Yearly Archives: 2014

Threshers/Nola Lose, 3-1; July 13, 2014

Game Reports

Sunday’s game between the Threshers and Cardinals featured two young pitching prospects.  Aaron Nola will soon be one our highly ranked prospects and Nick Petree is the 20th prospect in the Cardinals’ system as ranked by MLB.  Petree was a 9th round pick in the 2013 First Year Player Draft.  He posted an 8-1 record and 1.62 ERA in rookie ball last year.  He posted a 2-0 record and 1.29 ERA in A ball this year before being promoted to Palm Beach.  So far in the FSL, he is 4-2 with a 1.72 ERA.  Five weeks ago, the Threshers scored 4 runs in 4.1 innings against Petree.  This was his first start since coming off the 7-Day DL.

Today was Nola’s 4th appearance.  He rebounded with 2 nice outings after his FSL debut in Lakeland.  He last threw Monday in relief of Cliff Lee in a game suspended the day before. He threw 5 scoreless innings of 1-hit ball.  He hadn’t allowed a walk since his debut and had struck out 8 in those 9 innings.

Today, Nola was a little more human.  He breezed through the top of the 1st inning, striking out the game’s first batter, Cards #10 prospect Charlie Tilson.  His fastball was mostly at 91 mph, but peaked at 93 and “vallied” at 89 during the inning.  He gave up a home run on a 90 mph fastball to Luke Voit to lead off the 2nd inning.  Nola gave up 2 harmless singles through the end of the 2nd and 3rd innings.

Nola gave up a lead off triple to start the 4th inning.  He pitched the next batter, Voit, carefully but left an 89 mph fastball over the plate that ended up in the left field berm.  Nola gave up a bunt single to Tilson with 2 out in the 5th inning.  Nola fielded the ball quickly and threw accurately to first, but the speedy Tilson beat the throw.  Nola completed his outing with his second strike out.

Nola’s line was –

  • 5.0 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 2 K – 4 XBH: 2 HR, 3B, 2B
  • He threw 57 pitches, 39 for strikes.
  • His FB velo was 89-91 and trended toward 89-90 over the last 3 innings. He hit 93 and 92 once each during the 1st inning.
  • His curve ball didn’t seem to have the break that it had the last time I saw him on July 1st.

Jordan Guth pitched well over the next 3 innings. He allowed 2-outs walks in the 6th and 7th innings, but pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning and recorded 1 strike out.

Rocket Arm Ridenhour pitched a clean 9th inning.

Meanwhile, Petree scattered 4 hits through 7 innings.  He walked 1 and struck out seven. The only Threshers’ run came on a pop up that the second baseman lost in the sun.  It dropped behind him about 3 feet on the outfield grass.  To his credit, Art Charles hustled out of the box and had taken a wide turn around first.  When the ball dropped he was at full speed and was able to reach second base.  He tagged and advanced to third on a fly ball to right centerfield.  He scored on a wild pitch.

Miscellaneous facts/observations –

  • Joel Fisher started behind the plate and went 0-3 with a strike out.
  • Chris Serritella went 0-3 with 3 strike outs.
  • Roman Quinn was 0-4 with 2 strike outs and 2 infield ground balls.
  • Art Charles went 3-3 with 2 singles, a double and a run scored.
  • Angelo Mora returned to the line up after being hit by a pitched ball a couple games ago, and went 0-3 with a strike out.
  • Nola struck out 2 batters, the first and last batters he faced.
  • Nola has now pitched 14 innings with out walking a batter since his debut.

Not only are the Threshers’ missing Crawford this weekend, but hot hitting Brian Pointer seems to have been among 5 players suspended for an on field incident at Brevard County last Monday.  Five players were ejected after Roman Quinn’s at bat and before the conclusion of J.P. Crawford’s at bat.  Pointer and Corey Bass were ejected from the game.

The FSL issued a release that the Manatees had 3 players suspended – Orlando Arcia, Jose Sermo, and Mark Williams (the pitcher at the time) for violating the league’s On-Field Behavior Policy.  The three were cited as instigators in the incident and were handed the following suspensions – Arcia one game, effective on Saturday, July 12, Williams and Sermo three games, each. Williams’ suspension begins Saturday, July 12, while Sermo’s begins on Sunday, July 13.  Players serving suspensions from the FSL are required to leave the field before the game starts and may not be in the dugout or press box during the game. They must also change into civilian clothes and either leave the ballpark or take a seat in the grandstand well removed from the vicinity of their team’s bench or bullpen.

