Around the System–OF, Top Half

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A look at the OF at the upper reaches of the organization. Stats are thru Saturday. The report on Lakewood, Williamsport and GCL will be out this week.

Lehigh Valley

Leandro Castro, 24, Signed as a free agent in 2007; .267/.297/.397 in 292 AB’s; 7HR 43 RBI; 16/22 SB; .364 vs. LHP, .225 vs. RHP; .338 with RISP; 4%bb/18%K rates; .259 since June 1. 77 games in the OF with 6 errors (.966); 6 OF assists. Castro has had a very good year and in my mind has placed on himself on the radar screen for a 4th or 5th OF candidate in Philadelphia next year. His biggest issue has always been his free swinging. While still a free swinger, he is making a whole heck of alot more contact than in the past.  Work in the OF has been less than stellar.

Steve Susdorf, 27, Phils 19th round pick in 2008 draft;.341/.429/.438 in 185 AB’s; 1HR 24RBI; 8SB; .324 vs. LH, .344 with RH, .327 with RISP; .352 since June 1. 13%bb/14% k rates.  43 games in the OF with 1 error (.983); 2 OF assists; I am not quite sure what Lance Nix gives you that Steve Susdorf can’t. Susdorf has been the picture of consistency, hitting both righties and lefties and giving you a very good AB each and every time.

Tyson Gillies, 24, Acquired from Seattle in 2009; .243/.301/.405 in 296 AB’s between Reading and Lehigh Valley; 9HR 27RBI; 11SB; Hitting .273 in 55 AB’s with Lehigh Valley since rejoining ‘Pigs. 8%bb/21% k rates.  83 games in the OF with 6 errors (.966); 8 OF assists. Gillies has been turning it around since his demotion to Reading and there is reason for hope his with return to Lehigh Valley with a new swing.  The last 6 weeks of the season will be critical for the perspective those within the Phils organization hold of Gillies entering 2014. Subject to the occasional brain cramp in the field.

Reading

Zach Collier, 22, Phils 1st round pick in 2008; .198/.281/.316 in 313 AB’s; 6HR 25RBI; 13SB; .203 vs. LH, .197 vs. RH, .194 with RISP: .193 since June 1; 9%bb/28% K rates; 82 games in the OF without an error; 7 OF assists; Collier has been consistently poor with the bat all season.  He has great speed which he is rarely able to use on the base paths.  Has been exceptional in the field.

Kelly Dugan, 22, Phils 2nd round pick in 2009;.305/.380/.500 in 272 AB’s between Clearwater and Reading; 11HR 39RBI; 1SB; Hitting .255 since joining Reading; 9%bb/23% k rates; 62 games in the OF with 1 error (.994); 5 OF assists; A very positive season for Dugan who has solidified his status as a top 15 prospect in the organization, if not higher.

Derrick Mitchell, 26, Phils 23rd round pick in 2005; .237/.314/.431 in 232 AB’s between Lehigh Valley and Reading; 9HR 29RBI; 8SB; .245 vs. LH, .242 vs. RH, .232 with RISP; .259 since June 1; 10%bb/23% k rates. 64 games in the OF without an error; 9 OF assists; Mitchell has a ton of athleticism but has had trouble putting it together consistently in the Phils organization, this year being no exception.

Anthony Hewitt, 24, Phils 1st round pick in 2008; .238/.287/.434 in 256 AB’s; 11HR 33RBI’; 12SB; .388 vs. LH, .203 vs. RH, .182 with RISP; 6%bb/32% k rates; .209 since June 1. 64 games in the OF with 3 errors (.975); 7 OF assists; After an early season which showed glimpses of the promise Phils scouts saw in Hewittt, he has settled into a familiar routine since the end of May.

Clearwater

Aaron Altherr, 22, Phils 9th round pick in 2009;.281/.347/.486 in 327 AB’s; 9HR 56RBI; 17SB; .236 vs. LH, .298 vs. RH, .359 with RISP; 9%bb/29% k rates; .229 since June 1. 79 games in the OF with 1 error (.994); 10 OF assists; Overall, a very good year for ALtherr, but a substantial downhill slide over the last two months and a very high K rate put a bit of a damper on things.  ALtherr is a likely candidate for the AFL in the Fall. Eye popping numbers with RISP, and very good in the field.

Jiwan James, 24, Phils 22nd round pick in 2007; Hitting .258 in 31 AB’s since being activated from the DL about two weeks ago. 7 games in the OF without an error.

Peter Lavin, 25,Phils 20th round pick in 2011 draft; .232/.328/.313 in 112 AB’s; 0HR 8RBI; 3SB; 13%bb/16% k rates; .171 vs. LH, .260 vs. RH, .172 with RISP; 23 games in the OF with 4 errors (.913); 3 OF assists; AFter spending the entire year in CLearwater and hitting .269, a definite step backwards this year for Lavin who spent the first two months of the year on the DL.

