Daily Archives: February 17, 2014

2014 Spring Training, Day 5

Spring Training 2014

Tomorrow the full squad begins working out at the Carpenter Complex.  As of today, the only guy I haven’t seen in camp is Michael Martinez.  You don’t know how good it feels to finally be able to type that.

Okay, I watched 3 BP sessions  on Saturday, Sunday and today.  Here’s what I saw from the prospects.

Tyson Gillies – First, this guy shows boundless energy.  He seems to run everywhere.  He chases down a lot of fly balls during BP, and does it at full speed.  Saturday, he continued to make good contact, swinging well though the ball with lots of line drives as the result.  He reached the RF Berm on a couple swings.  He’s the only guy I’ve seen bunt after the two mandatory bunts each batter has to lay down at the start of his turn at bat.  I missed his BP on Sunday.  (He was part of a group that batted after shagging fly balls from Samuel).  Monday, he was still making good contact on most of his swings. Continue reading 2014 Spring Training, Day 5 →

Joe Savery Claimed by Oakland Athletics

Other Stuff

Joe Savery who was DFA’d to make room for AJ Burnett, has been claimed by the Oakland Athletics.  On the surface Savery is a fringe bullpen arm with a minor league option left.  The Phillies are stacked with fringe bullpen arms making Savery redundant for the organization.   Continue reading Joe Savery Claimed by Oakland Athletics →

Interview with Josh Norris of Baseball America

* Interviews

Josh Norris wrote the Phillies section for Baseball America this year.  He answered a few of my questions about the system as well as a few specific players.  The full list of Baseball America’s Top 30 prospects can be found here.

Since they were drafted Dylan Cozens and Zach Green have been linked together.  Both put up big power seasons in Williamsport in 2013.  Green is ranked 15 as a 50 high and Cozens comes in at 22 as a 50 Extreme.  What differentiates the two of them in your mind?

First and foremost is experience. This was Cozens’ first full season playing pro ball, and he performed well. There’s still a long way to go. He’s not real strong in the outfield, and some scouts already posit that he’s a first baseman in the long term.

By contrast, Green has plenty of baseball in his past. He performed well above-average in the New York-Penn League and showed enough with the glove that he didn’t get any “he’ll definitely have to move” comments from evaluators I spoke with.

To boil it down to one sentence: Cozens is an extreme because of his lack of baseball experience. Continue reading Interview with Josh Norris of Baseball America →