Yearly Archives: 2014

Around the System–Middle Infield

Other Stuff

A look at middle infielders around the organization.  Next, comes catchers.

Lehigh Valley

Nate Spears, 29, Signed as a free agent in 2014; .338/.389/.500 in 80 AB’s; 2HR 12RBI; 3SB; 9%bb/24%k rates; 19 games at 2B without an error; 9 games at SS with 1 error (.957); Hitting .350 in July. Since being signed a month or so ago, Spears has done a very good job solidifying the 2B position both with his glove and bat.

Freddy Galvis, 24, Signed as a free agent in 2006; .214/.313/357 in 14 AB’s; 0HR 1RBI; 4 games at SS without an error.  Galvis spent the beginning of the year in Philly and then almost immediately was significantly injured upon being sent to Lehigh Valley.  Returned to the lineup just last week.

Reading

KC Serna, 24, Signed as a free agent in 2014; .282/.315/.384 in 354 AB’s between Clearwater and Reading; 3HR 32RBI; 10SB; 6%bb/9%k rates; 25 games at SS with 3 errors (.975); 33 games at 2B with 4 errors (.978); 30 games at 3B with 5 errors (.938). Serna has had a very solid year before going down last week with an oblique injury and being placed on the DL.  SHowed himself to be both a capable hitter and solid fielder. Continue reading Around the System–Middle Infield →

Box Score Recap – 7/20/2014

Box Score Recap

Maikel Franco and Darin Ruf each with two doubles and Franco another hit in the nightcap. Phillippe Aumont struck out two and allowed just one hit in two scoreless innings in that game. Adam Loewen, (some of you are interested, so I’ll keep mentioning him), struck out seven and walked one in 6.2IP, while Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez took the loss as he struck out two but allowed a solo home run in the ninth for Reading. J.P. Crawford had three hits and Mark Leiter threw a complete game shutout – he allowed just five hits, no walks and struck out eight, his best performance at A+ thus far.

Tocci, Pullin, Cozens and Astudillo with two hits a piece. Tocci’s OPSing .666 in the second half. Beastly. Cozens added a walk, Tocci a triple and Astudillo a double. Sam Hiciano had a double there, and Andy Knapp was on base twice. Williamsport managed just two hits, (Brown and Tromp), while Mark Meadors struck out four in two scoreless innings of relief. He’s put up six scoreless outings in WIL thus far, but he has walked five men in 9.2 IP, while striking out a very respectable nine over that span.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 7/20/2014 →

Nothing but Nola; July 19, 2014

Game Reports

Aaron Nola made what may have been his last start with the Threshers on Saturday Night. I had planned to make the trip to Bradenton, but a family illness kept me at home. I listened over the internet and charted the game from there.

Nola throws 3 pitches – a fastball, change, and an off-speed pitch that has been called a slider, slurve, or curve. Nola himself calls the pitch his curve, but the pitch has slider action and curve speed. I’ve heard the announcers describe it all three ways.

Nola’s line –

  • 5 IP; 5 H; 2 ER; 0 BB; 5 K

Here’s a further breakdown of Nola’s outing – Continue reading Nothing but Nola; July 19, 2014 →

Mark Leiter Shuts Out Stone Crabs; July 20, 2014

Game Reports

The Clearwater Threshers posted a 5-0 win over the Charlotte Stone Crabs on Sunday afternoon. The game marked the last rehab start for Tampa Rays right hander Jeremy Hellickson. The Threshers countered with Mark Leiter. The son and nephew of former major league pitchers Mark and Al Leiter, responded with the Threshers first complete game shut out of the season, and only the 5thcomplete game shut out in the FSL this year.

Leiter kept the Stone Crabs off balance all afternoon. He was a little inconsistent around the strike zone with a strike-to-ball ratio of 64/46, but only allowed 5 hits. He faced 31 batters and only managed 12 first pitch strikes and ran 7 3-ball counts, but walked no one. Continue reading Mark Leiter Shuts Out Stone Crabs; July 20, 2014 →

Box Score Recap – 7/19/2014

Box Score Recap

When I started pulling this together for the night I was wide awake, but now I’m about ready to fall asleep. So let me sum up the night really quickly without trying to force any jokes down your throat.

Brad Lincoln and Ryan O’Sullivan pitched really well as LV and REA both swept double headers. MAG got the save in the Reading nightcap (insert drinking joke here), while Kelly Dugan was on base three times and Aaron Altherr was 2-3 with a double. Roman Quinn went deep and Aaron Nola struck out five against zero walks – he hasn’t walked a man since his debut on June 23, (insert debutante joke here).

Carlos Tocci was on base three times, (joke, second quick joke back to back, one of them about how he should eat a snack), Andy Knapp four hits, including two doubles, and Mitch Walding had three hits. He’s been hot (joke – whoa, that was a little racy). We’ll see how it plays out. Rhys Hoskins now has three days in a row with a home run. Jia Tromp and Aaron Brown with two hits a piece (joke in poor taste, oops, offended some folks there – you guess which group of people). And Lewis Alezones struck out four and walked one in four hitless innings in the GCL (thing that seems like it was supposed to be a joke but it’s really me falling asleep).

