The minor league depth that the Phillies have currently sits on the major league bench (Hernandez, Brignac, Cedeno) leaving very little at the upper reaches of the organization.  At the lower half, good progression and progress by Pullin and Crawford and to an extent Pullin.

Lehigh Valley

Andres Blanco, 30, Re-signed as free agent in 2014; .244/.327/.302 in 86 AB’s; 0HR 9RBI; 1SB; 9%bb/18% k rates; 24 games at SS without an error; 5 games at 2B without an error; Blanco spent a considerable amount of time on the DL with an oblique injury.  He is outstanding with the glove, and mediocre with the bat.

Nate Spears, 29, SIgned as a free agent in 2014; Hitting .167 in 6 AB’s for Lehigh Valley.

Matt Tolbert, 32, Re-signed as free agent in 2014; .210/.290/226 62 AB’s between Reading and Lehigh Valley; 0HR 1RBI; 1SB. 7 games at 2B with 3 errors (.857); 6 games at 3B without an error; 4 games in the OF without an error; Tolbert has spent the last month on the DL with a broken finger.  When healthy, he is an extra middle infielder for the ‘Pigs.

Freddy Galvis, 24, Signed as a free agent in 2006; Hitting .143 in 7AB’s for Lehigh Valley before going down with a broken collarbone on May 11th.  Expected to be out another month. Continue reading Around the System–Middle Infield →

The concern for both Maikel Franco and Jesse Biddle is rising with “funks”, now turning into pattern.  Approaching half way through the season, the body of work is far below expectations for both…Outstading week for Aaron Altherr, who is really starting to put it together…Roman Quinn is moving back to CF and celebrates with a .400 week…Very productive week for Brian Pointer in a season with very little production…Mark Leiter’s struggles seem to have been turned around with 2 solid starts…Keep an eye on Ryan O’Sullivan, In his last 10 outings dating back to May 13th, O’Sullivan is 1-0 with an 0.75ERA, 0.71WHIP, and .169 opponents batting average.

Hot Hitters: Aaron Altherr (.464, 4R, HR, 6RBI, SB); Brian Pointer (.438, 6R); Roman Quinn (.400); KC Serna (.400, 4RBI); Carlos Alonso (.393, 9R); Edgar Duran (.364); Albert Cartwright (.355, 3SB); Logan Moore (.350); Andrew Pullin (.321, 4R); Cameron Perkins (.304)

Not Hot Hitters: Tyler Henson (.000, 0-12); Peter Lavin (.050); Andreas Blanco (.071); Wilmer Oberto (.076); Mitch Walding (.091); ANdrew Knapp (.100);  Maikel Franco (.120); Anthony Hewitt (.130); Art Charles (.136); Brandon Short (.143) Continue reading Hot or Not →

Here we go…

Catcher: Deivi Gruillon, Wilson Garcia

Infield: Malquin Canelo, Rhys Hoskins, Jan Hernandez, Wilmer Oberto, Robinson Torres

Outfield: Herlis Rodriguez, Jiandido Tromp; Cord Sandberg

Pitchers: Alejandro Arteaga, Rich Bielski, Delvi Franciso, Manny Martinez, Mitch Guellar; Ricardo Pinto, Frank Rivas, Keivi Rojas, Feliberto Sanchez, David Whitehead

DL: Josh Warner

I would expect both Chris Oliver and Brandon Leibrandt added to the Williamsport pitching staff shortly.

Lehigh Valley has lost three straight games and 9 of their last 12, and now sit at 32-34 in the Northern Division of the International League, in 5th place and 5.5 games behind division leading Syracuse.  After a much needed off day Wednesday, Lehigh Valley hits the road for four games against Rochester before returning home for an eight game home stand.

