Box Score Recap – 6/3/2013

Box Score Recap

Not much activity last night – VSL DSL and AAA. Clearwater got rained out and two other off-days. A nice night from Raul Valdes as a starter again for Lehigh Valley, 6IP, 1R, 5H, 0BB, 6K. A walk-off homerun from Leandro Castro won that contest. Here’s a link to the video of that action. On the replay near the end, you can tell he gives a bat-flip after he hits it, though there’s no video of how the bat flies. Shame. Looks like it would have been a nice one.

Here’s the affiliate Scoreboard from MiLB.

http://www.milb.com/scoreboard/index.jsp?sid=milb&org=143&ymd=20130603

6-3-13 boxscores

27 thoughts on “Box Score Recap – 6/3/2013”

  1. This might be the shortest dscussion topic ever. Go Leandro!!! .415 in his at 10 games. 3 HRs and 13 RBIs over those 10 games. In the words of Jerry Reed, “when you hot, you hot!” I’m not talking about former Phillies pitcher Jerry Reed but it offers a nice segue to thanking Jerry, the baseball player, for bringing John Denny to the Phils. And I’m not talking about a segue (segway) to the 2 wheeled motorized…. stop it!

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  2. Leandro is handling AAA pretty well and has already matched his steals total from last season. I think next year as he settles in he may be in the mix for a bench OF spot.

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    1. His BB rate is also double where it was the previous two seasons (still only 6 percent, but still …).

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    2. Don’t look now but he’s the next man up if we need an OF in Philly. I always thought he would make an ideal 4th OF, we’ll see….
      On the other hand, I’m troubled by Ruf and Asche’s dropping averages.

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      1. Asche really isn’t all that worrying. He’s doing about as well as one could have hoped for and expected in his first year in AAA after spending half seasons in A+ and AA. Ruf on the other hand has a lower OPS than Asche and well he’s also 3 or 4 years older and is most likely a first baseman. If a significant turnaround doesn’t come soon then you can pretty much close the book on him.

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        1. Agreed.

          Asche was in CLW at this time last year. Once he has gotten comfortable, he has raked at evey level. As a 22 year old in AAA he is doing just fine (particularly when considering reports about his defense). By way of comparison, Utley batted .263 in his first year in AAA at the same age.

          Ruf is somehwat a dfferent story as you suggest. But reports on his defense have been good and he has supposedly been battling nagging injuries until very recently. though I would hope he would pick it up soon

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        2. I wouldn’t close the book on Ruf just yet. Last year he had a great minor league year and though small sample size, hit major league pitching decently. Not to mention he has been injured. Both of which should give him some leeway and it is not like he has been terrible. The expectations for him were much higher (a lot of people, including me, were hoping he could help solve the Phils’ problems on offense) and because he is not matching it, the disappointment is greater. He still may be a contributor at the MLB level.

          And I wouldn’t worry about Asche. If he wasn’t hitting his weight, that would be troubling. This time last year he was in Clearwater and then spent half a season in Reading. The fact that he is hovering around .270 in Triple A in light of that is not a concern.

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    1. No one jumps out at me as a high bonus guy. When we get further into the year, I’ll just watch the middle of the lineup if any of them are even close to a reasonable age. (18 is OK, 19 is old, is the way I look at those leagues). Of course we could see a pitcher break out as well, though usually the best of the prospects will be starters and I haven’t seen anyone there yet who rings a bell either.

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  4. Are they trying Josh Fields in right field? I’ve seen his name there for a couple games now. He’s had a pretty good year too. Don’t want another Brandon Moss to slip away.

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      1. He’s not played RF in the big leagues, and has now played as many games there in 2013 as he had previously in his minor league career. He’s a 3B by trade, but they have someone there who needs work, and so why not see if he can maybe help you in a pinch in the OF. I’m not going to read too much into it, though. I don’t think they’re planning to jettison Delmon Young in favor of Fields in RF. Although…

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  5. Leandro Castro is king, or at least prince, of the bat flip. Kid plays the game with some much energy and flair. He’s been my favorite player in the system since I saw him in Williamsport in 2009. He’s not the best or most talented player, but he’s fun as hell to watch, someone people in Philly would enjoy watching to play the game. And if you want to infuse some youth an energy into the big club, Leandro Castro wouldn’t be a bad guy to do that with, even in a bench role.

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  6. Castro is raking against lefties. Identical 9.1% K and BB rates and a .990 OPS against them. Going back to 2011 his numbers against lefties are significantly better than against righties, although the walk rate being that high is new. I think I would rather have him on the major league team than Elmon Young right now.

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    1. I said in the genaral discussion that he’s probably good enough to at least give cursory consideration to non-tendering JMJ this off-season. I don’t quite get there in my own evaluation, but I could see arguments being made for it, especially if Gillies is a viable option to back up CF for a prolonged Revere injury. Castro’s not going to get a ton of time in CF, but they’ve started some pretty lackluster fielders there in a once-every-ten-days/as-needed type backup role the last few years: Dom Brown, Laynce Nix, Jason Pridie and MiniMart come to mind. Maybe the team could see Castro (or maybe Galvis) taking that rare CF start, leaving you with Ruf or undetermined FA OF/1B/C type or Utley to backup first, and Castro backing up the rest of the OF.

      Again, I’m not there, but I guess a case could be made. I’m not a huge detractor of JMJ, just think he’s a bench bat they have overused the last few years. I think the team likes him more than I do, however, so maybe if their internal numbers say he’s only in line for a modest raise in arbitration they’ll just keep him. That number will depend almost entirely on how much and how well he plays the rest of this year. Were I him, I’d have a Delmon Young voodoo doll back at the condo.

      Also, if anyone believes in voodoo, can you work on Delmon Young, please? Thanks.

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      1. Agree about Castro/JMJ. Castro looks like a guy who could provide similar value eventually, though maybe not next year. If the team is out of it late in the season Castro should probably get a look see.

        Were the Phillies’ decision makers not so blind, Mayberry wouldn’t need a Young voodoo doll. JMJ should be playing instead as it is (or more correctly, Nixberry should be playing instead). I guess if the Phils were doing that I wouldn’t have any reason to wish for Castro instead of Young.

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        1. Sadly I didn’t come up with that one, I think it sprung up when he was still with the Twins. But I’m all for using it.

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  9. The Latin signees of late have been pleasant surprises for the Phillies- Galvis last year and this and now Hernandez. Let Leandro be the next.

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  10. The “give up on Ruf” talk is crazy at this point. If we can learn anything from what Dom Brown is doing right now, it is to not give up on anyone too easily. Somebody else stated it in another thread yesterday or today – we have to be careful of absolute statements with prospects. If we think about Ruf specifically, there is no reason to give up on him. He is learning a new position, and from the sounds of it he isn’t doing badly, but that focus could be hurting his offense, not to mention injuries. There is no harm in allowing him to continue playing LF every day in AAA and see how things progress. They don’t face a decision on him anytime soon despite his age so why wouldn’t they keep playing him? Worst case, he never develops and is a AAAA player. Best case, he is the RH version of Dom Brown next year this time and the Phils have a new 4-5 hole punch in their lineup for the next 5-7 years. No reason to give up on that chance at this point, regardless of how unlikely it is.

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