I couldn’t find a similar release regarding Pointer and Bass, but neither were in uniform today, Pointer wasn’t in the line up yeaterday, catcher Joel Fisher was called up from the GCL on July 11th, and I’m pretty sure that I saw Bass and Pointer in civvies in the top rows of the stands behind home plate.

Crawford just fisted a single into centerfield in the Future’s Game.

Monday, Cliff Lee at 7:00PM.

 

Box Score Recap – 7/12/2014

Box Score Recap

The best laid plans of mice and men sometimes wind up in the toilet cause life gets in the way, ya know what I’m sayin’?

-John Steinbeck

No graphic today – sorry about it. Enjoy the discussion.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 7/12/2014 →

Inquirer Top 25

Other Stuff

Below is the Inquirer’s mid season Top 25 list.  I am certain  this will create a very healthy debate.  Have at it.

  1. JP Crawford
  2. Maikel Franco
  3. Aaron Nola
  4. Ken Giles
  5. Jesse Biddle
  6. Roman Quinn
  7. Miguel ALfredo Gonzalez
  8. Cesar Hernandez
  9. Cameron Perkins
  10. Kelly Dugan
  11. Tommy Joseph
  12. Severino Gonzalez
  13. Cord Sandberg
  14. Matt Imhof
  15. Carlos Tocci
  16. Zach Green
  17. Adam Morgan
  18. Ethan Martin
  19. Aaron ALtherr
  20. Aaron Brown
  21. Deivi Gruillon
  22. Yoel Mecias
  23. Shane Watson
  24. Dylan Cozens
  25. David Buchanan

 

 

Threshers Lose, 8-2; July 12, 2014

Game Reports

J.P. Crawford was placed on the Temporary Inactive List today. He is in Minneapolis for the Futures game. In his absence, Anthony Phillips played shortstop.

The game with the Palm Beach Cardinals featured 2 centerfield prospects, the Threshers #3 Roman Quinn and the Cardinals #10 Charlie Tilson. While neither figured into the scoring, going a combined 0 for 9, the young outfielders managed 12 put outs between them. Continue reading Threshers Lose, 8-2; July 12, 2014 →

Box Score Recap – 7/11/2014

Box Score Recap

Aaron Altherr and Kelly Dugan with two hits a piece for Reading. Severino Gonzalez put up a decent line – 6IP, 3R, 6H, 1HR, 1BB, 3K, 64% strikes. MAG worked a scoreless ninth for the save. JPC hit his fourth HR since joining CLR. OMG. Carlos Tocci with four hits, Andrew Pullin with three, and Zach Green and Mitch Walding both with two for extra bases for Lakewood as they put up eight runs in a loss. Yacksel Rios pitched fairly well, but Will Morris, well, he kind of didn’t pitch ok, I guess. You’ll see what I mean.

Speaking of kind of not pitching ok, I guess, Chris Oliver got shelled for WIL – six of his seven runs were unearned, so take it for what it’s worth, but the guy walked three men and allowed four hits including a homer in 1.2 IP. Also in the “kind of not ok” category, Preston Packrall, who backed up Oliver and gave up six earned runs of his own. You’ll be kind of ok next time, guys.

Gregori Rivero hit his first pro home run for the GCL. You may recall he was given a six-figure bonus two years ago, and hit fairly well last summer as a 17-year-old in the VSL. And Jesus Alastre busted out of a little slump with a 3-4 plus a walk. After a hot start, he’s been good but not great in June and July, OPSing around .765 combined for the two months. For a 17-year-old, I’ll take it.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 7/11/2014 →

Around the System, OF–Lakewood, Williamsport, GCL

Other Stuff

Definite reasons for optimism at the lower levels, which to a degree makes up for next to nothing at the higher levels in the OF.  Next up will be corner infield.

Lakewood

Carlos Tocci, 18, SIgned as a free agent in 2011; .238/.291/.307 in 323 AB’s; 0HR 20RBI; 4/13SB; 4%bb/18%k rates; .325 vs. LHP; .208 vs. RHP; .214 with RISP; .252 since June 1. 83 games in the OF with 3 errors (.986); 5 OF assists; Certainly improved over last year, now with well over 800 plate appearances for Lakewood over 2 years.  Still very young, the offense will have to continue to improve if Tocci is going to become a viable major leaguer.Plenty of time.

