45 thoughts on “Clearwater Threshers Recap – 8/8/2018”

1. The 2 DSL teams actually lost their respective games but the White team was no hit. They scored 2 runs on 5 BBs, 2 HBPs, 2 WPs and 2 Balks. They actually could have won the game in regulation easily. In the 2nd inning a guy BB’ed, stole 2nd and reached 3rd on a balk and that was with no outs. The next 3 guys left him stranded by striking out. Just putting the ball in play could have won the game.

2. Hall is up to 23 and 79 for the season but with only 29 walks and a low avg at Reading.
   Seabold with a really good outing one day after Howard’s terrific outing (although two levels higher) is great news.
   MM leading Clearwater into 1st place. Go figure. I’d really like to see him get his avg up from 256 though.

   1. Murray…Moniak batting almost .300 since early May. I’m ok with Hall ks as long as he hits 25+ HRs a yr. Threshers are resilient and playing great baseball. Half their team was promoted and they just keep getting better. They are really fun to watch.

      1. Looks like Hall is sacrificing some power and going back to his old college days and making contact.
         BA is 276 over the last month….but his ISO has trended downward.

      2. Threshers play great defense leading the league in team defense with a .982 fielding % and their starting pitching has been excellent lately. Addison Russ has been lights out as a closer – 8 for 8 in saves with the Threshers and 21 for 21 in saves overall this year.

      3. His splits are interesting, seems like he has thrived as the 2 hole hitter .291 average, .363 OBP, and a .874 OPS
         He has had 86 ABs at that spot
         The majority have come at the 5th spot where his avg is ok but OBP and OPS, not so much.
         I’m a baseball manager but if I was, I’d be consistently batting him 2nd.

   2. He’s OBP’ing .294 and that’s with a slight surge the last month. Has a long, long way to go.

      1. He’s actually come quite a long way since April
         And if you look at his sits and how he has been hitting recently, I’d say he’s not that far off.

3. Ohoppe….

   1. Yeah he’s good but what about Stoney O’Brien’s 2-4 LOL how the heck did we get Stoney…

      1. DMAR…Stoney was a Sooner…an Okie.
         O’Brien played in 2017, since undrafted, in an Independent League.
         Phillies signed him as UDFA.

         1. Formerly Austin O’Brien … the name changed occurred while he was at Williamsport at the start of the season. I ignored it at first. But, hey, whatever.

            1. LOL I like it

4. For really good hitters, AA tends to be a spring board, not a brick wall. I’m suspending my judgment on guys like Hall, Randolph and Listi until they get through AA and produce at AAA. All will probably begin next year at AA so we will see. I’m also hoping that Haseley has a nice bounce back these last few weeks in AA, but on the whole he’s had a very nice season. He’s a guy who might benefit from spending quite a bit of time in AAA (at least a year) as he learns not only how to adjust to advance pitching, but to turn on pitches and improve his power. Many people don’t remember this, but Chase Utley spent time in AAA over three seasons including two nearly full seasons.

   MM is hanging in there – not what you’d be hoping for from the 1/1 pick, but he’s still got time and now there’s a glitter of hope, especially as his plate discipline develops.

   O’Hoppe and Luis Garcia are exciting.

   1. Chase also skipped AA…

      1. He did – but he also spent a full year in Clearwater (Haseley spent half a year) so Haseley is on the exact same age track if he starts next year in AAA, which he very well mgith.

   2. MLB’s Quick Pitch has a segment where they give a brief nod toward a few hot prospects. (very brief, and inaccurate, I might add)

      Last night/this morning they mentioned the Phillies. hot, young shortstop Luis Garcia who went 2-3 with 3 runs scored, a HR, RBI, and was batting .292. They listed him as playing in High A, and his photo was that of our other Luis Garcia (the pitcher who was with the Phillies for 39 games and is currently in AA Reading).

      Well, not only were the photo wrong and classification wrong, but he didn’t have the stat line they reported in any game this season AND his batting average is considerably higher at .385.

      At least they got his name and position right, in addition to recognizing he was hot.

      (Addendum: They also listed Garcia as the #92 prospect in MLB, a spot held by the Nationals’ Luis Garcia. So, maybe he’s the one who should feel slighted.)

      1. I love Quick Pitch but yeah they should stick to what they do best and leave the prospect highlights to Mayo and Callis.

         With all the dead hours of programming the MLB Network trys to fill with Quickpitch and re-airing programs I’m surprised they can’t produce a regular prospect segment once a week.

         Out of curiosity how many hours would each of you say you watch MLB network a week.

         Outside of watching the Phillies game when they are on it’s pretty much always on at night. Intentional Talk and Mad Dog are probably my least favorite but I love their MLB Tonight.

         I love to hate on Brian Kinney and man do my ears perk up any time they get Dan O’Dowd, Plesac and Pedro on. Love Verducci and Smoltz too.

         1. i watch alot- im actually disappointed most of the time they have a live game on- would rather have the studio and moving around from game to game- will flip to MLB while phils are between innings.
            i agree with more prospect stuff- even some minor league games aired on occasion featuring top prospects would be interesting for some viewers.

