Box Score Recap – 6/18/2014

Box Score Recap

Cameron Rupp went 2-4 with two doubles and Cody Asche was 2-3 with a home run for Lehigh Valley. Rupp could have really stood to string together a couple multi-hit games in a row for the betterment of his offensive game, but he may be derailed from that for a bit. I imagine he won’t argue with a call-up – his brother sent him Twitter congrats last night for going back to the bigs. I guess that’s a pretty good source, even though it sounded late last night like Wil Nieves was planning to reevaluate today. I suppose Rupp could be on his way to St. Louis and get turned around if Nieves is actually ok. We should know in a few hours.

All nine R-Phils were on base, eight by hit and Logan Moore drew a walk. Zach Collier hit his first home run of the year, and Jesse Biddle worked through early trouble to put up a decent start – he threw 63% for strikes, which is almost halfway between really not good (<60%) and good (>2/3), so I’ll call it “meh”. Marginally ok. He allowed two home runs among the four hits and three walks he served up, while striking out five in seven innings.

J.P. Crawford’s A+ debut was rained out, and Lakewood was on the last day of their All-Star Break, while Williamsport needed 11 innings to beat Jamestown. Aaron Brown debuted with a 1-4, Cord Sandberg continued his season-long hitting streak and Jia Tromp went 4-5 with a double. He’s outclassing the league. Maybe someone can move up to A+ from Lakewood to get him time on the field there, but who that would be remains a question. I’d say pushing either Cozens or Tocci seems unwise right now, but Hiciano has probably proven himself enough at the plate, so maybe that would work. I’d guess they won’t do that for a couple weeks now that they’ve sent Tromp to WIL, but they could push it whenever if they really want to.

And in all the Jesus Alastre talk, I’ve kind of ignored Luis Mendoza, but the 17-year-old outfielder is OPSing .844 in nine June games and close to .700 on the year now. You’ll see below that I included a stat view of Manny Chavez, Phillies guy on loan to the Mexican League. Keeping in mind he’s never pitched stateside, and he’s facing lineups that include guys like Jake Fox, Chris Roberson and many former high-level minor leaguers and mostly-cup-of-coffee major leaguers, (plus Willy Taveras), this assignment is a huge test for him. Seeing how he handles himself after a couple bad outings like he’s had recently could tell us a lot about where he stands right now. I’ll try to remember to check back in a few weeks.

Here’s the affiliate Scoreboard from MiLB. http://www.milb.com/scoreboard/index.jsp?sid=milb&org=143&ymd=20140618

6-18-14 boxscores

35 thoughts on “Box Score Recap – 6/18/2014”

  1. Not to be a nitpicker, but shouldn’t it be “Maybe someone can move up to A+ from LAKEWOOD to get him time on the field there, but who that would be remains a question.”

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    1. Figured he would be, but I forgot to mention it.

      Think he and Altherr just sat around in spring training talking about the Fatherland?

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          1. Brad it’s “Vaterland” and Romus Sehr gut……not sure what you trying to say with Fastnacht but rock on.

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  3. I’m really hoping Kelly Dugan can put together a good month or two at the plate. He’s been unfortunate with injuries, but I’d like to see him pushing for a promotion to LV by August.

    Jesus Alastre is 2 for 10 on SBs. That’s a terrible. I know it’s hard to tell due to him playing on another continent, but is he slow or is he getting bad jumps? I would guess the latter since being able to play CF requires a touch of speed.

    Is there a player I should be watching in the DSL? It seems to me that any prospects we may or may not have in that league are having less than stellar starts to the year.

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    1. I wouldn’t worry about Alastre’s base stealing prowess. He’s 17 and hitting leadoff for the VSL team, which means the Phils think he is one of the best prospects there. He needs to practice all aspects of baseball and stealing bases is well down the list of things for him to master. Be happy he is getting hits and not striking out too much.

      For what it is worth (not much), the Caribbean is considered part of North America.

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      1. Not that I care about the thumbs down , but why wouldnt you want to watch him, interesting guy from Europe who got a substantial bonus probably the highest on this team, So yeah dont watch him

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          1. But still someone to watch maybe ?
            I think . How many Euros play in the Dsl ?

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          2. Yeah but still somebody to watch because of the wildcard factor. i think its interesting that the phillies went out of the box and went Euro !

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            1. Speaking of Euro’s, Marek Minarik pitched against the Crosscutters tonight. I guess Kamara is along the same lines. Who knows what he’ll turn out to be.

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  4. Williamsport is certainly an interesting team to follow. Just about everyone in their lineup is some sort of prospect.

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    1. Going to answer my own question. Cautious… Def Cautious, looking at his last couple of years stats. But would love to hear from someone who has seen him play.

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      1. RD, he’s a bit of a toolshed, runs very well, throws very well, above average center field defense (I talked with someone yesterday who put him a tick behind Tocci), the power is legit for as small as he is. But the kid is put together.

        He’s far more polished than many other of the toolsy outfielders who have come through here in my five-plus years. He’s ahead defensively from where Castro was. He’s ahead offensively from Altherr when he was here, but Altherr probably has the higher ceiling. He needs to stick in center to gain his most value, which shouldn’t be a problem.

        I don’t see his demotion as him repeating Williamsport. He’s here because he needs to play, and he’s just not going to play with what they have in Lakewood. Guys like Cozens and Hiciano probably have higher ceilings, but I think Tromp is a more polished baseball player right now. He’s too good to be here in Williamsport, but probably not good enough to unseat Cozens and Hiciano just yet.

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    2. He was a 6-figure signee. A little on the small size but seems to have legit power. Reminding me a little of Leandro Castro when he was younger though I really have no idea what Tromp’s ceiling is. A little speed and power and enough defense to be passable in CF is a good start.

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      1. He swings VERY hard and the power is real. Whether he can hit off speed stuff with that swing is the question.

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    3. Pretty cautious. He’s repeating Williamsport, which suggests the Phillies don’t think he’s ready for Lakewood. He’s age-appropriate for Lakewood, so having to repeat Williamsport is not a good sign. Although he put up good numbers last year, his peripherals were pretty bad, and he struggled in Lakewood this year. This all points to him not being a great prospect.

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      1. By the way, Tromp vs. Tocci make for an interesting comparison:

        2013: Tocci = .510 OPS, Tromp = .516 OPS
        2014: Tocci = .613 OPS, Tromp = .616 OPS

        So basically Lakewood Tocci = Lakewood Tromp, but 2 years younger (23 months to be exact) and a better fielder.

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  6. Speaking of the VSL team, another guy who seems worth watching is a SS, Daniel Romero. He just turned 17 last month and he’s in the everyday lineup, which is impressive in itself. On top of that he has 9 Ks and 8 BBs in 89 PAs. Just no power so far.

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  7. In the VSL, every day players that interest me are Alastre, Mendoza, and 18 year old antequera. From the DSL Kamara (the german kid), Martelo was a recent big money sign, and maybe Beufond because hes still 17 and catching.

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