Monthly Archives: August 2014

Box Score Recap – 8/10/2014

Aaron Altherr went deep (12), his third in four games. I hear he’s using a piano leg as a bat. Kyle Simon would like you to take Paul Anka’s advice and “Just Don’t Look” at his line.

Tyler Viza struck out seven en route to his fifteenth loss of the year. Seven is the important number, there. Nice. Andrew Pullin 3-3 with three doubles, and Dylan Cozens had two hits including a two-bagger. He’s got 42 XBH in around 480 PAs. Not bad.

Mitch Gueller has some seriously bad road splits, but he’s getting it done at home. Not sure the remedy for that. Cord Sandberg has hit in nine straight, (h/t Phillies Insider), Jia Tromp was 2-4 plus a walk, and Rhys Hoskins is really turning it on this month, OPSing 1.167 in nine August contests.

Lots of great info in Jay Floyd’s (@phoulballz) latest interview with Joe Jordan – click through to read it. Jordan talks Morgan/Watson, JP and Quinn, upper level outfielders, Viza and Rios, many more, plus Jay gets a couple Lakewood names confirmed for instructs from Greg Legg. And one more – BPro’s Ten Pack has scouting on Jan Hernandez, and at least his part of the article is not behind their paywall, so go check it out.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 8/10/2014

Biddle Watch

The Clearwater Threshers were rained out Sunday at Brevard County.  Miguel Nunez was scheduled to start and is now listed as the starter for Monday night, originally Jesse Biddle’s next scheduled start.  The Threshers are scheduled off Tuesday and back home on Wednesday.  No pitchers have been announced past Monday.  So, maybe Biddle will get the start Wednesday at home.  I hope so.

Around the System–Starting Pitching, Lakewood, Williamsport, GCL

A look at Starting Pitching at the lower levels of the organization.

Lakewood

Ranfi Casimiro, 22, Signed as a free agent in 2010; 22 starts, 4-9 with a 5.21ERA; 107IP 116H 55BB 77K; 11HR allowed; 1.34 GO/AO; .269; 1.60 WHIP; 4.6BB/6.5K per 9; .265 vs. LH, .273 vs. RH; .299 with RISP; 2-4 with a 5.48ERA in 9 starts post all star game.  Pretty consistent mediocrity for Casimiro all season.

Tyler Viza, 19, Phils 32nd round pick in 2013; 21 starts; 3-14 with a 5.27ERA; 110IP 151H 21BB 63K; 8HR allowed; 1.7BB/5.1K per 9; 1.14 GO/AO; .322 opp avg; 1.56 WHIP; .307 vs. LH, .338 vs. RH, .271 with RISP; I have no idea why the Phils stuck Viza in Lakewood as a 19 year old all year.  He was hit around consistently and would have been better served to gain some confidence in Williamsport mid season

Jon Prosinski, 23, Phils 10th round pick in 2013; 22 starts, 4-8 with a 5.22ERA between Clearwater and Lakewood; 120.2IP 152H 27BB 68H 8HR allowed; 1.48 WHIP; 2.0BB/5.1K per 9; 1.58 GO/AO; .305 opp. avg; For Lakewood: 13 starts, 4-4 with a 4.33 ERA, 1.40 WHIP.  Generally a very disappointing season for Prosinski where he was demoted mid season and been slightly above average for Lakewood. Continue reading Around the System–Starting Pitching, Lakewood, Williamsport, GCL

Box Score Recap – 8/9/2014

It’s pretty clear already that I’m not going to have time for this today – here’s the link. And no, Whach Ballier did not go deep, but he did have the walk-off hit.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 8/9/2014

Box Score Recap – 8/8/2014

Zach Collier hit two more home runs. He hit eight homers for Reading last year in about 500PAs. He has seven in his last 25PAs. At that pace, he would have hit 140 last year. I think that might have gotten him promoted. Can we start calling him “Whack Ballier”. Hmm…that sounds…not quite right.

Others going deep: J.P. Crawford (5,6 – wait, that’s TWO IN ONE GAME ALSO!!!); Aaron Altherr (11, second in two games); Angelo Mora (3); Brian Pointer (12); Mitch Walding (5, grand slam); Rhys Hoskins (6, he was 4-4).

Also, there were some nice pitching performances in there – my favorite, Ranfi Casimiro – 1R on 6H 1BB and 7K in 5 innings for Lakewood.

