Three wins by Reading, Clearwater, and Lakewood. Two losses, one a blowout and the other a walk-off. The pitching staffs for the three winning teams issued just one walk, and Williamsport’s starter issued one walk in six innings. David Whitehead pitched well for the second start in a row, Rhys Hoskins put on a singles clinic, and Aaron Brown drove in three runs. More on the game below the fold. Continue reading Box Score Recap – 9/5/2015
All posts by jimpeyton19
Box Score Recap – 9/4/2015
Five more close games. A 4-1 win and a 4-1 loss, a 2-0 victory, and two one-run losses. The Clearwater loss was a little exasperating, but exciting nonetheless. They are frustrating to watch when they go into an offensive lull for extended periods, but frustrating to play against because they never give up. They rallied in the bottom of the ninth and eleventh innings to extend the game, and were threatening again in the thirteenth before succumbing to the other team. More on the game below the fold. Continue reading Box Score Recap – 9/4/2015
Box Score Recap – 9/3/2015
All five affiliates were involved in close games last night – four one-run games and one two-run game, that resulted in three wins and two losses. The Clearwater win was much closer than it had to be thanks to a three-run ninth inning surrendered by their closer, Ulises Joaquin. The tying and winning runs were on base before he was able to record the final out of the game. Way more excitement than I needed. More on the game below the fold. Continue reading Box Score Recap – 9/3/2015
Box Score Recap – 9/2/2015
All four affiliates in action lost last night. Looks like Jello was the order of the day as several pitchers turned in shaky outings.
Lehigh Valley (62-77) lost to the Pawtucket Red Sox 6-5. Seve Gonzalez gave up four runs in five innings on eight hits and two walks. Dustin McGowan walked in the go ahead run in the eighth inning. The IronPigs had fought back to tie the game in the top of the eighth on Tommy Joseph’s home run. Bogusevic, Canzler, Moore, and Pastornicky had 2 hits each. Continue reading Box Score Recap – 9/2/2015
The First End of Season Poll
Over the past weekend, Mike Drago of the Reading Eagle published his yearly prospect survey. Mike requests input from about two dozen industry people who watch or cover a fair amount of games and players among the Phillies’ affiliates. He received 16 responses and used a weighted scoring system to determine a player’s perceived value (first-place votes earning 20 points, second place 19 points, etc.). I was one of the 16 respondents.
J.P Crawford received 15 of 16 first place votes. Jake Thompson received the other first place vote. Nick Williams received 11 second place votes. Thirty-four players received votes. The results of the poll were as follows.
- J.P. Crawford SS Reading 317 points
- Jake Thompson P Reading 287
- Nick Williams OF Reading 278
- Cornelius Randolph OF Gulf Coast 253
- Jorge Alfaro C Reading 236
- Roman Quinn OF Reading 225
- Franklyn Kilome P Williamsport 215
- Zach Eflin P Reading 197
- Ricardo Pinto P Clearwater 154
- Carlos Tocci OF Clearwater 145
- Aaron Altherr OF Philadelphia 144
- Andrew Knapp C Reading 138
- Jarad Eickoff P Philadelphia 113
- Scott Kingery 2B Lakewood 104
- Nick Pivetta P Reading 93
- Ben Lively P Reading 63
- Darnell Sweeney OF Philadelphia 59
- Rhys Hoskins 1B Clearwater 36
- Alberto Tirado P Clearwater 34
- Malquin Canelo SS Lakewood 29
The next ten were – Matt Imhof, Alec Asher, Brandon Leibrandt, Dylan Cozens, Jimmy Cordero, Kelly Dugan, Jose Pujols, Deivi Grullon, Willians Astudillo, Jesse Biddle.
Four others received votes – Felix Paulino, Jonathan Arauz, Aaron Brown, Lucas Williams. (All four were on my ballot.)
I returned my ballot with the following disclaimer. “Really tough this season. I haven’t seen enough of half of the guys in the MLB top 20. I relied on what I’ve read and even box scores (shudder) to some extent. My bias toward players I have seen probably works for and against them, but my bias against relievers is probably permanent, for now. Anyway, here goes.”
1. J.P. Crawford
2. Cornelius “C” Randolph
3. Jake Thompson
4. Jorge Alfaro
5. Ricardo Pinto
6. Andrew Knapp
7. Franklyn Kilome
8. Roman Quinn
9. Jerad Eickhoff
10. Nick Williams
11. Zach Eflin
12. Scott Kingery
13. Felix Paulino
14. Darnell Sweeney
15. Nick Pivetta
16. Jonathan Arauz
17. Aaron Brown
18. Dylan Cozens
19. Rhys Hoskins
20. Lucas Williams
I ended with the following – “PS – I really, really, really like Randolph. And Alfaro makes me go, “Wow!”. I had him lower until I saw him in a sim inning, hitting off Stephen Inch (in his third sim outing). He’s big and packs a wallop. And Williams’ approach at the plate is similar to Randolph’s. If Kingery is as good as they think/hope, this looks to have been a really good draft. Did I mention I like Randolph?”
