Box Score Recap – 4/6/2014

Box Score Recap

Cameron Rupp is raking right now. Just absolutely mashing. He’s OPSing 2.381 over his three games, and today he hit his third home run. Crushing it. My goodness.

Perci Garner had a fine outing, picking up the victory via a six inning, six strikeout performance. Ken Giles struck out the side in order for his second consecutive save. He’s recorded six outs thus far in 2014, all Ks.

And in Clearwater, Cole Hamels gave up two homers to Dwight Smith Jr. and little else in a four inning rehab start. Smith retired after the game, citing that one Seinfeld where George leaves a meeting after making a successful joke. “I’m not topping that one,” said Smith. When asked about it, Hamels said, “I don’t know that one. I stopped watching after season six.”

Here’s the affiliate Scoreboard from MiLB. http://www.milb.com/scoreboard/index.jsp?sid=milb&org=143&ymd=20140406

4-6-14

 

27 thoughts on “Box Score Recap – 4/6/2014”

  1. What can I say? Altherr & Gillies better get their butts back on the field and Collier better start showing something because watch out for Peter Lavin. His triple slash is .571/600/.786 with a 1.386 OPS. He also has 3 assists in 4 games so far. He’s been a CF’er a lot of the time in the minors so the bat can play there. He was injured a large portion of last season so he’s eager to get things going early. His downside is he’s 26 already and has the three people, mentioned above, ahead of him on the depth chart. From where I sit, at least two of them won’t be on the 40 man roster by mid-season and might be in some other organization. If Lavin keeps it up, he’ll get a lot of discussion on this site. He’s not in the top 30 discussion but keep playing until someone notices you.

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    1. Let’s give Lavin time to come back to earth. He’s on a nice little run, conveniently situated at the start of the season.

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      1. No doubt I like the 100 PA incremental evals for measuring progress but it is better to have a good start than a slow one.

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      2. It is also his 3rd year there and he is 26 – really nothing to note other than the reason he is probably still with the Phillies organization is our lack of prospects at Clearwater. Hopefully Larry Greene can earn a quick promotion.

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    2. He’s 26 and in his 3rd season in Clearwater. Frankly, I’d be concerned if he wasn’t hitting the cover off the ball like that.

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  2. I saw the Rupp homer and Giles’ inning on MILB.com archives this morning. I also watched Pettibone pitch.

    Pettibone looks completely healthy. There was no gun, but he appeared to be sitting in the low 90s and he looks like he’s filled out (in a good way) since last year. He looks strong and ready to rolle.

    Rupp’s homer was the type you love. Low, inside pitch, he just dropped the head of the bat on it and it was gone.

    Giles was on fire. Wow! He still needs some work with his command and he’s going to have to learn to mix his slider in with the fastball, but when you throw in the high 90s (contrary to prior reports, the ball was really moving – it wasn’t straight at all), you can just toy with minor league hitters, which is what he was doing. I also like that he seems comfortable working up in the zone. I know pitching coaches harp on not leaving pitches up, but when you’re a true power pitcher, that’s where you overpower opposing batters, rather than leaving the ball down where hitters can make good contact. They didn’t show the gun, but based on what I saw, I suspect Giles was sitting between 95 and 99 – he was throwing some serious gas (if you were there, could you comment on his velocity?). If he keeps going like this, he might be in Philly by the summer (or sooner).

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    1. was at the game. Giles was 99 consistently on gun and peaked at 101. My only concern was he was 100% fastballs and 2 of his strikeouts would have been ball 4 if the hitter had laid off. Still impressive, but would have liked to see a slider mixed in occasionally.

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      1. That’s even better news than I expected on the velocity.

        I hear you on his throwing balls out of the zone, but why wouldn’t he throw it up in the zone if they are going to swing? By the way, the last strikeout was a nasty moving fastball at the knees, which is encouraging.

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      2. This means he throws harder than Kimbrel (Kimbrel sits 96-98, touching 99). Kimbrel is, of course, much better because he has the most movement on his fastball of pretty much any pitcher I’ve ever seen – his fastball is the definition of elite and he has other pitches too.

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        1. Pedro Martinez had similar movement on his fastball as did Kevin Brown (ridiculous, moving 2-seamer), but they didn’t throw it as hard as Kimbrel.

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            1. I was going to try not to say anything, but the guy that Giles most resembles on the mound, with his size and stuff, is Nolan Ryan. When he throws a FB, it looks like a Ryan FB.

