Hot or Not

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A look at the time period from April 18-24.  Quick Thoughts…I had the opportunity to watch Jesse Biddle live for the first time on Monday evening, and having seen thousands of baseball games, his performance ranks right near the top.  Keep in mind it is one outing, but a pitcher that has the ability to do what he did, is worth being very excited about….Aaron Altherr has been showing all the tools, and its worth starting to follow him every day…After quick starts, Hewitt and Quinn land on the “Not Hot” list this week….There was a good deal of excitement last year about Tyler Knigge who has struggled out of the gate this year, with another difficult week.

Hot Hitters:Cody Asche (.478); Aaron ALtherr (.444, 6R, 4RBI, 2SB);  Carlos Alonso (.417, 5R 5RBI)Jermaine Mitchell (.417, 4R 3RBI, 2SB); Jim Murphy (.400, 4R, HR, 4RBI); Derrick Mitchell (.400); Art Charles (.391, 5RBI) Cesar Hernandez (.391, 3R, SB);Jon Roof (.375); ALbert Cartwright (.360, 6R);  Honorable Mention:Mojica,  Gillies, Perkins, Numata, Mora

Not Hot Hitters: Logan Moore (.076); Darin Ruf (.105), Pete Orr (.118); Sebastian Valle (.133); Anthony Hewitt (.143); Roman Quinn (.154)

Hot Starters: Jesse Biddle (7IP 2H 0ER 1BB 16K); Perci Garner (6Ip 3H oER 4BB 3K); Shane Watson (5IP 1H 0ER); Kevin Brady (5IP 0H 0ER 5BB 5K); Hoby Milner (6IP 5H 1ER 0BB 5K)

Not Hot Starters: Ethan Martin (4IP 5H 7ER 4BB 4K); Jordan Guth (4IP 7H 4ER 3BB 2K); Tyler CLoyd (6IP 9H 6ER); Colin Kleven (4.2IP 9H 4ER 3BB 6K); David Buchanan (5IP 7H 4ER 3BB 1K)

Hot Relievers:Jake Diekman (4IP 2H 0ER 1BB 2K, SV);Ryan O’Sullivan (3.1IP 1H 0ER, 2SV); Jay Johnson (3IP 0H 0ER 2BB 4K, SV); JC Ramirez (3IP 2H 0ER), Delvi Francisco (3IP 0H 0ER 5BB 4K); . Honorable Mention: Garcia, Santos

Not Hot Relievers:Mike Nesseth (3IP 11H 7ER 2BB); Mike Stutes (3IP 7H 6ER); Tyler Knigge (3IP 4H 4ER); Geoff Broussard (4.2IP 6H 4ER 3BB); Brandon Erbe (2.2IP 2H 2ER 6BB); Jeb STefan (1IP 1H 2ER)

34 thoughts on “Hot or Not”

  2. So quinn’s error rate has slowed down but so has his bat. I have confidence that his bat will heat up so not concerned about the recent rough patch. First thing I look at with the lakewood box score is the error section.

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    1. Just remember–unless you are listening to the games live and you actually hear the announcer call the E’s on Quinn–the Phillies management argues and changes his E’s at the conclusion of each game. I was there to see him make 2 E’s in one game and only 1 was reported on his Stats and listening to another game where he made 2 and only 1 reported. This is common practice with them. So when you look at hi E record, whether it be from last season or now–you can double what you see and it is a more realistic picture. Don’t know if this is done to make him look good for a future trade package or just because they don’t want egg on their face for this “hot” prospect who is not so hot at all. Don’t believe me, listen to the games on the radio or go see for yourself. It’s a shame.

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      1. LOL. That’s shady, no doubt. But honestly, Quinn’s error rate means relatively little at this stage in his career.

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        1. Disagree. When they are making him out to be one of the “hottest” prospects out there and move him through the system quickly, one needs to know your true stats–especially in a trade package.

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          1. Lobbying the scorekeeper happens at every level from little league to MLB. Derek Jeter made 56 errors in low A and Quinn has much less experience playing SS, He’ll need to cut down on the errors in future years, but they should not be a surprise early while he is learning the position.

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            2. Quinn already has very good range, so he has the potential to be a good SS if he cuts the errors to 20 a year. He has lots of time to do that. And if he turns out to be Derek Jeter (plus offensively OK defensively that is not the worst thing in the world is it?

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            4. Don’t see that happening. Quinn DOES NOT belong at shortstop. Can’t field a ball or turn a double play. Not all that impressed with his bat either–if it wasn’t for bunting and speed he would have nothing.

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            5. Fielding and acurate throws are just part of the problem, SS has numerous duties on the field everytime the ball is in play, he has no idea what he is doing at that position on the field.

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      2. If you had any clue about who the guy was doing the official scoring in Williamsport, you’d understand why some of those are changed. The number of errors Quinn had last year was was probably one or two either way of the truth.

