Threshers’ and Affiliates’ Recap – 6/2/2021

Box Score Recap

Another split last night.  We played four games and won two.  The wins came from the two lower-level teams.  Clearwater waited out the opposition and drew 16 walks while their pitchers issued none.  Lehigh Valley got whooped.  Reading gave up a sizeable lead and lost in extras.  Jersey Shore won behind some solid pitching.

Clearwater (13-13) beat Daytona, 8-2.  Daytona is not a spring training site.  There is no ABS System installed.

Clearwater collected just 4 hits but drew 16 walks.  (Let’s see the ABS opponents blame that on the system.)  They scored 2 runs in the fifth inning to take the lead on Luis Garcia’s RBI single and a wild pitch.  They scored four more times in the sixth on Nicolas Torres’ bases-loaded walk, a wild pitch, Luis Garcia’s bases-loaded walk, and a force out by Johan Rojas.  They added 2 more runs in the ninth on Edgar Made’s sac fly and Luis Garcia’s RBI single.

Garcia had half the Threshers’ hits going 2-5 with 3 RBI and a walk.  Abrahan Gutierrez went 0-3 with 2 walks.  Baron Radcliff went 0-1 with 3 runs scored and 4 walks.  Torres and Made each drew 3 walks.

Cristian Hernandez (1-1, 2.01) pitched five innings.  He gave up one run on 4 hits and struck out three.  Fernando Lozano pitched 3.2 innings and allowed an unearned run on 2 hits while striking out six.  Gabriel Yanez pitched 0.1 innings and gave up a hit and got a strikeout.

Only one of the Tortugas’ two runs was earned, the Threshers committed 4 errors.  (Sounds like they’re major league ready 🙂 )

Threshers’ pitchers issued zero walks while the Tortugas gave up sixteen.  That’s a big discrepancy.  If it were free throws, a basketball coach would complain.

Hernandez threw just 53 pitches.  Lozano threw 65 and was lifted before the last out.

Mick Abel pitches Thursday.

Lehigh Valley (14-12) lost to Scranton, 10-2.

The IronPigs scored in the first inning on Scott Kingery’s sac fly.  They didn’t score again until the ninth on Mickey Moniak’s RBI double.  They only managed 7 hits.  Kingery went 0-3 with an RBI, SF, and 3 Ks.  He was replaced after the sixth inning.  Moniak went 1-3 with an RBI, double, and 2 walks.  Darick Hall went 1-2 with 2 walks.

Adonis Medina went five innings.  He gave up 5 runs on 9 hits and 2 walks.  He struck out six.  Brady Lail lasted 0.2 innings and gave up 5 runs on 3 hits (2 HR) and a walk.  Jeff Singer (1.69) struck out two in 1.1 innings.  Enyel De Los Santos struck out the side in the eighth.

Medina threw 78 pitches, 54 strikes.

Reading (4-22) lost to Somerset, 5-4 in ten, current losing streak reaches five.

Geez, how many ways will they find to lose games?  I was at dinner with visiting family when I checked the scores and saw Reading had built a 4-run lead.  I was surprised when I saw their final score.

Reading built their lead with two, 2-run innings.  They scored in the first inning on Nick Matera’s 2-run HR (4).  They scored again in the fifth on a wild pitch and Bryson Stott’s sac fly.  Matera went 2-4 with a run scored, 2 RBI, a HR (4), and a double.  Stott went 0-2 with an RBI, SF, and 2 walks.

Taylor Lehman (3.52) pitched five innings. He allowed 3 hits and 3 walks.  He struck out four.  Mark Appel (7.71) gave up 2 runs in 2.1 innings on 4 hits and a walk.  He struck out four.  Jake Hernandez (4.26) blew his second save.  He pitched 1.2 innings, stranded 2 inherited runners, and gave up 2 runs on a walk and a HR.  He struck out all five outs he recorded.  Zach Warren (0-1, 2.84) took the loss giving up an intentional walk before the winning hit with one out.

Lehman threw 71 pitches, Appel 57 pitches.

Jersey Shore (10-15) beat Brooklyn, 4-1, ending a 4-game losing streak.

The BlueClaws put up a crooked number in the third inning and rode that to victory.  They scored four runs on a throwing error, a sac fly by Jonathan Guzman, and Jhailyn Ortiz’ 2-run HR (3).  Ortiz (.247/.710) went 2-4 with a run scored and 2 RBI.

Adam Leverett (0.55) pitched 3.2 innings.  He gave up 2 hits and a walk.  He struck out three.  Carlo Reyes (1-0, 0.00) continues to pitch well.  He has yet to allow a run across two levels.  He pitched 1.1 perfect innings and struck out 3 of the four batters he faced and was awarded the win. Jhordany Mezquita (2.19) pitched three innings and allowed one run on 5 hits and 4 walks.  He struck out one.  Blake Brown (5.59) pitched one inning, walked a batter, threw a wild pitch, struck out a batter, and picked up his first save.