Dylan Cozens, 20, Phils 2nd round pick in 2012; .238/.296/.405 in 341 AB’s; 11HR 37RBI; 16SB; 8%bb/26%k rates; .271 vs. LHP; .221 vs. RHP; .176 with RISP; Hitting .350 in July thus far; Just over a year older than Tocci, Cozens avg and obp are almost identical, however Cozens is showing a huge power and speed tool.  There is plenty of reason for excitement in my opinion.  Needs to shorten his swing and strike out less, but to an extent, that is the price you pay for power. 79 games in the OF with 6 errors (.979); 7 OF assists. Continue reading Around the System, OF–Lakewood, Williamsport, GCL →

Box Score Recap – 7/10/2014

Box Score Recap

Some roster notes for you – Grady Sizemore was called up to the bigs and David Buchanan was optioned to make a 25-man spot for him. The Phils won’t need Buchanan for a while, especially if Cliff Lee is back July 19 as many people are predicting/reporting, (Matt Gelb being the one that sticks in my head as first reporting it as fact, rather than rumor or speculation, but I could be wrong on who had that scoop). Lee went to the 60-day DL to make a 40-man spot for Sizemore, but he’s eligible to return 7-18, so there’s a cut coming next weekend. I’ll guess it’s Tony Gwynn Jr., if they don’t go ahead and pull the trigger on a trade before then, or they could option someone and cut maybe Luis Garcia, I guess. I don’t think Jon Pettibone is eligible to go on the 60-day DL since he’s on the minor league DL right now, not the major league. That, my friends, is a dumb rule.

As for Thursday’s action, Cam Perkins was 2-5 with a triple, his second multi-hit game in a row, as he tried to bust out of his seemingly-endless AAA slump. The Lehigh Valley and Reading bullpens worked a combined eight innings of scoreless ball. Well done. Two more XBH for Brian Pointer, he’s OPSing near .750 now. Wonder if they’d challenge him shortly with a promotion to AA. He’s only been successful at A+ for about 100PAs, so they might still want to get him a little more experience. There’s only seven weeks left in the minor league season, so decisions like may come soon.

Every Lakewood Blueclaw save Carlos Tocci had a hit, led by two a piece from Willians Astudillo and Zach Green. Green’s been good lately – he’s got 16 hits in his last 10 games, five for XBH, and an OPS of .935 over that time. He’s nearly halved his K rate from over 30% last year to about 17% this year in what’s a reasonable ~170 PA sample. not bad. Jia Tromp (7) and Jan Hernandez (4) went deep for Williamsport, and catcher Sean McHugh from Purdue had his first three pro hits. Mitch Gueller was good again – that makes three in a row. He’s struck out 11 and walked just four over his last 18 innings as he tried to figure it out. If he gets comfortable with his pitches and amps up the velocity a little, as Mitch Rupert has reported the club feels is possible, you could see the Ks increase as well. We shall see.

GCL finished off the game that was suspended Wednesday, and played another. Freddy Galvis, Clete Thomas and Tommy Joseph all rehabbed in that second game. @BaseballBetsy reported that Joseph’s wrist was heavily wrapped, though he was behind the plate and not otherwise limited, so that’s good to hear. Franklyn Kilome’s been getting some interest and mentions on Twitter – the 19-year-old RHP seems like someone to watch as he gets stretched out.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 7/10/2014 →

Box Score Recap – 7/9/2014

Box Score Recap

Maikel Franco, Cam Perkins and Sebastian Valle had two doubles a piece for Lehigh Valley, and Franco added a walk, (his first in a while). He’s had multi-hit games in six of his last seven, and his last ten games’ OPS is .992. Feel, feel, feel, feel, feeeeuhl. Feel the heat. And speaking of feeling the heat, Brian Pointer is OPSing 1.082 in the second half of the season so far (~65 PAs). He had a really strong June and is continuing to hit in July, though he has been striking out a lot – 33k in 113 PAs since June 1 – that’s over 29%. Cliff Lee have up 3R on 4H, 1BB, 4K and a wild pitch in 4IP. Sounds like somewhere in the fourth inning, where he allowed all those runs, someone lost a ball in the lights, which counts as a hit but is not necessarily Cliff’s fault.

Aaron Altherr was 2-4 with two doubles and a walk for Reading. Kelly Dugan was 1-3 with two walks, as his OPS climbs above .800 for the year – his walk rate is around 9.5% over a decent ~110PA sample. That’s good to see after his AA total last year was a startlingly low 2.2%. Zach Green and Dylan Cozens had three hits a piece for Lakewood. Cozens line included a double, Green’s included two, and Andrew Pullin hit his seventh home run of the year. Not sure what’s keeping Samuel Hiciano on the bench, but he hasn’t played for two days in a row now. Could just be time off to try to pull out of the wretched slump he’s been in – OPSing .515 in 14 games since he was a SAL all-star. David Whitehead wasn’t dominant in picking up the win over Vermont, allowing 4R 3ER on 5H 1HR 0BB and 3K in 5.1IP. Williamsport pounded out six extra-base hits off of Lake Monsters’ pitching. Lake Monsters is a pretty good name for a team. Per Wikipedia: “The name references Champ, the legendary Lake Champlain monster which had been the team’s mascot since 1994.” Good to know. Also their home stadium, Old Centennial Field is the oldest stadium in minor league baseball. I don’t know if you guys have ever read things on this “Wikipedia”, but it’s filled with information. I recommend it. And every once in a while there’s stuff that people just made up and put on the page. It’s like a guessing game. Fun times.

