Clearwater Threshers Recap – 9/2/2018

Box Score Recap

Roman Quinn was finally removed from the prospect list.  He had been ranked 15th in the organization.  Everyone below #15 moved up one and Simon Muzziotti made the list at #30.

The Clearwater Threshers (77-60) closed out their 2018 regular season with a 2-1 loss to the Fort Myers Miracle.  Ramon Rosso (2.91) threw three, shutout innings.  Probably s he could be available earlier during the playoffs.  He allowed 5 hits, walked none, and struck out three.  He threw 44 pitches, 33 strikes (75%).  

Four relievers got some pre-playoff work in.  J.D. Hammer (1-2, 2.79) suffered the loss striking out 3 in his one inning, but being charged with 2 unearned runs.  Alberto Tirado (2.18) struck out 3 in two innings.  Grant Dyer (4.78) pitched a perfect inning.  Addison Russ (1.69) pitched a scoreless inning.

The Threshers collected 5 singles and 2 walks.  Luke Williams (.245) had an RBI single.

The victory catapulted Fort Myers into the playoffs.  The Miracle ended the second half tied with the Charlotte Stone Crabs, who lost on Sunday.   The Miracle was awarded the second-half title based on a head-to-head tie breaker.

The Threshers set records for wins in a month (in a 22-9 August) and wins in a half (45). They posted a 2.13 ERA in August, the best in FSL by nearly a run.  The Threshers posted seven shutouts in August – more than three teams had during the entire season. The Threshers’ ERA in the second half (3.02) was more than a run lower than it was in
the first half (4.24).

The playoffs start Tuesday at Spectrum Field.  The pitching match ups for the first two games of the three game series have TBD throwing a lot.

  • #1 Sixto Sanchez (4-3, 2.51) – placed on the 7-day DL in June, 2018
  • #3 Adonis Medina (10-4, 4.12)
  • #6 Mickey Moniak (.270) DNP
  • #11 Arquimedes Gamboa (.214) went 0-4 with 2 K
  • #12 Daniel Brito (.250) went 1-3 with a run scored
  • #16 Jose Gomez (.224) went 1-3 with a K
  • #19 David Parkinson (3-0, 1.24) –

Lehigh Valley (83-56)  Lost in a walk off to Rochester, 6-5.  Tom Eshelman (5.84) gave up 4 runs in six innings on 7 hits and a walk.  He struck out seven.  Ben Lively (2.42) and Jeff Singer (19.64) each pitched a perfect inning.  Edgar Garcia (0-1, 7.71) blew the save and earned the loss with a mo-out, 2-run HR in the ninth.

The IronPigs collected 5 hits.  Andrew Knapp (.235) went 2-4 with a run scored.  Danny Ortiz hit a 3-run HR (15).  Two Pigs were picked off first.

  • #8 Ranger Suarez (2-0, 2.91) –
  • #9 Enyel De Los Santos (10-5, 2.63) –
  • #10 Cole Irvin (14-4, 2.57) –
  • #15 Roman Quinn accumulated enough days on active roster to lose prospect status
  • #15 Dylan Cozens (.246) recalled to Philadelphia
  • #20 Drew Anderson (9-4, 3.87) –
  • #27 Tom Eshelman (2-13, 5.84) – 6.0 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, 2 HR

Reading (64-72) lost to Trenton, 3-0.  Harold Arauz (9-7, 4.59) held the Thunder to one earned run in 4.1 innings.  Luke Leftwich (3.73) came in and stranded three inherited runners, striking out five in 2.2 innings, but also giving up a run.  Kyle Dohy (5.73) pitched a scoreless inning.

The Phils were held to two hits, singles by Cornelius Randolph and Jan Hernandez (.266).

  • #4 Adam Haseley (.316) Temporarily Inactive List
  • #5 JoJo Romero (7-6, 3.80) – placed on the 7-day DL on 7/20/18
  • #21 Kyle Dohy (2-4, 6.00) – 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
  • #22 Cornelius Randolph (.241) went 1-4 
  • #23 Connor Seabold (1-4, 4.67)

Lakewood (87-50) beat Delmarva, 5-4.  Damon Jones (10-7, 3.41) gave up 4 runs (only one ER) on 6 hits and 2 walks in five innings.  He struck out six.  Connor Brogdon (2.47) pitched two scoreless innings.  Zach Warren struck out five in two scoreless innings and picked up his 15th save.

Jose Antequera (.273) went 2-3 with 2 runs scored, a double, RBI, and a walk.  Matt Vierling (.293) had a hit and 2 RBI.

Jones and Brogdon each picked a runner off first base.

