Lehigh Valley Weekly Report

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A good week for Lehigh Valley, who went 5-2 on the week and now stand at 33-32, and in 3rd place of the Northern Division of the International League, 4.5 games behind division leading Pawtucket.  The ‘Pigs have an off day Wednesday and then continue their home stand with four games over the weekend against Scranton before they leave for an eight game road trip.

‘Pigs Prospects: Darin Ruf’s homerless streak has now reached 100 plus AB’s, to go along with 25 strikeouts in his last 88 AB’s. He has had a nagging hand injury but that said, Ruf simply isnt producing in the manner necessary to get serious consideration for a call up.  After a three hit night in Game Two last night, Ruf is at .262/.339/.407 on the year with 5 HR and 30 RBI. Since May 1, Ruf is hitting .259 with just 1 HR. Ruf works very hard and has played LF quite capably, but this funk has led to a larger question mark next to his name in regards to big league potential.

Mauricio Robles is a name to watch. On the 40 man roster (without options left), Robles had been excellent in Reading prior to his call up and has been extremely effective in four of his first five outings in a Lehigh Valley uniform as well.  With Diekman and Aumont unable to consistently throw strikes, Robles is the next viable option if an injury or continued ineffectiveness strikes the Phils relievers. On the year between Reading and Lehigh Valley, Robles has thrown in 22 games, and is 3-1 with a 2.48 ERA and 2 saves. In his 32.2 innings of work, he has walked 18 (4.9 per nine) and struck out 43 (11.8 per nine), with the opposition hitting just .183 against him.

Phillipe Aumont finally had a good outing, dominating Charlotte with 4 strikeouts in 1.2 innings without allowing a hit last Saturday. Taking away that outing, in his 7 games since being sent down, Aumont has an 11.12 ERA and is walking an average of two batters per inning.  He needs six weeks of sustained success where he is controlling his pitches before he gets consideration to go back up.

Next Week: Asche, Castro, Martin, Diekman

‘Pigs Leaders:Hitting: Cody Asche is 7th in AB’s (242); 6th in strikeouts (63); 9th in hits (68) and 5th in triples (4); Cesar Hernandez leads the league in triples (6); Jermaine Mitchell is 6th in triples (4)

Pitching: Ethan Martin has the 7th worst ERA (5.64) and has allowed the 4th most walks (37); BJ ROsenberg has the 10th worst ERA (5.34), 9th worst WHIP (1.61)and has allowed the 9th most walks (31); Jake Diekman leads the league in games (30), is 5th in saves (11)

News and Notes: –In the past 10 games, Lehigh Valley relievers are 1-0 with a 2.14 ERA and 4 saves and have struck out 36 in 25.1 innings.

–SS Michael Martinez has hit safely in 13 of his last 15 games, hitting .408 (20-49) over that time span.

–Josh Fields had his 14 game hitting streak snapped last Friday night, but it was the 3rd longest streak in Lehigh Valley history.

Probables: Thurs: Zambrano; Fri: Martin; Sat: Valdes; Sun: Cochran

Transactions: Last Friday, C Tommy Joseph was activated off of the DL and assigned to CLearwater; On Sunday, C Steven Lerud was called up to Philadelphia; On Monday, C Cameron Rupp was promoted from Reading to Lehigh Valley and P BJ Rosenberg was placed on the DL (shoulder); On Tuesday, P Carlos Zambrano was promoted from Reading to Lehigh Valley.

8 thoughts on “Lehigh Valley Weekly Report”

  1. Unfortunately I don’t think we should be getting our hopes up about Robles. He started the year with 1 BB in his first 10.1 IPs for Reading. He then walked 12 in his next 15.2 IP before he was called up, where he’s walked 5 in 6.2 IP.

    There’s probably potential there, yeah, but I doubt he’d be any more reliable right now than Aumont of Diekman.

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    1. We should really make an effort to look into luis garcia as a possible guy who should get a taste at some point to the big leagues this year.

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  2. This diatribe is quite the over reaction on Mr Ruf. Much like the over reaction last year that his big season meant he’d be a superstar in the big leagues, a very mediocre two months at AAA does not ruin a career. On top of that, he’s battling injuries and learning a new position. Let’s not rush to judgement and let the season play out and see where he ends up. If having 5 homers, 17 doubles, and hitting 262 at AAA while battling an injury and learning to play a new position is a slump, I can’t wait until he plays average or better.

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    1. Unfortunately father time is squeezing his prospects. It’s really tough luck to have injuries that hold you back but time waits for no one. He should be playing in the major leagues and showing everyone what he can do. Even if he pushed Howard to the bench for a while. But he can’t get it done in AAA so they can’t bring him up to the big club. There are also a lot of young guys who will be knocking at his door soon: Dugan, Altherr, Perkins, even Hewitt who is 2.5 years younger.

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      1. Anthony Hewitt would be knocking on the door of the welfare office if he hadn’t been given a million dollar bonus by the slot money Phillies. Even Darin Ruf’s slump numbers at AAA are better than anything that Hewitt has ever done.

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          1. Hewitt would have sunk to the six round or more and only have been signed if one of the teams that care – such as the Red Sox – decided to take a gamble on his tools and buy him out of college.

            Hewitt was a horrible pick, only Savery is competition for worst 1st round pick of the last decade.

            Perhaps you have Hewitt mixed up with Golson? He was an overdraft seen as a 2nd round talent.

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