Cameron Perkins, 22, Phils  round pick in 2012 draft; .314/.359/.490 in 255 AB’s; 5HR 42RBI; 3SB; .347 vs. LH, .300 vs. RH, .391 with RISP; 6%bb/14% k rates; Hitting .232 in July. 55 games in the OF with 6 errors (.945); 7 OF assists; Perkins missed around 6 weeks with a broken wrist and is still getting himself back into early season form. He was outstanding until going down with the injury and probably was another productive week or two away from Reading. 

Kyrell Hudson, 22, Phils 3rd round pick in 2009; .202/.253/.250 in 168AB’s; 1HR 6RBI; 8SB; .255 vs. LH, .179 vs. RH, .121 with RISP; 5%bb/34% k rates; Hudson was pretty muched totally over matched at this level and has been on the DL for the last two weeks.

34 thoughts on “Around the System–OF, Top Half”

  1. I may not always agree with your opinions, but there is no doubt that you have made this site into FANtastic place to acquire much knowledge about the subject matter than anybody could have ever thought possible. Thanks, again.
    I acknowledge the time and energy you have (obviously) devoted to this task; even improving on the previous excellence. A wonderment.

    How you find the time (energy) to do it all evades me; I suppose you also have the job of taking care of other life concerns. Bravo!

    Just wanted to mention this. Thanks.

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      1. According to Jay Floyd, if you sign out of HS, the Phillies will pay for you to go to a 4 year university whenever you choose. The catch is, it has to be 4 consecutive years. It could be similar to Moose Mattair in the fact that Kyrell is not choosing a four year university so he maintains his college money from the Phillies. He is paying for this JUCO school because he can opt out if it doesn’t go for him.

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  3. I think it is time for the Phillies to go young and give some of the above and others a chance to show what they have to offer. I personally can’t imagine any of them can be worse than Young in Right Field.

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    1. Well … “can’t be worse than Delmon Young” is a low bar, and frankly I wouldn’t mind seeing one of these guys given a shot over him. But …

      The AA and lower players – the ones who are real prospects, and I count 3 on that list if we are being generous – aren’t ready.

      Which leaves AAA. Without going into a long harangue, I’m not as high on those guys as some people. None of them IMO have a chance to be major league regulars, and IMO even bench roles are unlikely.

      That said, it would be interesting to see them give Susdorf a shot. This season’s performance is BABIP inflated, but the man can hit. Mind you, I very much don’t see him being a long term or even medium term answer, but I’d love to replace Young.

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      1. “Without going into a long harangue”

        Best news I’ve heard all morning. Thank you.

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      2. Why Susdorf over Castro? After all, Castro is younger, more athletic with more “tools” & has some pop.

        First of all, in this case, since I don’t see either guy as a prospect, but rather a stop gap, age isn’t a huge deal (and Castro is no spring chicken himself) For the same reason, Casto’s tools/athleticism mean little – the issue is what he is now.

        Which leaves power. Not to devalue power, which is important, but I’ll take on base skills over power given the choice. And let’s not forget actual performance – Susdorf is having a MUCH better season as a hitter, even correcting for the ludicrous BABIP. Yes, Castro would likely give you more in the field and on the base paths, but IMO not enough more to make up for his deficiencies as a hitter.

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        1. Because Castro is a not great fielder with an OPS below .700 and an OBP below .300. I don’t see much to like in that combination. Susdorf at least can hit very well for OBP, which gives him a decent OPS. He has a bat that might be of value. He’s not a total butcher in the field, although nothing to write home about.

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      3. “BABIP inflated”

        It is. However, Susdorf seems to be a guy who just maintains fairly high BABiPs. Perhaps it’s his LD rate. His BABiP was near .400 in ’09, .335 in ’10, .402 in ’11, .326 in ’12 and .387 this year. That’s high, but he’s also maintained higher. And, it’s hard to argue with a guy who maintains close to a 10% BB rate as being a better 5th OF than half the guys on the current MLB roster.

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        1. Yes, he might well maintain an above average BABIP in the majors. .392, or even close to it, no. If he maintained a very robust .330 BABIP in the majors, and even assuming he can maintain his improved K rate, his major league BA would be about .261.

          Which would, if he can ALSO sustain his BB rate, lead to a solid OBA. But (a) that’s a lot of ifs, and (b) he still has no power. But still an interesting guy, and yes perhaps a decent 5th OF.

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  4. I’d like to see Castro can 10 straight games as a starter just too see if he’d rise to the occasion. He just seems like a sparkplug type of guy to me.
    Susdorf really should get a pinch hitter role. He reminds me of another good Phillie PH: Greg Gross. Susdorf is not an oaf in the OF so he could play both RF and LF probably better than Ibanez, Burrell, D.Young but not enough to be a defensive specialist but he certainly looks like he’d be an excellent PH. It’d be cool if he got a chance.

