Box Score Recap – 7/13/2013

Box Score Recap

So, last night, there was a bit of a Larry Greene incident at the Lakewood/Hickory game. Hudson Belinsky, who I mentioned the other day when he commented positively on Jeb Stefan, said on Twitter that Greene had allowed a homerun by not playing a ball hit into the left field corner. He called it unprofessional, as if it appeared Greene did not see the ball, and possibly was not paying attention. Also, Belinsky stated Joe Jordan was in attendance, and “looked very upset”.

Now, here’s the way it was described by Hickory’s write-up:

“Leading off the inning, Vickerson launched a high fly ball deep into the left field corner off of BlueClaws starter Jonathan Musser. Lakewood left fielder Larry Greene Jr. immediately threw his hands up indicating he had lost the ball in the sky, and by the time the ball landed on the warning track Vickerson was already rounding second before coming home without a throw.”

If you choose to believe that a leftfielder playing at this level, paying proper attention, can simply lose a ball off the bat and never find it, that’s fine. Reasonable that it could happen that way. If you choose to believe that one way this happens is through a momentary or consistent lack of concentration, that’s fine, too. If that’s the case, I would consider that unprofessional. It could have happened that way. Either way, Greene misplayed a ball into a run. That’s generally bad, but is it a misplay, a ding on his defensive grade, or a red flag?

The team’s response will likely give us some idea what they thought of the play. Greene finished the game, so it would seem manager Mickey Morandini didn’t feel it warranted immediate discipline. Jordan saw the whole thing, so hopefully one of the couple media members who regularly cover Lakewood will track down an answer on what he thought about the whole thing.

Larry Greene could be fined for the incident and allowed to keep playing. We may never hear about that if it happens. If Greene is out of action today, we could guess it was a result of this incident, but until we hear it from the team, I won’t make that assumption. If he’s out for a week, that’s a pretty safe bet. If Greene is playing today, one would likely assume that the team is ok with this incident as simply part of the game – sometimes guys lose balls in the lights or the sun or the high evening sky.

Other things happened last night. Here’s the short version: Brody Colvin walks guys. Anthony Hewitt, Chris Serritella, Brian Pointer and Andrew Knapp with big nights. Another nice start from Drew Anderson. First pro HRs from Trey Williams and Nick Ferdinand.

Here’s the affiliate Scoreboard from MiLB.

http://www.milb.com/scoreboard/index.jsp?sid=milb&org=143&ymd=20130713

7-13-13 boxscores

103 thoughts on “Box Score Recap – 7/13/2013”

  1. Ugh… With all of the bad reports on LGJ, here’s a positive note: he had a 2-hit game WITHOUT striking out. That usually only happens once in a blue moon.

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  2. Brody Colvin needs whatever Severino Gonzalez is drinking.

    In regards to the LGJ matter, in a way this doesn’t surprise me. Take the baseball aspect out of this, how you act off the diamond carries over. The guys who are hard nosed and get every ounce of talent out of their body are so much nicer in public than those who don’t take their talent for granted. Larry grew up in a small town in Georgia, this is such a jump in his life to be on a stage in which everybody is critical of him. He is experiencing the real world right now as most of us experienced it earlier in life. On top of that he is trying to impress so many people. Does it make up for what he did? No. but, for the people who are totally shocked by the fact that he did this is crazy. I’m not saying that we all grew up in big cities, but small towns down south are a different animal, part of the reason that I think that he came to ST out of shape. It is a different culture and the way that he is adapting to it is extremely far off from how we are seeing it. Somebody needs to take this kid and straighten him out whether it be a player, coach, or the front office. Time to grow up Larry.

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    2. Ok, let’s dispense with this idea now. Larry Greene Jr. may be good or bad at hitting a baseball, a problem that is magnified by the fact that he was our highest draft pick that year. In fact, his problems–deficient hit tool, occasionally suspect defense–are quite reminiscent of those experienced by a fellow named Anthony Hewitt, from Brooklyn, NY.

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      2. For some reason this comment, a reply to the one about LGJr being lost because he’s from the south, ended up down here. Perhaps the sarcasm was lost on the moderators. Actually, a couple of hours later, it seems kind of obnoxious even to me. I wish there was a way for me to delete my own comments!

