. Then again, showed great speed scoring on a Hanazawa double from first.”

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    1. watched the game on milb.tv and Morgan was impressive with his comand pitching on the inside with his FB to righties.

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      1. While I’m at it, additional box score notes now that I’ve had some sleep:

        3 swinging strikes, 3 looking

        Breakdown of outs:

        6 Ground outs (including a 1-4-3 DP in the 2nd, only one well hit and snagged by Asche)
        4 infield pop ups
        6 K mentioned above
        2 Line outs to the outfield (Gillies made a slick grab on a sinking liner in the 7th to end the frame)
        3 Fly balls, only one was particularly well hit

        He was very economical with pitches, with 95 through 7 IP. Not too shabby.

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  3. Kevin Goldstein ‏@Kevin_Goldstein
    A lot of good things. RT @MikeOhShay: @Kevin_Goldstein Whats gotten into Adam Morgan in the phillies system this season?

    Ben Badler ‏@BenBadler
    Big-time rise for Phillies prospect this year RT @jmb4028 AA debut for Adam Morgan: 7IP 1H 0R 2BB 6K

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    1. Good stuff jmb. It’s going to be an interesting off-season poll. How high to rank guys like Morgan, Asche, Tocci, Cesar, Wright, P’bone, EMartin, Joseph, Franco? Where does May fall to? Plenty of others as well. I suspect we’ll see a lot of variety in our Top 10s

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      1. Still a bit of baseball and a lot can change. Prior to the trade deadline, I had them: 5, 12, 14, 11, 29, 17, New, New, 7. May at 2 still.

        I’d expect a lot of variety, as some will have high-ceiling guys that are closer to the majors (Hernandez, Pettibone) higher, while others will have guys that have a high chance to be stars (Tocci, Quinn, Colvin), but with more risk, higher.

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    1. In terms of pure stuff, they are certainly neck and neck. Morgan has better control, but also has more experience.

      Watching Morgan on milb.tv last night, I was blown away by his off-speed offerings. The slider breaks as if on a string, and the change is very effective when he’s hitting his spots with the fastball. 3 quality offerings, and I honestly believe both the slider and fastball are at least plus pitches. I am trying to keep in mind that it was just one start, but hard not to be a little excited after watching him pitch last night. That Reading squad has become quite formidable.

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  5. It is possible Morgan has moved past May, strictly off performance as a prospect??? Very impressive.
    Whats going on with Roman Quinn and Greene at Williamsport? days off??
    Nice night for Derrick Mitchell against young competition……

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    1. Greene got a leg injury. Not sure about Quinn. To me, Morgan is much more advanced than May at this point. May has better stuff, but if he’s not able to to refine that control, he’s not going to be of any help. I keep thinking that Morgan’s upside is Cliff Lee.

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    2. Morgan’s definitely impressive right now, but I’m not going to anoint him just yet. Let’s not forget May’s first month in AA.

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    3. With a strong finish at Reading? Yes. May is still a sure thing to pitch in the bigs as far as I’m concerned but this season can only be viewed as a disappointment, particularly when you consider his strong start. He’ll probably remain in my Top 5 but there’s at least three players that I would rank above him today, so I guess it’s possible that he slips out of my Top 5 before end of year.

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      1. ***May is still a sure thing to pitch in the bigs as far as I’m concerned ***

        I would disagree with that. his walk rate is WAY too high. not even close actually. until/unless he finds command (which he hasn’t his entire career), then he will most definitely NOT make it to the majors. And his first month is irrelevant. What is important is how you adjust and consistency. Anyone can have a good month.

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        1. May will play in the big leagues long before you will! But seriously, May is right on schedule or at least the schedule I set for him in the spring. I believe he’s been trying to work on an additional pitch(s) that he hasn’t been able to control. It’s messing up everything. But this is exactly what he should be doing. You do this in the minors. Let’s see him run out the string this year. If he gets stronger, lessens the BBs and increases the Ks, he’ll be the talk of everyone.