‘Pigs League Leaders, Hitting: Maikel Franco is 6th in AB’s(236); Tyler Henson is 5th in strikeouts(67) and 6th in SB(13)

Pitching: Luis Garcia is 6th in saves(7); Greg SMith in 10th in IP (72.1); Barry Enright is 2nd in HR allowed(12)

‘Pigs Prospects: The original plan was to talk about Tyson Gillies, Darin Ruf and Seth Rosin this week, but Gillies has become a non-prospect; Ruf is on the DL and Rosin was sent down to Reading.  So a few under the radar guys:

Hector Neris has been unscored upon in his last 4 games (5IP 1H 1BB 4K), and overall sits at 1-0 with a 2.95 ERA and 1.09 WHIP in 12 AAA games.  Neris has the ability to throw multiple innings and has very good command, and attribute rarely seen in the Phils minor league system. Continue reading Lehigh Valley Weekly Report →

This is really frighening.  Next up, Middle Infield.

Lehigh Valley

Maikel Franco, 21, Signed as a free agent in 2009; .223/.290/.357 in 224 AB’s; 5HR 25RBI; 8%bb/16%k rates; .276 vs. LHP; .205 vs. RHP; .243 with RISP; 46 games at 3B with 2 errors (.984); 11 games at 1B without an error;  Hitting .255 since May 1.  Improved since we last spoke but nowhere near where most of us thought he would be offensively.  Playing well with the glove.

Jim Murphy, 28, Phils 18th round pick in 2006; .240/.321/.423 in 208 AB’s; 8HR 31RBI; 9%bb/24%k rates; .211 vs. LHP; .252 vs. RHP; .236 with RISP; .226 since May 1.  49 games at 1B with 3 errors (.993); Murphy is providing some pop but he is hitting about 30 points below where most expected this year. Continue reading Around the System–Corner Infield →

Were I a reputable reporter with sources within the Phillies organization, I would try to get a quote from someone in the Phils’ Front Office and add it here, whether confirmation, denial, or obfuscation. As I’m not, I will just put this out there with the caveat that this is an unnamed/unknown source and hasn’t been, as far as I can tell, corroborated by anyone. It sounds like it was mentioned in passing on 97.5 the other day as well, (as mentioned by Steve in the comments yesterday), though I can’t find it on their website. Anyone who has a link to that, please share it. Either way, click through to this Monday report from Houston Chronicle beat writer Jose de Jesus Ortiz:

http://blog.chron.com/ultimateastros/2014/06/02/singleton-move-a-reminder-how-the-astros-won-the-pence-trade/#22102103=0&23907101=0

This is the relevant quote: “In spring training, a Phillies official admitted that Santana wasn’t actually supposed to be on the list that was given to the Astros to pick from to satisfy the final piece on Aug. 15, 2011.”

If true, I don’t know that it’s a damning indictment of anyone in particular, so much as it is a huge foul-up. Not sure how you add a player you don’t intend to add to a list except by sheer negligence in creating and proofreading the list. They should have sent the list over to PP so we could tell them not to include Domingo Santana. They should probably just do that from now on. Someone with a F.O. contact let Ruben know I said we’re here for him, ok?

And thanks to Steve for pointing this out to us. I had missed it completely. Perhaps many of you had not and I’m just too deep in the draft this week.

Just a very poor week in the organization(5/29–6/4), especially with the bat…JP Crawford has been struggling as of late but deserves leeway based on a year of continued production…Hoby Milner was outstanding in a rain shortened start in Harrisburg…Very inopportune time for Kenny GIles to land on the Not Hot list…What the heck is up with Cameron Rupp? Brutal Week and down to .163 on the year…still injured? Cedeno continues very hot with an average approaching .290…still remember its Ronnie Cedeno. Maikel Franco is back down to .223 on the year with an OBP well under .300.

Hot Hitters(Min 13 AB’s):Ronnie Cedeno (.409, 5R 4RBI); Leandro Castro (.370); Steve Susdorf (.350); Carlos Alonso (.364, 5R 2HR 4RBI); Tyler Henson (.333)

Not Hot Hitters: Cameron Rupp (.050); Chris Serritella (.077); Art Charles (.091); JP Crawford (.111); Wilmer Oberto (.118); Andrew Pullin (.136); Deivi Gruillon (.143); Anthony Phillips (.150); Angelo Mora (.150); Maikel Franco (.167); (Dis)Honorable mention: Stassi, Hiciano Continue reading Hot or Not →