      2. So many Luis Garcias…..kind of like John Smiths I guess.
         http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?sid=milb&player_id=667599#/career/R/hitting/2018/ALL

   3. after what we have seen in past yrs, I’ve reached the point where I almost ignore strong offensive and weaker pitching performances in reading and eastern league and really see what a player looks like in AAA and LHV. eastern league offense just seems so inflated

5. Is Luis Garcia..our Francisco Lindor and O Hoppe our Buster Posey?
   Yes,I’m getting too excited,one can only dream.It would be awespome for us to have two position players go through our system fast and be stud prospects by the time they turn 20 years old,like the Braves Acuna/ Albies

   But according to the early reports it sounds like they have the tools/ talent,they are still only in the rookie leagues.However if they finish this year strong you would think that they would rank fairly high our the 2019 prospect lists

   1. I will be interested in seeing where Mayo/Callis of MLB.com rate Garcia, and any of the other GCL guys like Torres, and catcher’s O’Hoppe and Gutierrez, and also big OFer Carlos De La Cruz, when they come out with their 2019 pre-season rankings.

      1. Where they rank in the league rankings at season’s end will tell us a lot.

   2. Yeah, you ARE getting too excited. It’s way too early to be anything but happy and encouraged and its far too early to start predicting stardom for either player. You’ll get a much better idea when each of these players starts playing in Lakewood.

   3. There’s a reason for exciting but chill. It is still a long way to go. On the brightside, we are probably starting to see the behind the scenes investments that the FO are making to help improve the major league teams. Signing big name FAs is the most popular way among the fans, but putting resources and improving the scouting and player development is crucial for long term success.

      Scouting teams tapping talents from Europe, Australia and Taiwan shows that the FO are expanding its niche to look for talent and maintaining 2 DSL and GCL teams is increasing the pool to develop talent.

   4. Garcia is also a different level of prospect than O’hoppe. From the little we’ve heard about O’hoppe the signs are good but his K and BB rates are just meh and his BABIP is crazy. With Garcia the only thing you can really nitpick is too many CS.

      1. at this point the only thing to nitpick is his birth certificate.

      2. O’Hoppe is a lucky penny; Garcia is a double eagle gold coin with all the pedigree you could ask for.

6. I agree that the team is probably working overtime now to improve their scouting and player development operations. We are beginning to see the edges of that improvement with the new pitching coach who has done a superb job with the big league team. But John Middleton is a very competitive man. I suspect he isn’t happy when he sees one great Nationals and Braves hitting wunderkind after another, while our young hitting prospects struggle away, and asks aloud but in earshot of Klentak and MacPhail “when are we getting our Juan Soto or Ronald Acuna?” You know he expects better results on this front and he will pay good money to get them.

   1. By the way, I still believe that Almaraz is on a very short leash because he wasn’t hired by the current group and his drafting has been mixed. He better hope to God that at least one of the four consecutive top 10 hitter picks he made pans out in a big way – if that doesn’t happen within the next year or two – he’s toast. You heard it here first.

      1. It’s been discussed before and I know it’s very early, but the 2017 draft is looking very good and may keep Almaraz out of the toaster.

         1. Yeah it is – I like Howard’s long-term prospects.

            1. I’m impressed by some of the Day 3 picks: Holmes, Parkinson, Russ, Dohy, and Ben Brown.

               1. And 2018 Day 3 draftees looks really good too – McArthur, Killgore, McKay, O’Hoppe, Kinney

      2. Don’t look now but 3B Nolan Gorman just got promoted by the cards. Remember he was an early darling then fell to 19. He’s slashed 345/440/1.084 OPS with 11 dingers and 10 doubles in 37 games at rookie ball.

         They are moving him to their Low A Peoria team.

         1. It makes me a little sick that an 18 year-old kid who plays third base and was drafted around 20 is now at a level above our college third base prospect (I get that he’s injured but he wasn’t very good before the injury). It makes it doubly worse that the freaking Cardinals (who I despise) drafted him. #~%~$~~!!!

            1. Sorry catch didn’t mean to stir you up but I thought it dove tailed nicely to our talent evaluator discussion.

               With that said one always must wonder who gets the final call. For all we know Johnny was wanting Gorman and the other guys in the room were calling for Bohm. I happen to like the Bohm pick but what do I know.

               I guess whats important is that inside that room they know who called for what.

   2. Middleton will be the main driver on when the Phillies will actual play to contend. I’ve seen Middleton’s body language when he saw Lurie and the Eagles won the Superbowl and I can see desire and craving in Middleton.

      I trust that Middleton is always on top of Klentak, Sal A and Johnny A to produce a sustainable winning team.

      1. I think it’s good for the city and the teams if the owners are friends and are pulling for one another. I remember a few years back when Jeffrey Lurie who, admittedly, is from New England, flew some Eagles players up for either a Red Sox or Celtics game (I think it was Red Sox) and, while I respect his devotion to the team of his youth, it did not make me happy. Hopefully, with his friendship with Middleton, the Eagles and Phillies (who historically seemed eager to “one up” each other) are growing into a tight working bond. But, yes, I agree that watching the Super Bowl had an effect on Middleton and I believe the message he sent resulted in signings like Arrieta and Santana.

7. Not sure they keep records on this, but Darick Hall has got hit 50 times in 286 games.
   Once every 5.7 games.
   Chase Utley got hit 48 times in over 460 minor league games.
   Darick Hall may have set a Phillies minor league record.

   1. Who does he think he is Anthony Rizzo

      1. Maybe studying video of Rizzo and Utley.
         If he ever makes to the majors and keeps that pace…he could challenge for the top honor if he can play 10 years.
         Hughie Jennings 287
         Craig Biggio 285
         Tommy Tucker 272
         Don Baylor 267
         Jason Kendall 254
         Ron Hunt 243
         Dan McGann 230
         Chase Utley 203
         Frank Robinson 198
         Minnie Minoso 192

         1. Ron Hunt learned how to do this and was hit

            1. Hunt was hit 50 times one year!!!

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