Lehigh Valley completed their 8 game road trip with a 9-5 loss against Louisville yesterday, and after a long bus ride back to Allentown, have an off day today followed by an 8 game home stand that begins Thursday against Indianapolis.  Since the last report, Lehigh Valley went 3-5 and now stand at 10-15 on the year, 7 games behind division leading Buffalo.

‘Pigs League Leaders: Cesar Hernandez is 5th in AB’s (95), 8th in SB’s (7), 9th in OBP (.417); 3rd in avg. (.375), leads the league in triples (3), and leads the league in hits (36); Darin Ruf is 3rd in doubles (9); Cody Overbeck is 6th in HR(5).

Pitching: Justin DeFratus is 5th in wins(3), Tyler Cloyd is 5th in losses (5), 8th in HR allowed (4), has the 8th worst ERA (6.67), and 3rd worst WHIP (1.78); Ethan Martin has the 3rd worst ERA(7.66), 2nd worst WHIP (1.79) and leads the league in walks allowed (20); Adam Morgan is 7th in IP (30.2); Jake Diekman is 9th in walks allowed (14)

‘Pigs Prospects–Darin Ruf is now officially on fire, after slumping last week. In the series against Louisville, Ruf smacked 3 doubles and 3 HR’s while going 8-16 in the series.  After dropping to just over .200, Ruf is at .267/.319/.512 on the year with 4HR and 15RBI. Ruf is striking out in around 26% of his AB’s, but is showing a good deal of recent improvement. Some strange splits, as Ruf is at .091 vs. LH and .154 with RISP. His defense in LF has been surprisingly adequate. Continue reading Lehigh Valley Weekly Report →

A look at the time period from April 18-24.  Quick Thoughts…I had the opportunity to watch Jesse Biddle live for the first time on Monday evening, and having seen thousands of baseball games, his performance ranks right near the top.  Keep in mind it is one outing, but a pitcher that has the ability to do what he did, is worth being very excited about….Aaron Altherr has been showing all the tools, and its worth starting to follow him every day…After quick starts, Hewitt and Quinn land on the “Not Hot” list this week….There was a good deal of excitement last year about Tyler Knigge who has struggled out of the gate this year, with another difficult week.

Hot Hitters:Cody Asche (.478); Aaron ALtherr (.444, 6R, 4RBI, 2SB);  Carlos Alonso (.417, 5R 5RBI)Jermaine Mitchell (.417, 4R 3RBI, 2SB); Jim Murphy (.400, 4R, HR, 4RBI); Derrick Mitchell (.400); Art Charles (.391, 5RBI) Cesar Hernandez (.391, 3R, SB);Jon Roof (.375); ALbert Cartwright (.360, 6R);  Honorable Mention:Mojica,  Gillies, Perkins, Numata, Mora Continue reading Hot or Not →

Lehigh Valley began an eight game road trip against Indianapolis with a rain out last evening  and  stand at 7-10, 5.5 games behind division leading Buffalo in the Northern Division of the International League.  The road trip continues with four in Indianapolis, followed by four in Louisville.

‘Pigs League Leaders:Cesar Hernandez is 4th in hits (22); Darin Ruf is tied for 3rd in doubles (6); Cody Overbeck is tied for 5th in HR (4); Tyler Cloyd is tied for 2nd in losses (3), has the 2nd worst WHIP (1.95); 3rd worst in ERA (7.65), tied for 2nd in HR allowed (3) and is 7th in strikeouts (19); Adam Morgan is 4th in ERA (1.42) and is 8th in WHIP (0.84); Jake Diekman is tied for 2nd in games (8).

‘Pigs Prospects: Cody Asche has hit in 6 consecutive games, hitting .417 (10-24) over that time period.  After a slow start, Asche seems to be making the adjustment to AAA pitching. Asche is now at .279/.353/.393 with 1HR and 7 RBI on the year. Additionally, he works very hard, as one of the first one the field each and every day. Continue reading Lehigh Valley Weekly Report →

A look back at the time period of 4/11/13 through 4/17/13). A few quick points: First, Who the heck is Jose Mojica.  Second, Anthony Hewitt appears on the hot list again to keep his hot start going. Third, Adam Morgan was simply dominant in his start this week.  Morgan is pitching again today. Does he get the call if Lannan is out for an extended period? Fourth, great to see Nick Hernandez back on the Hot List after a long rehab from a significant injury. Finally, Maikel Franco is really worth watching.

Hot Hitters: Albert Cartwright (.500, 4R, HR, 2RBI, SB); Jose Mojica (.500, 6r); Josh Fields (.444, 7R 2HR 8RBI, SB);  Maikel Franco (.414, 4R 1HR 6RBI); Carlos Alonso (.364, 5R 1HR 5RBI); Art Charles (.346, 6R 2HR 7RBI); Aaron Altherr (.346, 5R 1HR 4RBI); Cameron Perkins (.346, 4R 1HR 7RBI); Jon Roof (.348); Anthony Hewitt (.333, 4SB); Honorable Mention: Duran Continue reading Hot or Not →

Jim, a relocated Philadelphian to the CLearwater area was kind enough to provide some insight as to what is happening at the complex:

