Victories last night for Reading and Jersey Shore. Lehigh Valley and Clearwater (who is still looking for that elusive first win of the season) were beat handily. A couple of pitchers were optioned by the Phillies back to Lehigh Valley last night. I wonder if that means Norwood is ready to be activated. And, maybe one of Coonrod/Sherriff. Or, Herrera but a pitcher makes more sense.
I went to the Complex and watched a scrimmage of sorts. Pitchers threw simulated innings where they each recorded three outs with the same group of fielders. Then they pitched three outs each with no fielders. Repeat for four innings. In all, four pitchers got work. Jordan Fowler got three innings. Ethan Evanko got two (and is one three-inning outing away from returning to an affiliate, I think). Aiden Anderson tossed two innings and is up around 94-95, I hear. Ty Collins got one inning.
I got to talk to the families of a couple of our Aussie players. 2022 IFA Nikau Pouaka-Grego was stateside after some time at the DR Academy. He went 1-2 with a walk. Nikau is pronounced Nee-koh. Pouaka is pronounced similar to Hawaiian I would say where you enunciate each vowel. Poe-oo-ah-kah. The distinction between the O and U is subtle, but the first A stands out. At least you know the proper pronunciation before you CDLC or DD him and he becomes NPG.
Another release materialized when NDFA Matt Goodheart announced on Twitter that he had signed with an Indy team. He was signed after the 2021 draft. His MiLB player page had the transaction but the FCL and DSL aren’t posting transactions or updating their rosters as players are released.
Clearwater (0-5) lost to St. Lucie, 9-3. link
The Threshers outhit the Mets, 13-11, but couldn’t outscore them or “out-bullpen” them. Micah Ottenbreit made his first start of the seasomn and was tagged for four runs in three innings. Gabriel Yanez gave up three runs in two innings and Buddy Hayward gave up two in one. In between, Malik Binns pitched two hitless innings walking and striking out two.
Four Threshers had multi-hit games, well three and Odubel Herrera who went 2-4 with a double and an RBI. Lee Hao Yu went 2-5 with an RBI. Jadiel Sanchez went 3-5 with an RBI. Marcus Lee Sang wemt 3-4 with a double.
The Threshers had 11 singles among their 13 hits. Azuaje stole 2 bases. Herrera committed an error and also had an outfield assist at third. He was replaced in the bottom of the seventh. Yanez picked off a runner.
Lehigh Valley (3-5) lost to Worcester, 7-3.
Connor Seabold one-hit the IronPigs for five innings. Colton Eastman gave up five runs in four innings. Jake Hernandez struck out two in four innings. Mark Appel struck out four in two each giving up a run. Nick Maton and John Andreoli each hit solo HRs. Ronald Torreyes is hitting (?) a lusty .067. Can’t wait for Joe to be writing his name in the lineup every day.
Reading (2-3) beat to Akron, 3-1. link
Madison Stokes homered on the first pitch of the game to stake Noah Skirrow to an early lead. Skirrow turned in a sold fove innings allowing one run on four hits and striking out six (no walks). Warren, Zarbnisky, Morales, and Marconi each gtossed a scoreless inning allowing one base runner each and each striking out a batter.
Josh Ockimey and Wendell Rijo had RBI doubles. Logan O’Hoppe’s .278 batting average is one of only two in the game that finished at .200 or better (Rijo, .250).
Jersey Shore (1-4) beat Brooklyn, 4-3. link
The BlueClaws made four two-out, second inning runs hold up. Andrick Nava stroked an RBI single, Johan Rojas lined an RBI double, and two runs scored on wild pitches. The Claws managed just two hits after that and held on.
Cristian Hernandez struck out four as he pitched 3.2 scoreless innings. Dominic Pipkin struck out two in a scoreless frame. Tyler McKay gave up two runs in one inning. Carlos Hernandez gave up one in one but struck out three. And Jason Ruffcorn picked up his first save with two scoreless innings.
The BlueClaws stole five more bases without being caught – Wilson (2), Martin, Carr, and Nava. Jersey Shore went into the game with a minor league-best 19 stolen bases. They now have 24. Wilson leads the team with seven. Johan Rojas has five.
Rosters and Stuff
Not up to date, yet.
Transactions
4/14/2022 – Phillies optioned LHP Damon Jones to Lehigh Valley
4/14/2022 – Phillies optioned RHP Connor Brogdon to Lehigh Valley
4/13/2022 – Phillies designated LHP Jeff Singer for assignment.
4/13/2022 – Phillies activated RHP Corey Knebel from the 10-day IL
4/12/2022 – Phillies signed free agent RHP Ofreidy Gomez to an MiLB contract
4/13/2022 – Clearwater transferred LHP Matt Osterberg to the Development List
4/13/2022 – Clearwater transferred RHP Oswald Medina to the Development List
4/13/2022 – RHP Micah Ottenbreit assigned to Clearwater from FCL Phillies
4/01/2022 – FCL Phillies released 1B Matt Goodheart
Phuture Phillies 
Jadiel Sanchez, a 20 yo former 12th round pick, is interesting. Took him a few games over 2 years to find some hitting ability. Last year at CLW, he hit .297/.373/.446/.819 in 74 ABs. He also had 3 Dbl, a Tpl and 2 HRs. He has a little pop in his swing. They also had him hitting 4th, right after Lee. He’s not a big SB guy but maybe there is something here to dream on.
Nice to see J Shore get in the win column. Despite all the losses, there are some positives to take heart in. Morales looks like a legit reliever, Wilson can play, Lee can really hit, O’Hoppe and Rojas of course, and I agree that Sanchez looks good (again).
Brogdon went back to LHV where he should have been after his dreadful spring training (but couldn’t because of injuries and 40 man issues). He needs to find his fastball and hopefully stay healthy.
Seabold being in the deal for Hembree & Workman is the penultimate reminder that Matt Klentak and Andy MacFAIL have sent this organization into a decade long time period of misery.
Im not super worried, hes probably still a AAAA guy, but yeah, anything of value for those guys looks super bad in hindsight. Man they were bad
Jim,
Jersey Shore SBs;
” Wilson leads the team with seven. Johan Rojas has five.”…I believe both have seven now.
https://www.milb.com/player/johan-rojas-679032
When we drafted Wilson and I look at his body type he didn’t look like he was going to be a SB machine
Suppose he comes on strong in the next couple of years. He’s primarily LF only if I am not mistaken.
DMAR…remember about 5/6 years ago you liked a kid in the draft from a small time school and conference, OFer Kyle Lewis. Well I had doubts, preferring the SEC/PAC/Big 12/10 big -conference types. Anyway you were spot on….if not for the never-ending injuries to Lewis, he would be an impact MLB player.
Wilson is in that mold….so to speak, small conference pure hitter type player.
Hope he does well and stays healthy.
Yes, Romus, thank you. I realized that later when my head hit the pillow. Too tired to correct it then.
LOL..yeah know the feeling
Long time follower on this site, but I rarely post. Can anyone explain to me what the “Development List” is? Thanks guys.
Matthew, I can’t find a description in the CBA or elsewhere. However, I would describe it as rehab for a healthy player. I’m sure it affects the player count on their assigned team and somehow works in the team’s favor for their active and reserve rosters. To me, it’s just another way of gaming the system and keeping more than the allotted number of minor league players in the system (180 during the season and 190 during the offseason).
With the system being so barren of talent in the top leagues, I actually think the coolest thing that could happen this year is somehow Appel pitch well enough to get a big league call up, even if its a short one, just to get his name off that list of 1-1’s who never made the bigs.