Box Score Recap – 4/4/2013

Box Score Recap

Kicking off the year with an oh-fer, the Phils’ minor leaguers remain on pace for zero wins. Nice night from Mitch Walding, 2 hits and 2 walks. And it’s the first of “many” walks from Sebastian Valle. Hopefully someday I can remove the quotes from that.

Here’s the affiliate Scoreboard from MiLB – rather than pasting links to each game, I’ll just keep this in the post every day.

http://www.milb.com/scoreboard/index.jsp?sid=milb&org=143

4-4-13 boxscores

68 thoughts on “Box Score Recap – 4/4/2013”

  5. Very encouraging line from Walding … if he’s seeing the ball well at the beginning of the season, it would be great for his confidence. I’ve seen multiple reports from last year saying his second half slump was exacerbated by his getting down on himself.

    Two errors for Quinn, and I don’t think a dropped fly ball and a throwing error can be attributed to his incredible range. Hopefully this isn’t a problem (yes, first game).

    Ten Ks in Reading, and Anthony Hewitt accounts for … none of them. Props!

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    1. Of our 3B prospects, Asche is all the rage right now but I suspect this year will show us his upside is a bit less than what we all hope. I think Franco will continue his development and be the Phils most likely 3B option of the future. However, three guys not getting much attention right now – Martinez, Walding, and Green – I think will all have good years and put their names in play as bigger prospects than they had been before. Walding has a big upside, as does Green.

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      1. It’s sure a strong position for the system right now. Probably more legitimate third base prospects than outfield prospects at this point.

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    2. This is going to be the norm for Mr. Quinn at SS, great speed, good contact with the bat, hands of stone and an erractic arm. And actually not much knowledge of what it takes to play SS. Field general and knowing where everyone on the field is suppose to be, is what most SS learn from at a young age. Not his fault, he has been thrown into this situation. Cf is were his talents would best utilized.

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      2. If Roman Quinn can’t hit with power than it doesn’t make any difference what position he plays, he can play it somewhere else.

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  6. Cesar is who I said preseason. Hopefully he stands out. Some scouts are high on him some are lower.

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    1. Yeah I’ve heard the same thing. Some think his upside is AAAA player, others think his upside is MLB all star second baseman.

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      1. I guess what I want to know – and here’s I’m legitimately curious – is what the optimistic camp thinks his upside looks like, specifically. Do they think he all of the sudden develops some power? Better learns to deploy his speed? Plays GG defense?

        I’m assuming they see him hitting .300. I don’t, but he could. But an empty .300 with not much effective speed, and solid but not outstanding defense – meh. And unless I’m missing something, that’s the upside.

        But some knowledgeable scouts are seeing more. What are they seeing?

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        1. They are seeing a plus glove at second, hitting .300 with doubles and triples (a .400+ SLG), more effective use of his plus speed, a decent walk rate (compared to his contact rate), and a low strikeout rate.

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          1. Okay, they are seeing Howie Kendrick with fewer HR, essentially. I get it. I think that’s optimistic, and not an all star (yes, he made one AS team), but I get it.

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            1. Think less Howie Kendrick and more Darwin Barney who put up a 4+ WAR season last year on the back of great defense and being competent with a bat (had 1.3 oWAR with a .254/.299/.354 line). Though Kendrick is not a bad dream upside.

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            2. Is Hernandez’s defense on that level? Barney spent two years in AAA playing an excellent SS then slid over to become probably the best defensive 2b in baseball.

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            3. No it is not, but if you are going to make the Hernandez value argument you think he is going to provide a lot of it with defense. Barney’s real weakness is his arm, which prevents him from being a shortstop (that and Castro).

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        2. The skeptics say – low obp for a guy with no power, weak arm defensively, might hit 250 in big leagues and be an avg defender, without an ability to be a utility player at SS or 3B so value is limited at best, a guy who can step in and play 2b for a few weeks if needed.

          The advocates say – still very young, good instincts for his age, can hit 290+ in bigs, makes great contact and although he won’t ever likely develop home run power, he’ll be a guy that drives balls into the gaps. good enough speed to steal 20-30 bases a year and has good hands and range, enough to make up for a lack of arm strength. Has hit at every level despite always being a tick younger than the competition. “In today’s game, a 2B hitting 290, with 20+ SB, 30+ xb hits, and plays average or better defense is a real commodity”.

