Hard to complain about this line from Hoby Milner – 6 scoreless IP, 2H, 2BB, 6K. Curious to see what kind of year he puts together in 2013. A transition from the U of Texas bullpen this season to starting in A ball seems to have gone fairly well, with a very strong August.
One more – Franklyn Vargas. 6K, 1H, 1 BB in 3 scoreless IP today. For a 6’4″ 205lb lefty who turned 18 years old 4 days ago, I’ll take more than a K per inning in the GCL, even with a high walk rate. Very intriguing.
I just wanted to give all of you an update on what to expect from the site during the off season. At seasons end, I will be putting out a report card on each player in the organization. It will go position by position and will take us through September into early October and will hopefully kick start some good conversation. October will bring the beginning of Arizona Fall league coverage which will flow into late November and be covered by Brad, who has done a great job with box scores and thoughtful commentary throughout the year. Continue reading Off Season Plan
Sure, Darin Ruf hit his 34th HR, but did you notice the big news? Cameron Rupp hit his 10th! Babe Rupp!!!
And so continues my unhealthy obsession with Cameron Rupp.
The Eastern League all star team, picked by staff, coaches and the media was named and three members of the 2012 Reading team were included. 26 year old 1B Darin Ruf, who has spent the entire season with Reading was the “no brain” pick of the three accumulating 33 HR and 92 RBI to go along with a .312 average in 128 games with Reading this year. Ruf is also the first player in Reading history to have 30 doubles and 30 HR in a season.
21 year old Tommy Joseph, a catcher, was acquired from the Giants organization earlier this year and had been playing for the RIchmond Spiders prior to the trade. Joseph is hitting .255 with 9HR and 43 RBI, and most impressive has thrown out 44% of runners attempting to steal. Joseph was the starting catcher in the Futures Game this year and also a starter in the EL All Star game.
Cesar Hernandez, a 2B, was promoted to Lehigh Valley about a month ago after an outstanding first four months of the season in Reading. Hernandez, a member of the Phillies forty man roster and just 22, was hitting .304 in 103 games before him promotion to AAA.
So much going on that I don’t really know where to aim my focus. So I will just say names:
Jesse Biddle, Darin Ruf, Cody Ashce, Maikel Franco, Tyler Cloyd, Kelly Dugan, Justin Friend. As Tyson Gillies would say on Twitter, “Weew”. I think that’s Canadian for “Woo”.
Taking a look at the week from 8/17 thru 8/23: (Note: Minimum of 11 AB’s to qualify for Hot Hitter and 6IP as a starter to qualify as a hot starter). Next Friday’s Hot or Not report will be the last of the season.
–Jesse Biddle certainly leads the talk this week, with the most impressive week of the year for any pitcher. Coming in the final weeks of the season, this should silence doubters as he is having his best month with a considerable number of innings on his arm.
–Jon Pettibone is going to force the Phillies to take a serious look at him as the number 5 starter in 2013 if he closes out the season in Lehigh Valley with two or three more good starts.
–An outstanding week at the plate for many but Maikel Franco has really begun coming into his own with another outstanding week….And Cody Asche says, “take that Keith Law.” Ok, he didnt really say that, but I did.
–Roman Quinn makes the hot hitter list with a bit lower batting average than others who didn’t make it because of his 9SB and 8RS this week. that simply can’t be overlooked.
–I got a first hand look at Brody Colvin this week and it wasn’t pretty. As soon as he made a mistake, it seemed his confidence was totally shot for the rest of the game.
–A welcome to the Hot Reliever list for newly acquired Ryan o’Sullivan, while JC Ramirez has thrown together consecutive appearances on the same list.
Hot Hitters: Maikel Franco (.464, 5R 2HR 9 RBI); Miguel Alvarez (.529, 4R HR 5RBI, 2SB); Cody Asche (.440, 4R 4HR 8 RBI); Tyson Gillies (.520, 7R); Roman Quinn (.333, 8R 5RBI, 9SB); Pete Lavin (.400, 5R HR 4RBI, SB); Zach Collier (.375, 7R 3HR 5RBI, 2SB); Angelo Mora (.400); Gabrial Lino (.400); Chris Serritella (.375, 6RBI); Honorable Mention: Carmona, Martinez, Dugan, ALonso, Ruf, Pridie Continue reading Hot Or Not
Just noticed I didn’t give you one of these this week. Have at it.
Good outing from Trevor May – 7IP, 4H, 3BB, 9K. Took the loss, after allowing 2r/1ER.
2 HR in a DH for CLR shortstop Edgar Duran yesterday. Progressing a level each year, since 2009, his OPS was slowly improving each year as well – but now he’s up over 100pts over last year. And yes, it’s inflated after 2 bombs yesterday, and he could easily burn some of that off if he cools down the last 10 days or so, but overall still a marked improvement from a 21 yr old in A+. Someone to keep an eye on.
If Duran can stick at SS, and if his marginally bad walk rate comes up a little and he develops a touch more power, (both of which seem like second half trends, albeit in a league where the best pitchers are in AA the second half), that’s a real interesting guy for me. Cliche alert – “Only time will tell”. Also, “We shall see” fits there, as well. So “only” time, or your vision, (with time essentially implied). And really, many of us won’t “see” any of it, except maybe on YouTube or if he makes the SportsCenter Top Ten. So let’s go with “Only time will tell unless you go watch and then you shall see.” (c) BiDC, 2012
Dylan Cozens with his 3rd HR in his last 7 games. His BB and K rates, as well as his BA, OBP, and SLG are all down in August. His LD % is down to 10% for the month, compared with 19% and 21% the previous two months, (June is a very small sample). His August BABIP is .216, due, in what I would guess is large part, to that low LD %. Not making solid contact and not getting many breaks otherwise.
One would hope he would lean on his previously good plate discipline, (walk rates of 7.7% in August, after 15.2% and 14.0% the previous two months), but it seems like maybe he’s trying to swing his way out. Impossible to tell for sure from the stats. Someone go ask him. Go ahead. Just walk right up. Don’t be intimidated. He’s only 6’6″ 235 lbs. Not scary at all.
Word came after last night’s game that Jeremy Horst had been placed on the Paternity List and replaced on the active roster by Phillippe Aumont. Paternity time allows for no more than 3 days on the list, so Aumont might have only the rest of the Reds series to make his mark before going back down to Lehigh Valley.
For the season in AAA, Aumont’s sits just shy of 12 k/9, and a fair 0.61 HR/9, with a quite bad 6.9 bb/9 and 1.53 WHIP. He has given up exactly 34 walks and 34 hits. Cleary he misses a lot of bats…just so happens batters don’t swing as much as he’d like at balls outside the strike zone.
Phuture Phillies 