Threshers Recap – 7/15/2019

Box Score Recap

A lot of brass was in town today.  So was Italian LHP Samuel Aldegheri and his family. He was here for his physical.  It was cool seeing Sal Agostinelli acting as interpreter.

There were 3x as many scouts as normal.  I don’t know who they were hear to see or what was being given away.

Marcus Lee Sang was caught stealing today.  He got up using one of those Jason Statham moves where he flips from his back to his feet.  Sorry, I can’t explain it better. the physics escapes me.  But, it looked really cool.

Here’s how the teams are doing beyond their records.

The IronPigs have slipped to third place, 7.0 games behind.

Reading is in first place by 4.0 games.

Clearwater is in second place, trailing by 4.0 games.  However, if Dunedin wins both halves, the Threshers are ahead of the next team by 2.0 games for the first tie-breaker.

Lakewood and Williamsport are in last place trailing by 10.0 games in their divisions.

GCL Phillies West is in first place in their division, 3.5 games ahead of the GCL Phillies East.

DSL Phillies Red is in first place by 1.0 game.

DSL Phillies White is in second place, trailing by 1.5 games.

Clearwater (14-13, 50-43)  no game scheduled.

Lehigh Valley (46-46)  beat Gwinnett, 12-6.

Jose Taveras pitched four innings and gave up 4 runs on 4 hits and 2 walks while striking out three.  Josh Tols pitched 1.2 innings and gave up a run on 3 hits and 2 walks.  He struck out two.  Kyle Dohy stranded two inherited runners but gave up a run on a solo HR.  he struck out two.  Fernando Salas pitched a clean inning.  Connor Brogdon struck out one in one inning.

The IronPigs fell behind in the first inning and remained behind until a big eighth inning.  They scored 2 runs in the third inning on Austin Listi’s 2-run double.  They added a run in the fifth on Andrew Romine’s RBI single.  They entered the eighth trailing 6-3 and scored 8 runs on a fielder’s choice, Logan Morrison’s bases-loaded HBP, Ali Castillo’s 2-run double, Phil Goselin’s RBI single, Romine’s 2-run double, Deivy Grullon’s sac fly.  They tacked on a run in the ninth on Gosselin’s sac fly.

Romine (.297) had 3 hits and 3 RBI.  Listi (.349), Gosselin (.314), and Castillo (.290) had 2 hits and 2 RBI.  Jan Hernandez (.240) had 2 hits.

Reading (17-9, 56-37)  beat Binghamton, 4-1.

Adonis Medina enhanced his trade value with seven, 3-hit innings.  He allowed an unearned run, walked none, and struck out four.  Jonathan hennigan pitched a scoreless inning.  Addison Russ struck out two en route to his 14th save.

The Phils broke a scoreless tie with a run in the sixth inning on an RBI ground out ny Josh Stephen.  They scored 2 runs in the seventh on a solo HR (4) by Austin Bossart and an RBI single by Alec Bohm.  They added an insurance run in the ninth on Luke Williams’ pinch hit solo HR (6).

Every starting position player not named Gamboa (.180) had a hit.  He went 0-3 with a walk.

Stephen, Hall, and Gomez each had a double.

Moniak (.267) went 1-4 with a walk and stole his 10th base.  Bohm (.263) went 1-5.  Randolph (.244) went 1-3 with a walk.

Lakewood (7-16, 36-57)  lost to Delmarva, 4-2.

Manuel Silva gave up 4 runs on 5 hits in four innings.  He walked 3 and struck out six.

Ethan Lindow tossed four, one-hit innings.  He walked none and struck out three. Lindow threw 28 strikes in 38 pitches (73.7%).  (In comparison, Silva threw 44 strikes in 75 pitches, 60.6%).  Lindow’s 38 pitches in four innings is incredibly efficient.  His percentage of strikes night be the highest I’ve seen for a pitcher who went three innings or more.

Lakewood closed to within a couple runs with 2 runs in the fifth on Carlos De la Cruz’ 2-run HR (3).  Abrahan Gutierrez had 2 of the BlueClaws 5 hits.  Luis Garcia (.193) and Rafael Marchan (.279) each went 0-4.

Williamsport (8-22)  lost to Aberdeen, 4-3.

Tom Sutera pitched four, one-hit innings, walking none and striking out four.  Carlos Francisco gave up just one run in two-plus innings scattering 6 hits, a HBP, and a walk. Jake Kinney stranded two inherited runners and struck out two in two innings. Alejandro Made blew the save and took the loss giving up 3 runs on 4 hits in 0.2 innings.

