37 thoughts on “Threshers Recap – 5/3/2019”

1. Man, there are some days when I look at the farm’s box scores (and no, they don’t tell the whole story) but it hits me how barren things seem. That happened when I looked at last night’s. I’ll hear from some who report that a player hit the ball hard on a particular day but right at gloves. That’s no consolation when said player has been hitting around the Mendoza line. Up and down the rosters, players hitting a decent slash line aren’t even considered prospects. The ones who are have at best pedestrian numbers. It’s only May but shouldn’t a few have elevated lines that we would expect to come back down to earth, if only by dumb luck? Head scratching….

   1. Bohm, Vierling, Guiterrez, Marchan,Frullon, Maton and Hall all seem to be hitting the ball right now.

      1. That’s 7 players from FOUR (4) full season minor league teams. Ain’t good.

   2. I have to agree. When you look at the top 30 that highlights, the ERAs and BAVG are just brutal when you look at it as a whole. I was really hoping the Phils would have a ton of prospects get off to great starts to improve the inventory for a deadline trade or two but I’m not sure anyone not named Howard or Bohm has improved their value. Really disappointing

2. If Antequera is ready to come off the IL, Gamboa should be dropped to CLW. They already have Gomez and Rivas to play SS and Antequera is a jack-of-all-trades so he can fill in too. Gamboa needs to restore some hitting ability. 7 hits in 67 ABs can be done with hitting the ball off the end of the bat and beating the throw or hitting it off your hands and a dying quail falls in for a hit. In other words, luck. If he plays 115 games, there’s a very good chance he’d have 160 Ks. His BBs are good. He’s on track to have over 70 BBs. But he has to get the bat on the ball more. He’s a baby, being 21 in AA but you have to show something to stay there. Gamboa is known to be glove first but carrying more than just a piece of balsa wood up to the plate is needed.

   And if you need to open a spot in CLW, Brito could be odd man out. Although in his last 10 games, he’s hitting .294 with a .351 OBP. But 3 hits yesterday skews that quite a bit. Without that 3 – 4 he’d be hitting .233 with a .303 OBP over the last 9 games.

   1. NO! NO! NO! Gamboa should NOT come back to Clearwater. I don’t want to have to watch that again. It’s bad enough having to watch Brito down here.

      When I saw on Twitter that Reading had bumped him up to second in last night’s batting order, I wanted to comment snarkily that that was the equivalent of waving a white flag.

3. Gamboa has never hit much anywhere. The Phillies are very cautious with young pitching prospects but they play favorites with young hitters based on draft status and signing bonus. Promoting kids that don’t deserve to be promoted.

   Gamboa-received around $600,000. Not only should he not be in Reading, he shouldn’t even be in Clearwater. He should have stayed in Lakewood until he proved he could hit SALLY pitching. he has never done anything anywhere.

   Ortiz-received around $4.1M. He had arguably the worst 2018 of any Phillie minor leaguer yet somehow he gets promoted. He should be in Lakewood.

   Moniak- we know his story. He has had two good months in three years and yet he is in Reading. Should have stayed in Clearwater and if he had another good two months he could have been promoted around 6/1 to Reading.

   Haseley is where he belongs. Hoping he can turn it around but the pre-draft comps to Benintendi and Conforto now look laughable.

   Randolph-no chance. He should have repeated Lakewood and possibly repeated Clearwater.

   Luis Garcia-he is where he belongs but if he doesn’t hit this year he needs to be in Lakewood again.

   No need to dominate to be promoted a level but with Ortiz and Gamboa the promotions made zero sense. Sometimes I think the Phillies minor league system with hittters is similar to school systems where they just promote kids to the next grade to make them somebody else’s problem.

   1. NL..on Gamboa..agree.
      Whoever’s idea in the Phillies FO to put him on the 40, they were ‘out-to-lunch’.
      A wasted valuable 40 spot on a player who never would have been selected in the Rule 5.
      Plus now they are stuck in the middle with him…..cannot be taken off the 40 unless released.
      Sheesh….what the heck were they thinking!

      1. I think we could use that 40 spot back. I could see Gamboa get traded or released to reclaim the spot.

         1. At this point….I would trade him for international money….they probably could get $500K or $750K for him.
            Invest the return credit in the next Latin kid.

      2. As I can remember we lost Ben Lively, Mark Leiter, James Pazos. Pedro Florimon, Valentin, Jake Thompson because 40-man roster was full.

         1. Denny…absolutely correct.
            Lively , was one where it could have been avoided….but Kapler wanted Jose Bautista last year….Lively could have recd a CBA pick in return or even international money in a trade with a team like the Os for example.
            Pazos this year ..not sure what that was all about in his release.
            Florimon was a free agent, and Valentin a minor league free agent and little return value….same with Jake Thompson.
            Leiter, just not sure if he would have brought back anything anyway…but he was serviceable at times at the Bank..

   2. That’s an excellent summary, NL. Haven’t thought much about it but the premature promotions of top player position prospects is a pattern that has stunted the system’s development.

4. How is Will Stewart doing in the Marlin’s organization?

   1. Doing well…Threshers will face him in three weeks

      https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=stewar010wil

      1. Thanks

5. Williams, Medina and Irvin should be enough to acquire Smith. I think Klentak may also target Mike Minor. MadBum is worth going for the playoff run but I don’t think Klentak would overpay in prospects for him unless he thought Bumgarner was likely to re-sign. But I favor either of the former two.

   1. Yeah that would do it.
      If that were to ever happen…Marlins would have four former Phillies pitching prospects in their top 30..Sanchez, Medina, Irvin and Stewart

   2. I continue to stand by Cole Irvin. Drop Gamboa and pull up Irvin if/when a starter is needed.

      1. I would drop Walding and hang in there with Gamboa. Since he is on the 40 and only 21 I would keep him. Walding OTOH has proven conclusively that he is not and never will be a major league hitter.

6. While you are crushing Gamboa…you should also note that he has a higher OB% than Moniak.

   Think about that for a second. A weak hitting shortstop with a .104 batting average has a higher on base % than Moniak. That is how poorly Moniak is hitting. He is not seeing a lot of pitches per plate appearances (down to 3.34 per PA) and he is swinging and missing a lot.

   Mickey had a great first 3 games to the season and everyone got overly excited. Since the 4th game of the season his line is: .175/.185/.288 with a 1.2% walk rate and a 31.7% K rate. To say that he is over matched at AA is an understatement.

   During spring training, I commented on here that I watched 2 plate appearances from Mickey and his approach was awful. Swung at balls out of the zone and didn’t take pitches. Commenters crushed me. “He’s only 20” “It was only 2 plate appearances.” “You didn’t play professional baseball so you don’t know anything.” On and on it went. But the bottom line is players with a great hit tool also have a great approach. And a great approach is something that you can have at any age.

   You will see a change with Mickey’s results once you see a change with his approach. He needs to work deep counts, wait for a pitch in the zone and hit it. Until then, there is no reason for pitchers to throw him strikes. And you are going to see the same results as we have seen.

   1. To further my point. Gamboa (who is scaring no one with either his physical appearance or ability to make hard contact) is seeing 4.4 pitches per plate appearance and is walking 17% of his PAs.

      So if we are demoting 21 year olds who are not hitting well at AA, then Gamboa is not the first 21 year old on the team to get sent down IMO. He is a plus defender at SS.

      1. Interesting…though collectively Moniak , a bit younger, does have slight edges in wRC+ and wOBA over their last 4/5 years

         https://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=sa917920&position=OF

         https://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=sa877497&position=SS

         1. Roc, seriously – I’m waiting for you to pull the old Soupy Sales routine, when he once told a little kid on TV “when I see F, you see K.” You’re hilarious when you wanna be….

            1. I STILL watch soupy on the jewish channel

               1. Just go into your mommy’s purse, take out a $20 piece of paper and mail it to me.

7. Our minor league system looks depressing . . . No one I was looking forward to following this year is doing well except for Bohm . . .
   Really doesn’t look like we have the pieces to make any real upgrades to the big clubs rotation. Why would anyone want some of the trash that’s in AAA or AA?

   1. Eric i think it is weak too. but the catchers we have are doing great. And i think we have 5 good arms, to follow Brown. Pipkin .Howard. Irvin. Gilbert and a couple more

      1. rocco…found this write up by Eric Longenhagen’s Prospect Listings..on the Phillies catchers:

         Catching Depth
         Deivi Grullon, C
         Juan Aparicio, C
         Logan O’Hoppe, C
         Abrahan Gutierrez, C
         Edgar Cabral, C

         Grullon has elite arm strength and hit 21 homers at Double-A last year. The power output was likely caricatured by Reading’s ballpark and Grullon is a slow-twitch, immobile defender, and a 20 runner with below average bat speed and is probably more of a third/inventory catcher than a true backup despite the hose and pull pop. Aparicio has a well-rounded collection of tools (5 bat, 45 raw, can catch, 45 arm) but at age 18, is a hefty 5-foot-8, 210, and it’s going to be tough to keep that frame in check. Gutierrez is similar. O’Hoppe was a nice late-round flier, an athletic, projectable catcher from the northeast with the physical tools to hit and catcher’s intangibles. He turns 19 in February and is probably going to take a while to develop. Cabral gets some Henry Blanco comps because he’s similarly built and is a tough guy with a 7 arm, but to say Cabral will have a 16-year career that starts in his late-20s is probably excessive. He profiles as a third catcher.

         Did not know Aparicio was that stout….and next year he can add Michell Edwards and Bruce Wang to the list of catchers in the system..

         1. Oh, and he had Marchan and Duran in the top 20.

         3. How about Jack Conley; thoughts?

8. Come on Phillies man up. Gamboa has been pampered day one. Ok Great fielding when he wants, twice in the last 3 games routine doubleplay to help his pitcher and no effort, no professionalism and body language, but .104 av. Maybe send him back to Clearwater where he should of started. Embarrasing AFL and 40 man selection. Plenty of Players in system deserve it. Stop talking about his age. With his academy experience and 5 years in the system maturity is not displayed. We just saw two 19 yo’s on opponent that outshine this prospect. Bite the bullit and help him or cut him for Intl Money.
   Williams can play short, not brilliant but steady and hustling

9. I get all the negativity, but just to break it up: Kyle Dohy had his first good outing at AAA. He wouldn’t be the first guy to struggle hard and then adjust to a new level.

   Also Simon Muzziotti is going well in Clearwater. All of his batting numbers are an improvement over last year. He probably hits the ball on the ground too much but at least he’s a player who can take advantage of his speed.

10. What do people think is wrong with Haseley since he hit in Reading last year although not the biggest sample size of 136 AB’s. That said if you look at his first month this year, he’s at around half the AB’s of last year. Since then in the 3 days of May he’s gone 5 for 13 I believe. Not saying that 3 games has changed anything since it’s too small a sample size but hopefully by June he’s looking much better then the .172 he hit in April.

    1. Hus small sampling size of monthly splits reveal June, July and August are his best months. From 2018 that is what is indicated and a little from 2017 is collge senior year and first year turning pro.
       https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=hasele000ada&type=bgl&year=2018

11. Vierling with number 4 HR tonight.
    They better make room in that Reading OF come next month.

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