Box Score Recap – 4/7/2014

Box Score Recap

With two rain-outs and a scheduled off-day, only Lakewood was in action Monday. The bullpen couldn’t hold two leads, as Cody Forsythe gave up three runs in the ninth, and Tyler Buckley gave up two in his second inning of work in the 11th. All of this couldn’t obscure J.P. Crawford‘s 4-6, 2B, HR, 4R, or Dylan Cozens’ 4-6, 2B, 3 RBI. We’re going to be talking about that Lakewood lineup all year.

Here’s the affiliate Scoreboard from MiLB. http://www.milb.com/scoreboard/index.jsp?sid=milb&org=143&ymd=20140407

4-8-14 boxscores

39 thoughts on “Box Score Recap – 4/7/2014”

    2. Moving him up half way through the season would be quite aggressive – and maybe appropriately so, depending upon how well he plays.

      I like Crawford as much as anyone – I would probably rank him first in the system. But let’s not forget that he’s ALREADY playing with and against players who are typically 2 or 3 years older than he is. But patience.

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        1. Well August is a bit more than half way through the season. 🙂

          It’s interesting,though … there is a tendency on this site to get overly excited about Phillies’ prospects. Crawford’s so good (potentially) that it’s almost impossible to get too excited about him. You mentioned in another thread that Law sees him as a possible top 10 candidate – if you think about it, that’s quite plausible. If he indeed keeps it up – say in the neighborhood of .300/.360./.420 in Lakewood, continues to play good defense, gets promoted in July or August and keeps playing well – that’s a top ten in baseball prospect.

          I think he’s the Phillies starting shortstop in June of 2016. Beyond that I am not going to predict.

          Here’s an interesting project – how far back do you need to go to find a better Phillies’ prospect at his age/level?* Obviously you need to rule out the college prospects – apples and oranges comparison. You can make an argument for Hamels I guess. The there’s Rollins – at Crawford’s age (a couple of month’s older) he played the whole season at A+ and was pretty good.. Before that … you need to go back AT LEAST to the early to mid 80s.

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            1. Agree on Rolen, and before him probably Samuel or Franco in the 80s as for position players.

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          2. It’s easy to forget what a buzz Hamels generated – but at the same age and without the benefit of hindsight, Crawford is the better prospect. Right now, it looks like Crawford is the best (or clearly one of the best) Phillies prospect in roughly a generation – to me, the real question is whether he is a generational talent in all of baseball. It’s certainly possible although it’s far too early to tell – it will depend on how much power he produces. And, yes, it’s almost impossible to get too excited about him as a prospect. I think by the end of the year, we’ll have a very good idea about his ceiling.

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            1. When I hear “generational talent” I think a Harper, Trout, Strasburg, Heyward type. I don’t see how Crawford is nearing that level, so I think that’s too strong a word. I am excited about him though. I thought about calling him the top prospect in our system a few months back, until the scouting reports on Franco got more optimistic; but after this season I think he’ll likely be the best one we’ve got by a long shot.

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            2. I don’t see him as a generational talent in all of baseball. Coming into this season, he wasn’t even the top-ranked minor league SS talent. He didn’t just become a generational talent in baseball, based upon 20 plate appearances in 2014. In any case, generational talents are not identified in low-A ball.

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            3. Yeah, but those guys distort our impression of what we mean by “generational talent” – the past 3 or 4 years have, arguably, seen the biggest concentration of young talent EVER – though obviously we won’t know for sure until 10 years or so down the road when those guys careers play out.

              That said, I’m not ready quite yet to enter into a conversation about Crawford possibly being a generational talent. 🙂

              It is interesting, though, to compare him to Rollins. I can see him, if everything breaks right, being better than Rollins almost across the board, except for speed. And that’s pretty darn good. Though that’s a big “if” and moderate “except for.”

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            4. For the record, had it not been for Hamels’s constant injuries he would have been a WAY more touted spec than Crawford. His numbers were CARTOONISH in the minors. I couldn’t even imagine how much this board would explode if we had a pitching spec put those types of numbers up sans injury.

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            5. Hamels was the better prospect and there is little chance of Crawford reaching that high. Hamels was the #17 prospect in baseball the year after he was drafted. He fell a bit due to injury concerns (51IP combined in 2004 and 2005) and then just rocketed into the majors faster than he could go back up lists.

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          4. Hamels did look at least this solid at age 19, but then looked iffy for injury reasons the next season. Rolen looked this good at 19. Rollins did not hit nearly this well. Caution for very small sample size in 2014. I’d say Gavin Floyd looked as good in his age 19 season and had the pedigree to back up the stats.

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            1. Yeah, I forgot about Rolen. It’s POSSIBLE that Crawford will exceed that this season, but far from certain. Of course we’re ALL perhaps a LITTLE premature in assuming a certain level of age 19 performance after just 3 games. 🙂

              I think it’s fair to say that, at least in the past 25 years, Rolen was the best 19 year old position prospect we have had. Of course he went on to a near HOF career. (Maybe not quite that good in common perception, but IMO that good in reality.)

