Clearwater Threshers Recap – 8/14/2018

Box Score Recap

The Clearwater Threshers (64-54) beat Bradenton, 6-1.  Jerad Eickhoff tossed four, one-hit innings but walked three.  Ramon Rosso struck out 5 in four innings.  Jonathan Hennigan struck out two in one inning.  The three pitchers combined to toss a two-hitter.  Henri Lartigue went 2-3 with 3 RBI.  Arquimedes Gamboa went 2-3 with a double and RBI.  Mickey Moniak (.266) went 2-4 with a double, triple, and RBI.  Luke Williams and Grenny Cumana had two hits each.

GCP Phillies East (26-19) beat the Yankees West, 6-2.  Victor Santos struck out eight in five innings.  Mark Potter struck out five in two innings.  Jose Taveras pitched a clean rehab inning.  Alec Bohm went 2-3 with 2 RBI in 6.5 innings.  James Smith went 3-4 with 2 doubles.  Logan Simmons went 2-4 with 2 doubles.  Julio Francisco had 2 hits.

GCL Phillies West (25-20) no game scheduled.

Lehigh Valley (73-48) lost to Durham, 6-5.  Tom Eshelman lost his 12th.  Zach Green hit a 3-run HR (3).

Reading (58-61) lost to Hartford, 5-3.  Connor Seabold struck out ten in six innings,  Darick Hall went 3-4 with his 13th HR.  Deivi Grullon hit his 20th HR. 

Lakewood (75-44) no game scheduled.

Williamsport (23-32) no game scheduled.

DSL Phillies Red (26-35) tied the Yankees, 3-3 in seven innings.

DSL Phillies White (35-27) lost to the Brewers, 6-0 in seven innings.

Here’s the affiliate scoreboard from MiLB.

Transactions (newest transactions in bold text)

8/14/18–Philadelphia sent SS Pedro Florimon on a rehab assignment to Clearwater
8/14/18–Philadelphia optioned SS J.P. Crawford to Lehigh Valley
8/14/18–Milwaukee claimed RHP Jake Thompson off waivers from Philadelphia
8/14/18–Philadelphia recalled RHP Hector Neris from Lehigh Valley
8/14/18–Lehigh Valley placed RHP Drew Anderson on the temporarily inactive list
8/14/18–Williamsport sent 3B Alec Bohm on a rehab assignment to GCL Phillies East
8/13/18–Williamsport sent 3B Alec Bohm on a rehab assignment to GCL Phillies West
8/13/18–Philadelphia sent SS Pedro Florimon on a rehab assignment to GCL Phillies West
8/12/18–Clearwater activated RHP Will Hibbs from the 7-day DL
8/12/18–RHP Blake Quinn assigned to Williamsport from Clearwater
8/12/18–RHP Harold Arauz assigned to Reading from Lehigh Valley
8/11/18–Philadelphia activated 1B Justin Bour
8/11/18–Philadelphia optioned Zach Eflin to Lehigh Valley
8/11/18–Philadelphia sent SS Pedro Florimon on a rehab assignment to GCL Phillies East.
8/11/18–Reading sent RHP Mario Sanchez on a rehab assignment to GCL Phillies West.
8/11/18–Clearwater sent RHP JD Hammer on a rehab assignment to GCL Phillies East.
8/11/18–Philadelphia sent C Wilson Ramos on a rehab assignment to Clearwater
8/10/18–Philadelphia activated SS J.P. Crawford from the 10-day disabled list.
8/10/18–Philadelphia designated RHP Jake Thompson for assignment.
8/10/18–Miami traded 1B Justin Bour and cash to Philadelphia  for LHP McKenzie Mills.
8/10/18–RHP Harold Arauz assigned to Lehigh Valley from Reading
8/10/18–Reading   activated 2B Emmanuel Marrero from the 7-day DL.
8/10/18–Williamsport  sent 3B Alec Bohm on a rehab assignment to GCL Phillies East.
8/9/18–Bruce Wang signed as an international free agent to a 2019 contract

52 thoughts on “Clearwater Threshers Recap – 8/14/2018”

    1. If MLB allowed draft pick trades MM would have been picked somewhere in the 10-20 range. Part of “his value” of #1/1 was being able to spread money around (Stobbe/Gowdy). Plus he had a good bit of growing/maturing yet to do as an 18 year old. His resilience this year leads me to believe he is right where he is supposed to be.

      Unfair to compare him to other 1/1s like Griffey, Harper, etc. Steve Finley was and is a good comp, and a realistic one at that.

