Hey folks, just in case you haven’t seen it, here’s a link to the fund-raising page of Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs Josh Fields and his wife, with a note about their efforts and those of Reading Fightins’ Tyler Henson. Many of the Reading guys are also donating a small sum for every retweet on Twitter, so find Henson on there @Hendog4 and you can seek those guys out to retweet their messages. I think it’s Rupp, Biddle, Jim Murphy, Jay Johnson and David Buchanan, and maybe more.

Both Henson and Fields are new to the Phillies this year, and their efforts to help people in their home state of Oklahoma should be commended.

If you weren’t planning to give anything, I’d like to challenge you right now. I’m going to put up $50 myself as a matching gift for a bunch of us to give small donations through the Fields’ site or another Oklahoma Relief Charity, or to Red Cross (Text ‘redcross’ to 90999 to donate $10 to Red Cross at large – they’re helping in Oklahoma of course, though it’s not a targeted donation, per se). Five people giving $10 or ten giving $5 or any combination thereof. Whatever you give, I will give.

Please be honest – just comment on this page by the end of Memorial Day Weekend (extended from Friday – brad) and say how much you gave after reading this, (sign in anonymously if you don’t want to brag or whatever), and if any of you guys want to challenge others with matching goals, let me know in the comments and I will add it to the top.

Who is hot, and who is not for the time period of May 16 through May 22….Some ramblings…the concern for Austin Wright grows as he comes off the DL with another troubling performance…Mitch Walding is heating up but needs to hit with some power to be considered a legit 3B prospect….Darin Ruf has been struggling and his average is down into the .260’s with alot of strikeouts….Good to see names like Rosin, Hernandez and Garner in the hot starter list…Again, why can Durbin/Aumont/Rosenberg do that Mike Stutes can’t. The Phils bullpen only becomes stronger with him in it.

Hot Hitters: Pete Orr (.500, 7R 2HR 8RBI, SB), Zach Collier (.412); Mitch Walding (.368, 4R 6RBI); Art Charles (.364, 6R); Jim Murphy (.348, 4R 2HR 5RBI); Willie Carmona (.333, 8R 1HR 4RBI); Maikel Franco (.333, 2HR); Josh Fields (316, 6R). Honorable Mention: Asche, Hewitt, Dugan Continue reading Hot or Not →

I have been wanting to put together a mailbag for a while to address questions that often don’t deserve a whole post as well as just casual questions.  Feel free to submit questions regarding prospects, the majors, the draft, baseball in general, or just about any other topic.  I will answer the whole batch early this weekend.

To submit questions you can post them here, email me at mattwinkelman136(at)gmail(dot)com, or on twitter at @Matt_Winkelman.

If you would like to direct questions at Brad, Joe, or Gregg if you are really nice here or on Twitter they may answer.

A 4-3 week for Lehigh Valley, who now stand at 20-25 and in 4th place of the Northern Division of the International League, 6.5 games behind division leading Buffalo.  After an off day on Wednesday, the ‘Pigs play four at home against Norfolk, before hitting the road for four games in Rochester.

‘Pigs Leaders (Hitting): Cesar Hernandez is 9th in AB’s (169), 7th in SB (12), 4th in hits (54), leads the league in triples (6); Jermaine Mitchell is 2nd in triples (4); Cody Asche is 3rd in triples (3) and 8th in RBI’s (29); COdy Overbeck in 5th in HR (9); Darin Ruf is 6th in strikeouts (48). Continue reading Lehigh Valley Weekly Report →

On May 13th the Phillies signed Julsan Kamara out of Germany, not much was know at the time but some more has come out since.

Before proceeding read Crashburn Alley’s Eric Longenhagen’s article that includes a quote from Phillies Director of International Scouting, Sal Agostinelli http://crashburnalley.com/2013/05/21/lass-uns-verstecken-spielen-brief-findings-on-julsan-kamara/

Continue reading Phillies Sign Julsan Kamara (Old News but more information) →

 Obviously, Reading isn’t much of a team to watch right now with the obvious exception of number one prospect Jesse Biddle. On the other hand, Clearwater is a very exciting team to watch right now, with a bunch of talented youngsters. While it’s only May, you have to that somebody will get a call-up to Reading from Clearwater sooner or later. I’m not sure who, but I have a few possibilities in mind.

Pitching

Perci Garner- Garner has had an unexpectedly great season so far. As of now, he’s 3-0 with a 2.27 ERA. Not bad. But there has been one big problem- his control. So far through 47.2 innings pitched, he’s given away 20 free passes. Thankfully, he’s been able to limit the damage by keeping the ball in the park, only giving up 2 homers.