The ACutters scored 2 runs in the seventh inning on Hunter Markwardt’s 2-run sac fly. They added a run in the eighth on Logan O’Hoppe’s RBI double.

Bryson Stott (.286) went 1-4.  Might be time to bump him up a couple levels to get him away from the malaise of losing at Low-A and Full-A.

GCL Phillies East (8-6)  beat the Yankees East, 5-4.

Carlos Betancourt got the start and pitched three innings.  He gave up 3 unearned runs on 3 hits and a walk.  He struck out five.  His fastball was 91-93 and sat 92 mph. He threw his off speed pitches effectively.  looked like a slider and curve.

Tyler Adams pitched one inning and gave up a hit and walk.  His fastball was 90-91 mph.  Carlos Francisco pitched two. two-hit innings.  He struck out one and threw his fastball at 90-92 mph.  It looked like it had some lateral waggle, left and right.

Brendan Bell walked 3 in 0.2 innings.  His fastball was 89-93 mph.  Looks like he throws a 4-seam and a cutter which dives left or right at the lower end of his range. Also has a slider and curve.

Chris Micheles came in and faced seven batters.  He stranded 3 inherited runners in relief of Bell on a force out.  He continued thru the next two innings, striking out four. He throws his fastball in a range of 86-88 mph.  He sat 87-88 mph.  He hides the ball well, dropping his arm and ball straight down behind his back leg before slinging it out of his shoulder.  Very deceptive, sort of like Josh Tols, if that helps.

The Phillies scored two runs in the third inning on Jevi Hernandez’ bases loaded walk and Vito Friscia’s sac fly.  They took the lead with 2 runs in the fourth on Wilfredo Flores’ RBI single and a fielding error.  They took the lead in the seventh on Marcus Lee Sang’s RBI, line drive single.

Wilfredo Flores had 3 hits.  Jose Mercado and Luis Matos had 2 hits each.

Flores is batting .450 in 10 games, 40 at bats.  He has 2 XBH both doubles.

GCL Phillies West (12-3)  no game scheduled.

Starlyn Castillo has recovered from a blister on his index finger and has begun throwing on the side.

DSL Phillies Red (23-10)  beat the Nationals, 8-4.

DSL Phillies White (22-15)  beat the Brewers2, 8-2.

Here’s the affiliate scoreboard from MiLB.

The rosters and lists are up to date as of July 10th.

Today’s Transactions (newest transactions in bold text)
7/15/19 – Phillies sent C Rob Brantly outright to Lehigh Valley
7/15/19 – Phillies signed free agent 1B Logan Morrison to a minor league contract
7/15/19 – LHP Josh Tols assigned to Lehigh Valley from Reading
7/15/19 – C Nick Matera assigned to Lakewood from Lehigh Valley
7/15/19 – 1B Logan Morrison assigned to Lehigh Valley
7/15/19 – Phillies sent C Rob Brantly outright to Lehigh Valley
7/15/19 – Reading placed RHP Mauricio Llovera on the 7-day IL
7/15/19 – 2B Brayan Gonzalez assigned to GCL East from Williamsport
7/14/19 – Phillies placed RHP Tommy Hunter on the 10-day IL, forearm strain
7/14/19 – 1B Ryan Howard retired
7/14/19 – Phillies recalled RHP Edubray Ramos from Lehigh Valley
7/14/19 – Lehigh Valley placed RHP Alexis Rivero on the 7-day IL
7/14/19 – LHP Taylor Lehman assigned to Lakewood from Williamsport
7/14/19 – Lakewood placed RHP Tyler McKay on the 7-day IL retro to July 13th
7/14/19 – RHP Adam Leverett assigned to Williamsport from GCL East
7/14/19 – LHP Erik Miller assigned to Williamsport from GCL West
7/14/19 – SS Bryson Stott assigned to Williamsport from GCL East
7/13/19 – Phillies placed Sean Rodriguez on the 10-day IL, (7/10), abdominal strain
7/13/19 – Phillies activated C J.T. Realmuto from the paternity list
7/13/19 – Phillies designated C Rob Brantly for assignment
7/13/19 – Phillies recalled CF Adam Haseley from Lehigh Valley
7/13/19 – Lehigh Valley activated C Deivy Grullon from the 7-day IL
7/13/19 – Reading activated RHP Mauricio Llovera from the 7-day IL
7/13/19 – Lakewood sent RHP Jack Perkins on a rehab assignment to GCL West

54 thoughts on “Threshers Recap – 7/15/2019”

  1. On a bad night of baseball, Medina was the lone bright light. Let’s hope we keep him.

    1. I’d add Austin Listi to the mix. You can only ignore a 1.100 OPS for so long. He’s not slowing down – at least not yet.