Piggyback partners Leverett and Mezquita threw 67 and 64 pitches respectively.

GCL Phillies East and GCL Phillies West (runs 6/28 thru 9/12)

DSL Phillies Red and DSL Phillies White (starts 7/12 thru 10/2)

Here’s the affiliate scoreboard from MiLB.

The rosters and lists are up to date as of June 2nd … there are 305 players in the org

Today’s Transactions – None, but here are yesterday’s, again.

6/01/2021 – Phillies sent SS Scott Kingery on a rehab assignment to Lehigh Valley
6/01/2021 – LF Hunter Hearn assigned to Jersey Shore from Reading
6/01/2021 – SS Bryson Stott assigned to Reading from Jersey Shore
6/01/2021 – Clearwater activated LHP J.P. Woodward from the TIL
6/01/2021 – RHP Leonel Aponte assigned to GCL East from Clearwater
5/30/2021 – RHP Leonel Aponte assigned to Clearwater from Phillies Organization

36 thoughts on “Threshers’ and Affiliates’ Recap – 6/2/2021”

  1. I see in the local Allentown paper that MLB is requiring that Reading spend $15million by 2023 to make upgrades to the Stadium. Lot of consternation that this will not happen and team will have to move. Trying for state grants. Trenton was mentioned as a potential new site.

    1. Yeah it’s going to be something that needs to be dealt with. Important to note that the stadium is owned by the city leased by the team. It’s the city that will have to make the modifications. The city of Reading is not necessarily flush with that kind of cash. That’s where state money might be needed—some kind of bond? I’m not sure. The team is owned (majority?) by the Phillies now, so they’ll get a say in it, and they also have cash, as do the other owners. Certainly there are many things about the stadium and facility—it’s so old—that are sub-optimal. At the end of the day, I think it’s going to be up to the Phillies to decide if they want to throw their weight around a bit to keep the tradition, or if they’d be just as happy moving into a mostly empty stadium in Trenton which is functioning as a AAA park this summer for Buffalo.

      1. Kram why would you say its a mostly empty stadium? I’ve come of age with that stadium since its inception in 96 as Red Sox affiliate then a Yankees affiliate. It has always drawn well

        And its proximity to Bucks County and Jersey areas south have loads of Phillies fans.

        1. Oh I didn’t mean empty of fans, I meant empty of affiliated ball. No one to really kick out in 2023-24 other than the draft league.

    2. Yes please move to Trenton 🙂

      Arm & Hammer is a beautiful park right on the Delaware River and tons of Phillies fans….

        1. Sure Romus that area is a ven diagram with lots of overlap between Philly and NY fan bases.

          That said Lakewood is less than hour do east from that stadium. I don’t know about the player amenities and how it might need to be updated in that way but like I said its probably a bit newer than Reading.

          I’d hate for Reading to lose the team but if there’s no avoiding that Trenton works for me.

    3. Tony, Kram, et al, (who’s Al?),

      I was surprised that Reading survived the contraction when I read that the condition of the stadium was supposedly one of the main factors when making decisions. I assumed that Phillies’ part ownership saved the location.

      But, based on the accounts of players and friends, the stadium does need a lot of modification. Two are –
      1.) in order to get from the clubhouse to the dugout/field, the players have to cross the concourse and are exposed to fans and media every time they do so.
      2.) I’ve spoken with players who can’t believe the condition of the clubhouse after promotion from Clearwater. It is small, cramped, and has none of the amenities that the players had in Clearwater.

      Although they’ve moved up to Double-A, it seems to them they’ve moved down rather than up.

      I don’t know how Reading compares to the new requirements, but I believe that some are updated indoor batting facilities, up-to-date weight room facilities, separate trainer’s room, separate eating area, separate lockers, a minimum space at each locker, … I don’t know how many of these are issues in Reading.

      Frankly, I’m surprised that it would only cost $15M.

  2. Ortiz might finally be getting hit which is encouraging. Medina just doesn’t look like a prospect any more. Carlo Reyes does however. We actually have several pitchers on our A teams that are pitching well so fingers crossed.

    1. Here’s some info on Reyes who appears to be more of a pitcher than a thrower.

      This is his age 22 season. He turns 23 on July 4th.

      In his first 5 Low-A appearances (May 4, 6, 9, 11, 14) he threw 95 pitches.

      He threw 60, 4-seam FB at an avg of 90.8 mph. He sat 90-92 and touched 93 (5 at 89, 18 at 90, 21 at 91, 15 at 92, and 1 at 93). His FB drops about a foot-and-a-half and has about a foot of sideways movement.

