Here is the bare bones box score recap.
Lehigh Valley won, Jose Taveras threw six, one-hit, shutout innings. Herlis Rodriguez homered.
Reading was shut out on 4 singles, Damek Tomscha had two of them.
I watched Clearwater flounder to an extra inning loss and miss another opportunity to make up ground in the playoff race.
Lakewood was held to one hit. They lost by a touchdown.
Williamsport rallied for five runs in the top of the ninth and secured a victory. HRs by Nick Maton and Yahir Gurrola accounted for all five runs. .
And, I watched the GCL Phillies expand their lead with a drubbing of the Blue Jays.
Here’s the affiliate scoreboard from MiLB.
The floor is open for comments.
Spencer Howard absolutely imploded last night. You’re allowed one of these, once in a blue moon. He lasted 1 inning or should I say he started the 2nd inning but didn’t get an out. He gave up 5 hits and 6 runs… all earned. He had 1 K and 2 BBs, 2 WPs and a balk. At least he didn’t hit anyone. Wmsprt found the opponents weak link pitcher and Maton and Gurrola messed him up pretty well for the comeback win.
LikeLike
Spencer Howard. Yikes
and also:
.241/.293/.345/.638
I would shut down Moniak down for the rest of the year before he ends the season hitting .231
LikeLike
Nope, you need him to understand how long the season is and play to the end. He’ll rebound next year but he needs to get stronger
LikeLike
@Murray, I agree. Give him another offseason of strength and conditioning and he will mash next year. TG just loves rubbing the Moniak pick in everyone’s face.
LikeLike
Not for nothing it is looking pretty bad tho . . .
LikeLike
Dude, give it a rest!
As for Howard, pretty sure that’s one, maybe two bad games he has had.
LikeLike
Tommy, give it a freaking rest…or take your comments to Philly.com where they would fit right in. Nice nights for several guys JPC has really righted the ship, Pelletier is really starting to intrigue me.
LikeLike
Tommy’s comments are basically:
1. Mickey Moniak has been a huge disappointment and might not end up being very good.
2. They should have picked Puk or someone else other than MM.
3. He said (according to him – and I don’t care to dispute it), at the time of the draft that they should have drafted someone else.
4. People aren’t spending enough time talking about how bad MM has been (not true – a LOT of us are voicing concerns over MM’s performance).
He makes these points every day in multiple posts.
Tommy, seriously, we get it, and you might be right. But the system is a lot bigger than Mickey Moniak.
Can we move on now?
LikeLike
this is my first post in a couple days. and I didnt say any one of those things today
i posted his stats.
and gave my recommended course of action for getting him on track.
so relax bud.
LikeLike
I’m very relaxed.
And, yeah, if we took the totality of your largely repetitive posts we would definitely come up with the list of points I made above, and perhaps a few more.
I mean, post all you want, I don’t care. But, believe me, we get it.
LikeLike
Agreed, catch. I am just going to ignore him.
Our farm is huge and more than one player. I am intrigued by this year’s draft class. Most seem to be doing fairly well.
LikeLike
i would never post in the idiot echo chamber that is philly.com
just posted some stats and my recommended course of action.
i cant control the vitriol that Moniak’s performance causes on here if you mention it
And I agree about JPC. My unwavering belief in him is continuing to pay off. And yes Pelletier is intriguing as well. So is Jake Holmes. He’s having an under the radar impressive debut. Will be interesting to see if he sticks at SS for a few more years or whether he is moved to 3B or a corner OF
Has Jim ever given us a first hand report on his chances to stick at SS?
LikeLike
Why you’d fit right in!
LikeLike
Thumps up
LikeLike
You’re reaction and constant chirping at TG’s post to me is far more annoying than his comments.
LikeLike
I don’t know who bergeraj is but I do not I could run circles around him
When it comes to phillies and Phillips minor league knowledge.
LikeLike
I don’t agree about shutting Moniak down but come on, are we so sensitive that a suggestion like that offends our sensibilities? All of us who have played the game have kicked up a little dust and shouldn’t be directing posters elsewhere if they don’t toe a line. What would you say in the unlikely event that Lakewood gives Moniak a major amount of rest before the season ends? Or if it turns out he was playing through an injury that rest would have helped. Confident posters welcome a robust exchange of views including those we don’t agree with.
LikeLike
Gurrola keeps on hitting although he’s older and should hit at these levels. Pelletier is very interesting to me, the young Canadian kid has a legit bat. We need some offensive talent to show itself in our system.
LikeLike
Taveras with a 1 hitter man he has really raking , nobody really hit him. Irvin another nice outing the Phillies might have a lefty close . Kingery ready but has to wait . Tomascha wow now hitting in AA a little old but at 3rd and he controls the stike zone.so does Holmes even though it’s a small sample.