  2. Glad to see Carlos Betancourt start to make his mark on his pro career.
    He was a relatively high bonus signee in 2017 @ $460K from the Ven….which normally on a whole have lower bonus agreements than the Buscones’ negotiated bonus dollars for DR kids, but still a good bit.
    Betancourt , along with RHPs Israel Puello and Victor Vargas were the top pitchers from that 2017 J2 class and the Phillies have high hopes

    1. Anyone think we should give Medina one more start at AA and if it is a similar result as last night then bring him up?

      1. Denny…like to see him get a promotion to the Iron Pigs now, and 3/4 starts at least in LHV before he comes to Philly.

      2. He’s not ready, let’s see him do what he did last night for 4 more starts. Then I’d say he’s ready to go up but not yet. Plus he hasn’t shown the ability yet to be consistent from start to start.

  4. Agree with Jim about moving Stott up up and away from the northern low level farms and on to Clearwater. Medina’s trade value is increasing but that may be irrelevant at the moment.

    1. Yep. Currently sitting at the 15th pick. Not sure what trading a blue chip now does for 2019.

      1. Sad truth, ya know what it does? It’s an attempt to save jobs. Kapler, Kl;entak contracts all expire fall 2020. They’re going to do whatever they can to say they got into a “Wild card” game.

        1. If they expire fall 2020, then at this point, if I am them, I am gearing up for a big 2020. Selling the farm to try to make a run this year makes no sense. Get Cutch back in 2020 then sell off farm pieces then to have a great 2020.

  5. When you watch the big league team you realize how many pieces they are away from being a real contender. If they start trading our best minor leaguers in a foolish effort to secure a wild card berth this team is going to be in the middle looking up a teams like the Braves and Dodgers for years to come. And, frankly, if they do that, I’m going to check out of this team mentally for a while. It was very clear several years ago when the Phillies and the Braves were rebuilding that the Braves were going about this in a much better way – obtaining A level prospects when the Phillies were gathering B and C level prospects. Now we see the results of those two approaches. Fortunately, the Phillies do have some really good prospects right now. Hopefully, they keep them and build from there.

    1. I agree on it trading the farm to improve this year. The Spanking by the dodgers is further proof… that was against Efflin. So figure the Phillies would be competitive for 2 games in a 6 game series at best, and that is if the bullpen doesn’t blow Nola’ gem. Keep them all … let the big leaguers fend for themselves. If they want help, all they have to do is look in the mirror. Honestly, they lost mccutchen but gained Bruce… how are they so awful offensively ?

      On the Braves rebuild, the Phillies got out drafted. The Swanson/Miller trade is a kick in the … for us too. Bohm, Moniak, Stott and Haselely still give us a shot with Garcia and Ortiz. Pitching, we are down to Howard, Medina, and Jones

      1. Tac3…other than Freddy and Brian McCann ( way back when) who is starting on that Braves team that they Rule 4 drafted?
        Riley may be the latest…lets see how he responds when he has to adjust next year
        Acuna and Albies…..Latin signings.
        Markasis/Donaldson …FAs
        Swanson…trade
        Arms…Soroka and Teheran only farm developed guys via draft or Latin signing.
        Fried.Folty/Newcomb erstwhile trades
        Gausman…FA

        Their farm is rated high so will still have to see how they come around.

        1. Riley is fading quickly. Look at his number starting in June and it’s apparent that the league has found his holes.

          Time will tell if he adjusts or like Dom Brown, never does..

          1. Braves have traditionally brought up many young hitting prospect, rather quickly, with high expectations just to see them fall into mediocrity after a few years.
            I remember the hype around Frenchy and McCann….Mcann lasted , Frenchy did alright but not at the expectations they had envisioned..

        1. But probably just for two more years….than the age decline for Segura @31, and Swanson gets further into his prime at 27.

        2. I’d accept that. The difference is in salary. The Braves are in a very enviable position, young rising stars, signed cheap. Allows for them to make a few more mistakes than the phillies, with their now bloated payroll. The Phillies absolutely need their young prospects to develop vs the Braves who can go either route prospect or FA … if they make the wrong decision, they can correct it much easier than the Phillies. Luckily they don’t spend like daddy war bucks Middleton.

    1. Not sure what the purpose of this inciteful comment was, but I will try to interpret.

      Luis Garcia is a struggling 18 YEAR OLD (all year) playing in Single A full season ball, while his American counterparts MAY have just finished their senior year of high school, or in some instances, their junior year of high school.