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        2. Viagra – May will pitch all of next season (provided in the minors) at age 23. It’s been a disappointing season that might lessen his upside in some peoples’ opinions, including my own, but I’m fairly confident he makes it to the show. Reliever, Starter, whatever. I wouldn’t be shocked to see him open next season at LV either

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    4. Morgan off to a similar start that May got off to at Reading, the real test will be once teams have seen Morgan a few times. I think he’s done a great job and he should as he was a college pitcher whereas May was a HS pitcher when drafted

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  6. Pullin’s OPS at .891 … if the planned 2B experiment is a success, he will be a serious prospect to watch. Musser with a nice appearance … three innings, 3 Ks, no runs. Asche, Ruf and Hernandez all with their daily testaments to why they will all wear red pinstripes in Philly one day.

    Looking at the system up and down right now, the only reason I can see for it being ranked so poorly is its lack of a superstar prospect. But depth-wise, I’m really excited about what they’ve got right now.

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    2. Oh no…..you may have opened up the can of worms again mentioning Ruf wearing red pinstripes! Prepare for the deluge.

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        1. i like how you stuck him in between Aschee and Hernandez 2 favorites to try and sneak it by everyone :).

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    3. I’m glad you mentioned Musser. He seems to have straightened himself out after a really tough start. Only one bad outing of his last 6.

      I’m trying hard to restrain myself from getting too excited about Pullin. One thing that has helped me rein in my excitement is that his numbers look a lot like D’Arby’s numbers when he was in the GCL.

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      2. re: Pullin: a .416 BABIP should at least offer some assistance to restrain you. he’s a fine youngster to have around, but once that number normalizes a bit, his overall profile won’t stand out so much.

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        1. Yep, that’s kind of what I was saying when comparing him to Myers. Myers had a .404 BABIP. But sometimes emotion wins out over reason…go Pullin!!!

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    4. As usual, the strength lies in pitching. Morgan, Martin, May, Biddle, Bonilla, etc. Not so much in hitting.

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  7. For real. LHP w/solid to plus stuff. @cj11andfox: What’s the deal with #Phillies prospect Adam Morgan? Impressive AA debut. Is he for real?

    Just heaping on the Morgan praise!

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  8. Jim Callis ‏@jimcallisBA
    For real. LHP w/solid to plus stuff. @cj11andfox: What’s the deal with #Phillies prospect Adam Morgan? Impressive AA debut. Is he for real?

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  9. There is an article on milb.com about Morgan. Nice to read, no scouting info but interesting nonetheless.

    Also, slightly unrelated but I think Dave Cameron’s piece on fangraphs regarding the orioles calling up machado is quite good. Since we all talk about such things ad infinitum, I thought his perspective would be of interest to people on this board.

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  10. My cousin was at the Reading game in Trenton, so heres a few things he texted me:

    Gillies HR was to the opposite field and off a LH pitcher.

    Asche immediately follwed that up by also almost homering to opposite field off the lefty, settling for a double.

    My cousin walked over and sat behind a scout with a gun for 2 batters in the 4th inning and saw 91s and 92s on Morgans fastball.

    My cousin also said waht was said above, Trentons hitters were flailing at his off speed and breaking stuff

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    1. I’ve been saying it since ST – Gillies has a huge upside, but he keeps stubbing his toe (and pulling his hamstring, and hitting his head, and yelling at some nice bus driver). If I were the Phillies, assuming he finishes the year healthy, Gillies definitely starts next year at AAA. Although he may not deserve it, I’d give him the carrot and tell him if he works hard and behaves, the big league is not far behind, but if he goofs off or acts like a jerk, I’d use the stick – it’s just a short drive back to Reading.

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  11. now are seeing why Cozens was a horrible reach where he was picked….RAJ you are not smarter then the 30 or so teams who had this guy rated as a 20th round pick….

