The latest player profile will cover a guy that a lot of people are talking about, outfielder/DH Jeremy Slayden. The Phillies, especially over the last two seasons or so, have seen their system produce very few position prospects even worth talking about, after graduating all star caliber talent like Jimmy Rollins, Pat Burrell, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard. With Slayden, many feel we may actually have a true hitter on our hands, as opposed to the “quality athletes who can’t play” that the system has produced an abundance of in recent years. But as Kevin Goldstein pointed out in his Q/A for us, most great players are quality athletes, the trick is just teaching them how to play the game and how to become baseball guys. With Slayden, it seems he already knows how to play, but the question is, does he have the tools?

Continue reading Player Profile: Jeremy Slayden →

I’ve gotten that question in my inbox from about 10 people in the last 12 hours…..I have no idea. I sent out a few e-mails to try and get some info, nothing as of now. If I do find out why he left last night’s game after 3 batters, I’ll be sure and share it in this space, so keep an eye out. You won’t find hearsay or wild speculation here, if I have anything to pass on, it will be from a reliable source. Let’s just hope it’s nothing major.

UPDATE: Now we know. Sounds like nothing major.

Just some musings to think about…

* Adrian Cardenas has kicked it into high gear. Check out his splits from April and May

April: 85 AB (91 PA), 4.4% BB, 18.7% K, 26.1% XBH
May: 39 AB (45 PA), 8.9% BB, 8.9% K, 36.4% XBH

That’s more like it…

Continue reading Random thoughts…. →

Jeremy Slayden, currently mashing in the Florida State League, has been a popular topic of discussion of late. I plan on writing a profile on Slayden later this week and giving my thoughts, but before I do, I wanted to get YOUR opinion and see what you think. So, here’s how you can do your part…

Continue reading What will become of Jeremy Slayden? →

People have been asking, so I did some searching, and this is what I’ve found on Scott. From Delewareonline.com

Right-hander Scott Mathieson, who underwent elbow ligament transplant surgery Sept. 30, threw 20 four-seam fastballs Saturday in his first bullpen session under pitching coach Rich Dubee’s watch.

“Dubee threatened to pull me off the mound if I threw any two-seamers,” Mathieson said with a smile.

Doesn’t say whether or not he threw off the mound, I’m guessing he did. I’m not an expert on throwing patterns or rehab assignments, so I really can’t be sure when he’ll actually be pitching again, and I won’t post hearsay or make a wild guess. He was instructed to only throw 4 seam fastballs, a pitch that isn’t particularly taxing on his arm. He didn’t report any ill effects from the session, so it’s a positive step forward. He’s probably at least a month away from throwing an extended session with all of his pitches, and then at that point, he will probably need 6 weeks or so of minor league rehab, maybe more. The thing is, control/command is the last aspect of pitching to return after TJ surgery, and his command wasn’t pinpoint before the injury. The best case scenario, I suppose, is him being in a position to help in the bullpen sometime in August or September, but we probably won’t see him at his best until 2008. I’ll try to keep digging a bit on this as we get into the summer and provide more regular updates when I have them.

Some interesting developments this week, including a nice start from Carlos Carrasco, Zagurski’s promotion, Slayden’s dominance of the FSL and more. Also, some disappointments, and as always, a weird batting line…

Stock UP:

Jeremy Slayden: 7/17, .389 (7BB, .560 OB%) — 1 HR — 2 RBI — 3 R
Greg Golson: 7/21, .333 (5BB, .462 OB%) — 6 R — 1 2B — 1 SB
Gus Milner: 10/26, .385 (2BB, .429 OB%) — 5 2B — 1 HR — 4 RBI

Stock DOWN:

Jason Jaramillo: 1/18, .056 (2BB, .150 OB%)
James Happ: 10 IP, 8 ER (7.20 ERA) — 11 H — 10 BB — 11 K
Brad Harman: 2/17, .118 (1BB, .167 OB%)

Honorable Mention:

Javon Moran: 10/24, .417 (4BB, .500 OB%) — 7 R — 3 SB

Dishonorable Mention:

Welinson Baez: 3/20, .150 (2BB, .227 OB%)

Notes:

* Jarrod Freeman is really struggling, giving up 13 H in 4.2 IP in his last start
* Kyle Drabek rebounded with a great start, 7.2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 7 K
* Ben Pfinsgraff is on the 7 day DL. Anyone know why? He’s been outstanding this season.