“I watched the XST game against the Yankees today (April 15th).  Giles entered the game in the top of the fourth.  He promptly walked the first two batters on 9 pitches.  He seemed to have good velocity, but was delivering high to the hitters.  After the first two hitters, he settled in and retired the next two batters on 6 pitches, both took called third strikes.  He reached a 1-2 count on the fifth hitter, and after a foul ball, surrendered a line drive over the first baseman (Austin Gallagher) down the RF line for a triple and two runs scored. The inning was called after that pitch as Giles had reached 20 pitches.  Giles took the mound again for the fifth inning and retired the first batter on three pitches and a called third strike.  The next batter struck out swinging on a full count.  The the final batter grounded out second to first on a 2-1 pitch. He faced 8 batters in 1.2 innings – 33 pitches/18 strikes, but a very good 24/17 after the first two walks.  He looked good once he got the ball down in the zone. Continue reading Giles, Dugan and other XST Happenings →

Lehigh Valley finishes up their four game series in Pawtucket this evening after going 4-1 this week, which puts the ‘Pigs at 6-5 and in fourth place of the Northern Division of the International League, 2.5 games behind division leading Pawtucket. Lehigh Valley returns home on Thursday evening to open a four game series against Buffalo before they go on a 8 game road trip to Indianapolis and Buffalo.

‘Pigs Leaders: Cesar Hernandez is 3rd in hits (17); Darin Ruf leads the league in doubles (5); Tommy Joseph is 6th in RBI’s (11); Jon Pettibone has the 3rd worst ERA (9.64) and  2nd worst WHIP (2.14);Tyler CLoyd has the 7th worst ERA (7.07), allowed the third most walks (8), has the 7th most strikeouts (15), 7th worst WHIP (1.93) and has allowed the 2nd most HR (3); Jake Diekman has allowed the 4th most walks (8); Adam Morgan has the 3rd best WHIP (0.79). Continue reading Lehigh Valley Weekly Report →

First edition of hot or not this season as we take a look at the period of 4/4 through 4/10.  Hitters must have a minimum of 12 AB’s to be considered.

Cesar Hernandez impressed at the plate and in the field this week while the Phils athletic outfielders struggled to start the season (Collier, Gillies, Mitchell, Hudson). Exciting starts for Percy Garner and SHane Watson, while the much talked about Lehigh Valley rotation makes up most of the “not hot” starters list.

Hot Hitters:Tyler Henson (.526, HR, 5RBI); Cesar Hernandez (.480, 5R); James Murphy, (.379, HR, 6RBI), Leandro Castro (.348, 4R, 2SB); Anthony Hewitt (.348, 4RBI, 2SB), Roman Quinn (.333, HR, 4RBI, 3SB), Mitch Walding (.333, 6RBI); Aaron Altherr (.333, 4r, 3sb)  Honorable Mention: Rupp, Numata, Ruf Continue reading Hot or Not, Week One →

A new manager, a new starting rotation and a new urinal game are the 2013 features in Allentown as the IronPigs opened the 2013 season, with a fairly miserable week during which they went 2-4 and played very sloppy baseball.  Lehigh Valley stands at 2-4 after Week One, three games behind division leading Pawtucket.  They conclude their first home stand of the season tonight against Pawtucket and then hit the road for 8 games against Syracuse and Pawtucket.

‘Pigs Leaders-Hitting–Cesar Hernandez is 5th in AB’s (25),7th in OBP (.500); 4th in avg (.462);  leads the league in hits (12) , is tied for 4th in doubles (3) Darin Ruf is 6th in AB’s (25), is tied for 4th in doubles (4); Cody Asche 7th in strikeouts (7); Leandro Castro is tied for 4th in SB’s (2). Continue reading Lehigh Valley Weekly Report →

Adam Morgan made his AAA debut this evening at Coca Cola Park in Allentown and I came away again impressed.  After seeing Morgan twice last season in Reading, I was looking forward to see how he put it together against a Chiefs lineup that had put up 22 runs in their first 2 games against Lehigh Valley this series.

Morgan was the Phillies 3rd round draft pick out of the University of Alabama in 2011 and quickly rose through the organization after throwing almost 160 innings between Clearwater and Reading last season, consistently looking very good. 

Morgan went 6 innings, and gave up 2 runs on 6 hits.  He walked one and struck out five. He threw 85 pitches, 60 for strikes showing very good command. His lone mistake was on a 2-2 fastball to Jeff Kubernius who put it into the left field bullpen.  Morgan consistently was pitching ahead of hitters throwing his fastball generally between 89-93, but hitting 96 and 97 on one occasion each.  I was impressed with Morgan’s confidence in his off speed pitches, consistently using them behind in the count effectively.  Morgan also showed athleticism, making two nice plays coming off the mound. Morgan’s poise was also notable, as he appeared unphased by the gopher ball by Kubernius and pitched well with runners on base.

News was very slow trickling out of Clearwater regarding the Threshers roster, but is has arrived.  Here it goes:
Catchers: Ludy, Moore, Stumpo

Infield: Serritella, Alonso, Franco, Martinez, Roof, Stassi, Mojica

Outfield: Altherr, Hudson, Perkins

Pitchers: Arias, Erbe, Garner, Nick Hernandez, Klevan, Milner, Murray, Nesseth, O’Sullivan, Paulino, Shreve, Stewart.

DL: Kenny Giles