Lots to talk about today – A good start from Brad Lincoln and Ethan Martin struck out five in two innings. Roman Quinn was 2-2 plus two walks, though he was caught stealing. CLR bullpen backed up a good start from Miguel Nunez. Malquin Canelo and Zach Green had two hits a piece, and Andrew Pullin was a triple short of the cycle. He’s got nine homers on the year. Wonder how many he’ll hit in a better hitting environment in Florida next year. Prediction – 14. And for WIL, Cord Sandberg hit his fifth home run and Rhys Hoskins his ninth. Hoskins 2015 HR prediction? 22. The last 8 at Reading. I’m being bold this morning.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 8/30/2014 →

Let me say this first about Aaron Nola – he’s a 21 year-old coming to the end of the longest season of his life. He’s managed to get guys out at A+ and AA this year to the tune of a 1.07 WHIP. So that’s all well good and fine. But his K Rate at AA is only 5.63 or a K% of 15.3. His FIP at Reading (in a small sample, like the rest of these stats) is 4.90. Anyone who expects him to walk into the Phils rotation next year without some hiccups is asking to be let down, IMO. Not saying this guy isn’t going to be a mid-rotation guy for the better part of his career, barring injury – scouting eyes that know their stuff think that’s still the case, and I have no reason to doubt their consensus will fall apart. Just saying he’s young and has things to work on just like everyone else.

Couple game notes – Cam Perkins went deep – just his second AAA home run and fifth overall. Roman Quinn hit his seventh homer and stile his 31st base. Brian Pointer was 1-3 plus a walk and two steals. His wRC+ sits at 120 for the year. Nice job by him of overcoming that nightmarish start. In the second half he’s got 27 BB and 27 XBH. He’s not showing a hug platoon split, either – just 60 OPS points. I’ll take it. Jia Tromp hit his 14th home run, breaking a franchise record. Take that, Zach Green! And a nice line from David Whitehead, finishing up a comeback from TJ season. He’ll likely need to strike more guys out, but he does keep the ball on the ground, so that’s useful. We’ll see how he fares in 2015.

And one last note – Yacksel Rios? More like Yucksel Rios, amirite? Not a great closer for the promising righty, is what I’m trying to say.

With that – here are the boxes. Three days left, folks.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 8/29/2014 →

Maikel Franco again – this time, not as good a story. He was pulled in the fifth inning of last night’s game. Not called up, as some had speculated, but rather pulled by his manager for unknown reasons. Speculation on Twitter was that it was related to his dropping a pop-up, though he wasn’t even charged with an error, so unless he dropped it because he didn’t hustle to get to it, I don’t know. Didn’t see it. At least he wasn’t pulled for throwing food items at a team employee, like some people.

MAG struck out five in 1.2 IP, but he did allow two of Phillippe Aumont’s runners he inherited to score. Cesar Hernandez had four hits and a walk, and Cam Perkins had three plus a walk. Cesar was a home run short of the cycle, while Perkins is back about .200 on the year, and has hit in five straight, including a three-hit game at the beginning of that run. I imagine it’ll be a good boost for his off-season if he hits a bunch over this weekend, too. Hoby Milner proving once again why wins are especially dumb in the minors – he allowed seven hits and walked five in six innings for the win. Do you want that kind of performance to be counted as “good”? I don’t. Good for him that he managed to work around all that mess and allow only one run, but even David Blaine couldn’t keep up that act over a full season.

Roman Quinn was back in the lineup after a late scratch the night before. So that’s nice. Hope you all have been reading Jim Peyton’s reports from CLR and GCL all year. He wrapped CLR up yesterday evening, and GCL yesterday afternoon, as CLR is done with home games and GCL is just done. Franklyn Kilome pitched well for GCL – he’s one to watch.

Willians Astudillo pushing for the SAL batting title is now hitting .340 after a 3-4 yesterday. He’s got something like nine hundred singles this month, and four doubles, no triples or no homers. I was criticized in the comments for calling him a “singles hitter”. He does have 35 XBH on the year, and Lakewood is a low power environment, so maybe we’ll see some more homers next year in CLR, but the guy is ISOing .104 – that’s Jose Altuve territory. Not exactly a slugger. I hope we see him behind the plate as much as possible, wherever he’s playing, as that’s where he’s got a chance to add value to a team.

