Prior to their rain out yesterday, Lehigh Valley had won four of their last six games and return home for a quick two game home stand against Scranton before hitting the road for three games against Pawtucket.  At 76-52, Lehigh Valley sits in 2nd place of the Northern Division, four games behind division leading Scranton, however hold a 5.5 game lead in the wild card race with 15 games remaining in the season.

News and Notes: Darin Ruf has hit safely in his last 7 games, during which he is hitting .400 with 3HR and 8RBI.  Over the last month, Ruf leads the IL in slugging %.

—Cody Asche has hit in all 9 games since being optioned from Philadelphia.

—Anthony Vasquez continues pitching well wherever he is throwing.  Over his last 8 starts for Lehigh Valley, Vasquez is 3-0 with a 2.23ERA and 5 quality starts.

–P Phil Klein has been added to the rotation and is throwing very well, going 2-0 with a 1.40ERA in his last 3 starts.

–Over his last 12 games, RP Colton Murray has a 1.53ERA; and has struck out 16 in 17.2IP.

—JP Crawford was out on the lineup for an 8 game stint between 8/10 and 8/17.  Since returning to the lineup, Crawford is 3-14 (.214) and his average has fallen to .255 since joining Lehigh Valley.

—Andy Knapp continues to progress defensively and has now thrown out over 36% of would be base stealers this season.

–Over the last 2 months, 1B Brock Stassi is hitting .287 with 10HR 37RBI and 14 go ahead RBI. Continue reading Lehigh Valley Report →

Over the past weekend, Mike Drago of the Reading Eagle published his yearly prospect survey (The Eagle is a subscription site).  Mike requested input from about two dozen industry people who watch or cover a fair amount of games and players among the Phillies’ affiliates.  He received 15 responses and used a weighted scoring system to determine a player’s perceived value (first-place votes earning 20 points, second place 19 points, etc.).   I was one of the 15 respondents. Continue reading The First End of Season Poll, 2016 →