Yearly Archives: 2014

Hot or Not

Other Stuff

Several interesting talking points looking back at the time period of 4/17-4/23….Carlos Tocci seems to be getting the hang of Lakewood, albeit expectedly without power…Very nice to see Tommy Joseph rounding into form….Any Spring Training excitement about Larry Greene Jr. has dissipated quickly…Jesse Biddle, ’nuff said….Greg Smith should get some attention the next time the Phils need a spot starter….Seth Rosin with a nice re-initiation into the organization, while Kenny Giles keeps doing what he does (19K’s in 9IP)…Jay Johnson was on my list of players to watch pre-season.  That is not working out so far with one of the worst weeks in “Hot or Not” history.

Hot Hitters: Koyie Hill (.444); Steve Susdorf (.440); Cameron Perkins (.389, 3R 1HR 5RBI); Tyler Henson (.389); Carlos Tocci (.381, 5R); Tommy Joseph (.350, 2R 2HR 7RBI); Willians Astudillo (.350); JP Crawford (.333, 5R, SB); Reid Brignac (.320, 8R 1HR 4RBI); Andrew Pullin (.316)

Not Hot Hitters: Larry Greene (.000, 0-17); Brian Pointer (.087); Troy Hanzawa (.133); Harold Martinez (.138); Edgar Duran (.143); Aaron Altherr (.167); Justin Parr (.167); Maikel Franco (.185)

Continue reading Hot or Not →

Box Score Recap – 4/22/2014

Box Score Recap

Dylan Cozens with the big game of the day – 2-4 with a triple and a home run, while J.P. Crawford and Andrew Pullin had two hits a piece and Wilmer Oberto hit his first full-season bomb. Crawford also stole his fifth bag of the year – he’s been caught twice, so we’ll see if he can pick up the rate as the season rolls on. Tyler Viza worked through another decent start, and continues to look pretty good for a 19 year-old in the SAL. Would like to see his K rate up a good bit, but he’s only walked four in 23IP.

Tommy Joseph  with his second home run in as many nights, while Kelly Dugan was 1-2 with two walks and two runs scored – seems like he’s found his eye again, with 7BB and just 7K in 42PA. Lots of time for those numbers to normalize as he builds a larger sample, but a good start for sure.

A rough night for the pen in Reading, as only Ryan O’Sullivan kept Richmond off the board. And not a lot went right for CLR pitchers either, as they gave up 18 runs. The Lehigh Valley pitchers had a pretty decent night, With Phillippe Aumont and Justin De Fratus working scoreless innings to close out a victory. Also, the BRef linker makes me put a space between the “e” and the “F” in Justin DeFratus. Seems wrong.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 4/22/2014 →

The Reading Mirage: Hitting Overview

Other Stuff

Every year a prospect emerges in Reading and puts up huge numbers that excite Phillies fans.  Sometimes those players sustain their surprise, but more times that not, the player fades off to mediocrity.  For this study I took 18 players that played for Reading in the past 6 years.  Those players were Cameron Rupp, Darin Ruf, Derrick Mitchell, Leandro Castro, Cody Asche, Matt Rizzotti, Jim Murphy, Mike Costanzo, Jason Donald, Lou Marson, Freddy Galvis, Cesar Hernandez, Sebastian Valle, Maikel Franco, Tuffy Gosewisch, Michael Taylor, Steve Susdorf, and Domonic Brown.  All players were chosen for playing both Clearwater and Reading, and in all but two cases in Lehigh Valley.  The sample sizes across the levels are not equal and individual stats may not have stabilized enough to make individual declarations at this time.

In terms of stats, I started with the triple flash lines (batting average, on base percentage, and slugging) and their derivatives (OPS, ISO, BABIP).  Then I looked at defense independent statistics, strikeout percent, walk percent, and home runs per plate appearance.  Lastly in cases where batted ball data existed (seasons 2011 or later), that data has been included.  Additionally the age of each prospect was recorded.  In cases of multiple seasons at a level, I first looked for the larger sample size, if not, then the season preceding the promotion to Lehigh Valley.  In terms of aggregate numbers I am looking at pure unweighted averages of rate stats and percentages, this is an effort to weight each player equally. Continue reading The Reading Mirage: Hitting Overview →

Lehigh Valley Weekly Report

7. Lehigh Valley

The ‘Pigs returned home for an eight game homestand that began Tuesday  with four against Norfolk playing a better brand of baseball than when we last spoke.  The ‘Pigs are on a three game winning streak after their win against Norfolk, and now stand at 9-10, and in 5th place of the Northern Division of the International League, 1.5 games behind division leading Rochester.