And finally, a really nice night from Ricardo Pinto. I’ve mentioned him before, but this one was really impressive. 1R 1HR 3H 3BB 9K in 7IP. And to drive home my point from earlier – he got the loss. He’s struck out 48 and walked just 15 in 47 IP for WIL this year and he’s got a 1-5 W/L record. WINS ARE DUMB, is my point. I know for most of you I’m preaching to the choir. Just something I saw last week got me amped up about pitcher wins again. To be honest, I can’t even remember what it was anymore.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 8/28/2014 →

Maikel Franco 2-3 with a double and a walk (wait, a walk?!?!?). Which is more surprising, Franco walking or Tony Gwynn Jr. hitting a home run? It’s the home run, but it shouldn’t be as close as it is. Logan Moore (4) and Jake Fox (22) went deep for Reading. Six CLR guys had multi-hit games and every starter had a hit except Brian Pointer, who drew two walks and stole a base, as the Threshers came from behind to beat Tampa in 11 innings. Roman Quinn was a late scratch. We’ll see if that was just an off-day they decided on late or if there’s something more going on.

Seven Ks for Jon Prosinski in a good outing for Lakewood. Mitch Walding hit his seventh home run. His August was respectable after a scalding July. Don’t give up all hope yet, I suppose, but take any success this year with a grain of salt, as he was repeating the league. Two hits a piece for Cord Sandberg and Jose Pujols as they got blanked by State College.

And a nice one from Denton Keys. His August – 5R 2ER on 20H 5BB 18K in 23 IP. He didn’t allow a home run all year and is third in the league in ERA and fifth in WHIP with just one day left for anyone to change those rankings. Good season for the late signing 2013 draft pick. The GCL club was eliminated from playoff contention yesterday. The Phils had a rain-out on the 16th and it won’t be made up, so while they’re only a game down in the loss column, NY1 is two up in the win column and clinched the division’s only playoff spot. Had they tied, a one game playoff would have occurred, but it just was not in the cards for the Phils. A bummer for those guys, I imagine, especially if they win and NY1 loses today. They should just  tank to they don’t suffer from “what-if”s all winter long.

Ok, probably teaching young guys to tank isn’t wise. I’ll admit that.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 8/27/2014 →

Maikel Franco again – grand slam on his 22nd birthday. He’s the King of August this year. Mike Adams worked a rehab inning for Lehigh Valley. So that’s something. Sounds like Kelly Dugan is out for the rest of the year with a broken bone in his foot. Bummer. Seven shutout innings for Ryan O’Sullivan. He’s done alright as a starter. We’ll see what they let him do in the AFL – he may be innings limited, but if they really want to see how he handles a good roster the second time through, starting him there would be a way to do it. Brian Pointer was 2-4 for CLR. Dylan Cozens hit his 16th home run of the year. Playing half his games in that Lakewood hitting environment, that’s pretty good.

Seven Crosscutters had multi-hit games, led by Jia Tromp’s 3-4 with a double and a walk. Cord Sandberg took the collar. 0-6. A good outing there from Feliberto Sanchez. 7H 0BB 5K in 5.2 scoreless IP. And nice work by two NDFAs for GCL – Jason Zgardowski and Josh Taylor combined to allow just 1R 5H 2BB and 13Ks in beating the Yankees1 squad to come within 1 game of a first place tie. Two games remaining in that league.

And Arizona Fall League Rosters were announced yesterday. The Phillies have six guys on the list, with one pitcher to be determined. Roman Quinn and Ethan Stewart make up the A ball contingent, with Ryan O’Sullivan, Colton Murray, Nefi Ogando and Logan Moore from AA. No AAA guys were announced, but I’m guessing you could see Ethan Martin from the Pigs, or Seth Rosin from Reading. Matt suggested Austin Wright on Twitter yesterday, and that could be a possibility, too, I suppose, or someone seen as less prospecty like Mike Nesseth or Tyler Knigge. Either way, Quinn’s the headline, and getting Ogando is interesting because it means his Dom Rep Winter team had to allow him to go to AFL – they have right of refusal.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 8/26/2014 →