Tuesday’s game against the Yankees provided a mixture of good, indifferent, and poor pitching with a very little bit of offense. Starter Matt Imhof and reliever Felix Paulino both had poor outings. Alexis Rivero and Will Stewart chipped in with satisfactory innings. And Luke Leftwich and Kenny Koplove both pitched well. Continue reading Florida Instructional League – Game #2, 9/29/2015
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Prospect Discussion: Week of September 28th
Here’s an open discussion thread about minor league prospects. Phillies’ talk and other non-prospect discussion should remain in the Open Discussion.
This is an open format for any minor league prospect you want to discuss. This week I’ll introduce catcher Chace Numata to start the discussion. Chace has had 6 injury-plagued seasons in the Phillies organization. But the coaching staff thinks highly of him, and he was clocked with the best pop time in the organization this year.
- Chace Kekoa Kenji Numata, catcher
- Bats both, Throws right
- 6’0, 175 lb.
- Born 8/14/1992 (age 23)
- Drafted by the Phillies in the 14th round of the 2010 MLB June Amateur Draft from Pearl City High School (Pear City, Hawaii).
- 2010; GCL Phillies (age 17, -2.7)
- 2011; GCL Phillies (age 18, -2.0) injured, didn’t play until mid-August
- 2012; Williamsport (age 19, -2.1)
- 2013; Lakewood (age 20, -1.6)
- 2014; GCL Phillies (age 21, 1.2) injured, played about 2 weeks in August
- 2014; Melbourne (age 21, -3.0) in the Australian Summer League
- 2015; Clearwater (age 22, -0.6) played first 4 games in Lakewood in early May
Phillies’ catchers share time in the GCL. No one catcher gets a lot of innings or at bats. Numata finally got 184 plate appearances in 2012 at Williamsport where he put up a .233/.287/.319 slash. He followed that with a full season at Lakewood in 2013 where he posted a .231/.307/.305 slash.
Numata exhibits good skills behind the plate and the Phillies planned on bumping him up to Clearwater in 2014, but another injury derailed those plans. He returned to get 27 plate appearances in the GCL before heading off to Melbourne for winter ball. In Australia, Numata broke out with a .259/.293/.322 slash.
He continued to show improvement at the plate with a .263/.322/.324 slash in 2015 at Clearwater. In addition, he threw out 24 of 40 base runners (37.5%) and was charged with only 2 errors. While he had a team high 11 passed balls, pitchers had a team low 3.06 ERA when he was behind the plate.
He went 0-3 in 2 games in the playoffs with 2 walks.
Assuming Andrew Knapp and Jorge Alfaro get the lion’s share of innings at Lehigh Valley and Reading, and with Deivy Grullon prepared to move up from Lakewood, Numata might begin the season as the starter in Clearwater with some roster shuffling by June.
Florida Instructional League – Game #1; 9/28/2015
The Phillies played their first Florida Instructional League (FIL) game Monday against the Blue Jays in Dunedin. Because of a 70% chance of rain, I went over early and was able to watch Franklyn Kilome start the game at noon instead of the 1:00PM scheduled start time. Continue reading Florida Instructional League – Game #1; 9/28/2015
Open Discussion: Week of September 28th
Here’s an open discussion thread so the minor league posts don’t get cluttered with Phillies’ talk and other topics.
- Aaron Nola tossed 5 scoreless innings Saturday against the Nationals. It became his last start of the season when the Phillies decided to shutdown Nola for the rest of the season. Nola scattered 6 singles and struck out five while walking none. In 2015, Nola threw a career high 187 innings. He started 13 games with the Phillies and pitched 77.2 innings (there goes his prospect status). Nola posted a 6-2 record with a 3.59 ERA. He struck out 68 and walked 19.
- With Nola and Adam Morgan both shut down, the Phillies will go into the final week of the season with David Buchanan and Alec Asher starting the first two games of the Mets series. Jerad Eickhoff will likely start the third game. After a bullpen game in the series opener with the Marlins (in Nola’s spot), the Phillies will probably finish the season with Aaron Harang and Buchanan on the mound.
- The Phillies are in good shape in their drive for the top pick in the draft. They have 97 losses with 6 games to play. Their “magic” number is 4 over the Atlanta Braves. Any combination of 4 Phillies’ losses and Braves’ wins should lock up the pick.
- The only other team that can pass the Phillies is the Cincinnati Reds. The Reds have 92 losses with 7 games left. The Phillies hold the tie-breaker with both teams (lower 2014 winning percentage).
- The first Intructs game is tomorrow in Dunedin. If anything interesting occurs, I’ll post a story.
- I’ll post the Weekly Prospects Discussion tomorrow.
Braves Pitch St. Petersburg Sports Complex
A friend sent me this article from a newsletter he receives. In short, the Atlanta Braves are looking into moving their spring training operations from Orlando, FL; and have come up with a proposal that would place them in St. Petersburg, FL by 2018. Atlanta’s lease with Disney is up at the end of the 2017 season and neither is interested in renewing the lease.
The move would benefit Atlanta (and me) since it would Continue reading Braves Pitch St. Petersburg Sports Complex
Prospect Discussion: Week of September 21st
Here’s an open discussion thread about minor league prospects. Phillies’ talk and other non-prospect discussion should remain in the Open Discussion.
