Clearwater was swept out of their Division Series. They scored one run in each game of the series. Lehigh lost. One pitch put them behind and the offense couldn’t get on track with 14 Ks. Reading won behind Mitch Neunborn and some solid relief.
Clearwater mounted very little offense and was eliminated from the playoffs in two games, losing last night 6-1. Danyony Pulido got the start and pitched 4.1 shutout innings. He allowed one hit and walked two. He struck out one. He left with one on via error and one out. Jonh Henriquez came in and stranded two inherited runners retiring the 2 batters he faced. Saul Teran pitched the sixth inning and gave up the tying run on 2 hits. He struck out one. Titan Hayes took the loss lasting 0.1 innings allowing 4 runs (3 ER) on on 2 hits and 2 walks. He struck out one. Luis Avila stranded one inherited runner and pitched 1.2 scoreless innings allowing one hit and one walk. He struck out four. Kleyderve Andrade pitched one inning and gave up one run on 2 hits and a walk. He struck out one.
The Threshers managed just one run on 5 singles and 2 walks. They scored first in the fourth inning. Starlyn Caba led off with a single and stole second after 2 strikeouts. He scored on an RBI single by Carson DeMartini. Lakeland’s pitchers finished the minimum over the last five innings. The Threshers did get one-out runners in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings but each was followed by an inning-ending double play.
- #4 SS, Starlyn Caba went 1-4 with a run scored and a stolen base
- #5 C, Eduardo Tait went 0-3
- #7 OF, Dante Nori went 1-3 with a walk
- #9 2B, Devin Saltiban went 1-3
- #17 3B, Carson DeMartini went 1-3 with an RBI
Lehigh Valley (31-33, 65-72, 8.0 games back with 9 remaining) Lost to Scranton, 3-1. Robinson Pina pitched five innings and gave up 3 runs on 3 hits and 2 walks. He struck out six and gave up a 3-run HR. Jonah Dipoto pitched a scoreless inning walking one and striking out one. Nick Nelson pitched a scoreless inning allowing one hit. Tyler McKay pitched one inning striking out one.
The IronPigs took the lead in the third inning on an RBI ground out by Otto Kemp. The IronPigs managed 5 singles and 3 walks. They got 2 other base runners on a hit by pitch and an error. They struck out 14 times.
- #6 RHP, Mick Abel (3-11, 5.92): DNP
- #15 RHP, Seth Johnson (2-0, 0.56): DNP
- #19 RHP, Michael Mercado (2-1, 2.07): DNP
- #21 RHP, Griff McGarry (2-1. 3.34): DNP
- #25 1B, Carlos De La Cruz (.161/.449): went 0-4
- #28 3B, Otto Kemp (.158/.396): went 0-4 with an RBI
Reading (27-39, 58-76, fifth place in their division, 3 games remaining) Beat Harrisburg, 3-1. Mitch Neunborn pitched six solid innings. He gave up one run on 3 hits and 2 walks. He struck out five and gave up a solo HR. Jack Dallas pitched a scoreless inning striking out two. Andrew Walling pitched a scoreless inning striking out two. Andrew Schultz pitched a scoreless inning walking 2 and striking out one.
Reading took the lead in the first inning on an RBI single by Ethan Wilson. They took the lead for good with a run in the second on an RBI single by Justin Crawford. They added an insurance run in the fifth on a sac fly by Carson Taylor.
- #1 SS, Aidan Miller (.250/.544): DNP
- #2 RHP, Andrew Painter: 60-day IL
- #3 CF, Justin Crawford (.338/.841): went 2-4 with an RBI
- #11 RF, Gabriel Rincones (.266/.859): went 1-4
- #13 RHP, Jean Cabrera (1-1, 4.85): DNP
- #22 RHP, Christian McGowan (0-3, 6.75): DNP
- #24 C, Caleb Ricketts (.219/.669): placed on the 7-day injury list
- #26 RHP, Moises Chace (2-1, 3.76): DNP
Jersey Shore (36-30, 74-58) finished third in their division for the second half.
Clearwater (20-40, 64-63) finished last in the second half, but won the first half.
FCL Phillies (33-25) finished third in their division.
DSL Phillies Red (21-34) finished eighth (last) in their division.
DSL Phillies White (26-29) finished sixth in their division.