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  4. Every year we do our prospect rankings and finish with a certain degree of optimism in our selections. Still, you’re always hoping for one of two players to ‘break out’, players who may have otherwise been discounted for one reason or another (i.e. Adam Morgan c 2011). Small sample size notwithstanding, I have to say that the player who has so far exceeded my expectations is Altherr. Just turning 22 in January, he’s certainly age appropriate following a promotion to Advanced-A Clearwater. Forget the BA (and BABIP) for a moment; his walk rate is up, his K rate is down, he already has 9 doubles which is driving a .551 slugging %, significantly above his previous season high, he hasn’t been caught stealing in 5 attempts.

    There’s so much to like in his early start that have nothing to do with batting average. This could be a big boost to the Pharm if Aaron can continue his early season success

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  5. Good points on Altherr. For me, the testing grounds for young hitters are Clearwater and Lehigh Valley. If a young hitter does well at Clearwater, he will generally almost always do well at Reading and the real test will come in AAA – that’s why Altherr’s success is so encouraging. For pitchers, the testing ground is generally Reading – where the hitting environment is so friendly. This why Biddle’s performance is so encouraging – he’s dominating hitters in a hitters league.

    By the way, I watched some of Morgan’s start yesterday. Joseph called fast balls almost all game and Morgan struggled a little with command/control. Morgan has a really good fast ball – low 90s and I think touching mid 90s at times – but, like most pitchers, he can’t dominate a line-up with that pitch alone unless his command is spot on. Again, I don’t know why Joseph did not call many breaking balls but, from a very significant distance, it did not look like a very well called game.

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      2. The policy in the pharm has been to develop catchers that call their own games from what I understand. That said, it’s very possible that management wanted Morgan to throw a lot of fastballs for tinkering/scouting purposes.

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        2. True – in the minors I assume that some outings a pitcher is asked to work on certain things. Morgan’s change and curve are very good pitches (not plus, very good), so I was surprised not to see him throw many.

          But having seen Morgan and Biddle pitch, there’s no question in my mind that Biddle is the better prospect. Although I like Morgan an awful lot, I don’t see ace potential, at least not yet. Biddle has ace potential (trust me, his ceiling is a 1), although that’s not the likely outcome (Biddle’s likely outcome is as a solid 2 – I think, right now, Morgan’s ceiling is a 2 and his most likely outcome is as a very strong 3 or a borderline 2). But could Morgan end up being the better major leaguer? Absolutely.

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  6. How is Altherr in the outfield? Average? Plus? I’m getting kinda excited about him. 87 PAs is not that small a sample size.

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    1. He has speed and can play all 3 OF positions. He has 3 Assists so far this year. He’s a tall kid with a long stride and very athletic. They tried him at 3rd base one spring to see if he was able to handle the hot corner. I remember hearing that he and Franco were taking ground balls at 3rd. Franco stuck and Altherr went back to the OF.

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  7. From BP’s daily roundup:

    Aaron Altherr, OF, Phillies (High-A Clearwater): 4-5, 2B, 3B, R, RBI, K, SB; glider; plus raw power; swing has length; will need to make significant adjustments to his swing to creep onto the prospect radar.

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  8. Congrats to Biddle on his awesome outing. Excited to see more from Biddle, Watson and Milner this year; also Kleven when he’s off of the DL. A bunch of great guys with a lot of talent.

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  9. I’ll admit that I was one of the members of this site that was less enthralled by Altherr than most but I am glad he is so far proving me wrong, especially considering the combined starts of Gillies, Collier, and Hudson.

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  10. Altherr is looking great this year. As I mentioned, when I saw him @ ST he looked like a man-beast with room for more. Has an athlete’s body and seems very agile and loose. I expect more good things from him as the season progresses.

    Biddle was amazing…what else can one say? I will be excited to see him @ CBP in a year or so. Plus, he’s very articulate, smart and a nice guy. I like that in a player.

    Zach Collier also deserves a mention. He made some outstanding plays in LF this week, in addition to hitting 2HR on back to back nights. He will find his groove and stick.

    I’m not worried about Knigge. He had one bad outing where he gave up those 4 runs in 1IP. He has otherwise put up zeros and his walk rate is much better than last year. They have him pitching exclusively out of the stretch now, which is probably taking some adjustment on his part.

    I watched the Reading game last night and Erbe was all over the place with his pitches, but he can throw some heat. He will be an interesting guy to watch.

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  11. Ok, so the Pharm is looking really bad and the big club is not very good either. When can i legitimately start to panic? I mean we are basically one month in so maybe end of May? Mid May? Now? Ready to panic now if i am allowed to.

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  13. PANIC, PANIC. THERE IS NO HOPE, with amaro the gm,and charlie the manager, with mayberry you starting outfielder and the midget in center, panic, with a bad bullpen,and no help on the farm, panic, only good thing is at tradedeadline, it will be interesting, lee will be gone, even though he has pitch well, but with his age,and the lack of talent on the team, and in the farm system, he will be sacificed, for that right handed player, profar anyone??? only untouchable is hamels, amaro surrounded his starting pitchers with a bad bullpen, and no clutch hitters, nice job ruben.look at the cardinals, not great averages but clutch hitters and good pitching,.

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    1. Are you saying ‘rebuild’? For if you dare, we do not. No rebuilding in Philadelphia, we ‘re-tool’.

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    2. I couldn’t agree more, like that diving catch a taller guy with long arms that’s a routine catch.

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