LikeLike
Taveras is a very solid pitcher. He’s always put up good numbers. He could crack the rotation next season, maybe in spot duty
LikeLike
Tomscha hitting .474 in his last ten games. From all reports, he is a solid defender and offensive threat. Is he our future 3rd baseman? Or, does he need to be tested at LHV?
LikeLike
Tomscha will be 26 in about a week. Any major league future for him would be a big (pleasant) surprise. Basically, he’ll have to rake in Reading, force a promotion to LHV, rake there and have an opportunity open up in the big leagues. Then he’ll have to get there and hit right away.
LikeLike
JPC on base 3 times last night, 2-4, bb…
Hitting.333 the last ten games, season obp now .350
Hoskins on base 3 more times last night
Ben Pelletier continues to impress
LikeLike
And JPC’s OPS would be good for #7 for MLB SS. He is at his season high in BA as well. I truly believe he is at or above .250 to end season
LikeLike
I was hoping to have a discussion about Seth McGarry, who has gotten smoked in two (2ip, 6r, 3b, 4k) of the eight games that he has pitched for CLW, yet fairly lights out in his other six outings (7ip, 0r 2h, 3bb, 9k).
Now, one or two bad outings can skew a reliever’s stats, and he certainly seems to have pretty decent numbers – especially his numbers vs righties with Bradenton. The most likely scenario is that he was due for a bad outing or two and there’s nothing to worry about.
One thing I’m wondering is: In the minor leagues when a player gets traded midseason, is there typically a rough adjustment? It would certainly be understandable when you consider someone who may be ~20 years old having to uproot himself and move overnight. That would have to be a shock to the system.
Jeff
LikeLike
A friend and his wife have billeted Delmarva Shorebirds (Orioles system) players over the years. There is in the Shorebirds, and I assume this is typical except for guys who signed for big bonuses and rent their own facilities or live in a hotel, a person who handles these placements which are set up with lots of lead time. These friends tended to look on the players as extended family, like a nephew. I assume the feelings were mutual and that a mid-season move would be a major source of disruption. Of course, if a promotion is part of the trade, that would ease the angst. Ice hockey has a similar system of billeting for kids as young as 14.
I think part of the pro experience is that there is a volume of personnel moves that high school and college ballplayers would find unfamiliar.
LikeLike
Since Deivi Grullon’s promotion to Reading, I’ve been clicking on the Reading box score first to check on him. 21-year-olds are rare in AA, especially at the catcher position. He is displaying power for a catcher so young, 10 homers in 84 games this season including 2 in 13 games in AA. He has caught in a lot of games and innings every season if his career, which is commendable. I think he is the best Phillies catcher prospect still in the minors leagues, and deserves more attention as a legitimate MLB prospect.
LikeLike
His raw tools are apparently very good, but hasn’t shown the ability to draw enough walks or flash an acceptable hit tool. He’s never had an OPS above .700.
He is going to have to improve a lot to get on the map. He’s young, so we will see, but, right now, he’s just another guy with untapped potential.
LikeLike
a sub-700 OPS is tough, but how is he defensively?
LikeLike
If I remember correctly, Grullon has a hose behind the plate. There used to be talk of him having tools to be a great defensive catcher, but I haven’t seen much on his defense lately.
LikeLike
I like to think Grullon is in the mold of Carlos Ruiz.
Ruiz had his first plus OPS year in his age24 season @ CLW., and then that was only a .765. But at Reading the following year he exploded.
But different era and times.
I wonder if the Phillies will protect Grullon this November?.
LikeLike
I think it’s hard to draw any parallels with Ruiz – he was a 1 in a 100 exception – completely unexpected career arc.
LikeLike
I can’t get excited about a guy whose current ceiling is as a marginal back-up catcher – which is what he would be, at best, with a sub-.700 OPS.
LikeLike
@catch: Still, a very good defensive backup catcher who does, say .250/.320/.360 would be a passable major leaguer. FWIW, I just checked at mlb.com and something like 52 out of 94 catchers in the league are below .700 ops
Now I’m not sure if I’m helping or hurting his case.
How about this: I checked Freddy Galvis’ stats and throughout the minors he had some abyssmal offensive years. Now, Galvis had a MLB-calber-gold-glove his first year at Lakewood but he has been definitely been an adequate Major Leaguer.
I guess it all depends on how good Grullon’s defense and game-calling is.
Jeff
LikeLike
His pop time is good his arm about a 60 he’s already above Alfaro Defensive ability. The walks will Come with age. He’s your future Catcher.
LikeLike
Pullin closing in on 40 doubles (39) and has more extra base hits than Kingery (58-56). Nice to see him coming on at AAA and moving up in the lineup. Still hoping Cozens can get hot for 2 weeks.