      1. It was a weak draft at the top but there’s no proof that the Phillies didn’t believe Moniak was BPA. This is just something that’s been conjectured enough that some now take it as fact. There was no consensus #1 talent and Moniak was in the mix as much as anybody. Maybe he wouldn’t have gone top 5 if the Phillies weren’t picking but maybe he would’ve. Saying he would have otherwise been taken 10-20 is false.

        1. Agree. MM was one of maybe five guys in the mix as BPA. He did sign for less than slot, which maybe factored in to why the Phillies selected him over the other 4-5 BPA candidates. But it’s bogus to say that MM would not have been a top 10 pick.

          1. That’s completely false. Not a single 1-1 pick since slot values were introduced in 2012 has signed for full value. In fact, it’s exceedingly rare for ANY of the top 3 picks to get full value.

            MM was among the 3-5 players nationally considered to be a legitimate choice for 1-1 and trying to revise history won’t change that. Even on here, people were excited when he was picked because of his tremendous upside. Some preferred Senzel, some preferred Pint, some wanted Groome, and a few wanted Puk (although his star dimmed leading up to the draft). But if the Phils didn’t take MM, someone else in the top 5 would have.

            By the way, only Senzel had a higher signing bonus than MM. And it was “only” 100K higher. So even if money was the determining factor on BPA (it’s not), he would be second on the board.

        3. I thought it was common knowledge that they picked him in order to grab someone like Gowdy with their second pick . . . was that not true?

          1. It’s something people have said fairly often. It might be true; its not unreasonable. There just hasn’t been, to my knowledge, any official reporting of it as fact.

            As Dan K says above, there hasn’t been a 1-1 that’s gotten full slot value. So just by getting the first pick at all, there’s an expectation of having “extra” money in subsequent rounds.

  2. This doesn’t seem like just a hot streak for Mickey. It seems like he has figured something out. His k rate is down materially and he is driving the ball. Wonderful to see. Good for him for not getting down and battling through it.

    1. Since July 1, he’s .297/.355/.493 with an 8.9/16.6 BB/K rate. That’s 169 PA. Defensively, he hasn’t committed an error in CF.

      You’ve really got to hand it to the kid. It’s quite the recovery after a rough start.

      Someone on this site earlier in the season asked whether we should be happy if Moniak is hitting something like .270 with improved BB/K rates by the season’s end. I said at the time that I would be thrilled by such a finish, though I doubted it would happen. An yet … here we are.

      1. Imo he gets a mulligan on his first half stats. Therefore I don’t look at his year numbers. I will grade his season on his second half numbers and so far they are good. That stat line is what we had all hoped to see when he was drafted.

      2. If anyone remembers in the beginning of the season when y’all were ready to fire Hasley and Moniak I said Hasley and moniak would both finish up around 275 or close to it. Pretty damn close my friends. I think Moniak has figured it out even though he was hitting ball hard in beginning of yr, he wasnt using the entire field like he is now and what got him here. Like Harry has sd who comments on here quite often, I’ve been to a lot of Threshers games and saw in the beginning how hard the kid was hitting the ball even though some people on here don’t think so. You need to be there and hear the ball off the bat and see it.. anyways, I’m glad moniak has really come into his own and done his thing. I don’t think I even need to say anything about Haseley. I think moniak work today season and call up possibly if they weren’t in the playoff hunt. Just my opinion

        1. Can you point to what has changed in MM’s swing or approach from start of year until now? What exactly has he figured out?

          1. One thing that I noticed in his swing is that he changed his stride. He used to have a close base and stride out. Now he has a negative stride similar (but not as extreme) to what Hoskins does.

            You can see it here:

      3. Even better … since May 25 (58 games & 213 AB’s) … Mickey is sporting an .836 OPS. He’s slashing .305/.357/.479. His K rate, during that time, is 20%. His BB rate is 7%. He’s still just 20 YO until next May (and one of the youngest players in the FSL). At this point … I’m getting an Albert Almora vibe from Moniak.

        Also … for all you Johnny Almaraz haters … Kevin Gowdy is throwing again. IMO, Gowdy may have a Jesus Luzardo post TJ outcome, and be a top 6 or 7 prospect by this time next year. This is why you really have to wait a good four years to fairly judge a draft.

  3. The best part of MMs extended period of success is we no longer have to worry about whether or not he can play because we know he can. the next steps are adding consistency, increasing BB% and OBP and adding some more power but we atleast know the hit tool is there

    1. Tomorrow he is suppose to start one of the games.
      He will have then five days rest….unless the manager has other plans.