Enjoy your Saturday. Charlie Manuel’s Wall of Fame induction is tonight. If you’ve got nothing else going and are around town, it should be a beautiful night – 84 degrees with no noticeable humidity. Good night for a game. Those of us living out of town will be disgusted by you if you don’t go. Well, not disgusted, so much as…*sighs*…disappointed. *shakes head, sighs again, pauses, shakes head again, turns slowly, walks away with Wawa bag in one hand.*

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 8/8/2014

Crawford Clubs Cubs; August 8, 2014

J.P. Crawford belted 2 home runs as he went 3 for 4 with a stolen base to lead the Threshers to an 8-7 victory over the Daytona Cubs.  Crawford’s 2 home runs sailed over the Oakley sign in right field for those familiar with Bright House Field.  The first cleared the back fence and left the stadium. Continue reading Crawford Clubs Cubs; August 8, 2014

VSL Loses Championship Series

Since I’ve been mentioning it pretty much all week, here’s closure for you – the VSL squad lost today on a walk-off error. Two unearned runs in the last couple innings spoiled a fine performance from Ranger Suarez, who ended the year having given up just one walk and striking out 84 in 88.2 IP. Our main man Jesus Alastre was 2-3 on the day. Nice job by both guys all year, and I imagine we’ll hear from them stateside this fall and next spring.

Here’s a link to the box score.

http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?gid=2014_08_08_vphrok_vtirok_1&t=g_box&sid=milb

Box Score Recap – 8/7/2014

Maikel Franco was 3-5 with a home run (10). His season OPS approaches .700, his wRC+ approaches 90, and I think we sometimes forget, he is still one of the youngest players in the league. Cubs prospect Javier Baez’ recent promotion makes him 2014’s youngest National Leaguer. Maikel Franco’s only about three months older than Baez. Just some perspective. And here’s a note for you – the last Phillie to be the youngest National Leaguer in a particular season was Larry Christensen in 1973. The Braves and Dodgers have had the youngest six times a piece since 1990.

Also for LV – Ethan Martin went three strong innings backing up Jo Jo Reyes, and Hector Neris ran his scoreless streak to 15 innings, (16 if you count that one in the bigs the other night). At AA, Chris Bootcheck, Kyle Simon and Colt Murray combined to throw a two-hit, two-walk, 14k shutout. Mercy. Kelly Dugan was 2-3 with a double and a walk, and Jake Fox (17) and Aaron Altherr (10) went deep. Dugan’s taking no prisoners right now – he’s OPSing .946 over his last ten games. He’s been on base in all but four games since July 1. And it was just one of those days for CLR – Mark Leiter got shelled, and the bullpen behind him did the same, allowing 18 Daytona runs. Art Charles hit his 14th home run and Herlis Rodriguez was 3-3. I imagine we’ll see Charles in Reading next year, and he may hit a ton of homers in that environment.

Andrew Pullin was 3-6 with his eighth home run of the year, and Zach Green was 2-4 with two walks as Lakewood lost in 12. Cord Sandberg went deep (4), his first in a while, and Jia Tromp was hit in the jaw with a pitch, but X-Rays were negative, per Ian Catherine (@IanCatherine27) on Twitter relaying from Jan Hernandez, who got a text from Tromp. Jose Pujols went deep for the second straight game (5) and catcher Jesus Posso hit his first – @statsking wrote up here last week (behind BPro’s paywall). Franklyn Kilome was strong over six innings, getting nine ground ball outs. And the VSL championship series finale was postponed by rain. We should get Ranger Suarez today on regular rest. We’ll see how it goes.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 8/7/2014

General Discussion – Week of 8-7-14 – That Guy Who Used To Be Named A Different Thing Was Traded Edition

Since there are things to discuss, specifically the Roberto Hernandez trade, here’s a fresh thread. Also, VSL was rained out, so we should get Ranger Suarez tomorrow on regular rest.

Also, hey, while I have ya – I wrote a thing on Nola and Biddle at Crashburn Alley –

http://crashburnalley.com/2014/08/07/aaron-and-jesse-wait-aaron-paul-jesse-pinkman-whoa/

Enjoy, if you’re so inclined.

Discuss.

Williamsport Game Report, 8/6/14

Another in a long series of excellent reports by NYPhilsmaniac19.
 
August 6 Williamsport Game Report
 
WP played at Hudson Valley last night and looked like the losing (record) team that they are.  They failed to get key hits with runners in scoring position, were shaky in the field, and K’d 13 times (though the home plate ump had a huge strike zone).
 
PITCHING:
 
Feliberto Sanchez started and was hit pretty hard.  Here is a synopsis of his innings.
 
1) Gave up an oppo single into LF on 0-2 pitch/Baserunner took off for 2nd- Grullon’s throw went into CF, Aaron Brown charged hard as the runner took off for 3rd and the ball went right through him which allowed the runner to score.  (This was a harbinger of the sloppiness to come)/Hard Lineout to CF/Hard groundout to 1st
 
2) Foul Popout to RF/K on a FB (half-hearted swing)/Line single over 2Bman’s head/During next AB, ball squirted through Grullon’s legs- he ran back and grabbed it at the cutout behind home, threw from his knees and nailed the runner who took off when he saw the ball get by.  VERY impressive play from Deivi.
 