      What an amazing accomplishment to be so highly thought of to be placed in full season ball, AND kept at that level though struggling.

      I’ll just assume that is what you meant by your comment.

      1. If you want to join the train with that thought process, be my guest. I will just assume that you are an excuse maker instead of a realist.

        Juan Soto, Ronald Acuna Jr. could also fall into the category of “could have just finished HS or would be early stages of college ball.” I’ll assume you’ll say they are “once in a lifetime.”

        Garcia’s American counterparts are also doing horrendous on the Lakewood club. Just because the Phillies brass “think highly” of him doesn’t mean his placement at that level is some right of passage.

        Slashing .193/.275/.278 is not an accomplishment by anyone, at any stage, at any level.

        I’ll assume today was you were introduced to baseball above Little League.

        1. When the first thing you say about a player is that “he is young” then you are saying nothing and immediately making excuses. Young doesn’t automatically = good. Nobody is giving up on Garcia but he has been awful this year and he is/was one of the Phillies top 5 prospects. I hope he returns to Lakewood next year and is put at one position, not jerked around between SS and 2B. Maybe he will turn it around then.

        2. Oh, here we go! On the heels of the development timeline talk (Moniak) we are burying another young player going thru some growing pains. Really? Who is the realist ?

          1. Put me down as somebody still not on the Moniak bandwagon. Haven’t been since i watched him at Lakewood. Real good fielder, good arm, plus speed and good bat speed. I just don’t think he will ever hit enough to be a quality MLB starter. Which would be surprising because good bat speed is huge. You can wait on pitches, be more selective, etc. Moniak is still lunging and chasing balls in the dirt, outside, etc.

            Anyway, I have been saying that either Moniak or Haseley will be traded since the day Haseley was drafted. The Harper signing makes it even more of a certainty. The Phillies will not start three LH hitting OF’s, two of whom don’t project to have much HR power, although Haseley certainly projects more than Moniak. Moniak and Haseley are sort of redundant. I had thought one would be traded at the trade deadline, but the Phillies implosion makes that less certain this year.

            1. You’re basing what you saw in Lakewood two full seasons ago? I must say you are fairly clueless because I watch a lot of games on milb TV and he is not lunging and swinging at balls in the dirt a fraction of what he used to. Not to mention he is hitting many balls deep like last night where the kid caught it against the fence in left-center and all it says is a fly out to left field.. how many games have you gone to this year or even last year for that matter or watched on TV? I’m guessing not many. I think you’re making statements based on two years ago… such a strong opinion for being so clueless. And I believe he will hit for power in the big leagues at some point. The ball Parts aren’t getting any bigger. Smaller actually

            2. The guy is leading the eastern league in triples, and in the top 5 in doubles after missing 10 days! At a very young age for the level. Since Lakewood? you gotta do better than that, he is obviously better than he was then. You cannot not a like any player, that’s all of our prerogative but when you lose objectivity you lose me. Moniak will be a ML everyday player for someone, beyond that is anyone’s guess

          2. “The Phillies will not start three LH hitting OF’s….”?

            They certainly will if the entire IF is right handed hitting, including the catcher. Power? Yes, the corners should hit with power but the longterm projected IF of Hoskins, Kingery, Stott and Bohm should go deep fairly often. Now Stott is left handed but ideally I prefer 4 bats from either side of the plate.

            1. I have Milb tv and have watched as many Reading games as you have. And I watched him in spring training 2018. I stand by my post. He hit a long fly ball for an out? I am sure he has gotten cheap hits also. They even out over the course of a year. He was not drafted as a HR hitter so you will have a long wait.

        3. If you’re going to measure all of our prospects to Juan Soto and Ronald Acuna jr., you are going to be a very depressed Phillies fan.
          I’m not going to guarantee Luis Garcia becomes a MLB all-star. I’m not even going to guarantee he becomes a starting MLB SS. However, I am also not going to sweat an 18 YO struggling in full season ball, especially after dominating rookie ball the previous season. He’ll probably have to repeat Lakewood in 2020. Let’s wait to see how he fares at that time.
          In the end, you may be right. I just think you’re jumping the gun a little bit.

          1. It’s not anything particular as to Luis Garcia. He just falls into a Philly pattern of Latin American signings which haven’t measured up. Garcia still might. But I think if you look empirically over the last 30 + years, no team in baseball has done worse than the Phils in their signings and development of Latin American talent.