I approached my poll by listing the top 20 prospects that I have actually seen this season. Then decided where to slot the players I hadn’t seen, or hadn’t seen enough. It came down to the pain I would experience if a player left the organization. The more the pain, the higher the ranking.
I know I have some glaring omissions. I don’t apologize for those. For example, Carlos Tocci. I have watched him for half a season. I enjoy watching him play center field. He plays a nice center field. But, he doesn’t hit well enough. Opposing outfields are playing him shallower than they did his first time through the league. If he doesn’t put on some weight and muscle, I don’t see how he’ll ever hit enough to play in the majors. Sorry.
It appears that I penalize pitchers I’ve seen like Imhof and Leibrandt, but reward players like Arauz, Brown, and Lucas Williams. Maybe I’m “too close to the trees to see the forest”. But the players I’ve seen the most leave an impression one way or the other.
I’ll post the Mike Drago’s Reading Eagle Top 20 Survey on the Rankings Page tonight or tomorrow.
Seven Phillies Prospects Attending 2015 AFL
The Phillies have announced the organization’s participants in the Arizona Fall League for 2015.
- J.P. Crawford
- Andrew Knapp
- Dylan Cozens
- Tom Windle
- Nick Pivetta
- Edubray Ramos
- Yacksel Rios
The players will be part of the Glendale Desert Dogs. The team will be made up of prospects from five teams. The other four teams are the Astros, Dodgers, Pirates, and White Sox. Todd Zolecki reported this story earlier today.
Lakewood’s Nelson Prada is attending as the hitting coach. The Desert Dogs full roster is listed here.
The eligibility rules to play in the AFL are listed below.
The roster size is 30 players per team.
Each Major League organization is required to provide six players subject to the following requirements:
- All Triple-A and Double-A players are eligible, provided the players are on at least a Double-A level roster no later than Aug. 1.
- One player below the Double-A level is allowed per Major League team. (editor’s note: I believe this was expanded to two players last year. That would explain why Rios and Cozens can both be attend as “below AA players on August 1st.)
- One foreign player is allowed, as long as the player does not reside in a country that participates in winter ball, as part of the Caribbean Confederation or the Australian winter league.
- No players with more than one year of credited Major League service as of August 31 are eligible, except a team may select one player picked in the most recently concluded Major League Rule 5 Draft.
- To be eligible, players on Minor League disabled lists must be activated at least 45 days before the conclusion of their respective seasons.
Box Score Recap – 9/1/2015
Clearwater (77-57) split a double header with the Daytona Tortugas, winning 3-2 and losing 3-0. Victor Arano and Matt Imhof got the starts. Ricardo Pinto was pushed back to Thursday in Dunedin. That could make him available for game two in the first round of the playoffs.
Game one went eight innings. Arano started and pitched out of minor jams in the second and third before wriggling out of a lead off triple in the fourth. The Tortugas finally got to him with a game-tying, two-run home run in the fifth. Alberto Tirado pitched around two walks in two hitless innings. Jesen Therrien picked up his third save with two strike outs in a perfect eighth. The Threshers missed a bigger inning when they scored a run on a bases loaded double play in the first. Rhys Hoskins provided a two-run lead with a solo home run (8) in the fourth. Malquin Canelo provided the game winner on a solo home run (2) in the eighth. Continue reading Box Score Recap – 9/1/2015
Box Score Recap – 8/31/2015
Lehigh Valley (62-75) beat the Syracuse Chiefs 8-3. Anthony Vasquez gave up three runs in six innings. Chris Leroux struck out two in two, no-hit innings. Nefi Ogando struck out two in one inning. Continue reading Box Score Recap – 8/31/2015
Open Discussion: Week of August 31st
Here’s an open discussion thread so the minor league posts don’t get cluttered with Phillies’ talk and other topics.
- The play of the young guys.
- The chase for the #1 pick.
- Or, anything else …
Box Score Recap – 8/30/2015
Lehigh Valley (61-75) held the Syracuse Chiefs to two hits and won 3-1. Sean O’Sullivan pitched six innings of one-hit ball. He gave up one run, walked five, and struck out eight. Colton Murray Murray struck out three in two, no-hit innings. Dustin McGowan allowed one hit and picked up his 14th save. Continue reading Box Score Recap – 8/30/2015