The Clearwater Threshers game scheduled for Friday night against the Vero Beach Devil Rays was cancelled due to smoke in the air.  The smoke has been in the area for more than a week with a tropical storm off of the east coast carrying winds and smoke down to Clearwater from a series of wild fires burning in Georgia and north Florida.  Most days the wind pattern has changed in the late afternoon as the gulf winds move inland when the weather cools later in the day.

On Friday night the winds never changed and with health concerns for the players the game was cancelled and will be made up as part of a double header on Saturday shceduled to begin at 5:00 weather/smoke permitting.

The Threshers have split the first two games in this series winning in an afternoon game on Wednesday 3-1 thanks to back-to-back eighth inning home runs from Jeremy Slayden and John Urick.  Carlos Carrasco took the mound for the Threshers throwing eight excellent innings giving up just one run on four hits with eight strikeouts and two walks to lower his ERA to 4.05 and pick up his fourth win of the year to move his record to 4-1 on the season.

The Threshers got a 1-0 lead in the third when Matt Thayer walked and scored on a Greg Golson double, but the V-Rays tied things in the seventh with a solo home run off of Carrasco.  The Threshers answered in the eighth inning with back-to-back home runs from Jeremy Slayden and John Urick to take a 3-1 lead in the game, with closer Mike Zagurski shutting down any hope of a Rays rally in the ninth by fanning all three batters he faced to secure the 3-1 victory.

The team lost on Thursday 8-6 with starter Dan Brauer having his first bad outing of the year.  Brauer was only able to make it 2.2 innings in the game giving up six runs on five hits with six walks and three strikeouts.  With the loss the Threshers dropped to second place one game behind the Sarasota Reds.

The hottest Phillie in the minors right now, I felt it was time to give Jason Donald some face time. It’s tougher to write player profiles for guys just drafted last June, especially if they aren’t heralded prospects, which is the case for Donald. Nevertheless, his hot start won’t be ignored by this author, and we’ll try to figure out what to expect going forward. At this point, I’ll also take requests for the next batch of player profiles, but I don’t know when I’ll get to them, as I’m still busy tweaking and adjusting my projection/evaluation system. But, post away, let me know what you think of this profile, and let me know which players you’d like to see profiled in the near future.

Continue reading Player Profile: Jason Donald →

* I’m starting to legitimately worry about Carlos Carrasco. It’s only a month, it’s only a handful of starts, but he’s already allowed 6 HR in 31 innings after allowing 6 home runs all of last season. The low K rate is also sending up a bit of a red flag. We’re not in panic mode, or even “worry mode”, just kind of head scratching mode at this point.

* JD Durbin made his debut the other day, and struck out 7 guys in 4.2 innings. The bad news is, he also allowed 7 hits, and of the 14 balls put in play, 6 were line drives.

* Jason Donald is tearing the cover off the ball. In 23 May AB, his 3 slash line is .609/.643/1.000…..not bad.

* Adrian Cardenas is up to .279, and while you want to see more from a top pick, after a frigid April, he’s hitting .316 in the first week of May.

* Mike Zagurksi clearly doesn’t belong at Clearwater. Through 13 innings, he’s averaging 17.5 strikeouts per 9, and he’s allowed only 9 of the 44 batters he’s faced to reach base.

The new name for the weekly “Hot or Not” series is the Monday Morning 6 pack. I’ll admit, it’s a nod to Kevin Goldstein’s always entertaining Monday Morning 10 Pack over at Baseball Prospectus, but “Hot or Not” just wasn’t gonna get it done anymore. I’m cutting the list down from 5 each to 3 each, mainly because I felt like I was starting to put mediocre stat lines up there “just to get 5”, and that’s no fun. If I deem 4 to be worthy one week, we’ll go with an honorable mention. So here we go

Stock Up

Jason Donald: 15/27 — .556/.600/.852 — 3 BB — 2 2B – 2 HR — 10 RBI — 9 Runs
Jeremy Slayden: 11/28 — .393/.500/.679 — 6 BB — 5 2B — 1 HR — 8 RBI — 7 Runs
Andrew Carpenter: 14 IP – 4 ER (2.57 ERA) — 12 H — 4 BB – 12 K

Stock Down

Jason Jaramillo: 3/26 (.115) 1 BB
Greg Golson: 5/29 (.172) 2 BB
Mike Costanzo: 3/21 (.143) 1 HR

Thoughts?