On July 2, 2012 the Phillies spend just over a million combined on a pair of Dominican 16 year olds. They were both consensus Top 20 J2 prospects and the latest in a line of increased Latin American budget for signings. The Phillies brought both stateside in 2012 for the Florida Instructional League before they started their professional careers in the GCL for 2013. Both have had struggles at times but the arrow is point upwards for both of them. Continue reading Prospect Spotlight: Deivi Grullon and Jose Pujols →

Only a week or so left in the minor league regular season, so it is time for another set of questions and answers. Like always I will take questions here, on Twitter, and by email. I also encourage you to direct questions at gregg (who has seen many more games than me this year) or at Brad (who is much funnier than I am and headline writer extradornaire).

Questions don’t have to be limited to the Phillies minor league system (majors, minors, life, beer, etc), but keep them tasteful.

A look back at the time period of August 15-21. Quick thoughts…the lack of production this year by 2012 high draft picks Shane Watson and Mitch Guellar is enough for a raised eyebrow but far too early to give up…Is Harold Martinez coming around, or is his production simply him catching up with High A pitching after 2 full years in CLearwater…Three starts, and all of them very solid for David Buchanan in AAA…Control issues for Kenny Giles this week, hopefully just a mirage.

Note: There will not be a “Hot or Not” published next week. The final edition will cover the last week and a half of the season.

Hot Hitters: Matt Tolbert (.500); Harold Martinez (.476, 7R, 4RBI); Cesar Hernandez (.467, 6R), Tyler Henson (.467); Cameron Rupp (.467); Jiwan James (.421, 5R, 5RBI, 3SB); Brock Stassi (.411, 5R 4RBI); Cameron Perkins (.400); Justin Parr (.375, 5R); Jim Murphy (.370, 2HR 6RBI); Gutavo Martinez (.368);  Honorable mention: Ferdinand, Greene, Moore, Mojica, Altherr, Pierce, Carmona Continue reading Hot or Not →

Lehigh Valley is down to the last 13 games of the season after a 3-1 loss last night and are currently 67-63 and in 4th place of the Northern DIvision of the International League, 4.5 games behind division leading Rochester and 3.5 games behind Pawtucket in the wild card race.. With their loss last night, Lehigh Valley is 7-4 over their last 11 games. After an off day today, the ‘Pigs play Buffalo seven straight games, the first four in Buffalo, followed by three in Lehigh Valley.

News and Notes:Perci Garner won his AAA debut on Monday evening going 5.2innings and giving up 2 runs on 6 hits. He walked 2 and struck out 7 and looked quite impressive, taking a shutout into the 6th inning. Continue reading Lehigh Valley Weekly Report →

Maikel Franco continues to be the primary story here, with JP Crawford now with enough AB’s to qualify and headed to Lakewood.

Note: Min 130AB’s for hitter; 35IP for pitchers.

AB’s: Maikel Franco(462); Jim Murphy(429); Chris Serritella (422); Albert Cartwright(412); Aaron Altherr(407); Willie Carmona(404); Cody Asche(404); Carlos Alonso(399); Cody Overbeck(396); Zach Collier(391)

R: Maikel Franco(72); Albert Cartwright(71); Carlos ALonso(66); Art Charles(57); Jim Murphy(55); Tyson Gillies(55); Willie Carmona(52); Aaron Altherr(52); Cody Asche(52); Cody Overbeck(51).

Hits: Maikel Franco(147); Willie Carmona(121); Cody Asche(119); Jim Murphy(117); Albert Cartwright(110); Cesar Hernandez(109); Carlos Alonso(109); Aaron Altherr(108); Kelly Dugan(107); Cody Overbeck(105) Continue reading Phillies Minor League Leaders →

With three weeks left in the season the Phillies send JP Crawford north to New Jersey.  The move allows them to showcase the new star in the system while freeing up some GCL ABs.  This could mean Quinn won’t be back for the regular season or that they would like to work him back at the GCL complex.  Either way a nice chance for Crawford to get his feet wet.

I haven’t had a chance to really write anything recently (though there is a Zach Green piece in the works), and I likely won’t do another mailbag for a week or so, so I thought it might be nice to have an informal thread to ask specific questions you are looking for answers from me (though anyone with a good response feel free to jump in).  If there is anything that does not fit into a quick response I reserve the right to add it to the next mailbag or write a full response column to it.

My only request is that you start a new post for each new question and make sure that your replies are in reply to the original question so that it keeps this as clean as possible.

A look back at the time period of August 8th thru 14…Random thoughts…Maikel Franco trying to silence the critics suggesting he has slowed down of late…Willie Carmona is perhaps the most “under the radar” player in the Phils system. While he is a bit old for Low A, he has been one of the very few in the organization sitting at .300 most of the year…Tyler Cloyd has shown resiliency through his early season struggles and come on very strong over the last 6 weeks…Mike Nesseth has pitched consistently well for Reading since his call up from Clearwater. Expect him to be a key 7th and 8th inning guy in the Lehigh Valley bullpen next year.

Note: Minimum 12AB’s and Min 5IP to be a “hot pitcher”.

Hot Hitters: Willie Carmona (.438); Tyson Gillies (.438, 6R 2SB); Derrick Mitchell (.429); Deivi Gruillon (.429); Maikel Franco (.417, 7RBI); Herlis Rodriguez(.417); Wilmer Oberto (.417); Jair Morelos (.400); Pete Orr (.385); Venn Biter (.357); Trey Williams (.357). Honorable Mention: Sandberg, Susdorf, Moore, Hanzawa, Collier Continue reading Hot or Not →

Lehigh Valley ended their season long ten game road trip with a 5-4 loss to Gwinnett on Monday, but all in all had a successful trip ending up 6-4.  After an off day on Tuesday, the ‘Pigs open a short three game homestand against Syracuse on Wednesday, before heading up the Northeast Extension for two against Scranton over the weekend.  On the year, Lehigh Valley is 63-61 and in 4th place of the Northern Division of the International League, 4 games behind division leading Rochester, and just 1.5 games behind Buffalo in the wild card race.

‘Pigs Prospects:Adam Morgan is 1-1 with a 1.33 ERA in his 5 starts since coming off the DL which is quite impressive except for considering the fact that he has thrown just 20.1innings in those 5 starts(4IP per start).  Morgan has been on a 75-85 pitch count since his return and while he has shown effectiveness at times, has run his pitch count up pretty quickly in each of his starts. Continue reading Lehigh Valley Weekly Report →

A look at the bullpen in the upper reaches of the organization. Stats are through Thursday August 8th and a warning before you read: This is not pretty, especially in Lehigh Valley and Reading.

Lehigh Valley

Phillipe Aumont, 24, Acquired from Seattle in 2009; 24 games; 0-1 with a 5.18ERA; 2 saves; 24.1IP 21H 27BB 31K; 0.86GO/AO; .233 opp. avg; 10.0BB/11.5K per nine; 1.97WHIP; .273 vs. LH, .196 vs. RH, .220 with RISP; 0-1 with a 3.97ERA in his last 10 outings (9BB in 11.1IP). Simply look at the names in the Philadelphia bullpen and you will see how far Aumont’s stock has dropped in the organizations eyes.  He simply can’t throw strikes consistently and some attitude issues have cropped up. Continue reading Around the System–Relievers, Top Half →