Monthly Archives: May 2015

Lehigh Valley Weekly Report

Other Stuff

Lehigh Valley has finally begin playing somewhat consistent baseball after their awful start, having won 5 of their last 7 games on this road trip, including three straight and now sit at 15-26,  still in last place of the Northern Division of the International League, 8.5 games behind division leading Rochester.  The ‘Pigs return home for four games with Charlotte starting tomorrow and then hit the road once again for a four game set against Gwinnett next week.

News and Notes: SP David Buchanan suffered a significant ankle injury on Sunday and will miss the next 6-8 weeks after being carted off the field in his third start for Lehigh Valley, after being sent down from Philadelphia.  Anthony Vasquez will be taking Buchanan’s place in the rotation.

–Phillippe Aumont has made three consecutive “quality starts” for the first time in his career.  His next start comes Saturday. Continue reading Lehigh Valley Weekly Report →

Box Score Recap – 5/19/2015

Box Score Recap

Lehigh Valley won the suspended game from Monday night, 2-1 on Russ Canzler’s pinch single.

The IronPigs won the scheduled game against Syracuse, 5-4.  Adam Morgan couldn’t hold an early 4-0 lead.  Cody Asche and Dom Brown each went 2-5 with a double.  Tyler Henson went 3-4 with 3 RBI.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 5/19/2015 →

Box Score Recap – 5/18/2015

Box Score Recap

Lehigh Valley and Syracuse had their game suspended in the tenth with the score tied 1-1.  It will be continued tomorrow.  Phillippe Aumont pitched well after a 2-walk first.  He pitched 6.0 innings and gave up only a solo home run among the 4 hits he allowed.  Dustin McGowan struck out the side in his one inning.  Seth Rosin threw two scoreless innings.  The Chiefs Taylor Jordan pitched 9.0 innings before being replaced at the start of the tenth.  Dom Brown is 3-4 with the IronPigs one RBI. Continue reading Box Score Recap – 5/18/2015 →

Around the System–OF

Other Stuff

A look at the performance of the systems outfielders through the first 5 weeks of the season.  Some disappointment, but significant areas to be excited about.  Two moves I would make before the end of the month: Aaron Altherr to Lehigh Valley and Carlos Tocci to Clearwater.

Lehigh Valley

Brian Bogusevic, 31, SIgned as a free agent in 2015; .333/.401/.439 in 132 AB’s; 2HR 13RBI; 4SB; 10%BB/14%K rates; .270 vs LHP; .358 vs. RHP; .367 in May. 29 games in the OF without an error; 3 OF assists; Bogusevic has been the best OF in Lehigh Valley this year, by a wide margin.

Jordan Danks, 28, SIgned as a free agent in 2015; .279/.331/.333 in 111AB’s; 1HR 15RBI; 1SB; 8%BB/20%K rates; .313 vs. LHP, .266 vs. RHP; .314 in last 10 games; 29 games in the OF without an error; 1 assist; Solid numbers thus far.

Cody Asche, 24, Phils 4th round pick in 2011; .269/.346/.269 in 26AB’s; 0HR 2RBI; 5 games in the OF with 1 error; Too early for comment.

Domonic Brown, 27, Phils 20th round pick in 2006; .250/.298/.304 in 112AB’s; 0HR 14RBI; 5SB; 3%bb/14%k rates; .314 vs. LHP; .221 vs. RHP; .279 in last 10 games. 24 games in the OF with 2 errors (.983); 1 OF assist.  Brown in starting to play a bit better, but a .304 SLG%?  Come on.

Reading

Aaron Altherr, 24, Phils 9th round pick in 2009; .279/.356/.500 in 104 AB’s; 4HR 20RBI; 4SB; 11%BB/14%K rates; .325 in last 10 games. 25 games in the OF without an error; 3 OF assists; Altherr has been consistent and significantly improved his BB/K rates, an issue that has plagued him in the past.  I would like to see him in Lehigh Valley come June. Continue reading Around the System–OF →

Open Discussion: Week of May 18th

Weekly Discussion

Here’s an open discussion thread so the minor league posts don’t get cluttered with Phillies’ talk and other topics.

Jonathan Papelbon made 4 appearances and finished 4 games this week, converting 3 save opportunities.  After 39 games, Papelbon has made 16 appearances, 15 games finished (9 saves, 6 non-saves).

