The Phillies DSL team is a work in progress after last year’s team had a number of players promoted to GCL or Williamsport this past winter. 2010 DSL graduates included Witer Jimenez, Carlos Valenzuela (playing surpisingly well), Jorge Castillo, Gabriel Arias, Hector Neris, Luis Gonzalez, Carlos Best, and Ramon Oviedo. That is 8 promotions from the DSL team alone and prompted some criticism about the Phillies having an older DSL squad without a huge number of prospects last year. Continue reading 2011 DSL Midseason Update
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2011 VSL Phillies June Update (aka Should We Pay Attention to Herlis Rodriguez?)
The Phillies’ VSL season is now 30 games old, enough to get a feel for who might be a prospect on this rookie level team. Overall the Phillies are 12-18 and are in 5th place out of 6 teams in the VSL. While the team’s record is mediocre, there have been some bright spots for prospects particularly on the offensive side. The team’s offense averages only 18.0 years old in age and is considerably younger than the rest of the league. More importantly, they are getting significant contributions from several of the younger players.
The team’s pitching is not as good, unfortunately. The pitching staff is older than the league average (19.3 years) and the best performances are generally coming from the older pitchers age 20 and 21 years old. These pitchers are not likely to be great prospects, though I would also note that the Phillies have started moving some older foreign prospects directly to Williamsport rather than GCL. Note opening day starter Leonel Bastides along with Gabirel Arias, Pedro Lora, Hector Neris, and Witer Jimenez. This is an atypical 5 players that have essentially skipped GCL for the Phillies. This is most likely an acknowledgement of how crowded the GCL roster can get and a recognition of the ability to get a pitcher regular starts in the VSL or DSL while they learn English and other skills necessary to ease the transition to the United States. Continue reading 2011 VSL Phillies June Update (aka Should We Pay Attention to Herlis Rodriguez?)
2011 Phillies DSL Season Starts Today
May 28th is the beginning of the new Dominican Summer League season, bringing to six the number of Phillies minor league affiliates currently playing. The Phillies play in the Boca Chica South division. In 2010 the Phillies finished in 3rd place with a 43-29 record. The team was a little older than the league average so it is hard to tell how many prospects will emerge from that squad. One note – a couple of players from that team (pitchers Marcos Coca and Daniel De La Cruz) did test positive for banned stimulants and will sit out 50 games this season, the lion’s part of the 72-game Dominican schedule. Continue reading 2011 Phillies DSL Season Starts Today
2011 VSL Phillies Season Starts Monday
Monday is the start of the 2011 Venezuelan Summer League season. The Phillies play a 72-game schedule through early August with games usually played in the morning Monday through Saturday each week with Sunday being an off day. Last year the Phillies finished in 5th place with a 32-36 record.
It looks like the VSL is down to six teams in 2011 as the Cardinals are no longer listed with a team. More major league clubs are going to multiple Dominican Summer League squads as political and social unrest in Venezuela presents challenges. The Phillies have invested in a state-of-the-art complex in the country, however, and appear willing to keep their team as long as they can.
2011 New International Players in Spring Training
With the posting of the minor league workout groups I wanted to throw up another post with brief info on some of the new faces in camp that have not previously played at GCL or in another stateside league. There are at my count 20 new players listed on the minor league workout groups that did not play in the U.S. This is a huge number, though I imagine the Phillies will pare down that number a little by releasing a handful of the older players and demoting a few to the DSL or VSL leagues to get playing time. Continue reading 2011 New International Players in Spring Training
2010 VSL/DSL Prospect Summary
This post is a much-delayed recap of the top prospects who played in the Latin American complex leagues in 2010. I apologize for the delay as I got too wrapped up in work at the end of last year to put together a summary. As minor league spring training starts this week and we start to see some of these faces for the first time, this post can serve as a place to discuss the Latin American prospects, both in the complex leagues and the stateside leagues.
July DSL Update
The DSL Phillies have now completed a little more than half of their season and stand at 21-19 after 40 games, in 5th place, 3.5 games behind the Yankees and the Giants. The Phillies are in a new division this year which appears to be more difficult, with big spending teams such as the Yankees, Mets, and Marlins among their competition.
The 2010 Phillies are not the youngest squad in the league, but they have seen some positive performances from younger players. The better prospects in the Latin American complex leagues tend to be the younger players age 17-19 that are holding their own performance-wise. The Phillies hitters average 18.9 years old, slightly older than the league average of 18.2. The pitchers average 19.2 years old, again slightly older than the league average of 18.8. Continue reading July DSL Update
VSL Early Season Update
We are now about one third done with the 2010 Phillies VSL season and we are starting to get a picture of the strengths and weaknesses of the squad. The Phillies stand at 12-12 so far, tied for 3rd place in the 7 team league. They trail the league leading Mariners by 2.5 games. The Phillies have a relatively young offensive squad and a veteran pitching staff. The young hitters, led by IF/C Willans Astudillo are holding their own, putting up a team OPS of .684. The pitching staff is even better, though they are led by several older pitchers. Continue reading VSL Early Season Update
DSL Season Starts Today – New Roster Posted
May 29th is the beginning of the 2010 DSL season for the Phillies. Last year the Phillies featured a relatively young team that struggled to a 31-39 record. With a number of players such as ace pitchers Lisalverto Bonilla and Felix Cespedes having graduated to the U.S., another young team is likely this season.
For the past several seasons the Phillies have played in the 5-team Santo Domingo North division which posed 2 disadvantages of having an odd number of teams in the division for scheduling and always playing the same opposition teams. This year the Phillies have moved to the 8-team Boca Chica South division and should see a greater variety of opponents.
Continue reading DSL Season Starts Today – New Roster Posted
2010 VSL Phillies Debut Today
The season opener for the VSL Phillies is today. The league started yesterday but with 7 teams in the league it was the Phillies that got the bye on day one. Last year the team was a disappointing 27-42, though it should be noted that 8 players from that team plus newly signed Venezuelan LHP Lino Martinez were present in minor league spring training and in line to make their GCL debuts this summer.
A roster has been posted on the minor league site here: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?t=t_ros&cid=661
Phuture Phillies 