      He threw 2, 2-seam fastballs at 90.3 and 92.5 mph.

      He threw 14, changeups at an average of 84.8 mph (83.1 to 86.7) with an average drop of about 2.5 feet and less than a foot of sideways movement.

      He threw 16 curveballs at an average of 80.5 mph (77.9 to 84.1) with an average drop of 44 inches and less than 5 inches of sideways movement.

      He threw 3 sliders at 83.7, 83.9, and 84.2 mph.

      Through 8 Low-A appearances, Reyes faced 42 batters, allowed 5 hits, issued 4 walks, hit 2 batters, struck out 13 batters, threw 175 pitches and 112 strikes (64%).

      Since arriving at Reading, he’s throwing strikes at a 76.1% clip (35/46) and in 2 appearances has allowed one hit, no runs, and no walks in 3.1 innings, and has struck out seven of the 11 batters he’s faced.

      1. He’s only at Jersey Shore, not Reading, but with his results to date plus the pitch movement that you’ve described, I’m very encouraged about him and I think he’ll get to Reading before too long. Who is another not well known pitcher with upside who has had good results this year?

          1. Looks like the Phillies did not have to go far to sign him….he was born and raised in the same town as their DR Academy.

  3. Jeff Singer looks like he may be a left handed reliever in the majors soon. Any thoughts?

    1. He’ll get his shot soon I think, but he’s already 27. His high career walk rate is a concern though.

      1. I watched the tape of the game and Singer and he looked okay, but nothing special. I really couldn’t tell from this game whether he has a legitimate shot to stick in the big leagues.

        By contrast DLS was really excellent. He struck out the side and his breaking stuff and fastball were all very good. Look, he’s 25, he throws hard, has a big strong body, has some good breaking stuff. He’s not over the hump yet by any means, but if you forced me to guess, I think he ends up having a pretty decent big league career and I would already much prefer seeing him pitch than David Hale and perhaps even Kintzler (although I think he is struggling with mechanics and will come around in due time).

    2. I wouldn’t expect it. He’s not on the 40 and not doing so well that they would drop someone else to promote him, at least not now. Jones is ahead of him as another lefty who is on the 40

  4. Medina seems to be cooked. Reading is a real tough out these days, huh? Such a disappointing franchise given the market and resources at their disposal, but hopeful Dombrowski and co can clean up the trash heap Klowncar and MacPhail created.

    1. So often, when guys are brought in to do rebuilds in almost any sport, they build a really strong base but get fired before the new, younger players, have a chance to turn things around (hello Sam Hinkie).

      This is NOT the case here. MacPhail and Klentak were brought in to do a rebuild, produced almost no big league talent, ran up a huge bill on free agents (some of whom were good, but so what? – it didn’t take a genius to throw money at them), and somehow left the farm system in worse shape than they found it – which was not easy to do since it wasn’t good when they got here.

      UTTER, TOTAL, COMPLETE FAILURE. They have literally set the franchise back another 5 to 8 years.

        1. No doubt. Literally, the most important hire for a baseball franchise is the person in charge of the baseball operations – be it the GM or President of Baseball Ops. The Phillies have struggled mightily in this area.

      2. Again I ask – WHAT THE HELL DID ANDY MACPHAIL DO OTHER THAN COLLECT A PAYCHECK? Okay, maybe Klentak did a bad job, but wasn’t it MacPhail’s job to oversee him and make sure the moves he made were solid? Wasn’t it MacPhail’s job to step in and get rid of Almaraz – who neither of them hired – and make sure guys he liked and knew over the years were running the draft and player development?

        And then to make matters worse, when questioned about his performance and the performance of his lackluster team, MacPhail gave condescending, arrogant responses, as if he were above reproach when, in fact, he had done nothing and deserved no free pass.

        It’s hard for me to determine who I cannot stand more – Brian Colangelo or Andy MacPhail – but I am sue glad both of them are gone.

  5. Awesome post, Catch! That is why I’ve felt that the front office needed to be replaced a long time ago. And, I’m starting to wonder about Middleton too. After all, he bought into their Kool-Aid when he signed Harper. At that time, those resources needed to be spread around instead of thinking that signing one player would get them over the hump.
    I guess Harper bought into it too, or else he probably would’ve signed elsewhere.

    We really need some LA players to develop into above-average regulars and some others, Rojas, L Garcia, and maybe Simmons and a few others.

    Like your post said the other day, your core needs to be home-grown talent to be successful, both during the regular season and into the play-offs.

    1. Another thing I’ve said repeatedly is that Middleton deserves a lot of the blame here.

      First, who hired Klentak and MacPhail when a guy like Chaim Bloom was available? You know the answer. Middleton has not been good at hiring executives and is very backwards looking (the opposite of Jeff Lurie, who is looking for something and someone new – and he has a decent track record of hitting on those hires). Hopefully, DD does a good job – I think he has thus far, but he and Sam Fuld need to not only make some good short-term moves, they need to build the entire organization – these are things you assess over a 3-6 year period – one year rarely tells you very much.