Some other random stuff to light the fire –

  • Maikel Franco was called up and hit his first major league home run and triple on Sunday.
  • The Phillies held off on calling Franco up to the majors until he was ready.  It’s just a coincidence that they brought him up on the exact day that guaranteed them another year of control.  But that was not a consideration.  Nudge.  Nudge.  Wink.  Wink.  Say no more.  Say no more.  Actually, that is within the rules of the CBA, so I don’t have a problem with it.  That’s just a smart baseball decision.
  • Chase Utley .138/.214/.241/.455 (has shown some improvement, lowest in all 4 slash components of any Phillies position player, 3 SP have higher BA – Hamels .231/.231/.231/.462; Buchanan .167/.167/.333/.500; Billingsley .200/.200/.800/1.000
  • Billingsley has more HR (1) than Blanco, Hernandez, Revere, Ruiz, Rupp, and Sizemore.
  • Phillies have MLB low 22 HR, and are competing with Milwaukee for NL worst  .227/.282/.332/.614.
  • NL low 120 runs scored.
  • Their team ERA of 4.10 is back up to middle-of-the-pack.
  • had been middle-of-the-road, but has now dropped to the bottom 4 in the NL.  They still have allowed the most walks (135).
  • Their 5 game winning streak has boosted their winning percentage to .410, and has brought more teams into play for the top draft picks.  There are still 4 teams with sub .400 winning percentages.  But, there are enough teams playing poorly that continued good baseball could make the race for a protected pick more interesting than earlier anticipated.  (I’m laughing as I type that.)

Box Score Recap – 5/17/2015

Box Score Recap

Lehigh Valley lost to Rochester, 5-3.  David Buchanan was taken from the field with an apparent right leg injury in the third inning with one out in a scoreless game.  Adam Loewen came on to earn the loss.   Asche, 1-4.  Brown, 2-4.  Jayson Nix made his IronPigs debut, 0-4. Continue reading Box Score Recap – 5/17/2015 →

Box Score Recap – 5/16/2015

Box Score Recap

Lehigh Valley beat Rochester, 6-5.  Franco?  Franco?  Well after getting rid of that dead weight, the IronPigs are 1-1 without Franco, 11-24 with.  Just sayin’.  A lot of guys not named Asche and Brown had multi-hit games – Canzler, McGuiness, Danks, and Phelps.  Really, without Franco there’s little reason to check the ‘Pigs box score.   J-Rod got the win with a 9 H and 3 R effort in 5.2, H-Ner gave got a hold giving up 2 R in a 2.1, and C-Jim got his first save.  Oh, Asche and Brown each went 1-5.  Brown not Asche with a fielding error. Continue reading Box Score Recap – 5/16/2015 →

Box Score Recap – 5/15/2015

Box Score Recap

Lehigh Valley lost to Rochester, 5-4.  They wasted a fine start by Seve Gonzalez who gave up one run in 6.0 innings.  Colton Murray loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the ninth.  Seth Rosin came in an allowed all 3 inherited runners to score without recording an out, but he managed to not affect his own ERA.  This is the resume of a reliever who is likely to be released someday soon.  Dom Brown went 3-4.  Cody Asche went 0-4. Continue reading Box Score Recap – 5/15/2015 →

Box Score Recap – 5/14/2015

Box Score Recap

Lehigh Valley came from behind to tie Rochester and win 6-5 in 11 innings.  Adam Morgan got roughed up for all 5 Red Wing runs in 4.1 innings.  The bullpen (Berken, Jimenez, Loewen, and Rosin) shut down the Red Wings with 4 hits and a walk over the final 6.2 innings.  Maikel Franco went 2-4 with 2 walks and a game-tying RBI single.  Cody Asche went 2-6 with an RBI and was thrown out attempting to score from second on a single to left.  Chase d’Arnaud went 3-5 and drove in the go-ahead run with a double.  Rochester intentionally walked Franco to get to Dom Brown who popped up to end the inning. Continue reading Box Score Recap – 5/14/2015 →

Around the System–Corner INF

Other Stuff

The “Around the System” series is back as we start with corner infielders.  Once or twice a week we will take a look at the players manning certain positions and rotate those positions throughout the year.

Lehigh Valley

Maikel Franco, 22, Signed as a free agent in 2009; .350/.372/.540 in 137 AB’s; 4HR 23RBI; 4%BB/16%K rates; .372 vs. LHP; .340 vs. RHP; .317 with RISP; .415 in last 10 games.  29 games at 3B with 2 errors (.975); 2.66 R/F.  Cant get much better than this.

Chris McGuinness, 27, Signed as a free agent in 2015; .250/.355/.313 in 80 AB’s; 0HR 7RBI; 14%BB/12%K rates; .273 vs. LHP; .241 vs. RHP; .143 with RISP; .226 in last 10 games. 18 games at 1B with 1 error (.993); 8.44 R/F;  Surprisingly little power thus far but with a high contact rate, things should improve.

Russ Canzler, 29, Re-Signed as a free agent in 2015; .307/.383/.416 in 101 AB’s; 1HR 6RBI; 11%BB/22%K rates; .276 vs. LHP, .319 vs. RHP; .208 with RISP; 15 games at 1B with 2 errors (.984); 3 games at 3B without an error; 2 games in the OF without an error; Canzler continues to be a multi dimensional, AAAA, player who can hit

Reading

Brock Stassi, 25, Phils 33rd round pick in 2011; .319/.390/.473 in 91 AB’s; 3HR 25RBI; 12%BB/12%K rates; .261 vs. LHP; .323 vs. RHP; .378 with RISP. 24 games at 1B without an error; 7.38 R/F.  Stassi has been one of, if not the best clutch hitter in the organization through the first month of the season. Continue reading Around the System–Corner INF →