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      3. LGJ isn’t in the Hewitt category ACA, not in my opinion anyway. Larry will likely repeat Lakewood next season and I suspect we’ll be in a much better place to accurately guage him as a prospect based on his performance repeating a level. Until then, I defer my judgement. Hewitt is a colossal bust of a draft pick though. His rookie season was alarming, his 2nd season was damning and his first full season at Lakewood all but ended his chances of making it to the majors. LGJ’s first season and a half of pro ball are much better than Hewitt’s.

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        1. Hewitt likely won’t be a major leaguer unless he somehow squeaks in as a fifth outfielder. That said, the guy was a project and has worked his butt off while being promoted up the ladder. In Reading this season, he has his lowest career K rate (I know, 30 percent), highest BB rate (6 percent), highest ISO (.203) and highest OPS (.747). Also, the players taken after him haven’t really done much in the bigs either (Gerritt Cole was taken a few picks later out of high school but didn’t sign).

          I think we tend to view Hewitt negatively because he was one of the first high draft picks after this site’s inception and because he struggled so mightily early in his career. He’s earned enough respect in my eyes that I wouldn’t call him a “colossal bust”.

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          1. Well, anytime a first round pick doesn’t do particularly well in AA by age 24, yes, it makes him a bust as a first round pick. But it’s hard to knock a guy personally when, by all accounts, he has hung in there and done his best. He’s just not good enough at baseball to be a major leaguer. It happens all the time. He’s given it his best and it just probably will not work out – there’s no shame in that.

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            3. Just so we’re all on the same page, we aren’t saying that the word ‘colossal’ when placed in front of the word ‘bust’ is somehow a knock on a guy whereas using the word ‘bust’ alone would not? I don’t think that’s what we’re saying but since we’re now 2 posts into a topic about not knocking Hewitt, I have to wonder, exactly who was knocking Hewitt in the first place?

              😉

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          2. Watched Cardinals last night. They seem to draft guys that are not so ‘toolsy’ but apparently have reliable hit tools. Craig, Carpenter and Adams do not appear that they can beat out our past athletic toolsy draftees, like Hewitt, Collier, Hudson, Gauntlett, et al in a foot race of speed or strength of arm….but they sure can put the bat on the ball.

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            1. Uh, yeah, they draft dudes that can really play baseball. I have to give the Phillies credit, however, as I see that they have been trying to get more of these types of players in recent drafts. Asche, Perkins, Rupp and Ruf all fit this mold.

              By the way, why is Joseph back on the DL? That has me very worried.

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          3. Mike – I’m speaking from an organizational point of view of course. I wasn’t passing any judgement with respect to Anthony’s work ethic. He seems like a good kid.

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            2. At the end of the 2010 season I mentioned to Bill Conlin, who roamed the Clearwater complex alot, to suggest to then Phillies minor league guy Chuck LaMarr and also Ruben about Hewitt trying out LASIK for helping with better eyesight and pitch recognition. I was told it was too risky for him. Now i see other organizations are doing it with some of their prospects now. Brother!

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            3. Wait a minute – you are saying that Hewitt might not be hitting because he has vision problems that remain uncorrected? That doesn’t sound plausible. You’d have to think that checking and correcting vision is one of the things they do before minor league camp starts. And by the way, Lasik is not a cure all – I never got it done because my corrected vision is about 20/15 (amazing but true, especially since my uncorrected vision is insanely bad) and the doctor said that Lasik would correct it only to about 20/30 or 20/40.

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            4. Hewitt may not be an appropriate candidate for LASIK. His corneas could be too thin or too irregular or he could have difficulty with his ocular surface. You can’t “try out” LASIK. If it’s a botch job there’s no going back. Finally, LASIK can reduce a patient’s contrast sensitivity through the introduction of higher-order aberrations. This is not necessarily what you need if you’re trying to identify pitches quickly for find the ball off the bat from the outfield in questionable lighting. Wavefront-guided procedures have improved this, but it’s not a sure thing.

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            5. Kram, understand the limitations, I had it done in May ’97 in Colombia, South America, six months befrore the FDA approved it here in the USA. The hospital down there was the leader in it at the time in the world. My point was now other major league clubs are looking into it to help some of their prospects. So there must be some merit in it.