  • #7 Jhailyn Ortiz (.224) went 0-3 with a BB, K
  • #12 Daniel Brito (.252) promoted to Clearwater, August 3rd.
  • #17 Kyle Young (3-3, 2.98) – placed on the 7-day DL on 7/15/18
  • #18 Spencer Howard (9-8, 3.78) –
  • #19 David Parkinson (8-1, 1.51) – promoted to Clearwater on 8/2/18
  • #29 Nick Maton (.260) DNP
  • #30 Simon Muzziotti (.260) went 1-4

Williamsport (32-42) lost to State College, 9-1.  Francisco Morales (4-5, 5.27) gave up 3 runs in six innings.  He struck out six.  Robinson Martinez (4.15) and Abdallah Aris (4.28) combined to give up 6 runs on 9 hits in the final three innings.

Ben Aklinski (.259) went 2-4 with a triple.  Jesus Henriquez (.221) had a double and RBI. Jake Holmes (.253) and Lenin Rodriguez (.228) had the Cutters other 2 hits.

  • #2 Alec Bohm (.219) went 0-4 with a K
  • #13 Francisco Morales (4-5, 5.27) – 6.0 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 2 HR
  • #25 Kevin Gowdy – 60-day DL
  • #26 Jhordany Mezquita (1-0, 3.60) – DNP.
  • #28 Colton Eastman (0-2, 3.00) –

The GCL Phillies East finished in first place in the GCL North Division with a 30-24 record. They lost a one-game semifinal on the road against the Palm Beach Cardinals.

  • #24 Dominic Pipkin (1-2, 3.64) made 10 appearances, 8 starts.  In limited action, he pitched 29.2 innings.  In a SSS, he posted a 1.180 WHIP, 2.4 BB/9, and 5.5 K/9.

The GCL Phillies West finished in second place in the GCL Northwest Division with a 30-24 (.556) record.

  • #14 Luis Garcia finished the season with a league best .369 AVG.  His .433 OBP placed third, his .488 SLG placed 13th, and his .921 OPS placed seventh.  These were not only team leading but also the best of both Phillies GCL entries.  Garcia’s 33 runs scored were fourth in the league following team mate Yerwin Trejo’s 40.  He led the league with 62 hits.  Placed second with 32 RBI.  Trejo’s 23 stolen bases led the league, Garcia had 12.

The DSL Phillies Red finished the season 31-40 (.437) in fifth place in the DSL South Division.

The DSL Phillies White finished the season 39-33 (.542) in fourth place in the DSL San Pedro Division.

Here’s the affiliate scoreboard from MiLB.

The rosters and lists are up to date as of September 2nd.

Transactions (newest transactions in bold text)
9/2/18–Philadelphia activated 1B Justin Bour
9/1/18–Philadelphia activated LHP Austin Davis from the 10-day DL
9/1/18–Philadelphia activated SS Pedro Florimon from the 60-day DL
9/1/18–Philadelphia activated RHP Edubray Ramos from the 10-day DL
9/1/18–Philadelphia designated 3B Jesmuel Valentin for assignment.
9/1/18–Toronto claimed RHP Mark Leiter Jr. off waivers from Philadelphia
9/1/18–Philadelphia recalled RF Dylan Cozens from Lehigh
9/1/18–Philadelphia recalled RHP Yacksel Rios from Lehigh
9/1/18–Philadelphia recalled CF Aaron Altherr from Lehigh
9/1/18–LHP Jeff Singer assigned to Lehigh Valley from Reading
9/1/18–Clearwater placed 1B Kyle Martin on the 7-day DL
9/1/18–1B Quincy Nieporte assigned to Clearwater from Lakewood

28 thoughts on “Clearwater Threshers Recap – 9/2/2018”

  1. Bohm with another error also, not good.
    Three out of four full season teams in the playoffs is very good. Let’s hope that someone wins at least one series.
    Ortiz dropping down my prospect list, as is Morales, I hope I’m wrong.

    1. I will think they will give Bohm another year at third.
      If it fails….then he goes to first base and to some, that could look like a letdown.

        1. matt13….correct.
          Now he still can put it together at the plate as a first baseman, but now he bar has been raised for him to produce more.

      2. do to his size I had concerns from day 1 that he would stick at 3B. I honestly wouldn’t reduce his value as long as he hits at 1B.

    2. Yeah, but I really rate seasons with respect to how guys in the top 30 did or how we stack up as an organization on the whole. I’d give it a B grade. Good progress by many prospects. Great pitching depth. A couple of guys rising to the top and the emergence of Luis Garcia. Good, but not great.

      1. I’d give the hitting a C+/B- and the pitching a B+ – lots of arms and some of them are going to be good, maybe even great, major league pitchers and we have to count Seranthony – who is a serious talent.

    3. I think Morales has done alright. He was too raw for Williamsport but developmentally it may be what he needed. He’s a pretty raw 18 year old facing a lot of college hitters but was still able to miss plenty of bats and limit hits; just too many walks.

      How far he’s dropping down lists depends on how high you had him to start with but, unlike Ortiz, I didn’t have him in my top 10 coming into the year. I think a spot around #12 is fair placement. He’s been pretty solid down the stretch.