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 7/19/2014 →

Box Score Recap – 7/18/2014

Box Score Recap

Ethan Martin went 2.2 perfect innings, struck out three, threw 19/26 for strikes and doubled in his only at bat against Nats up-and-comer AJ Cole. Not bad. Aaron “The Rhineland Rocket” Altherr with his eighth home run of the year – he’s OPSing around .900 in June and July. Severino Gonzalez gave up two homers. Guy throws strikes, 74/102 is impressive. Maybe work outsider the zone a little more, though, if you’re not fooling anyone over the plate. Just a thought. Roman Quinn with two steals and Freddy Galvis went yard for CLR in their win, as Lee “Rocket Arm” Ridenhour closed out the game. I can’t believe people just make up these goofy nicknames and think they’ll stick. “Rocket Arm”? I mean, come on…come on…that’s…just a little…little bit silly…I mean…uh…just…THERE’S ONLY ROOM FOR ONE MADE UP ROCKET NICKNAME IN THE PHILLIES SYSTEM. TAKE A HIKE LEE RIDENHOUR PEOPLE!

Two hits a piece for Pullin, Knapp, Cozens and Astudillo, and Sam Hiciano went deep (8), to hopefully seal the deal on the end of his slump. His nine-game July is looking good, OPSing .819 after a .511 in June. Rhys Hoskins with his second home run in as many days (3), while Chris Oliver walked five but somehow managed to only give up one unearned run. Real nice outing from 2014 8th rounder Sam McWilliams, going four scoreless innings, giving up just three hits and striking out three.

Looks like no late signings from the Phils this year, so McWilliams is the only prep signing from the 2014 draft. That’s going to leave a bit of open space in the GCL next year and a lot of competition for spots at Lakewood in the spring and Williamsport in the summer.

Really not sure they thought this whole thing through very well.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 7/18/2014 →

General Discussion – Weekend of 7-18-2014 – Trade Talk Edition

Weekly Discussion

Since I know there’s a lot of trade talk going around and will be for a while, I will try to get a couple open threads per week through the end of the month so we can keep at least the features a little bit free of general discussion. I try not to be a jerk about this, but today I just want to be able to read everyone’s comments on the draft thread without the rest of the daily back and forth. Please bring that stuff here.

Discuss.

Box Score Recap – 7/17/2014

Box Score Recap

Rough night for Lehigh Valley – the lineup managed just five singles off of Syracuse pitching, while the pitchers, Jeremy Horst excluded, were, not to be hyperbolic, a giant pile of flaming medical waste. You’ll get ’em next time, boys.

Brock Stassi and Pete Lavin each went deep for Reading, while Aaron Altherr and Kelly Dugan notched doubles. MAG tallied his third save, with reports from Mike Drago (@mldrago) saying his FB was regularly touching 97 on the stadium gun, and he was using his change-up as an out pitch. Conjures up memories of Ryan Madson, (and no, that’s not a comp).

Nice line from Colin Kleven in a losing effort – 5R, 1ER, 4H, 1BB, 5K in 5IP, as the Threshers were shut down by Bucs stud Tyler Glasnow, whose ERA now matches his BAA, 1.77 and .177. Impressive on both counts. And in the night cap, (and yes, I said this on Twitter, but I thought it was pretty good so I’ll just plagiarize myself here), Roman Quinn was just  a Carlos Tocci away from hitting for the cycle. RT please? Oh wait…

Elsewhere, Dylan Cozens with two hits, a walk and a steal (his 17th). Willians Astudillo went deep (4). 2014 19th rounder Joey Denato stranded two Yacksel Rios runners, then pitched three more scoreless innings of his own with a total of four strikeouts. He’s tallied 20K and 6BB in 16.2IP across two levels thus far. The bottom of the WIL lineup tried to carry the club to victory, led by a bomb from Rhys Hoskins, a 3-3 from Emmanuel Marrero and two hits from Drew Stankiewicz, but to no avail Brandon Liebrandt put up a great line that included seven Ks, but Nathan Thornhill let it slip away. In the GCL, Denton Keys gave up just 1H, 2BB, 4K in 4 scoreless IP, while Jose Pujols bashed two solo home runs.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 7/17/2014 →

Draft Signing Day/Draft Critique/Open Thread

2014 Draft

Wanted to open up a thread to talk about the draft, as the signing deadline is just about 24 hours away – 5pm EST on Friday. My impression is that the Phils had a decent draft, with their top four picks being pretty intriguing, but lacking the upside that gets one excited about a draft. If three of the four turn into serviceable big league regulars, the draft will be a success, so it’s very hard to judge at this point. Here’s the draft tracker:

Draft Tracker 2014

Aaron Nola may see Reading yet this year, and may see Philly next summer. He seems like he’ll be a solid player, and one who could be hitting his stride in the big leagues the next time this club has any semblance of a chance to contend. Matt Imhof just got bumped up to Lakewood, and should start 2015 at Clearwater. His profile is a fast riser who might take the Adam Morgan career path if he has success, (hopefully without the injuries, of course). I’d peg his big league ETA as between mid-2016 and early 2017, but if he’s good next year, he might just contend for a rotation spot in spring training, 2016.

Continue reading Draft Signing Day/Draft Critique/Open Thread →

Reading Report: At the Break

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Going into the 2014 season, there was hope, promise, and some sort of optimism that we could see some great performances and talented players in Reading.

Though the All-Star Game is far past the midway point of the Eastern League season, I figured it was as good a time as any to recap the first “half” of the season (if we can really call it that), and take a look back while looking ahead to the team’s final 49 games.

While the outstanding performances have been few and far between, some great things did happen this year. But, for the most part, the story of the 2014 Reading club has been written over the past month: it’s a flawed team that doesn’t have a ton of talent, and they have scuffled to a 38-55 record. Continue reading Reading Report: At the Break →