Box Score Recap – 8/19/2014

Box Score Recap

Here’s a quick write-up of what I saw in Bowie last night. Aaron Nola pitched pretty well for Reading. His FB was sitting 89-93, per @stoltz_baseball, though the stadium gun had him touching 96 on one pitch. Not so much. Worked around the edges of the zone fairly well, and got some called strikes with his off-speed pitches. He got BABIPed pretty badly in the fifth, with a single, followed by two consecutive line-hugging bunts that laid waste to Carlos Alonso’s defensive positioning/mobility, a spectacularly-turned double-play grounder from Serna and Cartwright that pushed across a run, and a flyball out. Not sure what more he could have done except try to hex those two bunters.

Jake Fox’s homerun hit the LF fair-pole about 35-40 feet up, not far from the top. Were I to guess in a distance, it would be 700 feet. That’s probably an over-estimate. Kelly Dugan made a nice sliding grab early on, and Albert Cartwright stopped a grounder in shallow right with a fine diving grab and got up quickly to throw out the runner. Cartwright also bunted home Peter Lavin on a perfectly executed squeeze play. No chance to get Lavin at home. Colt Murray was solid in relief, sitting in the low-mid 90s, with a couple nasty breaking balls mixed in with some just-decent-looking offerings. That’s my untrained eye, so who knows. I had to leave after Top 8, so I missed the badness. Good move on my part. I did not need to see Nefi Ogando give up a grand slam.

Elsewhere, Maikel Franco went 3-4 with a double, as he looks to salvage a decent August. OPSing .721 now on the month, .685 on the year. Jessie Valentin picked up his first hit and first steal in A+, JPC stole two on Kyle Schwarber, Quinn stole one and was caught once as he went 2-2 with two walks in the night cap, while Brian Pointer (14) and Art Charles (15) went deep.

Here’s the affiliate Scoreboard from MiLB. http://www.milb.com/scoreboard/index.jsp?sid=milb&org=143&ymd=20140819

8-19-14 boxscores

23 thoughts on “Box Score Recap – 8/19/2014”

  1. Pointer’s HR, OPS up this year.. turning the corner. .or a 22 1/2 year old prospect getting up there in age? I guess next season in Reading is the test. He needs to cut down on Ks though

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  2. Pointer’s HR, OPS up this year.. turning the corner. .or a 22 1/2 year old prospect getting up there in age? I guess next season in Reading is the test. He needs to cut down on Ks though

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      1. I think I read Valentin was moved off SS die to lack of arm strength. Of course that could just be LA’s opinion. Something to watch

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      2. This is the likely scenario. Valentin needs to be at Clearwater, and Pullin has done enough to get promoted. Crawford has had enough ABs at Clearwater and has handled himself quite well for a 19 year old. He should be at Reading if the Phillies want him to replace Rollins in 2016.

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      3. That is what I would do. Valentin plays SS 50%-70% of the time and gets a few games at 2B and DH. Pullin plays the majority of 2B and if he needs extra AB could always play a little OF. Either one of these players might top out as utility guys anyway, so the defensive flexibility is a plus. If one starts to emerge as Utley’s successor than that player would get all the needed playing time at 2B (or be good enough for Reading since they are emerging).

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        1. Valentin hasn’t played SS at all this season though which is why I’m wondering if it was for lack of arm strength or simply to make room for another prospect

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          1. It may not be meaningful at all, but I believe Amaro was quoted right after Valentin was signed on philadelphiaphilles.com as viewing Valentin as someone they wanted to try at 2nd base.

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  4. Lehigh gets shutout with Mayberry,Gwynn,Jr., Hernandez and Galvis in lineup. And this was the Phils bench at the start of the season? Ugh.

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  5. I wonder whether they’ll start Crawford at Reading? He’s done ok at Clearwater, but I wonder if he might be better served by staying down there for a month or so to start the season, just to get the bat going before heading up north in May or June. That kind of schedule would still keep in him in the mix for getting a serious look in Spring Training 2016 and then a midseason arrival if all goes well, which seems like a realistic time frame given the practical service clock issues.

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    1. I think he’s done well enough to to be promoted to reading at the start of next season. He’s been really good over the last 30days and Reading is more hitter friendly anyway. I also think his approach/plate discipline will allow him to keep his head above water while he takes time to adjust

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    2. I thought there was a good chance Crawford be kept in CWater to at least start next year but he just keeps producing. I say keep moving him up the chain if he’s producing.

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    3. There hasn’t been a whole lot of difference between Clearwater and Reading for most of our good hitting prospects. Franco, Dugan, Asche didn’t see much difference in the jump production wise. Although they had varying levels of peripheral differences

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    1. I asked Chris King if he had seen him lately, and he said he’s going to try to see CLR a couple times this weekend, so maybe we will get some scouting on him before the year is out after all. A good report, plus a strong finish, might help us figure if he’s for real in time to call this his breakout year.

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