This is an open format for any minor league prospect you want to discuss. Last week, I started the ball rolling with Angelo Mora. How about another player who isn’t on anyone’s top 30 but impressed me with his appearances in Clearwater, Jesen Dygestile-Therrien. For the past couple years, I have thought of him as the kid with the hyphen who showed up alphabetically between C and E even when they listed him as Jesen Therrien.
- Jesen Dygestile-Therrien, relief pitcher
- Bats right, Throws right
- 6’2, 200 lb.
- Born 3/18/1993 (age 22)
- Drafted by the New York Mets in the 36th round of the 2010 MLB June Amateur Draft from Polyvalente Edouard Montpetit (Montreal, QC) – the US equivalent of high school. He was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 17th round of the 2011 MLB June Amateur Draft from Ahuntsic College (Cap-Rouge, QC) – the US equivalent of a Junior College. He was drafted after his FR year, at the age of 18.
- 2012; GCL Phillies (age 19, -1.4)
- 2013; GCL Phillies (age 20, -0.6)
- 2014; Lakewood (age 21, -0.7) spent 4 weeks from 7/12 thru 8/9 in Williamsport (-0.4)
- 2015; Lakewood (age 22, 0.0) promoted to Clearwater (-1.0) on 5/16
- Assigned to the Glendale Desert Dogs on 9/16 for 2015 Arizona Fall League Season.
Therrien pitched well enough early in his career to remain on the organization’s radar. In 2015, he broke out in 9 appearances with Lakewood. He had a gaudy 0.52 ERA, 14 K in 17.1 IP (7.3), and only 2 walks. He allowed 13 hits and his WHIP was 0.865.
He continued to pitch well in Clearwater posting a 1.77 ERA, 40 K in 45.2 IP, 15 walks (and a spike up to 3.0/9). He allowed only 37 hits and his WHIP rose to only 1.139.
The past two years Therrien has thrown his fastball consistently in the 89-92 mph, touching 93-95 mph. In his first game with Clearwater, I watched him throw 93-94 (pumped up by the promotion or our “hot” gun). But as the season wore on, he was more 90-92. He keeps the ball down in the strike zone. Toward the end of Clearwater’s season, he was their most consistent reliever, IMO. I was not uncomfortable when he took the mound.
He made one appearance in the playoffs. He pitched 2.0 innings against Daytona and retired all 8 batters he faced. Eight in two innings? Yeah, he had to pitch around lead off fielding errors by infielders in both innings he pitched.
2015 Instructs: 9/21/2015
Instructional League games don’t begin until next week. However, I stopped by the Carpenter Complex to pick up some papers they were holding for me. And to my boundless joy, there were ball players on three of the fields taking batting practice. As I approached the offices, I could hear the distinctive pop of pitchers’ offerings landing in catchers’ gloves on the “Seven Mounds” behind the Complex . You would think that after five-plus months of games I would be “baseball-ed” out. But, to be honest, attending the Instructional games and work outs s are among my favorite times down here. Continue reading 2015 Instructs: 9/21/2015
Open Discussion: Week of September 21st
Here’s an open discussion thread so the minor league posts don’t get cluttered with Phillies’ talk and other topics.
- Adam Morgan, Jerad Eickhoff, and Aaron Nola all pitched well against the Atlanta Braves this weekend. Things are looking good for the pitching staff in 2016.
- The Phillies pulled off a major coup with a three-game, reverse-sweep in Atlanta this weekend. In spite of the great pitching from their young starters, they managed to lose 2-1, 2-1, and 2-1. Plus, Eickhoff and Nola managed to avoid taking losses.
- The three-game sweep and their current six-game losing streak have put the Phillies back in the driver’s seat in their drive for the number one pick. They now have a four game lead, plus tie-breaker, over the Braves with 12 games remaining in the season.
- With 94 losses, it’s a cinch that the Phillies reach 100 losses just four seasons after posting a 102-win season.
- The Phillies have shutdown Adam Morgan for the remainder of the season. Aaron Nola may remain in the rotation for the rest of the season.
- One GM candidate is off the market as the Brewers are expected to announce that they will hire Astros 30-year old, Assistant GM, David Stearns, as their GM.
- I’ll post the Weekly Prospects Discussion tomorrow.
Playoffs Box Score Recap – 9/19/2015
And that will be your season! The Reading Fightin’ Phils lost the fifth and deciding game of the Eastern League Championship Series 7-2 to the Bowie Baysox (BAL). Reading had a fine season where they showed significant improvement over a 2014 team that finished 10 games under .500. Reading finished the 2015 season in first place in the Eastern Division and had the best regular season record in the entire Eastern League (80-61, .567). With the loss, the seasons of all the organization’s affiliates have been completed. Reading had been one of three teams to make the post season. Six of the organizations’s eight teams finished with winning records. Continue reading Playoffs Box Score Recap – 9/19/2015
Playoffs Box Score Recap – 9/18/2015
Reading (80-61) was thumped in Game Four of the ELCS by the Bowie Batsox 9-1. Ben Lively was ruffed up for seven runs in six-plus innings. He gave up seven hits and four walks and faced three batters in the seventh before he was relieved. The Phils were held to four hits and Baysox’ pitchers walked only one. With the series tied, the deciding game will be played on Saturday at 6:05 PM. Continue reading Playoffs Box Score Recap – 9/18/2015