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    2. He is an 18 year old making his first adjustments in professional baseball. The scouting reports are positive about his hit tool and he has immense raw power. He has shown patience but he is going to strike out a ton because he has a huge strike zone and he is a power hitter, but he was showing the ability to walk a decent bit. In past years he wouldn’t be signed yet and not a month and a half into his career. So far it seems like a decent sign, but you can’t make a judgment for a couple of years (additionally this was not RAJ’s call he likely just signed off on it).

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    4. I take it you’re also supporting the firing of half the league’s GMs for passing on Mike Trout in the draft, right?

      Player development is an inexact science. Get over it.

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    5. OPS .718, ISO .141, 12.2 percent BB rate. 6′ 6″, 235 lbs. 18 years old, less than two months removed from high school graduation. Get over it.

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    6. You have to remember that all of the high schoolers in the GCL are getting their first taste of professional instruction. They are pretty much just letting them play at that level so they can observe their strengths and weaknesses, I seriously doubt they start any major mechanical overhauls until the instructional camps begin. So far he’s had a a hot streak and a cold streak, but I don’t think that tells us anything. Next year will be a much better indicator of what they have with Cozens.

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    8. The “you are not smarter than” conment says it all. Amaro gets more of these types of comments than any front office executive than I’ve seen. Petty jealousy of a minority with a degree from Stanford.

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      1. Please stop. Every time anyone complains about someone that happens to be a minority, some idiot has to say it’s because he is a minority. Charlie needs to go too. Is it because of his minority status?

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  12. Hyatt has disappointed. Up and down Rding and LV…and is being hit around without end. Sorry, but he should be gone after season’s end.
    ……
    May has lost his #1 status and now is very questionable on his ability to be a MLB pitcher. IMO he moves back to barely #10…or less.

    Surely Morgan, Biddle, and Martin have passed him this season.

    Will he get it together? Confidence in his status now is to the point where he must dig himself out of miserable performance. That he has lost control of the strike zone is tantamount to burying himself.
    A giant turnaround is needed…soon.

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    1. I don’t understand what’s disappointing about May, he’s done this at every level he’s advanced at. It’s likely next year is a banner year and it really gets put together, I don’t understand the haste to write him off. Other prospects excelling does not mean he is not progressing as expected.

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    2. You’re too reactionary to truly evaluate prospects. His ability to be an MLB pitcher is not in question. His status is the exact same as it was last year; if he can maintain command and control, he WILL be an MLB pitcher. He’s working on that, and he still has plenty of time to work it out.

      And why should Hyatt be gone? Because he’s making so much money being a minor league pitcher? Because he’s blocking other prospects? You could make an argument about him blocking other pitchers, but Cochran, Elarton, et al would be first to go before him. We don’t have 4 pitchers pushing for spots in LV (4 because Pettibone is cemented in his spot in the rotation).

      Please don’t make claims like that about players you’ve probably never seen in person. Prospects (ESPECIALLY PITCHERS) are very difficult to gauge just on box score numbers.

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    3. I bet they’ll keep Hyatt around for another season. He had back-end rotation upside before the season started, and one bad year doesn’t totally derail that.

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    4. I’m somewhere in between your pessimism and the first commenter’s “done what’s expected of him” take. He has clearly had a terrible year, falling victim to the control bugaboo that has plagued him throughout his rise through the minors. However, he remains in my top 5, for the simple reason that a lot of pitchers with great stuff struggle with their control when they’re young–not everyone starts off with the preternatural command of Cole Hamels. So May’s plight is not unusual. You can’t “learn” the type of stuff he’s got, but you can learn control, and he’s showed flashes of that in the past.

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      1. That’s one thing what I love about this site. We have people who use words like preternatural in discussing baseball players. Outstanding.

