The last Hot or Not for the 2012 season….lets get at it.

–Is there anymore more to say about Darin Ruf.  Put simply, he could not have had a better year at the plate.  If for no other reason than to prevent a Ryne Sandberg type mistake (and no,I am not comparing Ruf to a Hall of Famer), the Phillies need to see what they have against major league pitching.  There is no downside for the seasons final month. He needs to be in Philly.

–Brian Pointer ranks high on the 2012 disappointment list. Such a pretty swing that just can’t make contact.

–Hoby Milner is opening eyes at Lakewood making it pretty clear he is ready for a jump to High A in 2013.

–Very nice to see Trevor May have an outstanding outing after really struggling for quite awhile.

–Ethan Martin joins the not hot list after some fairly significant control issues, while Brody Colvin remains consistently “not hot”.

–Kyle Simon has opened eyes in the organization since the Thome trade and appears to be a legit prospect who could help the Phillies in 2014 in the middle to late innings.  His work against very good competition in the AFL will be something to watch closely.

Now the stats: Min 11 AB’s; Stat period 8/24–8/30.

Hot Starting Pitchers: Colin Klevan (7.1IP 5H 0ER 2BB 4K); Josh Warner (6IP 2H 0ER 0BB 4K); Hoby Milner (6IP 2H 0ER 2BB 6K); Trevor May (8IP 2H 0ER 1BB 9K); Tyson Brummett (5IP 1H 0ER 1BB 3K); Manny Martinez (9IP 7H 2ER 5BB 9K);Austin Hyatt (11.2IP 10H 3ER 3BB 8K) Continue reading Hot or Not, Final Edition →

The Phillies announced who will be participating in the Arizona Fall League and because I am very time constrained…here you have it:

Pitchers: Tyler Knigge, Jay Johnson, Colby Shreve, and Kyle Simon

3B: Cody Asche; C: Tommy Joseph; OF: Zach Collier

Have at it…should provide some interesting conversation come October and November.

Tyler Cloyd, who has been the model of consistent excellence this year for Lehigh Valley has been named the Most Valuable Pitcher of the International league.  Cloyd, 25, is the winningest pitcher in Minor League baseball this year and set a Lehigh Valley club record for wins.

Cloyd leads the league in WHIP(1.01) and ERA(2.35) and is 2nd in both Wins and opponents batting average. Cloyd has gone six or more innings in 21 of his 22 starts and allowed three or fewer runs 20 times.

Cloyd, an 18th round pick in 2008 is a combined 15-1 with a 2.26ERA this year in 26 combined starts between Reading and Lehigh Valley.

I just wanted to give all of you an update on what to expect from the site during the off season.  At seasons end, I will be putting out a report card on each player in the organization. It will go position by position and will take us through September into early October and will hopefully kick start some good conversation.  October will bring the beginning of Arizona Fall league coverage which will flow into late November and be covered by Brad, who has done a great job with box scores and thoughtful commentary throughout the year. Continue reading Off Season Plan →

The Eastern League all star team, picked by staff, coaches and the media was named and three members of the 2012 Reading team were included. 26 year old 1B Darin Ruf, who has spent the entire season with Reading was the “no brain” pick of the three accumulating 33 HR and 92 RBI to go along with a .312 average in 128 games with Reading this year. Ruf is also the first player in Reading history to have 30 doubles and 30 HR in a season.

21 year old Tommy Joseph, a catcher, was acquired from the Giants organization earlier this year and had been playing for the RIchmond Spiders prior to the trade. Joseph is hitting .255 with 9HR and 43 RBI, and most impressive has thrown out 44% of runners attempting to steal.  Joseph was the starting catcher in the Futures Game this year and also a starter in the EL All Star game.

Cesar Hernandez, a 2B, was promoted to Lehigh Valley about a month ago after an outstanding first four months of the season in Reading. Hernandez, a member of the Phillies forty man roster and just 22, was hitting .304 in 103 games before him promotion to AAA.

Taking a look at the week from 8/17 thru 8/23:  (Note: Minimum of 11 AB’s to qualify for Hot Hitter and 6IP as a starter to qualify as a hot starter). Next Friday’s Hot or Not report will be the last of the season.