Clete Thomas and Freddy Galvis are rehabbing with the GCL club now. The Phils and Yankees1 played 11 innings before the game was halted by rain, with Yoel Mecias going 5.2 innings as he works his way back from Tommy John. And Jesus Alastre was kept off base in the VSL for what seems like maybe only the third or fourth time this year.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 7/9/2014 →

Five Moves to Make Now

Other Stuff

With the trade deadline quickly approaching, its time to clear some space for what most of us hope will be incoming talent when (if) the Phils rid themselves of pieces that can be used by other teams.  A couple of these are no brainers, others not so much…

1. Grady SIzemore to Phils–Absolutely no reason that Sizemore should spend any more time at AAA. He is a major league player and can certainly help the abysmal production from the Phillies OF.  The release of Tony Gwynn, Jr is the likely corresponding move.

2.  Lee Ridenhour to Reading–Ridenhour has pitched very well as the Threshers closer over the last two months.  As a soon to be 25 year old, its time to move him up.

3.  Willians Astudillo to CLearwater–What more do we really need to see of Astudillo at Lakewood?  He mashes Low A pitching. With Knapp catching every day now, the only position at which Astudillo has a legitimate major league shot is filled.  Let him move on and share AB’s with Lino and DH in CLearwater.

4.  Jiandido Tromp to Lakewood–There is talent that needs consistent challenge.  Plenty of Cutters outfielders need AB’s and Tromp has the immediate ability to play above the level of short season ball.

5.  Jason Marquis to the Phils–Coming off Tommy John surgery, Marquis has allowed 1ER in 3 starts spanning 18 innings for Lehigh Valley.  He has struck out 18 in those 18 innings.  Believe it or not, I hear that teams think that Kyle Kendrick could be a useful part down the stretch for a contending team.  Jason Marquis and Kyle Kendrick will provide major league results that are very similar.  Take what you can get for Kendrick (who will be a free agent at seasons end), plug Marquis into the rotation for a team going nowhere and smile that you got a warm body for Kendrick.

Commence the debate and criticism.

Box Score Recap – 7/8/2014

Box Score Recap

Maikel Franco is having a good July. He’s OPSing 1.286 in six games, with six XBH and five multi-hit games. He was 2-4 with a triple on Tuesday, and Grady Sizemore also had two hits for Lehigh Valley, as Jason Marquis went five scoreless, striking out six, while allowing three walks and three hits. Aaron Altherr had three hits, as did Jake Fox. Ryan O’Sullivan is working out of the Reading rotation right now – he allowed two runs on five hits, walked none, struck out none, but did induce nine ground ball outs. That’s his game. Doubt it plays in the rotation long-term. MAG blew the save there, though there’s no way he was coming in to get a save in the fifth inning. Dumb stat. All we need to know is he struck out three and allowed a home run in two innings of work, and reports on Twitter had his fastball sitting in the mid 90s again.

Be sure to check out Jim’s report from the CLR game. Zach Green and Andy Knapp had two hits a piece for Lakewood. Willamsport’s Derek Campbell was a triple or a home run short of getting a thing named after him – he went 3-5 with two doubles and a homer. About 80 PAs into the year, and he’s OPSing over 1.000. Feliberto Sanchez threw five no-hit innings, striking out three and walking two to take the W for the Cutters. Luis Encarnacion had two hits including a triple for the GCL, while Austin Davis got roughed up in his two innings. Jose Taveras with his second monster start in a row, struck out 11 in eight innings for the DSL. And Ranger Suarez had a big game himself for the VSL – he struck out seven in six innings. The 18-year-old has 56ks and 1BB in 53.2 IP on the year. That’s a 56:1 K:BB ratio, in case you don’t want to have to do the math yourself. Those are video game/Severino-Gonzalez-in-the-VSL-type numbers. H/T to Jay Floyd ( @phoulballz )for pointing that insane ratio out on Twitter last week.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 7/8/2014 →