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    5. Hyatt has disappointed, but he shouldn’t be gone. Maybe turned into a reliever, but he probably wouldn’t be blocking anybody if he starts in the AAA rotation next year. Also, I don’t see 10 guys in the system I’d rather have than May.

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      1. Yup. If you’re rating the prospects as “would I trade X for Y”–which is probably how you should be rating prospects–the list of guys I’d swap for May is awful short. He still has more upside than maybe any other pitcher in the system but Colvin, Martin, and the short season kids (if only because they haven’t had a chance to fail yet). Morgan and Biddle are more polished, but they max out at 3s. May can still be better than that.

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        1. Are you saying that there is no way a young kid like Biddle can’t develop into a 2? I would like to get some odds on that, knucklehead.

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    6. I’d take this guy’s opinion:

      Ben Badler ‏@BenBadler
      May, but it’s been a disappointing year RT @jmb4028 better chance of improving command enough to be a starter — Colvin, May, or Martin?

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  13. So May vs Martin. Looks like Martin’s command is ebbing back up while May’s is floundering. Who will get to the finish line first?

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  14. Matt (NJ): JJ heard any reports on Adam Morgan? nice AA debut last night. What kind of ceiling does he have?

    J.J. Cooper: Mentioned him in a Hot Sheet recently and in Wednesday’s chat. Could be a solid No. 3. Better stuff than you might think to go with excellent control.

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    1. And, for what it’s worth, this is what the Thunder’s manager said about Morgan:

      “Kid was fantastic,” manager Tony Franklin said. “On nights like tonight, you tip your hat and you say nice job, which he did. He was pretty tough.”

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    1. That seems pretty consistent with what had been reported at CLW.

      I personally learn a bunch of new things each year I’ve been following the minors, and got a lot from this site/James. Prior to this year, I always really was focused on the big fastballs — guys like May/Colvin that are hitting 95 or greater.

      This season of Morgan’s has really made me look a lot more closely at the BB/K ratio, and overall BB/9 numbers. Once its been determined that the pitcher has a FB that has the velocity to play in the majors, being able to command it is probably the biggest thing between success and failure. From listening and reading articles and interviews form the coaches/instructors, this is the first thing that these guys are learning when they get into the system.

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    2. This is dead on consistent with what we have heard all year. Essentially, his fastball is the exact same speed as Cliff Lee’s (also 91-94). Pretty good company, eh?

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  17. Any one who says COZENS wasnt a big reach, is just is fooling themself. That being said its early. but by the people who do this all the time , he wasnt a second or even a top ten draft choice. people can come on here and try to defend the pick. But not being rated in top 500 and going that high is a reach. biddle wasnt a reach like that, biddle was a first round pick in a lot of teams eyes, if we passed he wouldnt have lasted much longer.How can the average person who followings the draft and knows the scouting reports, not say this kid was a reach, this
    doesnt mean the kid cant be a good player,but the fact remains he was a big reach.

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    1. Okay, here’s the problem with this line of reasoning. First of all, we really have no idea how good he is going to be but he has shown some promising signs. Second, if you think he’s worthy of a second round pick, it doesn’t matter what the general consensus is, if you are concerned that one or two other teams are interested in picking the player, you need to make the pick. Third, when did you become a professional scout? How do you really know he was a reach? It sounds to me that it’s just as plausible that he did not play a lot of baseball, people thought of him more as a football player, and he did not get a lot of scouting attention.

      From what I can tell, he may have been picked a couple of rounds too early, but he’s a hell of a gamble because his upside is huge.

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    2. Anyone who thinks that BA/Perfect game knows more than any teams internal scouts is fooling themselves as well. Cozens wasn’t ranked because of his off-the-field issues likely took his off many teams lists. It is not as if they picked him because he was a cheap sign. They obviously felt, and were probably correct, that it would be a risk that he’d fall to their next spot.

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      1. Yeah. I don’t understand any other viewpoint on this . . . the Phillies *wanted* to waste the pick on Cozens when they could have gotten him five rounds later? Why would they have done that?

