All posts by Matt Winkelman

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About Matt Winkelman

Matt is originally from Mt. Holly, NJ, but after a 4 year side track to Cleveland for college he now resides in Madison, WI. His work has previously appeared on Phuture Phillies and The Good Phight. You can read his work at Phillies Minor Thoughts

2014 MLB Draft: Looking at #7

2014 Draft

With the Phillies picking at #7 in the 2014 draft it doesn’t make much sense to put out a big board or first round mock draft as everyone will tune out by pick 15.  Though Brad and I will be doing a mock draft all the way to #50 to include the Phillies second round pick, though that is a bit in the future.  For now lets just focus on what is happening at #7 in the 2014 draft and who could be there and what kind of decisions can be made there.

Off the Board:  There is no scenario I can see where either Brady Aiken or Carlos Rodon are on the board for the Phillies pick.  They may not go 1-2 in the draft, but neither is making it past 4.  The lefties could move quickly and be a the top of major league rotations soon. Continue reading 2014 MLB Draft: Looking at #7 →

Looks Can Be Decieving

Other Stuff, , , , ,

Many opinions on the internet about prospects stem from their stats, and especially small sample size stats.  We are all guilty of making snap judgements, but often in that moment we miss out on the bigger picture.  Stats help create an objective look at what is happening in the game, but without context or proper use, they can be deceiving and lead us into opinions that may not be aligning with the truth.  So with all of that being said we are going to play a game of mystery players and look at some trends that may not be showing up in the traditional triple slash lines or the box scores.  Given the small sample size nature of these stat lines they are not meant to be predictive of the future, they are meant to show comparisons and past performance.

So lets start off with Player A and Player B who are showing some interesting trendings from 2013 to 2014. Continue reading Looks Can Be Decieving →

VSL Season Kicks Off Today

1. VSL/DSL

The VSL season kicks off today against the VSL Cubs.  This year the league has 5 teams as opposed to the 4 it had last year with the Phillies, Cubs, Mariners, Rays, and Tigers fielding teams.  Because of the low number of teams the competition level puts this league firmly behind the DSL in terms of talent.

Here is the roster posted, it could be subject to change: Continue reading VSL Season Kicks Off Today →

Looking to Add More Writers

Announcements

We have been really excited about the content we have been able to provide you this year.  I cannot speak highly enough of the work Jim has done reporting on the Florida teams, and we are looking forward to Victor’s work going forward on Reading.  Also, look for more work from Chris King as we move into the summer.  We are not looking to add a ton more content to the site as we don’t want to drown out the work already occurring here.  We are looking to add some diversity to our coverage to fill in the gaps.

Lakewood & Williamsport Corespondents:

  • 1-2 Articles a week covering the team as a whole as well as highlighting individuals
  • The ability to contribute long form articles about the organization as well as minor league baseball or the draft
  • Must be able to attend games on a semi-regular basis
  • Should have a good feel for the Phillies organization
  • You may approach this from the perspective of a fan, reporter, statistician, or a scout
  • Should be able to proofread and edit ones own work

Continue reading Looking to Add More Writers →

Giles, Simon, Galvis to AAA, Brignac to MLB, Camp to FA, and Murray to AA

Transactions

Roster musical chairs continue and Cesar Hernandez still doesn’t have a seat.  Ken Giles moves on up to LHV where he will have to prove that the control is for real and learn to not pitch up in the zone as much (more AAA than AA hitters will crush or lay off those pitches).  Kyle Simon gets another crack at AAA after finding some control in 6.1 AA innings.  Colton Murray finally gets past Clearwater.  Murray is missing less bats this year, so we will see how he holds up against better hitters.  Reid Brignac is a former top prospect (Top 100 2006-2009, #17 in 2006), he is coming off a hot week in AAA and could provide more offense to the bench than Freddy.  Freddy Galvis needs to relearn how to be productive both in the field and at the plate, there is talent, but he hasn’t really had consistent playing time in 2 and a half years.  Shawn Camp will now be looking for a new job.

Andrew Knapp Assigned to Clearwater

5. Clearwater, Transactions

Andrew Knapp‘s hitting rehab appears to be over.  He has been assigned to Clearwater and will likely take over as full time DH until he has been cleared to catch.  Currently the Threshers roster has 4 catchers with Knapp, Gabriel Lino, Chad Carman (Temporary Inactive list), and Logan Moore.  There will likely be another roster move coming at some point, but for now it seems like Justin Parr is the roster cut (assigned to XST) and could be not long for the organization.

Looking at Some Mock Drafts

Other Stuff

We are now right abouta month from the MLB First Year Player Draft.  There are many mock drafts floating around the internet so lets see who they have going at #7.  Remember that these are not necessarily who the Phillies have been linked to, it is also an interpretation of how other players are slotting into picks.  As always these mocks are subject to seismic changes over the next month, so don’t panic.

MLB Draft Insider – Chris Crawford (5/7/14)

Bradley Zimmer – CF – University of San Francisco

Baseball Prospectus – Bret Sayre (making the pick) (5/7/14)

Alex Jackson – C/RF – Rancho Bernardo HS (San Diego, CA) Continue reading Looking at Some Mock Drafts →

The Case For Taking Nick Gordon

2014 Draft

There has been a lot of noise that the Phillies are in on a HS position player. The two names are a pair of shortstops in Jacob Gatewood and Nick Gordon. Gatewood is the boom bust hitting prospect of the draft, if he hits and plays defense he is Troy Tulowitzki, if not he is a mistake hitting 3B who may never get past AA. More interesting is Nick Gordon (Tom Gordon‘s other son).

Nick Gordon compares favorably to 2013 first round pick J.P. Crawford. Both have their greatest strength as their ability to play shortstop. At the plate Gordon brings plus speed (he is not a burner like Dee), plus hit potential, and fringe average power. Gordon has an edge in arm with Gordon hitting the low-90s as a reliever. Crawford in retrospect was much more polished than we thought and it remains to be seen how Gordon looks in pro-ball.

All of this should add up to the Phillies passing on Gordon due to the presence of Crawford.  But lets just explore a scenario where the Phillies have Nick Gordon as the top player on their board in front of a pitcher. Continue reading The Case For Taking Nick Gordon →

Lakewood Observations

4. Lakewood

Nothing is as good for observations as seeing games in person.  This week we got the next best thing from the Lakewood team, a video broadcast of their series against the Lexington Legends.  It is impossible to glean everything from a single series and a single video feed, but you notice plenty of things that don’t appear in a box score.  I didn’t have time to watch all 7 hours of video, but I did watch all of the offensive trips to the plate and all of Drew Anderson‘s time on the mound.

J.P. Crawford – He is everything he is talked up to be.  The patience is there at the plate.  He and Tocci are attempting a decent amount of bunts in sac bunt situations, however the goal seems to be get hits, not sacrifice, and in game 2 of the series Crawford placed a bunt perfectly between the first and second baseman.  The power is not there yet, I won’t be able to say how much it will be there later, but the contact is there if the strength can get there. Continue reading Lakewood Observations →

3 Phillies on John Sickels Top 150 Prospects

Top Prospect Lists

After delays due to a concussion (they really aren’t a joke), John Sickels has released his list of the Top 150 prospects in baseball.  Sickels ranks Maikel Franco #35 (B+), J.P. Crawford #60 (B+), and Jesse Biddle #78 (B+).  You can read Sickels’ entire list here http://www.minorleagueball.com/2014/5/1/5640414/top-150-prospects-for-2014-baseball-john-sickels.