‘Pigs Leaders–Hitting:Reid Brignac is 6th in runs (13); Cameron Rupp is 6th in HR’s (4); Clete Thomas is 7th in strikeouts (21).

Pitching: Luis Garcia is 6th in saves (2); David Buchanan is 4th in IP (23), and is tied for the league lead in walks issued (13) Continue reading Lehigh Valley Weekly Report →

Box Score Recap – 4/21/2014

Box Score Recap

It’s probably too early to start making promotions, but I wonder how soon you move Cameron Perkins to AAA. I would think if he’s still raking in mid-May, they’d have to consider it, especially with Dugan, Altherr and Collier also in Reading right now. Perkins or Dugan will be forced to play 1B to get all four prospects consistent time in the field, like Perkins did tonight as he went 2-4 with a 2B and a HR, his second of the year. Ken Giles struck out two in two scoreless innings to finish up after a decent start from Luis Paulino. Tommy Joseph also homered in that one.

Clearwater put up their five runs on three bombs, courtesy of Harold Martinez, Pete Lavin and Angelo Mora. Brian Pointer had an OF assist, throwing out Rock Shoulders trying to stretch a single into a double in the ninth. Yes, I just wanted to say “Rock Shoulders“. Can you blame me?

And for Lakewood, Mark Leiter took care of business again – 1R, 4H, 2BB, 7K in 6IP. Carlos Tocci with his first career triple in that one, as Willians Astudillo continues his torrid hitting pace – he’s on an eight game streak, with ten hits in his last four games.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 4/21/2014 →

General Discussion – Week of 4-21-2014 – Bleary-Eyed Edition

Weekly Discussion

So it’s one of those weeks where the Phillies have a four-game set on the West Coast, and none of them are day games. Sleep is overrated, folks.

Discuss.

Box Score Recap – 4/20/2014

Box Score Recap

Maikel Franco had himself a fine day – 3-5 with a 2B and two runs scored. Cesar Jimenez, Kyle Simon and Hector Neris stymied the RailRiders for 8 innings, then Neris fell apart in the ninth. Jeremy Horst had to come on to get the last out as Neris was nearing 50 pitches for his outing.

All the other affiliates were off.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 4/20/2014 →

Box Score Recap – 4/19/2014

Box Score Recap

Tyson Gillies went 2-4 with his first homer of the season, while Phillippe Aumont worked a clean inning with two Ks. Take that, Second Cliff Lee Trade Haters!

Cesar Hernandez, Zach Collier, Cameron Perkins and Tommy Joseph each had two hits – Perkins also drew two walks – he’s hit safely in eight straight games, include six multi-hit games and six extra base hits. He’s warm. Good line from Severino Gonzalez in a losing effort – 3R, 6H, 1HR, 0BB, 5K in 6IP, with a good strike rate of ~67%.

Brian Pointer and Aaron Altherr both drew a pair of walks, while Ethan Stewart was the star for CLR – 2R, 1ER, on 5H, 1HR, 1BB and 7K in 7IP. I’d love to see him do that a couple more times. Samuel Hiciano‘s having a fair start to his 2014 – his OBP is at .400, and his K Rate is around 21%. Not bad, if he can keep both going.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 4/19/2014 →

Threshers vs. Lakeland; 4/19/2014

Game Reports

After Friday’s wild extra inning game, Ethan Stewart and Lakeland’s Edgar De La Rosa locked up in a pitchers’ duel Saturday night. The teams battled into extra innings again when the Threshers scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth to tie the score at two. Continue reading Threshers vs. Lakeland; 4/19/2014 →

Threshers vs. Lakeland; 4/18/2014

Game Reports

Early in the game, it looked like another tough night for the Threshers and their fans. The Flying Tigers chased starter Jeb Stefan in the fourth inning as they sprinted to a 7-0 lead. After 5 innings the Tigers were still up 7-2. But the Threshers kept applying pressure until they completed their comeback and tied the game and then took the lead in the 7th inning. The Tigers rallied to tie in eighth inning. The Tigers finally prevailed 9-8 in 13 innings. Continue reading Threshers vs. Lakeland; 4/18/2014 →