  5. Haseley and Moniak have both responded in a big way this year to both earn their top 5 spits in the system. Bohm is close to getting back to Wsport to see if he can do the same. I’d really love to see JP hit well while he’s down at LHV for two weeks. The same goes for Knapp who I assume will go down today. I wonder if Haseley will go to LHV when Altherr comes up Sept 1 to give him a taste of AAA including their playoffs.
    Grullon with 20 homers. I never would have imagined that. I’d love to see him get to AAA for a month but it would require them releasing someone ahead of him.

    1. Nick Rickles is on th DL in LHV….Grullon can still go up for these last two/three weeks.

        1. I figured as much now that Ramos was activated earlier today.
          Still prefer Grullon get a taste of some of the AAA experience…and also assume Knapp’s presence will help the Pigs in the playoffs.

          1. Phillies better hope Ramos does not get injured as they will be down to one catcher.

    2. Grullon is a big story that has largely gone unnoticed on this blog. What he is doing this year in AA is very impressive. He has emerged as a legit MLB prospect IMO.

    3. Haseley is dealing with making adjustments in AA; I don’t think he needs a new challenge just yet. He’s keeping his BA high but the peripherals and XBHs have taken a downturn since his initial burst in Reading.

  6. Clearing some guys from the 40 man roster makes sense. Hoby Milner was DFA’ed and traded for cash. Jake Thompson was the same. A decision was going to be made whether to add McKenzie Mills to the 40 man at the end of this season. They got a player they like who could become important down the stretch for him. So clear some space and maybe acquire a supporting piece at the same time. It seems savvy to me.

  7. Great performance by the Crosscutter players in the All Star game last night. Alcantara and Kilgore took care of the last two innings and Aklinski, Rodriguez, and Marchan had key hits and a sac fly. The greater emphasis on more opportunity for Latin players and good drafting have made the future phillies in the rookie leagues a force. The future looks very good.
    With Williamsport without a post season I see them moving Warren to Clearwater to see how he performs there. He has been dominant.

  9. Agree with v1 on the first half mulligan, but adjustments aside (which I do think he made), MM had surgery to remove his wisdom teeth last week in June (was causing migraines)… correlates nicely to the July 1 triple slash line referenced above. Could be something additional to support this is real.

    1. v1again already burried MickeyMo with his masterpiece posted in this site. He also discredits any list with MickeyMo listed in the Top 30/50. What he’s doing is just damage control.

      He may not be the phenom that everybody expects but Moniak is just 20. He still have time and projection to become better.

      I was never been a fan of Randolph because of his positional limitation. But he is only 21. Like Moniak, Randolph still have time to complete his development.

      As of now, both Moniak and Randolph have the following career minor slash:

      Moniak 0.256/0.300/0.367
      Randolph 0.256/0.347/0.368

      1. Lol is that a joke?

        1. Reread my post https://phuturephillies.com/2017/08/03/mickey-moniak-and-the-70-hit-tool/. If calling a player a 3 WAR player is burying him then you have no perspective of how rare that is. If you really think that his performance in A ball indicates that he will be more than that then you are not being objective.

        2. Lol at “damage control.” Damage of what? You think that I care about your opinion? Why would your opinion of me matter to me at all?

        3. I am a Phillies fan. I root for all prospects to be great Phillies. I give objective data driven views of the probability that a prospect becomes a major league player. As data changes, so does their probabilities and thus so does my views. When a player is in A ball hitting .230 with a 26% K rate and 3% walk rate and no power and getting horrible reviews from scouts, that makes me down on a prospect. When that changes, so does my view.

        4. You think that I was harsh, you should read some of the views on the scouts. The reports were awful. And these are real scouts who saw him in person.

        5. Tap the breaks on the Hall of Fame plack. It is great to see that he is having some success. But the gap between where he is and being a highly productive MLB player is enormous. Players go up and down. If he explodes from here and is a star then great! I would be very happy to see that. But hold off on the bronze statue. We have seen many prospects put up much better numbers and be nothing. Let’s see how he progresses. But nice to see.

        1. no, it’s not a joke. you keep flip flopping on MickeyMo and most of your posts are just to highlight how crappy MickeyMo is that Jim P already told to stop. And you’re opinion of somebody’s ranking is based on where they rank Moniak which you said don’t deserve Top 30.

          and don’t start the WAR discussion with me. i’m certain that you don’t know how WAR is used for and how WAR is calculated. i don’t have a beef with WAR, only with the people who pretend to know how to use it when in fact they don’t. you call Moniak a 3 WAR player, but do you have the actual statistics and calculation to come up with the 3 WAR?