3) Hard hit oppo single between 1Bman and 2Bman/E-3 grounder that Hoskins couldn’t field cleanly/Hard Lineout to CF/Weak swing that led to an oppo RBI single/4-6-3 DP, Campbell (2B) made a nice glove flip to Marrero who relayed and got the runner.  It was a cool play, but it looked like Campbell could have taken it himself and made an easier DP due to his proximity to 2B.
 
4) Line 1B to LF/Walk/WP moved up runners, 4-3 RBI groundout/SF to pretty deep LF/6-4 FC
 
5) Ground single up the middle/Grullon threw runner out attempting to steal (another excellent throw), swinging K/6-3 easy groundout
 
Sanchez was done after 5.  His control was good, but they hit numerous hard shots.  The shoddy fielding didn’t help him.  Based on the stadium gun, he topped out at 88 and mostly sat at about 85.  Not one pitch that I saw (gun didn’t show up until the 3rd inning) was below 82 so not much difference between his FB and off-speed pitches.
 
I was pleased to see that Chris Oliver came on in relief but I shouldn’t have been.  The first two batters reached on plays that should have been made- throwing error by Hernandez, then a hot shot grounder that went right through Hoskins at 1B (ruled a hit, but was right at him).  After an RBI groundout and a lineout, Oliver walked to next two (4 pitches and 7 pitches), the inning ended on a liner that Brown ran down in the gap in left-center.  The next inning Oliver gave up 2 singles, a double steal, 2 more walks, and a run. Oliver did top out at 94 on the gun.  He was mostly in the high 80’s with his FB and 75-76 with his offspead stuff.
 
Mark Meadors came on in the 7th with bases loaded and one out and got out of the jam stranding all three of Oliver’s runners.  Meadors also had an easy 8th giving up just one single.  He was throwing in the mid 80’s.
 
OFFENSE:
 
Cord Sandberg went 2 for 5.  After fouling off 3 two-strike pitches, he smoked a base hit up the middle that almost hit the pitcher in the head.  He then fouled out to third, K’d swinging at a high FB, and singled on a swinging bunt up the 3rd base line but then got thrown out trying to advance to 2nd when the throw went by the 1Bman.  The last AB, he K’d looking on a pitch that was clearly outside to end the game.
I was not impressed with his wheels.  He failed to score from 1st on a no doubt double to the wall by Tromp in the first, and although he was awarded a hit on the swinging bunt, a good throw would have gotten him.  He had an uneventful night in RF.
 
Jiandido Tromp went 2 for 4.  He doubled in his first two AB’s- the first was over the RF’s head in RC, and the second was a hard grounder just inside the 3rd base bag. He struck out in his other two AB’s (swinging at a high FB, and looking at a pitch that appeared to be outside).  He took some mighty swings but was able to do a better job of making contact once he had two strikes.  He tracked the ball well in LF.
 
Aaron Brown went 0-4 with 2K’s (both swinging).  He did advance a runner from 2nd with a  no-out groundout to the 1Bman.  His other out was a hard liner the other way that was caught by the RF.  Brown went back well on two liners over his head that he caught.  The ball that got through him on Grullon’s overthrow was a case of him charging over-aggressively.  I can see what people say about how the fans will love the way he plays the game. He struck me as being much more serious and focused than the rest of the team before the game.
 
Rhys Hoskins (pronounced like Reece- I was curious about this) went 1-3 with a 5 pitch walk.  His single was a liner between the SS and 3Bman.  His two outs were a shallow very high flyout to CF and a hard hit 6-3 RBI groundout.  On defense, he did not impress though he did make a nice tag on a wide throw from Hernandez at third.  He made one error on a grounder and could have been charged with another.
 
Wilson Garcia went 1-3 with a walk.  He smoked a double into the LC gap, grounded out hard 4-3, and hit a weak liner to the 2Bman.  No defense to report as he DH’d.
 
Derek Campbell went 1-4 with a hard line single up the middle and a looking K.  He also flew out to deep RF and popped up to 2nd.  He played a solid 2B.
 
Jan Hernandez had a rough day.  He went 1-4 with two K’s, a lazy flyout to CF and a soft single over the SS’s head.  He made a throwing error on one play and Hoskins saved him from getting charged with another.  He did not appear to play with much urgency,
 
Deivi Grullon had a nice day throwing out runners trying to steal (besides the one he threw into CF in the 1st).  They did execute a double steal but he held onto the ball because the runners got a great jump.  At the plate he went 1-4 with a hard line single up the middle.
 
Emmanuel Marrero had the roughest of all days as he took the Golden Marrero going 0-4 with 4 K’s.  He and Campbell (who played 2B) had trouble turning DP’s which could have bailed the Cutters out a few times.
 
submitted by nyphilsmaniac19

Continue reading Williamsport Game Report, 8/6/14