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      2. I’ll make this easy for you.

        Hernandez and Franco are bottom tier MLB players. Think of them as replacement level since they won’t be much better. If you think John Mayberry and Lance Nix are MLB outfielders then you may think of these two as future starters for the Phillies. If this is what the future is going to be then the Phillies will be a bottom tier MLB team.

        Go look at what the Phillies put on the field as their starting eight in 2008 and 2009. No one like this was in their lineup.

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        1. Actually Franco profiles not only as a regular but an above average regular (that isn’t just me, check other sources where he is just on or just off of Top 100 prospect lists). He could easily be a .270-.280 hitter with decent walk rates, hit 20-25HRs, be a liability on the base paths, play average to slightly above defense with a plus to plus plus arm. He is still in A-ball so there is risk, but he is a legitimate prospect.

          Hernandez is somewhere in between starter for a bad team and very good utility player.

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  7. Two passed balls for Joseph – ouch! It can’t be easy to catch games in New Hampshire in early April (or Atlanta for that matter).

    An almost comically bad opening night made tolerable by the artistic wizardry of one Clifton Pfiffer Lee – I can’t remember a pitcher who I enjoyed watching more (a few are about tied, including Schilling). He’s amazing.

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      3. Amazing how much better a pitcher looks when the other team isn’t hitting bloops and bleeders all around the infield.

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      4. No, amazing as in the guy who had the highest WAR in baseball in 2011. Amazing as in the guy who dominated long stretches of the playoffs in 2009 (including a game against the Yankees) and 2010.

        Seriously, you are going to focus on Cliff Lee as being the problem on this team? If you are, you don’t know a damned thing about baseball.

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        1. The problem with Lee is that he’s not consistently amazing. Hes had a lot of games when he’s gotten lit up badly. He’s one of those pitchers who’s pretty unhittable when he’s on though.

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          1. Agreed but it’s a bit of a red herring because, on the whole, even averaging out the bad starts, he’s outstanding. If you had an average offense and a starting staff full of Cliff Lees you would win 100 games every year and go deep into the post season. He’s fantastic.

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          2. He gave up five or more runs only five times last year, same as R.A. Dickey, who won the Cy Young. Kershaw finished second in the voting and he did it four times. Lee was just unlucky. His run support was 79th out of the 88 qualified pitchers.

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            1. Also they said on the broadcast last night that he set a record by going 18 straight starts with 6 or more IP and 1 or fewer walks. Granted, in 3 of those starts his final line wasn’t very good because of the ER, but it’s hard to be much more consistent than Lee. I still believe he’s in the conversation for best pitcher in baseball.

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  8. Sure glad that Galvis isnt getting Ab’s and playing with Hernandez at LHV…
    Looked great in Atlanta!!!!!!!!!!

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    1. Nice judgement based on one game for the whole system. Can’t explain Clearwater but all the other games up north were played in below freezing tempatures.

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      2. Hate to point out the obvious, but both teams were playing in terrible weather. Bad pitching, no hitting, not great defense from some of the top prospects……………………first set of games now in the rear window.

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      3. While their opponents were playing in balmy temperatures? I actually agree with you, but you can’t use the weather to explain away losses!

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      4. Well sure. But, results of one game aside, does anyone really doubt the expert consensus? Sure, if the right players take a big step forward, that ranking could improve a lot by season’s end, but right now it’s about right. And a few of the players who we hope will help improve that ranking are still in extended spring training.

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        1. I did not make the judgement after one game. I simply mentioned what has been written on other web sites. There must be a reason why the Phils only have one prospect in the top 100. Lots of people here are over rating our prospects, like Quinn and Asche. If a player does not dominate during his first 2 minor league season, there is a high probality that he will never be a major leaguer let alone a star.

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          1. With all due respect, the correlation between prospects and winning % in the minor leagues is not that significant. If Lehigh Valley was trying to win games as the ultimate goal, they’d be better off leaving guys like Asche and Morgan in AA and bring in some veteran minor league free agents. In lower levels, you can have organizational filler that plays every bit as well at the lower levels as great prospects would, an example might be would you put Tocci at Lakewood or keep Eldemire and play him if you were trying to win?