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            6. Sure there’s merit in it. For the proper candidate. Without knowing anything about Anthony Hewitt other than observing his baseball play, it is impossible to say that he should “try out LASIK to help him with eyesight and pitch recognition.” He may not need that level of refractive change. His problem may not be eyesight at all. Or it may not be refractive. Or he may not be a medical candidate as I said above. And there’s the risk that it could make his vision worse. Perhaps this is why you were told that it is “too risky” for him–not that the Phillies wouldn’t let him do it if it were appropriate.

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          4. This. Also, take a look at the guys drafted around him on BB_Ref. They sort by WAR for a quick glance at overall production. It isn’t pretty. People act as though Hewitt was some huge stretch–and maybe he was–but the Phillies wouldn’t have been any better off which one of the players selected two or three picks before or after them.

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  3. I once saw Greg Luzinski do the same thing. The batter hit a high fly ball, Greg started in on it and suddenly threw up his hands to indicate he had lost sight of the ball. In that instance, the ball carried to the seats for a home run, so the Bull was saved from the embarrassment of having the ball land on the playing field.
    So, it can happen, even on a major league level.

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    1. The throwing up the hands from the Hickory story makes me think it was just that. Big man is not in the lineup today, so we’ll see. Could be he’s just got the day off.

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  4. Franco’s absence worried me at first then I remembered about the futures games tonight. Can’t wait for the game.

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  5. So who gets called up now that Revere foot is broken ? its a shame he had really started to turn it on of late

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    1. Kratz for today; probably Galvis after the break. Of the four recent players to play CF in Allentown, Martinez has fielded the position better than Galvis or Hernandez in terms of his ability to break on the ball and make plays. He’s been hitting well of late, as well. Put him down as the dark horse. He’ll need a 40-man spot though. Gillies has played better of late (more consistent at the plate, two OF assists), but golly, is he ready for this?

      More interesting to see what they do with the three catchers: Kratz optioned (he’s got one, and hasn’t hit well during his rehab–but that’s SSS)? Quintero DFA? A trade?

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      1. Say it aint so , Mini Mart , I thought id seen the last of him in the red pinstripes

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        1. MiniMart has been hitting well, but I was really hoping he was gone for good. It would not surprise me if he got the call. If that case could then just cut McDonald?.

          If it was about 3 weeks later and Gillies was hitting ‘okay’ I’d bring him up. But I think he is still ‘adjusting’ to his new swing. He could be a sparkplug type guy though.

          Cesar has been getting time in CF (apparently Phillies had a foresight to Revere injury?) and I was not sure why. (I’d rather him at SS, even if he is below average.) He is still quite new out there, but he’d be the guy I’d recall and see how he does.

          Quintero will be DFA’d.

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      2. Scouts agree that Gillies has all of the tools to be a big league player. I would look at it from an upside / downside perspective. He can probably give similar numbers to Mayberry and better defense in CF. Though, I do like the idea of Hernandez being able to play multiple positions and have a spot on the team if Utley is extended next year. Also read today that the AAA manager saw Galvis as an everyday player in the bigs, interesting comments to make.

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        1. Galvis could be a decent everyday shortstop. You really don’t have to hit much to be a SS in the majors.

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        2. Yeah I think Gillies still has to get the mental game in order. Knowing of the MLB injury, he went out yesterday and got the golden sombrero. I’m really cheering for the kid. He’s just not ready.

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  6. This kind of thing happens at the IronPigs games in Allentown all the time. We even have a name for it: “The Dusk Monster.” It’s happened three times this year, that I have seen: twice to the opposition and once to us. I think it was Ruf or maybe Gillies who fell victim for the ‘Pigs. It usually occurs sometime between full daylight and full night, when the field is illuminated by some combination of stadium lights and waning daylight with a slight advantage to the stadium lights.

    I certainly can’t say what happened to LGJ last evening, but it seems perfectly plausible to me that he simply lost it. And, as Brad says, we’ll watch the fallout to decipher more. Methinks Belinsky overreacted a bit and perhaps read more into Jordan’s reaction than necessary.

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  7. Went to the Cutters game last night here in Aberdeen. Had my son with me so it was tough to watch intently and provide “scouting” notes…

    I will say this about the team…they would’ve been a good bet to beat the Ironbirds in a pickup basketball or football game. Lino, Green, Cozens and Parr all towered above pretty much every starting player on the other team. Canelo has some good speed in the base paths (bad call when he tried to stretch a double to a triple…he slid between the 3rd Baseman’s legs but was called out…when he wasn’t) and Tromp had a nice catch on the run in the gap to his left…showed real good range getting to it.