            I know this site is all about the prospects and hope springs eternal. I’m a realist who has watched this team since the late 1950’s and there is very little to like about the Phils’ identification of young talent, and that goes not only for Latin American signings but also high schoolers selected in the Rule 4.

            1. If you’re talking about elite LA talent, then I would probably have to say yes. If you’re talking about LA talent who have carved out a career in the bigs, that I would have to say no.

              It amuses me to think how the Phillies fans here think that we should be drafting better than everybody else. Why, because we’re a big market team? Because we’re the Phillies? I have always maintained that we are NOT the worst drafting team out there. And if you look at the draft picks that the Phillies have had since 2000 with career WAR of 10+, we’re just as good as the Nats/Phillies/Red Sox/Yankees.

              Drafting players are tough. A lot of them don’t pan out. That’s the stone cold truth.

              As Phillies fans, I think we have good owners who want to win. It’s not the end of the world when we lose. I shudder to think about what the fans of say the Orioles/White Sox/Tigers/Reds think of their teams, when the fans here are just throwing anybody and everybody under a bus, and we’re above .500!

        4. and you’ve just named TWO players. At the same age, Domingo Santana had similar stats, he just took longer to develop. But hey, let’s compare all players to generational talents, because that’s what Soto and Acuna Jr are … they are incomparable players. For every one of them, you will find many more that develop on a slower path (i.e. Santana). The average age in the SAL is 21.5 for hitters … to be surprised at his performance is crazy … it’s more surprising what Soto and Acuna are doing …

          And i’m not making excuses, i’m stating facts. His performance this year does NOT make him a bust, it does NOT make this a wasted year … he will STILL be a highly thought of prospect … these are facts. I’m disappointed he hasn’t done better, but in no way am I surprised.

          1. Tom is right. He hasn’t had a great year to put it mildly. His stock is down a bit. But he’s an 18 year-old in full season A ball, which is very advanced for that age, so you wait and see but you don’t write him off yet by any means. If he struggles the same way next year, that’s a different story.

            1. The year following his struggles in LW, Santana repeated and put up almost an 800 OPS and was a trade chip.

              Garcia will repeat and this will go along way to where he is prospect wise.

            2. I remember Jim saying that he wasn’t very impressed with Garcia, basically saying he had a lot of weak and lucky hits last year.

            3. With Stott now in the pipeline, I’d make Garcia a trade piece while he’s still young enough to give another organization interested that he’ll become something.

            4. Very young team… Except for Stobbe & Stovall, 7 of starting lineup were 20 or younger. Once Bohm left, not much leadership… Growing pains!

            5. Tom, I didn’t say he wasn’t a good player. I did say he had some luck in a short season that should be taken into account before raising expectations.

              All, I did that to dissuade y’all from ranking Garcia too highly, because if he failed to live up to your lofty expectations, some moron was going to write him off.

              Well, y’all didn’t listen and ranked him #4. I had him at #13, and I think MLB had him in the same range. Don’t take it out on the prospect because your expectations were wrong.

  7. “Bryson Stott (.286) went 1-4. Might be time to bump him up a couple levels to get him away from the malaise of losing at Low-A and Full-A.”

    Best to get the young kids used to the malaise of losing. That’s the Phillies way with small brief periods of actual contention.

  9. Jim, not to take away from Lindow’s performance, but the ump had a generous strike zone. Both teams were complaining. Unfortunately Silva was so wild, it didn’t matter!

  10. A few things from today’s GCL

    Someone on this board has been waiting for Waylon Richardson. Pitched for the first time today, a clean inning, no Ks

    Also, Brandon Ramey pitched again and had his THIRD 4 Inning, no-hit outing … his only other outing was a 2 ER in 0.2 IP. On the season, 12.2 IP with 20 Ks and a WHIP of 0.47 … not too bad for an 18 year old draftee

    1. I was tempted to add that Ramey is 2 months OLDER than Luis Garcia and 2 levels lower, but I refrained … so much for that!

    2. @Tom B – I’m the one talking about Waylon Richardson. I like his arm. Do you have report on the pitch quality including velo? Thanks!

  11. Throw out April and Moniak’s stats are:
    BA 0.291
    OB% 0.351
    k% 19.5%
    BB% 8.4%
    Slg % 0.461
    OPS 0.811

    Decent for a 21 year old at AA. Not elite. but certainly not overwhelmed. he obviously needs to add muscle, which will come. the K rate with no power is high. but happy to see the bb rate increase to a respectable level.

      1. I think his iso is artificially inflated because he hits a lot of triples because he is a lefty pull hitter. Mlb scouting reports will take a lot of those away imo. But we will see.

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