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            1. I though this was a box score review ? Not talking about winning or losing but about the start that our future all stars got off to.

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  10. Was able to see most of the Thresher game and I can’t believe how thin Hoby Milner is, he’s built just like Tocci and he’s already 22. So I guess there’s not much projection left for him. Overall Milner threw 81 pitches, 50 strikes(only 7 swing and misses) and was perfect through 3 innings. He was 88mph in the 1st,89 in the 2nd and hitting 90 a few times in the 3rd according to the stadium gun.(latter on I noticed the Thresher’s gun was at least 1 mph faster than the stadium’s gun so it’s possible he was 89,90,91 thru 3) In the 4th he was 0-2 on the leadoff hitter then grooved one that was crushed for a HR to left center. The next batter hit the first pitch up the middle that was fielded by Roof to his left, he then spun around and made a bad throw to 1st. It was ruled a hit but a good SS probably makes the play. After a fly out the next batter breaks his bat and dumps a blooper over Alonso’s head. Then he gave up 2 line drive singles, the second one driving in the 2nd run of the inning. The 3rd run came on a ground ball just by Franco fielded by the SS but with no play. When the ball was hit I thought it would be a DP, not sure if Franco was slow on the play or it was hit harder than I thought. Inning ended on a hard ground ball back to Milner, that he stabbed to start a 123 DP. He came out for the 5th but was hit pretty hard until they lifted him. He seemed to rely mostly on his FB and slider, the few CB he threw did not go for strikes. If I remember correctly he was a RP in college and that appears where he will eventually end up, but I guess by starting he has a chance to work on all his pitches. Offensively there was not really much at all, even Martinez’s double was weakly hit down the line and none of the outs were hit very hard at all. Lastly when O’Sullivan came in he was hitting 92-94 on the the thresher’s gun and there’s video of Milner at : http://www.youtube.com/user/TheGkita

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  12. Awesome brad. Thanks. Please set your alarm for 4:30am so you can post box scores before I awake at 5. Thanks 🙂

    Ugly night last night – I was as excited as a kid on Christmas morning when checking the box scores this morning. Would have loved to have seen the look of disappointment on my face.

    That LV offense is going to be exciting. The entire team in fact.

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    1. Yeah, so, umm…4:30, eh? Uhh…sure. I’m trying to come up with a plan where I can do them at night without getting out of bed, which will rile up my dogs while my wife sleeps. Using a laptop mouse touch-pad thingy is a pain for me, (I’m a desktop setup at work with a real mouse and I never got used to the touch-pad), but maybe I can find a little wireless trackball.

      Anyone have any ideas or recommendations there?

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      1. Wireless laser mouse is your answer. I got one and you could pretty much use it anywhere, they’re pretty cool. I think you could pick one up in the $20-30 range.

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  13. I wonder how many days we’ll look at the box scores and see a K-less game for Hewitt and a BB for Valle on the same night.

    Ugly night overall but at least some guys had nice nights. And the guys who really struggled were mostly SPs that weren’t even in our top 30 (Cloyd, Buchanan, Guth). Guth walked more guys last night than he did all last season in 34 innings. Nice to be able to check the box scores again, anyway.

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  15. I didn’t notice Cesar got those hits last night. Lehigh was being 1 hit, until late in the game. MLB pitcher, Ross Olendorf, must have been too much for them. It’s not going to be easy for young guys like Asche and Joseph, early on.
    Anyway, good for Hernandez and Walding, having good 1st games.

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    1. The nice thing about AAA is getting hitters exposure to fringy AAAA guys like that; my guess is a steady dose of them helped Domonic Brown a fair bit last year. And considering how often such pitchers dominate the big league Phillies line-up, that experience can’t hurt.

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      3. Great news about Perci Garner. I expected nothing from him, based on his spring training outings. That’ll teach me to take spring training results too seriously.

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  18. joseph with 4 passed balls, what is going on there, that’s a season worth in two games,

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  19. May be a long season at the Bank this year. At least, Regina, the barmaid at the Connie Mack Bar in the HOF is enjoyable to look at.

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