    At start of season the Phillies had all kinds of questions in the OF, basically just Brown and Mayberry. But plenty of (4thOF) possible options in the minors: J.Mitchell, Gillies, James, Collier in CF and Ruf, Castro, Susdorf, Fields at the corners. But none of them has put in a great year to give much hope to the future.

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  5. Susdorf over Nix any day of the week.. another move (on non-move i guess) by RAJ that makes me shake my head.

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    1. Give me a break, Nix was red hot early in the year and pretty sure nobody was complaining about that.

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      1. What I don’t like about Nix as a bench player is that he struggles to make contact consistently, too many times he strikes out when just putting a ball in play could put runs on the board(I’m thinking of the White Sox extra inning game last week, second and third with one out). Also how many times did Manual send Nix or Ty Wigginton up instead Pierre in those situations last year? Drove me crazy.

        I’m hoping that with the success of Frandsen in a bench role this year that we focus on high contact skills over power for our bench spots going forward.

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      2. Give me a break. Nix was hot for about half a month. His best monthly OPS was in April and it was only .741. That’s not hot — it’s barely ok for a corner OF. It looks like he had a couple week period when his OPS was around .800 for the period. That really doesn’t qualify as ‘red hot early in the year’.

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      3. The question you need to ask about Nix is whether this season’s performance is a SS issue or really represents an age related decline. His performance from 2010-2012 really was quite good for a 4th/5th outfielder type.

        Given that he’s gone after this year, I wouldn’t be adverse to giving one of the AAA kids a shot. But let’s not pretend that it is an obvious decision. Nix has had a significantly better career than any of those three players are likely to have.

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      4. Looking back over Nix’s entire career, it looks like he can hit with some power if he gets at least 300 plate appearances. However, with the Phillies, he doesn’t get to play that much. If I’m RAJ, I am not signing Nix unless I know that Charlie is going to play him quite a bit. That being said, his performance this season has certainly not earned him a lot of playing time, which is too bad because with all the injuries could have really helped them.

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        1. Sorry, the last sentence should read: That being said, his performance this season has certainly not earned him a lot of playing time, which is too bad because with all the injuries he could have really helped them.

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        2. Yeah, I haven’t looked at his career numbers but I think Nix might be competent if he gets actual playing time. He was doing better early in the season when he was getting some starts in the OF, but as a pure pinch hitter he’s been terrible and doesn’t get to add value defensively since he’s a pretty decent fielder. I still think Nixberry would make a better RF than Delmon.

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  6. I’m interested to see what Castro can do too. When I saw him play in May he looked heavier than the 175 lbs he’s listed as. Very big through the waist, but has decent speed. His OPS probably needs to be closer to .750 for the Phils to get serious about him though.

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    1. I’ve always thought Castro profiled as a 5th OF in the majors because he can play all 3 positions and I think he could be a good pinch hitter. I also think Susdorf could hit in the majors and be a Greg Dobbs type of pinch hitter. However, the big club is not doing anything with D Young right now. He’s probably their hottest hitter and losing Revere was huge because Mayberry can’t play RF against lefties now and he will show us again how he can’t hit righties consistently. If only Gillies (or Collier) had hit this year….. RAJ is telling us that he favors a weak 3rd catcher over any of the minor league OFs we have now. That’s sad…..

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      1. Yeah, but I don’t think that (3 catchers) is a long term issue. I think the Phillies are trying to get Kratz and Chooch as many at bats and as much playing time as they can right now to determine whether they can afford to trade Chooch. I’d be shocked if there are three catchers on the roster on August 2, but they’ve shocked me before, so who knows?

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      2. Murray. Where did you get the idea that castro would be a good pitch hitter? That guy to me is not a big league player, he swings at anything.

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  7. Agreed, Susdorf has the pro mentality to be able to sit for 3 days on the bench and then come up and delivery a quality at bat.

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  9. If Susdorf is used as Nix has been used, it won’t matter. Hard to be effective sitting on the bench and rarely used. Nix has delivered when he was used regularly. I am not against Susdorf, but I have more regard for Nix than I had when he came to us.

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    1. IMO that is one of Manuel’s weaknesses. He always talks about giving his regulars a break now & then, but he often forgets about it during long stretches of the season. What were Nix’s numbers before/after D Young was brought up. D Young was struggling at first, then he started to hit, then he struggled again. How can you not get Nix some at bats against RH’s occasionally, so he’s not cold coming off the bench as a pinch hitter. How many AB’s did Nix get after D Young came up? I think Nix has been handled poorly this year by the manager & that’s why his performance has suffered. Which makes Fransen’s PH performance that much more amazing. He almost always gives you a good AB, even when he’s sitting for long periods of time.

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