26 thoughts on “Phillies’ Affiliates Recap (7/4/2022)”

1. Thanks Jim. The most positive thing is that Rojas had 3 hits and is on a 5 game hitting streak at Reading. Unfortunately it’s possible that he’s being showcased for a trade.
   O’Hoppe remains outs with what they say is a non Covid illness.

   1. Agree with Murray. I like Johan Rojas a lot, but IMO he may be at/near the top of the “dealt at the deadline” list. He’s toolsy enough, and still young enough to hold real value. And the fact that Matt Vierling (who is still young himself) has been at least solid in CF probably allows Dave Dombrowski to use Rojas as a trade chip.
      IMO, Painter and Abel will not be traded.
      McGarry is unlikely (but not out of the question) to be dealt.
      That leaves Rojas as the club’s most prized prospect that could be offered via trade. After Rojas, I’d expect one of O’Hoppe or Marchan to be possibly on the move, and the next most likely kid to bring back something of significance. When it comes to pitchers who could go, I’d rank Ben Brown and Jean Cabrera as two of the team’s more prominent prospects who could be part of a summer time transaction (depending on what Dombrowski is looking to bring back).

      1. And Morales

         1. Yes. Morales could also go in a trade this summer.

            1. He could, but he would be a throw in at this point. We’re talking about a player that was walking 15.3 per game at Lehigh and had to be demoted back to Reading. You’ll only be getting pennies on the dollar for Morales.

   2. Would Rojas be the centerpiece in a package for either Benintendi (a rental) or Montas (final arb year is ’23)? Originally I thought the Phillies brass saw him as a prospect worthy of aggressive promotion (I know some here don’t buy that idea of “aggressive” in lieu of merit) but the current trade market and needs of a win now ball club makes some sense. Either Benintendi or Montas make sense, provided the Phillies are eyeing either as signable beyond their respective contract term. I would only hope that Rojas would be the only top 5 prospect to move in such a deal.

      1. I think a key piece for an outfielder would be Matt Vierling. Even if his overall numbers aren’t stellar, he hits the ball hard and plays good defense in the outfield and has been suitable in the infield. Rojas is such a lottery ticket that it would be hard for me to see him as the centerpiece. Just my opinion, but I think McGarry would likely be the biggest piece moved this deadline unless they get a real difference-maker with multiple years of control, then it’s probably O’Hoppe.

         1. Yeah, the more I think about it, MLB teams may be less enamored with a high ceiling-high risk talent like Rojas and drawn to a major league ready guy like Vierling…especially if the trade brings back a very good CF.

            1. mark…..the one difference that may be a role in asset value , is the age difference between Vierling and Rojas. I always like Vierling, but he may have reached his ceiling….Rojas is untapped at this point.
               I can see Beane and the As looking for that close to MLB ready guy with loads of raw skills and potential.

         2. I could see a case for selling high but I PERSONALLY don’t see Matt Vierling as an everyday player (which is fine, he’s very valuable and I like his game). A guy with his versatility and ability to hit LHP is very valuable but I’m not sure he’d bring you back more than you’d lose given the depth he creates.

            Montas probably takes two of our better pitching prospects and more given the market he is likely to have (if healthy).

            Now that DD is fully established I’m very curious to see how he operates. He is very good at self scouting.

            1. There is going to be a heavy market for Frankie Montas. The Cardinals and Blue Jays are desperate for starting pitching. The Cardinals can dangle some of their young starting position players and that’s not including their top prospect, 3B Jordan Walker (who’s blocked by Arenado). The Blue Jays have the #4 prospect Gabriel Moreno available so they can be in on any starter if they so choose. And I don’t think the Phillies want to give up Painter for the likes of Montas.

2. Jim:
   “As promised, Steve Potter’s Minor League Roundup from his Phillies – A Fan’s View.
   Steve does not allow comments. So, you can read his reports and come back here to comment if you want.”

   …I like that idea of working in tandem with your friend Steve and his site. I hope it saves you time and you are able to get to bed at a reasonable hour.

3. Good to see you back at it, Jim. Hope you and the family are well.

   Fortunately for Rafael Marchan, he was out warming up pitchers Monday, so hopefully the foot/ankle isn’t too bad.

   Keep an eye on Donny Sands. He’s slashing 346/471/477 in 32 games with Lehigh Valley this year and he’s walking more than he’s striking out. He’s 26 and was drafted in 2015, he could hold some value in a trade in a few weeks. Hasn’t hit for as much power this year as he has in the past, but it’s in there

   1. I’ve tried to find the team by team rosters and stats for the DSL with no luck. Am I missing something?

      1. No. MLB has really screwed the pooch when it comes to the rookie leagues and their websites,

         You can find team rosters by going to the MiLB home page (https://www.milb.com/), scrolling your cursor over “Scores and Schedules”, and selecting “Rookie Leagues” from the scroll-down menu (https://www.milb.com/about/rookie).

         You will find the Complex and DSL rosters there by selecting the team from the lists.