              Of course, he doesn’t have Ryan’s stuff or (we believe) or Ryan’s amazing ability to throw 130 pitches per game at that speed (to this day, one of the most staggering feats in baseball history is Ryan’s incredible velocity and durability – 27 years of throwing straight out gas – I was 2 years old when Ryan appeared in the majors and 29 with a career when he retired – no kidding. Also, Ryan’s strikeout record [5714] is one of the most unbreakable records in the history of sports – it would require a pitcher to strikeout an average of 200 batters a year FOR OVER 28 AND A HALF YEARS!!!!!! ).

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    2. The one spring game I saw Giles in had his stuff moving all over the place too. I worry that he might have to take something off of the ball to have enough command to succeed in the majors, but the raw stuff is impressive along with his wipeout slider. Batters are not going to enjoy facing him, especially on a cool day. His stuff is not quite Kimbrel – but it is close enough for him to move really quickly if everything comes together.

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  3. I am not sure why but I have always liked Cameron Rupp, It may be partly because of that umpire last year who said that he framed pitches better than anyone he had ever seen. If he hits well it is a bonus. Ever since hearing about Tommy Joseph’s concussions, I have felt that Rupp and not Joseph would be the next Phillies catcher. Joseph is several years younger, but is not off to a good start with the bat at Reading. We’ll know more about both of these guys in a month or two

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    1. At the end of the day, I don’t think either of these guys is going to be the team’s next catcher. But I would agree that Rupp has probably passed Joseph as a prospect, mainly because of the concussions. Keep in mind that Joseph is 3 years younger.

      But that said, Rupp is off to a great start & that is good to see. And whatever else you can say about his fast start, it isn’t BABIP driven. Talk about a three true outcome player – 5 BB, 3 HR, 3 K in 14 PA. He’s only put the ball ion play 3 times, all outs.

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      1. As I noted in another comment I made last week, what’s encouraging about Rupp is that he really has made steady progress from the the middle of 2012 on and he’s looked good in his various major league auditions (regular season and ST). Also, with catchers, especially big, powerful guys like Rupp, the power sometimes comes late, so what we are seeing may very well be real (not a homer a game real, but maybe the power to knock out 20 or more a year – basically, Mike Napoli power).

        And I’ll add this, Rupp is just a fun guy to watch on a baseball field. He plays the game with the energy and passion of UT middle linebacker. Last year, before he was promoted to AAA, I saw him block the plate at a AA game in Reading. He blocked the runner, and stood up and spiked the ball to the ground for emphasis. It almost started a brawl, but he wasn’t being a hot head, he just was sending the message to the other team to ‘bring it on.’ It was awesome!

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        1. I can eventually see Rupp with that Napoli similarity comp if things break right for him along the way and he can maintain health.
          Unfortunately for him, with the new rules, his ‘linebacking’ days at home plate may be a thing of the past.

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          1. Actually now looking at it, where Rupp was situated…up the line out of the box and bending low in a position, to get the throw….he could be legit under the new rules. Since the runner could have gone around him without passing the plate.

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          2. Yup, that was it. Biddle start late April of last year. As I recall, there was some definite comotion after the spike. Anyway, I care less about him blocking the plate than I do his approach to the game and his intensity.

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    2. I wouldn’t really consider Joseph a prospect at this point. Another concussion and he is announcing his retirement. I am also fan of Rupp. All we hear is that if he is the phillies top catching prospect…they are in trouble but all I see is a guy who produces and was considered best defensive prospect for several years now. Plus I think he style would play well in philly.

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    1. AAA May 1 if he’s meeting his strike-throwing requirement. Big leagues when the next guy implodes thereafter. May 22 is my guess, replacing Mike Adams when his shoulder falls apart again. Call me an optimist, I think Adams gets in a solid month in the bigs before things go bad.

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  6. Rupp, to me, should be the next to graduate to the 2nd catcher role for the Phils. His defense seems better than average and he supposedly has a strong arm.

    Nobody expects him to sustain this hot start for long; yet it IS encouraging to think about a power hitting guy behind the plate. During his rise through the system it appeared that he has been a fast ball hitter having some trouble with slower. moving pitches…AKA, trouble with the curve.

    When I looked at his stats, i noticed he had been doing well vs. lefty pitchers and not so well vs righties.

    We’ll see how this plays out, but I hope his plate improvement includes a gain vs righties.

    Still, I can’t see him waiting out this entire season at LV; a call-up seems to be inevitable before this season is over. Nieves out; Rupp in.

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