  2. I am interested to see what Zach Warren will do in Clearwater. He seems to have a lot of poise and his breaking stuff looks very hard to hit. Ortiz has done poorly after a while on the DL. Before July he was hitting well. Let’s see what he does in his second year of full season ball. The Lakewood players who move up to Clearwater next season will bring another level of good plkay The system seems loaded with Lehigh Valley being our AAAA haven. Almaraz has had a better draft each year.

    1. Warren (my Vineland “homie”) is going to end the season with an incredible 15.6 K/9. He, Austin Listi, David Parkinson, Kyle Dohy, Jose Pujols, and Devi Grullon are among the leading candidates for surprise performance of the year.

      1. all certainly qualify, but the real shocker for me is pujols. after last season, i thought he was gone.

        by the way i am vhs 1956 so warren is also my homie, although i understand he went to st augustine which didn’t exist in my day.

    1. If you’re going to write off Alec Bohm after 134 (injury riddled) AB’s, I don’t know what to tell you.

      1. As far as Johnny Almaraz goes:
        * You can’t just judge him on his 1st round picks. His selections in rounds 2-40 have been very good.
        * I think it’s been pretty well documented (and verified by the parent of at least one player) that the player development staff might be more to blame for the early struggles of the first round picks.

  4. I just found out that Nola, #1, and Hoskins, #5 were taken in the same draft. Who was taken #2, #3, and #4?

    1. Matt Imhof, Aaron Brown and Chris Oliver, which shows you the randomness of this all to a certain extent. It was sort of a desperate draft where the team ignored HS players in a silly attempt to immediately rebuild and replenish the cupboard that Amaro raided each July – as if that draft could reverse the trend and do so quickly – which is INSANE. But two picks really hit, so it became a good draft. Baseball is weird.

      1. What is so far surprising to me from June’s draft ,and the evaluation process in that draft….is the Bohm vs Vierling factor.
        How can this happen….but it does, and not infrequent with most teams..
        Same age collegians…from notable schools and conferences….but scouted, rated and valued so differently.
        It is still too early for each of them. so I will have to wait until this exact time next season, which should be a reasonable amount of time to make a more accurate assessment.

        1. Maybe of note: one guy had a good track record with wood bats and the other guy had a very bad one. Vierling seems to have taken to them this time around. The last guy the Phils picked around that time in the draft who had wood bat issues was David Martinelli.

  5. Do we have first-hand reports of Bohm’s defense? Are these throwing or fielding errors? Is it a lack of mobility?

    1. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this, Mike. There are times where Bohm makes some super athletic plays at third base and I think, OK, he’s going to stick here for a while. And then there’s times where I really question the arm strength and his ability to be quick enough to play third long-term.

      I asked Chris Truby a little over a month ago when Bohm had to improve on defensively, and he said he has to play quicker. And it makes sense. That’s a lot of body to get moving around and as we all know, the game moves a lot faster at this level than in college. If he finds a way to play quicker — I don’t know how they do that — I can see him being servicable at third base. But if he plateaus where he is right now, I don’t see any way he sticks at third base on a big league club.

      1. Thanks Mitch. Hopefully he irons out his issues during instructs and comes out strong next year. I didn’t realize he didn’t have that great of an arm … that’s disappointing to hear.

  7. A few anecdotes from Sunday’s Thresher’s game.

    A guy wearing number 66 was in the starting line up. Turns out it was Quincy Nieporte making his first Advanced A appearance.

    The opposing pitcher, Brusdar Graterol, dispatched the first two batters throwing 98 to 100 mph. Niepote stepped in and quickly smashed the first 98 MPH pitch into right field for a line single. Next time up, hit a drive deep that the left fielder caught at the wall. This guy looks like he can hit.

    I also learned how to pronounce his name, assuming the public address system announcer knows, which you can’t always count on: nee por tee. Equal emphasis on all syllables.

    Henri Lartigue. I have been impressed by Lartigue before, but he had a rough time with base runners Sunday. In the first case, he was slow to react and the runner easily took second. In the next opportunity, he threw the ball into the outfield and the runner ended up on third base. In the next case, the runner easily had second base stolen and Lartigue didn’t even make a throw. In yet another instance, the runner stole second. He then tried stealing third base and Lartigue threw the ball beyond the third baseman’s reach and the runner ended up scoring.

    Arquimedes Gamboa. I wasn’t sure whether to post this, but will do so in a cleaned up version. Gamboa struck out on a check swing called by the umpire in the infield, who was near first base at the time. He disagreed with the call, shouting an obscenity that lots of fans could hear at the umpire while poking the bat in his direction. He repeated the obscenity and poked bat twice more before the hitting coach came out, put his arm around Gamboa’s shoulder and guided him to the dugout.

    He should have been ejected. A Major League umpire would have done it in a heartbeat.

Comments are closed.