–Jesse Biddle certainly leads the talk this week, with the most impressive week of the year for any pitcher.  Coming in the final weeks of the season, this should silence doubters as he is having his best month with a considerable number of innings on his arm.

–Jon Pettibone is going to force the Phillies to take a serious look at him as the number 5 starter in 2013 if he closes out the season in Lehigh Valley with two or three more good starts.

–An outstanding week at the plate for many but Maikel Franco has really begun coming into his own with another outstanding week….And Cody Asche says, “take that Keith Law.”  Ok, he didnt really say that, but I did.

–Roman Quinn makes the hot hitter list with a bit lower batting average than others who didn’t make it because of his 9SB and 8RS this week. that simply can’t be overlooked.

–I got a first hand look at Brody Colvin this week and it wasn’t pretty. As soon as he made a mistake, it seemed his confidence was totally shot for the rest of the game.

–A welcome to the Hot Reliever list for newly acquired Ryan o’Sullivan, while JC Ramirez has thrown together consecutive appearances on the same list.

Hot Hitters: Maikel Franco (.464, 5R 2HR 9 RBI); Miguel Alvarez (.529, 4R HR 5RBI, 2SB); Cody Asche (.440, 4R 4HR 8 RBI); Tyson Gillies (.520, 7R); Roman Quinn (.333, 8R 5RBI, 9SB); Pete Lavin (.400, 5R HR 4RBI, SB); Zach Collier (.375, 7R 3HR 5RBI, 2SB); Angelo Mora (.400); Gabrial Lino (.400); Chris Serritella (.375, 6RBI);  Honorable Mention: Carmona, Martinez, Dugan, ALonso, Ruf, Pridie Continue reading Hot Or Not →

The ‘Pigs are hanging on but bare;y, with a 3-3 week that leaves them 69-61, 5.5 games behind division leading Scranton and a half game behind Pawtucket for the wild card position.  After a rainout last night, the ‘Pigs play a doubleheader tonight at home against Toledo, followed by three on the road against Rochester. Lehigh Valley is home for 11 of their last 14 games, where they are 42-21.

Probables: Tuesday (1)Cochran; (2) Pettibone; Wednesday: Elarton; Thursday: Cloyd; Friday: Brummett. Continue reading Lehigh Valley Weekly Report →

Hitting the hot topic of the week, the Phillies have to be considering who to reward for their 2012 performance and who they want to get an early look at for the 2013 season.

The first variable of course is the 40 man roster.  The following minor leaguers are on the 40: Phillipe Aumont, Jake Diekman, Justin DeFratus, Joe Savery, JC Ramirez, Sebastian Valle, Cesar Hernandez, Hector Luna and Tyson Gillies.

Both Lehigh Valley and Reading are in playoff races, and as the Phillies playoff hopes died several weeks ago, there is no urgency to bring in reinforcements.  So, the call ups wont begin in force until the RPhils and/or ‘Pigs are eliminated from contention.

Going through the possibilities one by one:  Aumont–I think will get a shot unless he collpases during the final two weeks of the season. Diekman–Probably goes as the Phils will want him to continue to get work through the end of September and will want to see if he can help in 2013; Savery–I would be very surprised to see Savery back up.  He was awful in Philly and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him with another organization come 2013. DeFratus– I would like to see DeFratus up and he has been pitching well but has thrown limited innings since his return from the DL; Ramirez–Is currently on a nice run but I think the Phils may hesitate to reward him after a fairly mediocre season; Valle– I would be shocked to see him in Philly this year. Hernandez–Ditto; Luna–Will be up if there is an injury, gives the Phils another right handed bat off the bench. Gillies–I think the Phillies would really want to call him up as CF remains on the true question marks moving forward but do they reward someone who has been a true problem child?

Outside the 40 candidiates: Tyler Cloyd should have been up a month ago and I hope the Phils do the right thing, which is to give the callup to someone who has worked tremendously hard to improve and put up stats which have been both outstanding and remarkably consistent. Darin Ruf–Certainly the people’s candidate, however I would be surprised to see the Phillies make that move. You could argue for his callup under the “Cloyd argument”.

Good conversation.  Have at it.

NYPhilsManiac19 saw perhaps the best pitching performance of the year in the Phils minor league system.  Here is the report: