Threshers Recap – 5/13/2019

Box Score Recap

Clearwater (17-19) beat Lakeland, 7-4.  And, it wasn’t even that close.  The Threshers moved into a tie for third place, 3.0 games behind rained out Dunedin.

Damon Jones (1-2, 0.76) who has allowed 3 ER (6 total runs) in 35.1 innings this season, finally got his first Clearwater victory.  He held the Tigers to 4 singles (one an infield hit), an unearned run, one walk, and struck out a career-tying 9 batters.  He threw 86 pitches, 56 strikes (65.1%).  His fastball was virtually unhittable as the Tigers were late on most swings. His curve ball froze batters when they weren’t flailing weakly at it.

Jones left the game with a 7-1 lead.  Austin Ross (4.50) followed with two, one-hit innings. He walked one and struck out three.  Jonathan Hennigan (2.12) came on to pitch the ninth. He managed to get two outs and gave up 3 runs.  Grant Dyer (0.98) got the final out with two pitches, a long drive into the RCF gap that Muzziotti ran down and caught as he crashed into the wall.

The Threshers mounted another double-digit hit attack.  They score 7 runs on 15 hits.  After the Tigers scored a first inning run, the Threshers bounced right back with a run in the first on Nick Maton’s RBI double.  They took the lead with 2 runs in the second on an RBI double by Daniel Brito and an RBI single by Simon Muzziotti.  They stretched their advantage in the fourth on a magestic, 2-run blast into the bullpen by Alec Bohm (2).  They tacked on 2 more runs in the fifth on RBI singles by Colby Fitch and Edgar Cabral.

Six Threshers had multi-hit games – Maton had 3 hits and Muzziotti, Bohm, Madison Stokes (.287), Edgar Cabral (.246), and Brito had 2 hits each.  The team went 7-16 with RISP.

Muzziotti was caught stealing for the 7th time in 14 attempts.  Sad to say, it wasn’t even close.

Jones picked off a runner at first base.  Cabral threw out a would be base stealer.

Jones battled through a 17-pitch first inning.  After a lead off single, he appeared to have the runner picked off, but the throw seemed to catch Stokes flat-footed and traveled into foul territory as the runner moved up a base.  Jones struck out the batter for the first out then walked the next batter on 4 pitches.  The runner stole third on ball four.  He looked to be out, Coach Malloy argued, but the call stood.  The run came home on a force out at second.  no real chance to get the double play.  Then, Jones got his pick off to end the inning.

Jones didn’t look as sharp as he had in his last start, but he bounced back with a 1-2-3 second inning, striking out two.

Jones gave up a two-out single in the third and recorded 2 more strike outs.

Jones survived a lead off, infield single in the fourth.  He sandwiched  2 pop ups around Cabral’s caught stealing.

Jones was strong again in the fifth, ground out and 2 more strike outs.

The sixth was a little scary.  Jones had had thrown just 1 first pitch strike in the fifth and continued to pitch behind to all batters in the sixth.  Still, he went strike out, single, full-count strike out, ground out to end his night on 86 pitches.

Jones got a lot of swing-and-miss strikes, 20 of his 56 strikes (35.7%).  He got one in the first on a 95 mph heater for his first strike out.  He got six in the second – 3 on FB and 3 on CB with Ks on 2 of his CB.  He got 4 in the third – all on FB with one for a K.  He only got 2 in the fourth – both on FB.  The Tigers figured out how to avoid swinging and missing in the fifth. They took 6 pitches for called strikes – 5 of them on CB and 2 backward Ks.  Jones finished with 7 S&M in the sixth – 4 FB (K), 2 CB (K), and an 88 mph off speed pitch.  His other strike out came on looking at a FB in the third.

Jones threw 53 FB.  He sat 94-95 mph for most of the game, and touched 96 mph several times in the early innings.  Even at 93 mph, the Tigers couldn’t catch up to his FB.  He made them look silly with his CB.  Either they froze and took strikes, or they flailed miserably at pitches they were fooled on.

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th Total
96 4 1 5
95 3 2 5 1 11
94 3 5 7 5 4 4 28
93 2 7 9
53
  • #1 Alec Bohm (.314) went 2-5 with a run scored, HR (2), 2 RBI
  • #5 Spencer Howard (1-1, 2.25) placed on the 7-day IL, shoulder soreness
  • #11 Jhailyn Ortiz (.169) went 0-4 with a BB and 4 K
  • #12 Simon Muzziotti (.301) went 2-5 with a run scored, double, RBI
  • #17 Kyle Young (1-3, 4.29) placed on the 7-day IL
  • #18 Nick Maton (.308) went 3-5 with a run scored, double, RBI
  • #19 Rodolfo Duran (.164)
  • #20 Daniel Brito (.215)went 2-2 with 2 runs scored, double, sac, RBI

Lehigh Valley (19-15) postponed. 

  • #6 Enyel De Los Santos (2-0, 2.37)
  • #7 JoJo Romero (2-1, 9.00)
  • #10 Ranger Suarez (2-1, 5.64)
  • #16 Cole Irvin (2-0, 2.25)
  • #22 Kyle Dohy (0-1, 15.63)
  • #28 Edgar Garcia (1-1, 1.80) promoted to the Phillies on June 6th

Reading (17-14) postponed.  

  • #2 Adonis Medina (0-1, 5.40)
  • #3 Adam Haseley (.228)
  • #9 Mickey Moniak (.223)
  • #13 Arquimedes Gamboa (.100)
  • #15 Mauricio Llovera (1-0, 4.15)
  • #21 David Parkinson (2-2, 4.21)
  • #22 Kyle Dohy (2-0, 0.82) – promoted to Lehigh Valley
  • #25 Cornelius Randolph (.236)
  • #29 Connor Seabold – on the 7-day IL

Lakewood (11-24) postponed.

  • #1 Alec Bohm (.367) – promoted to Clearwater, 4/29/2019
  • #4 Luis Garcia (.184)
  • #8 Francisco Morales (0-3, 6.26)
  • #14 Rafael Marchan (.315)
  • #23 Dominic Pipkin (1-1, 5.01)
  • #24 Kevin Gowdy (0-1, 3.60)
  • #26 Jhordany Mezquita (1-3, 5.32)
  • #30 Manuel Silva (2.61)

Unassigned Prospects

  • #27 Starlyn Castillo

Williamsport begins its 2019 season on June 14th.

GCL Phillies East begins its 2019 season  on June 24th.

GCL Phillies West begins its 2019 season on June 24th.

DSL Phillies Red begins its 2019 season on June 2nd.

DSL Phillies White begins its 2019 season on June 2nd.

Here’s the affiliate scoreboard from MiLB.

The rosters and lists are up to date as of May 13th (and are pointing to current files).

Today’s Transactions (newest transactions in bold text)
5/13/2019 – Phillies placed RHP Edubray Ramos on the 10-day IL, shoulder stiffness
5/13/2019 – Phillies sent 2B Scott Kingery on a rehab assignment to Lakewood
5/13/2019 – Phillies recalled Austin Davis from Lehigh Valley
5/12/2019 – Phillies optioned LHP Austin Davis to Lehigh Valley
5/12/2019 – Phillies selected the contract of LHP Cole Irvin from Lehigh Valley
5/11/2019 – Phillies placed RHP Vince Velasquez on the 10-day IL retro to 5/7/19, forearm
5/11/2019 – San Francisco claimed CF Aaron Altherr off waivers from Phillies
5/11/2019 – Phillies recalled LHP Austin Davis from Lehigh Valley
5/11/2019 – Luis Cedeno assigned to Williamsport from Clearwater
5/11/2019 – Luis Ramirez assigned to Clearwater from Williamsport
5/11/2019 – Tom Windle assigned to Lehigh Valley from Williamsport

35 thoughts on “Threshers Recap – 5/13/2019”

  1. Raise your hand if you saw this Damon Jones thing coming? I sure as heck didn’t.

    1. He was pretty good in Lakewood too. Clearwater doesn’t seem to be challenging him much, despite the control problems. Reading may be just what the doctor ordered.

    2. Damon Jones is pure scouting and development. Tip of the cap to them. His college numbers were nothing special at all. A scout must have seen something and the development team must have figured out how to make the adjustments.

      But his kid sitting 94-95, with his K rate, that is very interesting.

  2. Apparently Muzziotti, who has great speed, needs to keep practicing to get a better jump from the stop position or learn how to cheat on the pitcher..

    1. Romus I think you and I have lamented not having someone like Davey Lopes’ previous role helping with the baserunning (and outfield positioning) in the Major League club, Do you think maybe the “Man of Steal”, Rickey Henderson, might be a good candidate to pursue as a hire to help the farms with baserunning?

      1. Many former star players with great instincts are unable to communicate their skills to younger players. That may be the case with Henderson, otherwise he may have already pursued a second career in coaching.

        1. I(heart)/8mark…..that would be the case.
          Just look at the KC Royals….stealing bases all over the place, because they have the horses to do it and have the need ….and their base running coach, Mitch Maier, stole a grand total of 15 steals in 359 career games when he played in the majors
          So sometimes the best base stealers do not make the best coaches.

        2. Also have to wonder if a guy like Henderson is really interested in going to A-ball as a coach at this point in his life.

    2. In 2015 LHP Joey DeNato had at least 16 pick offs for Lakewood, he allowed 58 base runners that year (41 hits, 18 BB, but 1 home run). So that is just a bit over 25% of the batters to reach base got picked off. He had a walk off pick off

      1. The Joey DeNato walk off pick off is great … but … it just can’t compete with a walk off 3-run strike out !!! Check this out. It’s probably my favorite play of all time.

      2. Oh yeah, he got some with the IronPigs too! Greg Smith had a good move for the Pigs—often fooled the umpires as well, which earned him some balks. For RHP, Bootcheck had a drop-step move to second which worked a few times in AAA.

  5. Bohm Majestic a new nickname perhaps. One of my under the radar guys was Grant Dyer. He was dominant before the TJ surgery and it appears he may be working his way back with that ERA.

    Damon Jones could be that late blooming stroke of luck this club has needed for quite a while. Good for him. At 24 he’ll need to get a promotion soon. His age dif for CLW is 1.1

    1. Jones, was a late starter, ….technically, was a four year college guy.
      Went to JUCO for his first two years….only pitched his second year there as a redshirt-freshman , then transferred and pitched his last two seasons at Wash State.
      So he will always have that extra age year.

  6. It’s hard not to get excited for what Clearwater and it’s top 5 in the order are doing. All 5 have opened eyes and look great plus the pitching has been good also. Jim – enjoy the ride there.

    1. Jim – does Maton have the arm and the range to stick at SS? He’s looking more and more like a real player and I could see him and Gamboa switching places.

      1. I think Jim said before the season that the Phils are high on Maton. Here is his write-up from Fangraphs, they had him #15 on their list: “Maton’s older brother Phil is a big league reliever for the Padres but Nick was below the radar as an amateur prospect. He was a 40th rounder from high school who went undrafted his first year at a junior college, then was a 7th rounder in his second year. Nick has done nothing but perform since entering pro ball and scouts have noticed, hanging average or better grades on four of his tools, with power still lagging behind a bit. The likely upside here is a good utility player, but the gap between that and a low-end regular is usually a good swing or approach adjustment. Maton doesn’t have the prettiest swing in the world, but a new hitting coordinator may be able to tease a bit more out of what has already been working so far.”

  7. Im holding off any excitement on D Jones until Reading, he is 24 going to be 25 this season in A+ ball.

    1. Probably get a promo to Reading next month.
      So will be close to age appropriate…and if rakes in Reading, maybe LHV in August.
      But this is his actual age 24 season.

      1. I believe in jones case he could go to reading if he has a good month be in lhv in late july. I Believe with a pitcher if he has good stuff he will move faster than a hitter

    2. Eagle – A couple of more good starts, and he’ll get promoted. I could see him as a bullpen arm on the Phillies next year.

    3. The excitement for me about D Jones is that he is throwing in the mid-90s for five innings. Now I do not care how old he is. Hopefully he can throw more strikes early in the count.

    4. Eagleye, He might be a little old for the league, but his fastball is real at any level. The chart Jim ran on his fastball speed was almost exactly what I saw a couple of weeks ago. 96 and touching 97 in first and second innings. Sitting 94, then slowing down to 93 around the fifth inning, but still effective.

  8. Bohm could be a candidate for a midseason call up next season IMO. This is assuming he continues to rake and TBH, I think he rakes even more when he gets to Reading.Looking like a really good pick

    1. Troll – I agree. He should be in Reading by July. He should get an invite to ML Spring training next spring.

      1. If Bohm is hitting, the question becomes where does the guy he’s replacing play?

        1. Franco and Walding are the ones blocking Bohm —- Walding can move to 1B and Bohm takes the 3B at LHV. If the Phillies believe in Hall, Walding should be an easy DFA to give the 1B spot to Hall.

          Bohm is not MLB ready this year so Franco will have this year to prove that he is a MLB player whether with the Phillies or with another team.

    1. Have the Phillies ever double-jumped college position player prospects from hi-A to triple A, skipping Reading, since Utley about 15 years ago?
      Not sure this latest regime works that way.
      Will be interesting to see if they do that with a Bohm for example, being the third pick in a draft and having a very good season.

      1. really not reason to be that aggressive with the status of big league club
        if they both make it to AA this yr , that’s a good yr of development

        1. sr…yes.
          I do not think Josh Bonifay will push them up that fast.
          But then I look at Gamboa, Ortiz and Moniak…three high paid bonus players who could have stand to repeat their last assignments, at least at the start of this season,
          and they were moved up.
          So with Bohm and Vierling doing so well at hi-A, I would think there is no reason to not promo them to double-AA very soon and finish out the year there.

      2. Zero chance. They’ll get to Reading in July if they keep this pace up. They want them to be successful.

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