LikeLike
I view Pullin’s struggles as a bit of a blessing. It means they might not have to protect him on the 40-man roster this winter. He’s a lot better than he’s shown thus far at AAA. Hoskins’ ridiculous performance obscures how large the jump is for most prospects for Reading/EL to LHV/IL – it’s a HUGE jump.
LikeLike
Jhailyn Ortiz has a .927 OPS at Williamsport, good for third in the league. The last time an 18-year-old finished a season with an OPS over .900 was – never, at least not in the last 10 years, which is as far back as Fangraphs tracks. In fact, the last 18-year-old to come even close to that number was our very own Sebastian Valle in 2009.
Valle: 4.9/19.9 BB/K, .307/.335/.531
Ortiz: 10.8/25.3 BB/K, .283/.398/.529
Valle was an exciting prospect at the time, and Ortiz’s numbers splits are far more promising. Yes, he is likely going to be limited to first base, and Valle was a catcher, but I think Ortiz’s ability to draw more than twice as many walks at the same age in the same league is encouraging, given how the story for Valle played out.
LikeLike
Yea, for me Ortiz’s combination of power and plate discipline is what makes him such an interesting prospect. He might eventually end up at 1b but so far he seems to be athletic enough to stick in the OF…
LikeLike
I can see Ortiz limited to first base once he ages …once he turns 30 or so….but not yet at 20.
From all reports he is very athletic for a guy his size.
Mitch Rupert I think reported that earlier.
He probably has the usual limitations for a big power guy….corner OFs, then I can assume later in his career first base.
LikeLike
Let’s hope so … one of the BA guys answered my question about Ortiz’s position in a chat last month and said players as big as Ortiz is now aren’t likely to stay in the OF for long, but there were no specifics as to when a change would be required. I suppose if Kruk and Luzinski had the athleticism to play out there, Ortiz will as well.
Either way, he’s an exciting prospect! And to think a season at Reading is in his future …
LikeLike
I feel like John Kruk and Tom McCarthy are in a race to see who can get to 500 lbs first……
LikeLike
do you think Ortiz will be moved up next season? From the numbers, I say yes.
LikeLike
TrollU…..yes.
They tend to move up all premier prospect players who have a little above average to plus seasons.
The ones they have kept back…Tocci and Pujols to name two…..had very initial poor seasons at their respective levels and had to repeat.
LikeLike
thanks sir!
LikeLike
We can all read stat lines, I agree give it a rest. Everyone on here watches the box scores and stat lines incessantly so posting those stat lines speaks to the obvious motives behind it.
LikeLike
I thought this was to me, but I know who it’s in ref to 🙂
LikeLike
He’s a strange cat in that he seems to get hot for a month and then really tail off
June 192/400/862
July 342/436/1.094
Aug 212/297/570
granted june and august are real small samples…
LikeLike
DMAR..who is this strange cat your referring to?
LikeLike
I think Ortiz
LikeLike
That’s a pretty amazing stat – and I don’t remember Valle being that good offensively. Whatever happened to him, BTW?
LikeLike
He couldn’t do much with the power because of his unremarkable contact skills and abysmal approach at the plate. Per Fangraphs, it appears he’s now playing in Mexico.
LikeLike
That’s why I like Ortiz in comparison because he also seems to have the plate discipline to go along with the bat…
LikeLike
I was at the Reading game last night. Irvin gets a lot of swings and misses, (I was in a bad spot to see corners) he seems to paint very well also. But when contact is made they were squarred up pretty good. Tromp looked awful struck out in 1st ab swung and missed at 2 strikes it continued all game. Grullon was similar. Very disappointing night at the plate really.I
LikeLike
They don’t call them the dog days for nothing…
LikeLike
LKW faced Yelmison Peralta last night. My guy in the White Sox loves this kid. Said he is just plain nasty both his stuff and his attitude. Unfortunately he gets in his own way most nights. Command is really bad but hitters hate facing him he pitches inside a lot.
LikeLike
Ben Pelletier with a couple more hits today.
This kid just seems to know how to make consistent contact.
He has been on base 32 of the 39 games he currently has played for the GCL Phillies.
I cannot wait to see how he performs when he starts to face a majority of pitchers his age or younger than him, in a few years.
LikeLike
Feature MiLB.com article on slugger Darick Hall:
https://www.milb.com/milb/news/sal-notes-hall-stands-tall-with-blueclaws/c-249022732/t-185364810
LikeLike
Romus maybe its me. but that pitch hall hit in the video to left was impressive. It looked like a offspeed pitch down and away and he took it to left with a lot of power. I Never saw any video on him before ty.
LikeLike
Hall has something ,he gives the league 3 wks head start and still has a big lead in both Hr and RBIs.i mean this is first yr not pitching .
LikeLike
I’m shocked Hall hasn’t been promoted
LikeLike