          2. You don’t seem to understand so I will slow it down for you.

            I am a Phillies fan. I want every prospect to be a great mlb player. However, I have watched minor league prospects for long enough to know that it is the rare few who are good mlb players. Most of the guys turn out to be nothing at the mlb level. Even those with really good stats in the minors…

            So when a player struggles mightily for 1.5 years, has high k rates, low walk rates, high ground ball rates, no power and terrible scouting reports, I start to assume that that prospect isn’t going to make it.

            I never stop hoping, I just lower my expectations. Recognizing that it is impossible to predict the future, all one can do is base an opinion on objective data and pattern recognition.

            You say that you saw him hit a lot of hard hit balls. Well, I read professional scouts who said the opposite. And while you are anonymous, I doubt that you are a professional scout. I know for certain that you are biased due to being a fan. So I completely discount your opinion. I look at data and real scout reviews.

            When I see objective evidence (lower k rates, more power, more walks, fewer ground balls) and I see those same scouts with more positive reviews, then my opinion on the probability of a player making it goes up.

            That is not “flip flopping”. That is re-evaluating based on new data.

            But I am sure that you don’t care…so troll away.

            1. We are both fans, read scouting reports and we are not both scouts. Unless you are also a professional licensed person like i am, our difference is that I know how to respect somebody else’s opinion whether i agree with them or not. i also don’t call somebody a troll unless he is really trolling. and except for some bad days, i keep my argument on the subject and not attack somebody else’s personality like you do.

            2. by the way, I’m not the one who said that I saw Moniak hit a lot of hard ball. I’m based in Philly so I don’t get to watch Moniak at all this year. So you are wrong here again.

              It’s funny that you discount my opinion and call me bias because i’m a fan, when in fact you admitted that you are also a fan so your opinion is just the same as mine.

            3. I am a fan. And my opinion is biased. That is why I read the reports of real scouts and look at stats and discount my own personal opinion. I think that it is absurd that people on this blog think that their “eye test” is somehow objective. I know mine is not. I don’t pretend that it is.

            4. I agree with you. It’s like people are harpooning you being concerned about a prospect who had bad scouting reports and bad stats – like that’s your fault or you’re being overly negative. That’s ridiculous – his performance changed. You didn’t change your mind – he changed it for you, but your concerns were all legitimate.

      2. They will play together in the Reading OF next year. It looks like Moniak has earned his promotion but C will certainly repeat.

        1. agree, i’m not sure if Moniak will made it to REA by end of the year but I’m positive that he will start there in 2019 to join Randolph and Pujols.

          1. I think you need to take it easy on people who have point of view that is different than yours. Personally, if this site becomes one sided with sunshine being pumped by same few people its worthless site. I enjoy listening to both sides of conversation as long as there has been research of facts combined with your view/bias on both sides. This is hobby for people so I don’t think it should ever get personal. Just my 2 cents.

  10. I know most don’t pay attention to the DSL teams but lefty Juan Miranda on the DSL White team is doing pretty remarkably.

    He started off the season as a reliever and converted 7/7 saves without allowing a run, before trying his hand at starting. In his 4 games started, he is averaging over 6 innings/start with a 1.85 ERA entering today.

    Today all he has done is held the opposition to 1 hit and no runs over the first five innings and counting. He also has 7 strikeouts and no walks.

    The only knock on him that I can see is that he is slightly undersized at 5’11” and already 19 years old in the DSL.

  11. Will Joey Meneses be brought up in September? With Santana struggling and Bour’s future with the team uncertain. Let’s have a look at him and make a place for him on the 40 man roster.

  12. Anybody (maybe JIM) have anything on Malvin Matos (has been out almost the entire season), Carlos De La Cruz (has been out for a week and a half), and Cole Stobbe (out since mid June) ???

    1. Stobbe’s absence is really devastating for him and his development, could be shutdown until FIL…. two separate hamstring strains to the same leg. Hope he does not become the new Roman Quinn with soft tissue issues..

        1. That will be great for Moniak.
          I was hoping Hall would get selected also.
          Kind of like a homecoming for him, as they did Kingery two years ago and they tried to do also for Cozens, until he ended with an arm strain from that throwing contest..

    2. Before my grandkids visited a couple weeks ago, I hadn’t seen Matos and Stobbe at the Complex for a while. But, when undergoing rehab, players can come and go from the front of the building without being noticed. They don’t have to remain for the completion of the GCL game. And, with this being a rather wet summer, most games are on Roberts Field in the back of the Complex, out of sight of the front door. However, I’ve heard that Stobbe is still there and rehabbing a recurring injury from last year. I heard today that De La Cruz has an unspecified injury. I’ll be able to find out more when I’m back in Clearwater next week.

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