         FCL Phillies (https://www.milb.com/florida-complex/roster/469)
         DSL Phillies Red (https://www.milb.com/dominican-summer/roster/623)
         DSL Phillies White (https://www.milb.com/dominican-summer/roster/5085)

         You will also find the Division Standings on this page.

         FCL Phillies are third in the FCL North.
         The DSL Phillies Red and White are second and third in the DSL San Pedro.

         Flaws (as I see it)

         The Standings button will list the teams as a 16-team league (only the Astros field 2 FCL teams). The on-screen option of FCL North is the better choice for the FCL Phillies position in their division.

         The Statistics button defaults to Hitting and lists the 70-plus players who qualify as end-of-season leaders. You have to change the Qualified PLayers option to All Players or current Players. You can sort on most columns but NOT by team. You can select Pitching, but similar steps have to be followed but with the same restriction on sorting by team.

         There is a Team rather than Player option that lists stats by team but does not offer a breakdown of the players on the team. In fact, selecting the team name produces a 404 error.

         If you choose another League, there is no option to re-select the FCL.

         The Scores and Schedule buttons will provide the day’s scores and schedule and allow you to navigate forward and backward by date. However, you cannot select the team to get to the team’s home age as you could in the past.

         In fact, there are no team home pages. Big pain in the butt.

         Everything above also applies to the DSL selections.

         Back on the MiLB home page you will see a Stats option on the pull-down menu. It has a Rookie Leagues selection that just takes you to the page I described above.

         It also has a Transaction option. This just lists the state-side transactions by day. You have to cull through a lot of transactions to find our organization. It helps to be familiar with your tea’s logo. And, DSL transactions are not posted.

         Also, I’ve noticed, that FCL transactions only post if a player arrives on a rehab assignment or is involved in an assignment to/from a full-season team. Transactions that involve a player already on the roster aren’t reported but changes are made nonetheless. For instance, Gavin Tonkel’s player page states that he was placed on the 7-day IL on June 6th. There is no transaction on June 6th that corresponds with this action. And, yet, he was converted to a status of “Injured 7-Day” on the Roster Page.

         Sorry for such a long post. This is a sore subject with me. I expected this to happen when MLB took over MiLB. I just didn’t expect it to be this bad.

         1. I can fully attest to the moronic setup/links on milb.com in regards to DSL/FCL. I have spent multiple nights clicking on various links and finding the same results posted above.

         2. Thanks, Jim. I see that I was not missing something- MLB is.

   2. While it’s a good problem to have, the Phillies have a logjam at catcher and everybody knows it. JT and Stubbs are not going anywhere. Sands is the most likely catcher to be traded. If O’Hoppe is the real deal, the Phillies need to open up a spot for him at Lehigh before the 2023 season begins.

4. What’s up with William Bergolla Jr.? I assume he’s injured?

   1. Also curious about Lee and Yhoswar?

      1. Lee Hao Yu was placed on the 7-day IL on June 7th retroactive to June 6th. His last game action was on May 31st when he was hit by a pitch in a game against the Dunedin Blue Jays. He was struck on the hand. The Phillies have a lot of guys out with hand injuries this year (6 or 7 I know of).

         Anyway, I saw him enter the Complex last week, I forget which day. He looks fine and was in good spirits.

         Yhoswar Garcia was placed on the 7-day IL on June 4th retroactive to June 3rd. His last game action was on June 2nd against the Dunedin Blue Jays. He did not bat in the first inning (Threshers were the home team) and was replaced by Chris Burke to start the second inning on defense. The only action he saw was a fly ball he caught to end the top of the first. I saw him on crutches since then at the Complex. Looks like he injured his right leg. But, I’m not 100% confident in my memory on this. I’m sure it’s a leg, just not which one.

   2. Bergolla was assigned to DSL Phillies White on June 5th. He has no stats and may be injured. But, DSL transactions and injuries aren’t posted so we don’t know for sure. But, he is 17 years old. It is just as likely that he is playing in the Tricky League down there to get his reps.

5. Clearwater had some intriguing young players in their lineup and then they all seemed to get hurt.

6. Feels great to have these back. Thanks for all that you do Jim.

   I saw that Keith Law scouted our pitchers at JS and was curious if any subsribers can provide a sparknotes summary of his eval.

7. Jim – have you had a chance to watch Rickardo Perez yet? He’s only 18 but hitting 310 and catching and batting 3rd in the lineup, after getting big money to sign I recall. It’s very early in his career but so far so good. Any opinion formed on him yet? Thanks

   1. Murray, Yes, I’ve seen Rickardo Perez. The Phillies brought him over at the start of spring training in February. He started getting reps into extended spring training. But suffered a leg (maybe, knee?) injury during an at bat during an exhibition game.

      He has a nice swing but so far (with only one walk) has a pretty flat slash (something like .310/.330/.310/.640) the last ime I looked. He;s young, the power will come, and he’s probably tentative after the injury.

      I haven’t seen enough of his behind the platwe skills other than to say he looks to have a strong arm. He looks bigger than listed . 5’10 is probably accurate, but he looks bigger than 170. He appears to be filled out better than the kids we used to bring over from the Dominican Academy.

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