- #4 SS, Starlyn Caba (.179/.493): Clearwater
- #5 C, Eduardo Tait (.269/.778): Clearwater
- #7 OF, Dante Nori (.240/.704): Clearwater
- #8 OF, Griffin Burkholder (.500/2.000): Clearwater
- #9 2B, Devin Saltiban (.237/.774): Clearwater
- #10 SS, Bryan Rincon (.202/.669): Jersey Shore
- #12 OF, John Spikerman (.226/.683): Clearwater
- #14 3B, Aroon Escobar (.338/.976): FCL Phillies
- #16 RHP, Alex McFarlane: Clearwater
- #17 3B, Carson DeMartini (.310/.867): Clearwater
- #18 LF, TJayy Walton (.200/.664): Clearwater
- #20 RHP, Pan Wen-hui (0-1, 1.29): Jersey Shore
- #23 CF, Emaarion Boyd (.239/.646): Jersey Shore
- #27 LHP, Mavis Graves (7-6, 3.64): Clearwater
- #29 RHP, Micah Ottenbreit (3-9, 4.88): Clearwater
- #30 OF, Raylin Heredia (.245/.737): Clearwater
Transactions
9/12/2024 – RHP Mitch Neunborn assigned to Reading from Jersey Shore
9/12/2024 – Reading transferred LHP Braeden Fausnaught to the Development List
If anyone is interested, the first 3 files under Rosters and Stuff on the pull-down menu above are up to date as of September 12th.
The Transactions menu option is up-to-date for the 2024 season thru August 31st.
Phuture Phillies 
At this point, the 2024 Phillies minor league season largely has been a success. Aidan Miller and Justin Crawford improved probably more than we expected and moved up the rankings. Painter was recovering from TJ and hasn’t had a major setback. Starlyn Caba and Eduardo Tait are both very young and moved up to Clearwater.
The Phillies took advantage of the improvements of Aldegheri and Klassen and moved them for a closer.
Aside from injuries (which happens unfortunately), the only real major setback was Mick Abel. He’s still only 23 at AAA, but he’ll need to slash his walk rate by half if he wants to be viable big league pitcher, let alone a starter.
I think Devin Saltiban will be the breakout player for the Phillies next season. He’s not the biggest guy but he had 17 HRs as a 19 year old at Clearwater. If he starts cranking it at JS next season, he can easily slip into the top 100 rankings.
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Next year should be big in determining if there is a future in the big leagues for Gabriel Rincones, Keaton Anthony and Otto Kemp.
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Agree that next year is extremely important for each of these 3 players. I suspect they will all spend some or all of the year at AAA, which is where you typically learn a lot about hitters. Some transition well, others stall (J.P. Crawford) or hit a brick wall (De La Cruz) and some do just fine and cruise right through to the majors (Rhys Hoskins, Alec Bohm, Bryson Stott) but, for hitters, the rubber hits the road at AAA.
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Keaton Anthony could be one of the best UDFA signings the Phillies have ever made. And Carson Taylor could be one of the best minor league phase Rule 5 acquisitions they have done.
I hope next season they both get added exposure and experience at different positions……Anthony in one of the corner OFs….and Taylor back behind the plate as when he was a Dodger farmhand.
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Rincones is a corner OF so he’ll have to continue to hit if he wants to make it. The Phillies have a spot waiting for him if he does.
Keaton Anthony is pretty much a 1B/DH. Again, he’ll have to continue to hit if he wants to push Harper to DH.
Otto Kemp is looking like a utility player similar to Weston Wilson. It’ll be hard for him to get playing time on the Phillies.
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Kemp’s real competition is Buddy Kennedy (they are 24 and 25 respectively). Wilson is an outfielder too and he’s 30. It’s nice they have some interesting guys at AAA.
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On Abel – he’s 23 and it looks like he’s starting to turn the corner. He had a very good strikeout game his last outing. And they may be asking him to dial back the velocity while he works on his mechanics and then expand from there. It was a development year for him – we’ll see what he can do next year. The underlying talent is still there but he must improve his command. They may be working on this the way they worked with Christopher Sanchez. I think they really have a good idea now how to develop pitchers. It’s refreshing to see.
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Agree that Abel seems to have stabilized after a rough season. Actually encouraging that he had the mental and emotional fortitude to fight through it and not get shutdown.
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Saw Pulido pitch briefly a couple weeks ago and was favorably impressed. He only pitched one inning until and rain delay and did not return when play resumed. He threw strikes and was bringing it at 94-95 MPH.
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