    Anderson (the starter) had a nice curveball that he seemed to be getting quite a few swing and misses on. The fastball was average at best which he lucked out with because the other team was hitting line drives right at the defense. The homer he gave up left the stadium (not sure how often that happens but the field dimensions are pretty standard being that its a new build).

    Lino Martinez had a good arsenal of off speed stuff and had the Ironbirds off balance during his two innings.

    Other than that, our guys were hitting the ball hard and to me, there isn’t really a weak link in the lineup. Very good to see.

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      1. Velo for Anderson was 88-91 for the fastball and 74-76 for the curve. Think he may had a change that was running 81-83, per the stadium gun.

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  8. Im not gonna lie, i was shocked a bit when i read the philly.com recap and it said that Hoby Milner had pitched for the ironpigs and went 3.1 giving up 2 runs, 1 earned… but i see now that it was Minor and the writer just got the wrong name…. Nothing to see here.

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  9. I don’t know how this signifies a lack of hustle or a poor attitude or anything. It might signal you’re a terrible defender.

    If you lose a ball in the lights, what are you supposed to do besides freeze and look around for the ball?

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    1. I agree, and don’t understand the fuss. What would make anyone think that Greene intentionally didn’t play the ball?

      It’s not like Greene would be the only player to lose the ball in the lights.

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      1. The idea was that Greene didn’t do anything, just stood there, and so maybe not only did he not see it, but he wasn’t paying attention in the first place. Hickory’s write-up seems to indicate otherwise. I agree there’s not much someone can do hen they losa a ball in the sky. Yell for help and hope you don’t get drilled on the head.

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  10. Mitch Walding has 8 BB in his last four games. I’m struggling to understand why someone who by all accounts has a gorgeous swing, and clearly has some level of pitch recognition, is not hitting better.

    Nice game for Knapp. Hopefully he’s in the mix for the catching job in Clearwater next year.

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    1. I completely agree with you. In over 600 PA’s he has an isolated slugging of 0.75 which is in Ben Revere territory.

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    2. Is Knapp going to end up as a catcher? I thought I read during the draft that he’s strong offensively but weak as a defender. If I’m wrong, let me know. He’s mostly DH’ing (16 games to 2 catching). This could easily be letting him rest from the rigors of the mask & chest protector after a long college season. in the 2 games he’s caught (SSS and all), he has an error and 4 – 0 SB to CS. I like the kid a lot but will he end up in a corner OF position?

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      1. I see Mitch had a little news on Knapp a little further down in the thread, Knapp has strained tendon in his throwing arm so that explains why he isn’t catching much.

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  11. WPT and GCL are both SSS, but anytime guys are hitting it is good. When they are not, chalk it up to SSS.
    Evaluations are being done now, but most of the instruction for these draftees will come in the Fall.

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  12. One of the Anonymouses posted it in the last box score recap thread, but in case anyone missed it: Joe Jordan basically said that Shane Watson was put on the DL for fatigue and not for anything they’re seriously concerned about.

    ‘”He is fine, but he’s a little tired right now,” Jordan said. “We’re getting ready to give him a breather, and he has logged a lot of innings.”‘

    http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/phillies/20130714_Seth_Rosin_raves_about_Maikel_Franco.html

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    1. That’s great to hear. Hopefully when he returns to the rotation, he’s allowed to unleash all of his pitches and resume the momentum he’s picked up recently.

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  13. Andrew Knapp appears to be doing alot of DH’n. Lino seems to be doing the bulk of the catching.
    One of them should be moving to lakewood which is in need to good catching

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    1. Knapp has a strained tendon in his throwing arm from overuse. He’s fine to hit, but hasn’t thrown in 2-3 weeks and he won’t for another week or so. That’s why he’s been DHing.

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  14. One more game and Serritella could pass Aaron Altherr in BA. Did not think that would happen six weeks ago. However, OBP and OPS still favor Altherr.

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    1. That would be impressive if Serritella wasn’t a 23 year old 1B/DH. If he was a 22 year old CF, his numbers would be OK. As a 1B, he is still hitting at a non-prospect level.

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      1. I agree. But, I do like that he’s improved in every month. July is really the first month where he’s hit like a 1B prospect his age should hit, but it’s worth it to see how long he keeps it going.