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            2. Apropos of what started this topic, Rolen, despite performing exceptionally well in his age 19 season, wasn’t promoted to A+. So I wouldn’t make any assumptions about Crawford getting promoted.

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          5. As enthusiastic as I am about Crawford, to throw just a little cold water on the “possible top ten in baseball if he breaks out” talk, comparing him with Bogaerts at the same age … suggests it may take a bit more than I suggested above to propel him quite THAT high. Though Bogaerts was a couple months older for his age 19 season, and (if I recall correctly) his defense wasn’t regarded quite so highly.

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  2. Yes indeed, the lineup is pretty darn good. By June or July, we may see some promotions and we’ll be talking about CLW the rest of the year. Although Quinn and Walding are on the DL so this could get interesting in both CLW and LKW.

    Pitching is another thing. With 3 or possibly 4 impact pitchers are on the DL: Mecias, Watson & Manzanillo with Delvi Francisco also there, it will be awhile before things get going. I’m not sure any lineup can score enough runs to get over the pitching issues. Shane Martin goes tonight (I think), so that could be a bright spot. The diminutive Ulises Joaquin has been solid in relief. He was mainly a starter in past years but his Ks have ticked up when he moved to the pen. I’ll bet they use him like they did Bonilla. They’ll pitch him in relief for half the year and then start him in the 2nd half of the year. Mark Leiter, with his pedigree, will be a guy to keep a close eye on. What do people know about Arteaga? The soon to be 20 year old has not been much of a K guy but he had a good 1st outing with 6 Ks in 5 IP.

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    1. I was looking for info on Arteaga yesterday but couldn’t find much. In 2011, he was suspended 50 games after testing positive for banned substances. But the fact that he’s 19 and in Lakewood probably means he’s worth following.

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    2. Joaquin missed last year. Not sure it was TJ surgery but it could have been. If so, it makes sense that they ease him back. I do remember reports from 2012 about his “electric” arm, though at his size he may very well end up being more of a bullpen option. I think they like Arteaga and Casimoro both. Hopefully they are projecting from a couple of years ago when they were not thought of as decent prospects. Our low minors is hurting for additional pitching prospects at the moment, so any bonus from a previous non-top 30 prospect would be great.

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  3. I think the 2 most likely players for a call up to Clearwater are Crawford and L. Greene. Crawford has the pedigree and has had little trouble so far. I saw someone put 60 games on another thread. I think that’s about right. What would be real interesting is Quinn. Phils say he’s remaining at SS. If Crawford gets call up they’ll be at same level with Quinn possibly coming back in 2nd half.
    The reason I say Greene is because that’s where he should be at this point. If he puts together a solid 2 months I could see them promoting him. Especially, since CWater is so limited with prospects

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    1. I said 60 games – that’s a minimum, assuming he continues to dominate and starts to iron out the fielding miscues. That Lakewood lineup is really something – I have a sneaking suspicion that several guys on that team will end up with the Phillies.

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    1. Let’s not overlook Willans Astudillo. He’s hit wherever he’s been when healthy. He seldom misses the ball. He’s a hitter. His defensive position?

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      1. Sorry, he probably had no shot. He’s not playing catcher at all and he’s really small for a 1B. He hits for average but not power and can only play a power position so the odds are against him. He can hit for average though.

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  5. Even though it is a minuscule SS, those power numbers and few strikeouts are a great early sign from Crawford.

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  6. Love Crawford, but it is WAY too early for any discussions about moving up. Baseball is all about adjustments. The pitchers will find the hole in his swing and he will struggle. The true test is how he responds.

    I am also very encouraged by how Cozens has started.

    Any reports on Tocci’s weight? Did he put on much muscle this offseason?

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    1. I *think* his hasn’t changed too much (I believe it was mentioned in one of Jim’s ST writeups, it may have been a commenter), but he’s still only 18. I don’t doubt he’ll put on some weight eventually.

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  8. Good start hitting by JP but he has 3 errors in 4 games, as does Green which is bad for the left side. Long way to go before someone gets considered for a promotion, at least 50-60 games, after the all star game.

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    1. Remember errors are not a good way to judge young shortstops, especially those with good range. Andrelton Simmons had 28 errors in a short hi-A season just over a year before making his major league debut

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  9. Looks like Austidillo days behind the plate are done since he blew his knee out last year and had the surgery. But his bat and eye are still exceptional, at least when it comes to contact ability.

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    1. Like Joseph, he needs to catch to be a prospect. He may not be fully recovered and is just playing off catcher to get AB. The knee surgery really shouldn’t prevent a return to catching next season or later this year.

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      1. Shouldn’t prevent him from doing it, but probably will. Not many catchers catching after ACL surgeries..

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        1. Though Victor Martinez could be one exception to that.
          Hopefully Austidillo will be able to give it go.

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  10. Crawford is why I will be visiting my first Lakewood game on Friday. Hoping for good weather and some fireworks during and after the game 🙂

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