      Second, Middleton required the Phillies to be aggressive starting 2019 – trading away prospects and surrendering picks for free agents. He decided he had waited long and enough and he wanted a good team now – and Klentak and MacPhail were too timid to talk him off the cliff. Rather than reacting to the actual team he had, he tried to force the process even though they weren’t quite ready. How’s that working out 3 years into the “win now” era? Not very well, in my opinion.

      1. The 2017 offseason is a disaster that really set the franchise back. They were a rebuilding team that lost two high draft picks on declining players who didn’t perform (Arrieta, Santana) and one of those signings eventually cost us one of our top prospects. That coming off the bust of a 2016 draft and it’s just all a disaster.

        But let’s be real the infrastructure of the organization has been mediocre at best save for the early 2000s when they drafted and developed an elite core.

        1. Yes, another misstep at a time when they should have been conserving and executing on picks. It’s just one thing after the next that didn’t go too well.

        2. Andy MacPhail was a comfortable hire for John Middleton. He came from a baseball family. He speaks like he’s a smart guy. But the truth of the matter is/was Andy MacPhail came to the Phillies with a horrible recent track record. He had seven straight losing seasons as POBO with the Cubs and Orioles. During that time, those clubs went 421-652 (.392 win%).
          When he got to Philly, MacPhail interviewed Matt Klentak and Chaim Bloom to be the team’s new GM. He passed on Bloom, and instead made the comfortable hire: Klentak. MacPhail had already hired Klentak once before (in Baltimore), and had worked with him for three years.
          While Chaim Bloom went on to become one of, if not THE most forward thinking and successful young GMs in MLB, Matt Klentak did nothing to make himself or the Phillies stand out. Klentak was very, very vanilla. He got crushed by the other clubs rebuilding at the same time we were. The Braves, Padres, and White Sox all have World Series contending clubs. We are stuck in the middle (sports purgatory).
          Thankfully, at some point (better late than never), Middleton escaped the MacPhail fog, and stepped in before MacPhail could make another comfortable hire: Buck Showalter as manager.

          Dave Dombrowski has got some heavy lifting to do to clean up the mess created by MacPhail and Klentak. He’s the antithesis of MacPhail. Dombrowski’s teams have won division titles seven consecutive years in which he has started and finished the season with the same franchise. During that span, he’s won a WS, went to another, and reached the League Championship Series twice more. I have a lot more confidence in him he’ll making smart, aggressive moves this summer and winter.

  6. By the way, I know my comments might be read to suggest that I am saying that Middleton is a “bad” owner. But I don’t think that. He has a lot of positive attributes. He’s willing to spend money. He seems like a decent person. He’s reasonably patient with those he hires. The organization seems to be filled with good people and they treat the fans well – almost like family at times. And I think he wants to do the right thing and build this team the right way.

    But I just feel he’s made some big mistakes over the last 10-12 years and the proof is in the mediocre to bad product that this team fielded each year over the last decade. Not one winning season in a decade. It’s brutal.

    He’s made mistakes and I hope he learns from them and makes better decisions going forward. He also needs to realize that he cannot improve the team by force of will – for better or worse, baseball doesn’t work like that. Just because he wants the team to win immediately doesn’t mean they are ready to do so and when he ignores the reality and tries to “help” he can often just make a bad situation worse as much as I admire his desire to put a winner on the field for the fans.

  7. LHV lineup tonight to include Kingery, Moniak, Randolph, and Haseley. That clubhouse should eat well (they all have money)… Three 1sts and a 2nd. What do we have to show for it?

  8. Murray, 3 firsts, a 2d, and a Major League multi year contract, so despite the signing bonuses the others got, Kingery needs to pick up those dinner checks! What Hinkie said is exactly correct. Middleton got swayed by the baseball name. It was the time to find the next Andrew Friedman or Theo Epstein type to run the franchise. We got the polar opposite. Hiring Klentak over Bloom was a huge mistake. I believe we will see Dombrowski make moves to try and put a Playoff team on the field. But, here is my concern, and I have shared it before. So, my apologies for repeating myself, but DD’s track record has not been to build a farm system, or to find young players elsewhere and trade for them. He has won by trading prospects for someone to help right now. Is that what we need? I have zero interest in another rebuild, but that doesn’t make me right. So, I am hoping for that big, difference making trade. I don’t know for who or for what, sorry Ricky Watters, but I believe that is what we need.

  10. Haseley back in AAA,,,,that is a good sign
    Simmons to third base…..so looks like he will have a new position moving forward..

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