Daily Archives: June 13, 2014

Box Score Recap – 6/13/2014

Box Score Recap

Lehigh Valley got to Twins’ stud Alex Meyer early, knocking him out after two shaky innings where he threw 55 pitches, but only 29 for strikes. The Pigs’ staff made it hold up, shutting out the Rochester lineup on 10 hits and three walks. Brad Lincoln has an 18 inning scoreless streak going, and Luis Garcia hasn’t allowed a AAA run since April. He did have that little blip in there where he went to the bigs and got absolutely blasted over four appearances, but still.

Aaron Altherr, AKA “The Rhineland Rocket”, (yeah, almost no chance that sticks), continues to hit like a man possessed – his June OPS is up to 1.183. His hitting streak has cracked double digits, and he’s hitting .474 over the life of the streak. Goodness. And speaking of goodness, Severino Gonzalez struck out 10 over 6.1IP, though he also allowed nine hits, one of them of the “four bag” variety, and four runs. Take the goodness with the badness I suppose.

Every Blueclaw reached base safely, led by a rehabbing Cody Asche with two homeruns, and Carlos Tocci, Andrew Pullin and Andy Knapp, who all had three hits. Tocci’s OPS is back to .600, after an abysmal May had pulled it below. I notice also that he’s been caught stealing seven of the nine times he’s tried. That’s kinda lousy. Or all the way lousy. Or around 78% lousy, I guess.

Cord Sandberg had two hits in his NYPL debut, and Rhys Hoskins became the first 2014 draftee to take the field for the organization. Clearwater is on their all-star break, with Big Art Charles getting the team’s spot on the roster. The FSL is back Monday, as Lakewood’s break begins, with Crawford, Astudillo, Hiciano and Forsythe invited to that showcase.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 6/13/2014 →

Post Draft Top 5

Other Stuff

Exiting the excitement that surrounded draft week, now is as good as time as any to look at how the Phils Top 5 prospects have changed since the beginning of the season.  This is how it goes now from my perspective.

1.  JP Crawford–I had Crawford ranked second pre-season and his continued excellence has only increased enthusiasm.  He should shortly be moving to Clearwater and remains on target to hit Philadelphia late in 2016.

2.  Aaron Nola–With his college pedigree, Nola is as “cant miss” as you can get in the draft.  He isn’t a can’t miss superstar, but as close to a can’t miss #2 or #3 starter as possible. Those kind of players are clearly at a premium in any organization, let alone the Phillies.

3.  Maikel Franco–I am still very high on Franco, but this years early season struggles make it clear that he has a few glaring weaknesses that need continued work at the minor league level.  I expect Franco to have a long and successful career in Philadelphia, just not as soon as originally expected.  Franco drops from #1 to #3.

4.  Jesse Biddle–I am ready to buy in to the question marks.  I have seen Biddle live look simply awesome in his 15+K performance against Harrisburg last year and also seen him struggle mightily with his command, while becoming clearly flustered by the occasional lack of defense behind him.  He has the talent of a #2 starter.  It is up to Biddle and the Phils to continue to develop it.  He has dropped from #3 to #4 in my book.

5.  Kenny Giles–Just to the majors last week, Giles still qualifies as a prospect with just a third of an inning of major league experience. As I am not about to put the label of #5 prospect on Carlos Tocci, who, albeit at 18, still struggles to hit the ball out of the infield or Kelly Dugan, who has had a half season filled with injuries.  So, it becomes Giles who after a difficult year last year became the talk of the town for the first two and a half months of the season.  He was lights out in Reading and did a decent job in Lehigh Valley with some notable command issues.  His upside is very high as back-end of the bullpen guy who will strike out a ton of hitters.  From from a finished product, best case scenario would have had him in Lehigh Valley until September.

Looking forward to the discussion….

Around the System–Middle Infield

Other Stuff

The minor league depth that the Phillies have currently sits on the major league bench (Hernandez, Brignac, Cedeno) leaving very little at the upper reaches of the organization.  At the lower half, good progression and progress by Pullin and Crawford and to an extent Pullin.

Lehigh Valley

Andres Blanco, 30, Re-signed as free agent in 2014; .244/.327/.302 in 86 AB’s; 0HR 9RBI; 1SB; 9%bb/18% k rates; 24 games at SS without an error; 5 games at 2B without an error; Blanco spent a considerable amount of time on the DL with an oblique injury.  He is outstanding with the glove, and mediocre with the bat.

Nate Spears, 29, SIgned as a free agent in 2014; Hitting .167 in 6 AB’s for Lehigh Valley.

Matt Tolbert, 32, Re-signed as free agent in 2014; .210/.290/226 62 AB’s between Reading and Lehigh Valley; 0HR 1RBI; 1SB. 7 games at 2B with 3 errors (.857); 6 games at 3B without an error; 4 games in the OF without an error; Tolbert has spent the last month on the DL with a broken finger.  When healthy, he is an extra middle infielder for the ‘Pigs.

Freddy Galvis, 24, Signed as a free agent in 2006; Hitting .143 in 7AB’s for Lehigh Valley before going down with a broken collarbone on May 11th.  Expected to be out another month. Continue reading Around the System–Middle Infield →

Box Score Recap – 6/12/2014

Box Score Recap

Phillippe Aumont started his inning of work really well by striking out the first batter he faced. Except for one thing…yeah, wild pitch. Guy gets on base, steals second, scores on a single to center. DYK – Aumont is French for “Oh, for the love of-“?

Ethan Stewart somehow managed to hold Tampa scoreless for five innings, despite allowing three hits and walking five, as CLR shut out the Yankees in a seven-inning affair. Stewart is French for “Uhh…I’m from British Columbia, not Quebec”.

Andrew Pullin, Willians Astudillo and Samuel Hiciano all had multi-hit games in Lakewood’s 3-1 win over Hickory. Pullin also drew his 20th walk, a marked improvement over his 2013 total of seven. Six home runs after just three last year is pretty nice also, and he’s OPing nearly .800 for the month to help out his season line after a weak April.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 6/12/2014 →