        Obviously they could see the same media rankings as everyone else, so the perception that they needed to take him sooner was driven by another team’s interest. And if another team was interested, he’s not really a reach anymore, is he?

        The whole thing is just nonsense. People here are operating with 0 information, acting like a BA subscription makes them smarter than Amaro. Just stop it. You’re not.

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      2. Agreed here. There isn’t one “Top 500” prospect list. There are 30 of them from 30 MLB teams. All of them vastly different, and all collecting proprietary information that isn’t shared with the media.

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      3. Agree. I think Cozens matches up pretty well talent wise with Larry Greene. Power is just such an important and hard to find tool. I think he clearly dropped because of the off-field issues though I doubt he would have lasted more than 10-20 additional picks. Kid is pretty raw, but has shown a great deal in limited time. The patience alone is a promising sign that his hit tool will improve with time.

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  18. 3 Hits for Clearwater and Hewitt had 2 with 0K… If someone asked me who had 2 of 3 hits in that lineup Hewitt would have been near last!

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  19. Threshers Baseball ‏@Threshers
    RHP Seth Rosin a late scratch in his scheduled home debut…RHP Juan Sosa gets the emergency start at Bright House Field.

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    1. Pettibone’s game was damn good…since he gave them no runs and only 2 hits. I’d take that any day.

      Yes, he should give fewer walks and more K’s…but he is now the first of the “Baby Aces” likely to reach MLB. That was only his 2nd (?) start at the AAA level.

      In further news….Gillies w 2 hits for Reading w BA now approaching .300. Sure wish we could trust his body…and ‘tude.

      And aren’t we all awaiting Morgan’s next start….and Martin’s…

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      1. I don’t care as much about strikeouts as I do about how many people he walks. Pettibone doesn’t have the stuff to survive if he’s going to walk a lot of guys. Hopefully the uptick in walks in these 3 starts is just a blip. I agree though that he will be the first to reach the big leagues. Slightly better than Kendrick is what we’re hoping for.

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        1. For one of the most average to below average pitchers in the Phils’ rotation/pen over the last decade, Kendrick sure gets a lot of minor league pitchers compared to him. It sounds like we are going to have a lot of slightly better or slightly worse than Kendricks…. Not the baseline test I yearn for.

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    2. agreed, this start was a “Kendrick Special” (read: fools gold). Pettibone needs to maintain a 6 per 9 k rate in AAA and keep the walks to a minimum and maybe he’s a fourth or fifth kind of guy. His minor league performance simply does not translate to anything better.

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  21. Asche now has more BB in AA than he did in CLW with 100 less PA. It is nice to see that the plate discipline is still there it was just hidden by the fact that he was crushing in CLW

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    1. Yeap, walks and power are up. Strikeouts are too, but his 13% rate in Clearwater was never going to be sustainable. Neither was the .399 BABIP.

      Considering his slow start in AA, I actually like the way he’s trending more than what the package was in Clearwater. If he’s flashing more power and taking more walks, that’s a better ballplayer than a guy who’s spraying singles and relying on luck.

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      1. Yep, I agree. What he’s done overall in AA has me more excited about him than I was when he was in Clearwater. Funny that he has almost the exact same number of Ks and BBs as he did with the Threshers, in way less at-bats. Both his walk and K-rates are up and the ratio is pretty much identical.

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  22. Valle with a HR. Really hoping he starts adjusting soon. I really think he’s going to get traded this off-season.

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    1. Though Rangers have a very good prospect in Jorge Alfaro, he however is 3 years younger then Valle, and ETA of 2015 Maybe with a inclusion of a May or Pettibone, with Valle, the Phillies could get an Olt from the Rangers. Of course, depends upon Beltre’s status also, and whether or not the Rangers are happy with Gio Soto backing up Napoli for 2013.

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