Monthly Archives: June 2014

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 →

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 →

General Discussion – Week of 6-9-2014 – Wow, It’s Thursday The 12th Edition

Weekly Discussion

Yeah, sorry I forgot to post this Monday. And Tuesday. I remembered Wednesday but then forgot before I got to it, so I guess that doesn’t really count either.

Discuss.

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 →

Williamsport Roster

Other Stuff

Here we go…

Catcher: Deivi Gruillon, Wilson Garcia

Infield: Malquin Canelo, Rhys Hoskins, Jan Hernandez, Wilmer Oberto, Robinson Torres

Outfield: Herlis Rodriguez, Jiandido Tromp; Cord Sandberg

Pitchers: Alejandro Arteaga, Rich Bielski, Delvi Franciso, Manny Martinez, Mitch Guellar; Ricardo Pinto, Frank Rivas, Keivi Rojas, Feliberto Sanchez, David Whitehead

DL: Josh Warner

I would expect both Chris Oliver and Brandon Leibrandt added to the Williamsport pitching staff shortly.

Box Score Recap – 6/10/2014

Box Score Recap

Of course the big news of the day was the Aaron Nola signing, and reports that he’ll likely start in Clearwater (or higher, according to Amaro). I wrote a little bit more about that in the post on that subject from earlier.

Roman Quinn was 1-4 with a double, his second extra base hit of the year, and second in the last three days. Brian Pointer was 3-3 – he also had three hits two nights ago, but in a testament to his continuous inconsistency, he sandwiched a Golden Sombrero in between.

Carlos Tocci managed the only hit for Lakewood, and J.P. Crawford drew the only base on balls, as Hagerstown pitching shut down the Claws. Tyler Viza pitched pretty well, and he continues to throw a heavy ball – he tallied 12 ground outs in seven innings. Continue reading Box Score Recap – 6/10/2014 →

Threshers; June 10, 2014

Game Reports

The rain I joked was scheduled for Wednesday arrived early.  The game with the Tampa Yankees was delayed after 4.5 innings.  Miguel Nunez had pitched a solid 5 innings allowing 2 hits, 2 walks, 5 strike outs, and 1 earned run on a home run to right that would have been a routine fly ball 2 innings later when the weather moved in.   The offense attacked early.  Roman Quinn opened with a ground ball double down the left field line that kicked off the stands.  He scored on a KC Serna single.  Brandon Short followed with a single, but the Threshers could do no further damage.  The Threshers collected hits in each of the next 3 innings, getting the lead off hitter on in 2 of them.  But in spite of singles by Brian Pointer, Angelo Mora, and Chris Serritella, the Threshers were unable to score.  When the heavy rain and lightning caused the umpires to clear the field, the score was knotted at one apiece.

During the break in the action, I went hunting.  Before the game, the PR Director had told me that  at least 8 draftees were in town, but he hadn’t been told who.   Continue reading Threshers; June 10, 2014 →

Lehigh Valley Weekly Report

Other Stuff

Lehigh Valley has lost three straight games and 9 of their last 12, and now sit at 32-34 in the Northern Division of the International League, in 5th place and 5.5 games behind division leading Syracuse.  After a much needed off day Wednesday, Lehigh Valley hits the road for four games against Rochester before returning home for an eight game home stand.

‘Pigs League Leaders, Hitting: Maikel Franco is 6th in AB’s(236); Tyler Henson is 5th in strikeouts(67) and 6th in SB(13)

Pitching: Luis Garcia is 6th in saves(7); Greg SMith in 10th in IP (72.1); Barry Enright is 2nd in HR allowed(12)

‘Pigs Prospects: The original plan was to talk about Tyson Gillies, Darin Ruf and Seth Rosin this week, but Gillies has become a non-prospect; Ruf is on the DL and Rosin was sent down to Reading.  So a few under the radar guys:

Hector Neris has been unscored upon in his last 4 games (5IP 1H 1BB 4K), and overall sits at 1-0 with a 2.95 ERA and 1.09 WHIP in 12 AAA games.  Neris has the ability to throw multiple innings and has very good command, and attribute rarely seen in the Phils minor league system. Continue reading Lehigh Valley Weekly Report →

Aaron Nola Signs With Phillies

2014 Draft, Transactions

Not much but the headline here. Marti Wolever announced that first round pick Aaron Nola, RHP from LSU, has signed. No word on his signing bonus as compared to slot. I imagine that will be reported sometime in the next couple hours. Also no word on where he will start. I guess Lakewood, but it could be Williamsport or even Clearwater.

Update – Reports indicate Nola signed for the full slot value for the #7 overall pick, $3,300,900. At the press conference announcing the pick, Ruben Amaro said Nola would likely start in Clearwater, but did not rule out the possibility of him starting even higher. Starting even an advanced college starter at AA is very unusual. Just for example, Stephen Strasburg started at AA the spring after he was drafted, and Gerrit Cole started at A+ his follow-up spring as well, while Michael Wacha made it to AA after 7 starts at lower levels the summer he was drafted.

We’ve been told from day one that Nola is supposed to be a fast riser, so an aggressive placement would fit that narrative pretty well, but all the way to AA right after the draft still seems pretty unlikely. Won’t be long until we find out, I suspect. There’s not much holding him back, save the conditioning to pitch every fifth day instead of every seventh, and possibly an innings limit that they’d like to slow play in case there’s playoff baseball in Reading this year and they’d like him to be able to participate.

In all, I’m happy with the pick. I would have preferred an upside arm, and only time will tell if the FO lives to regret drafting a low-ceiling, help-us-soon kind of guy into an organization that appears to need far more help than one man would ever be able to provide.