Daily Archives: June 12, 2014

Anthony Hewitt Released

Hewitt, Anthony, Other Stuff, Transactions

When you pick for the boom, sometimes you get the bust – Clearwater announced on Twitter that Phillies 2008 First Round Draft Choice Anthony Hewitt has been released. Hewitt was old for his class, when at 19 years old he was taken with the 24th overall pick in out of Salisbury Prep (CT). He received a $1.38 million signing bonus at the time.

Over 2300+ PAs of professional ball, Hewitt triple slashed 223/264/370, with 82 doubles, 24 triples, 63 home runs and 94 stolen bases, and 763 Ks to just 91 BBs.

Matt’s profile of Hewitt’s career is here, last updated in the fall of 2012, before he had what I guess you would call a resurgence in 2013. Last year, the right-handed hitting Hewitt OPSed above .700 for the first time in his career, and added a couple points to his walk rate, while feasting on left-handed pitching, prompting some to wonder at the time if he’d make a short big league career for himself as a platoon/bench option if he could play decent defense and steal some more bases. 2014 has been a train wreck, however, as he OPSed .317 over two levels, having been demoted from AA Reading to A+ Clearwater a few weeks ago.

By many accounts, Hewitt was one of the hardest working guys on every team on which he appeared, and it’s a shame to see a guy like that never figure it out. Sometimes that’s just not enough to force a good ballplayer out of a good athlete.

Box Score Recap – 6/11/2014

Box Score Recap

As some of you may have seen on “The Twitter” today, I am going to be doing some minor league/prospect writing for Crashburn Alley, on a weekly/whenever basis . You’re stuck with me, though, as I’ll still be doing the box score recaps for at least the rest of the year, if not beyond. But enough about me…

It was a light day, with LV and CLR off. Aaron Altherr won the day, going 3-5 with a triple and a home run. Jesse Biddle struggled, and didn’t get through four innings, walking six men and allowing five runs, (though only two were “earned”). Jiwan James with his first two hit night of the year.

The Lakewood lineup went off for 10 runs against Hagerstown, in celebration of Zach Green‘s return to the lineup, no doubt. Green played 1B, which is not ideal for his long-term development, so we’ll see how long that lasts, but he, Crawford, Knapp and Hiciano each had multi-hit games, in support of a strong outing from Mark Leiter Jr., who struck out seven in 7.1 innings and allowed just two runs (0ER) on five hits and no walks.

A couple notes – Drew Anderson hit the DL with a finger injury that had him leave a game this week after one inning. Better than an elbow or a shoulder, hopefully. And Roman Quinn indicated on Twitter that he’d be working on a switch to the outfield. H/T Mitch Rupert for confirming that before Quinn deleted the associated tweets. His value drops a little bit, but if he’s personally got more defensive value in CF than SS, then there’s nothing to be done but hope the bat keeps warming up. We’ve all seen this coming as a strong possibility, and it will free up the position in CLR for J.P. Crawford, whenever he’s promoted. As Matt Winks pointed out on Twitter last night, the SAL all-star break is next week at the full-season mid-point, so that might just be moving day for Crawford, among others, from Lakewood or elsewhere. I could see any of Yacksel Rios, Samuel Hiciano, Leiter or Cody Forsythe moving up as well.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 6/11/2014 →

Hot or Not

Other Stuff

The concern for both Maikel Franco and Jesse Biddle is rising with “funks”, now turning into pattern.  Approaching half way through the season, the body of work is far below expectations for both…Outstading week for Aaron Altherr, who is really starting to put it together…Roman Quinn is moving back to CF and celebrates with a .400 week…Very productive week for Brian Pointer in a season with very little production…Mark Leiter’s struggles seem to have been turned around with 2 solid starts…Keep an eye on Ryan O’Sullivan, In his last 10 outings dating back to May 13th, O’Sullivan is 1-0 with an 0.75ERA, 0.71WHIP, and .169 opponents batting average.

Hot Hitters: Aaron Altherr (.464, 4R, HR, 6RBI, SB); Brian Pointer (.438, 6R); Roman Quinn (.400); KC Serna (.400, 4RBI); Carlos Alonso (.393, 9R); Edgar Duran (.364); Albert Cartwright (.355, 3SB); Logan Moore (.350); Andrew Pullin (.321, 4R); Cameron Perkins (.304)

Not Hot Hitters: Tyler Henson (.000, 0-12); Peter Lavin (.050); Andreas Blanco (.071); Wilmer Oberto (.076); Mitch Walding (.091); ANdrew Knapp (.100);  Maikel Franco (.120); Anthony Hewitt (.130); Art Charles (.136); Brandon Short (.143) Continue reading Hot or Not →