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    1. It really is a pretty good comparison. The thing Biddle has going for him is that he’s bigger than Zito, which, hopefully, will help Biddle avoid the enormous drop in velocity experienced by Zito mid-career

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  16. Biddle’s Changeup has been getting some praise as of late. Hoping this offseason he can add a few more pounds and add a tick or two to the fastball. And during Spring Training I’d love to see him be around Lee and Hamels as much as possible.

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    1. Why add weight? He lost weight last off season and both he, and the Phillies, say he’s in the best shape of his life.

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  19. Biddle buckles him with a curve on the first pitch for strike 1. Franco fouls off a fastball for strike 2. Curveball out of the zone for strike 3- Franco not even close to it.

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  21. Biddle went curveball (looking strike), 93 mph fastball that Franco fouled off, then went a away with a curveball to get the swinging strikeout

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  25. I saw Franco’s first at bat , they didnt even mention his name , affiliate team , age , absolutely nothing , they talked about an injured player who I dont think even pitched this season and his relationship to the guy on the mound , then I blinked and missed the biddle vs franco at bat and way to go mookie for using biddle for 0.1 innings

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      1. there was major Bogearts and Sano suck fest going on with the announcers , wasn’t there

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        1. yeah that what I was saying they talked about the bromance between , bundy and bradley , and how great they even mentioned that the speedy Hamilton caught the ball but not how the ball got out there or anything as if it just went straight from the quote free spirit and object of Sutcliffs affection. Atlhough I guess they would have said something had he smacked a homerun or gotten a hit , Franco is young and definitely has promise it just didnt show much today.

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      1. And Franco’s first PA they were busy talking about Dylan Bundy and his TJ Surgery. Weak.

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  26. I was thinking, why is a college 2 nd round draft choice like knapp. playing in williamsport, thought he would at least start in lakewood, since he is almost 22 years old. and a college player, who was drafted high,

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    1. Because you want to get him started without messing up guys you are working with. If he continues to mash you could see them move him to Lakewood, either way he is destined for Clearwater next year.

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  28. From Keith Law

    Biddle threw best breaking ball of the day

    Slow, but very sharp that he commands very well

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    1. I love how Law always seems to throw in a dig even when complementing, how many people throw fast curve balls , I can understand if it were some slow slider he could say that was a negative ,but its a 12 – 6 curveball, hell Oswalt used to through one around 70mph I believe

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      2. Jesse Biddle: Andy Pettitte comp from what I heard twice yesterday from two different analyst..

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  29. With 1 more double, pointer will have 20 doubles, 20 sb,s with 5 home runs and 2nd on team in rbi’s. Not sure many other players have those types of numbers across the board.

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    1. He’s a player worth following. He’s improved his OBP a bit from his half season at LWD last season but is still striking out too much. He needs to keep improving in the second half but he’s shown that the skills are there

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  30. I guess in 1 AB, you have your order for top prospect in the Phillies organization. Biddle then Franco… Personally I’m going to flip a coin when we do our top 30.

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  31. Greene may have screwed up that night but yesterday he absolutely destroyed a ball that was inches short of clearing a 20 foot high fence and made a cannon throw from left field to first base, doesn’t look athletic but is very toolsy.

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  32. You know, I love looking at the Williamsport box score every night. Green, Cozens, Pullin and Lino are serious prospects. Green is especially noteworthy. I’m aware of the strikeouts and it’s an issue, as is his fielding. But as a hitter, this guy is just stupendous. He hits everything hard. 20 of his 28 hits are for extra bases. That’s phenomenal. He and Cozens are going to be in, or hovering around, my top 10.

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    1. You left out Knapp. He’s been one of the most impressive on Williamsport’s squad so far.

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  33. BP just posted an absolutely GLOWING report on Crawford in the Monday morning Ten Pack.

    Highlights:
    Smoothest SS in the GCL over the last three seasons.
    Awesome 2-strike approach.
    Great Team Guy
    Hard Worker.

    I LOVE this pick so far. I was very worried going in thinking he was just an overly toolsy, non-baseball guy. Happy I was wrong.

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  34. To switch subjects the Phillies said they were going to move Cesar Hernandez to Reading to play CF to see if he can help replace Ben Revere. Has anyone seen any personnel moves showing that?

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