While Garner has pitched well, the Phillies should wait a bit to see if they can sort his control problems out.

Gabriel Arias- another pitcher who has been pretty dominant so far. 5-1 with a sparkling 1.69 ERA, Arias started off the season as a reliever, but he’s recently started starting for Clearwater. All of his numbers look good right now- WHIP (1.125) HR/9 (.4) BB/9 (2.5) K/9 (7.0). Case in point- if Arias keeps pitching like he has been, a June/July call-up would definitely seem likely.

Hitters

Maikel Franco- it’s hard not to be impressed with Franco. This year, he’s overcome his usual early-season slump, notching 8 homers (25 XBH) and 32 RBI. Furthermore, Franco is hitting .291/.341/.557.

All the numbers are impressive, but the Phillies should take their time with Franco- let me remind you that he’s still only 20.

Kelly Dugan- Dugan was injured to start the season, but now that he’s playing again, he’s tearing the cover off of the baseball. In 79 PA, he’s hitting .307/.359/.500 with 3 homers and 12 RBI. However, if you look at his stats more closely, you’ll find some uglier ones. As of now, he has 3 walks compared to 20 strikeouts. To say the least, that’s not too good of a ratio. 

Dugan has missed a lot of time with injuries, so he’ll need to accelerate his way through the system faster than Franco will have to. But I’d keep Dugan in Clearwater only if tomake sure this isn’t a hot streak, as this is his first year in A+ ball.

Cameron Perkins- In a team full of hot hitters, Perkins may be the hottest of them all. The 6’5″ 195 pound outfielder has been on fire, hitting .361/.383/.561. While his lack of walks (5) has been discouraging, he’s partially made up for it with his lack of strikeouts (19). For safe measure, he’s added on 3 HR and 3 SB. 

Like many others on this team, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s a mid-summer call-up.

Aaron Altherr- another 6’5″ outfielder, Altherr has been ripping as of late. Altherr is hitting .333/.393/.566 with 4 homers, 8 stolen bases, and 25 RBI. A toolsy outfielder, this seems to be the year that Altherr is pulling everything together. 

It’s unlikely that Altherr is called up this summer as the Phillies organization will want to make sure this isn’t a case of somebody catching lightning in a bottle.

For the most part, it seems as if the prevalent theme with these guys is that a mid-summer call-up is most likely, unless injuries force the organization’s hand.

We complete the first trip around the system with a look at the Relievers. Likely promotion material over the next month to six weeks: Stutes, Robles, Murray, O’Sullivan, Inch/Broussard. We will take our next trip around the system in June.

Lehigh Valley

Mike Stutes, 26, Phils 11th round pick in 2008; 17 games; 1-2 with a 3.86 ERA; 1 save; 23.1IP 20H 10BB 22K; 1.27 GO/AO; .225 opp. avg., 1.28 WHIP; 3.9BB/8.5K per nine; .214 vs. LH, .230 vs. RH, .226 with RISP. In his last 10 outings, Stutes has a 1.93 ERA and the opposition is hitting .196 against him.  He clearly is the next call up for the Phils when they decide to release someone (Durbin) or an injury to a RHP. Continue reading Around the System–Relief Pitchers →

A look at the catchers around the organization with plenty of disappointing numbers during the early going.

Lehigh Valley

Tommy Joseph, 21, Acquired in 2012 from San Francisco; .209/.264/.358 in 67 AB’s; 3HR 14RBI; .167 vs. LH, .218 vs. RH, .438 with RISP; 6%bb/21% k rates. 21 games with 1 error (.993); 9 passed balls; 5 of 23 baserunners CS (22%);  After a very rough start to the season, Joseph was beginning to come around before going down with a concussion last week.  He is currently on the DL. Notable production with RISP.

Steven Lerud, 28, Signed as a free agent in 2012; .260/.362/.420 in 50 AB’s; 2HR 7RBI; 12%bb/26% k rates. 15 games caught with 3 errors (.971); 2 passed balls; 4 of 17 baserunners CS (24%); Lerud has done a good job in his role, adding a bit of offense to very good receiving skills. Continue reading Around the System–Catchers →

A look back at the week of May 9-15…Observations: You cant stop Cameron Perkins, you can only hope to contain him….Chace Numata is making people notice offensively and defensively in Lakewood…Each of Nick Hanson’s three starts have been very good for Lakewood…Adam Morgan has not had a good start since the second week of April….Mike Stutes needs to be in Philly….Kyle Simon’s struggles may have cost him the closers job in Reading.

Hot Hitters: James Murphy (.478, 5R 2HR 7RBI); Cameron Perkins (.455, 4RBI); Zach Taylor (.455, 7R 2HR 6RBI); Roman Quinn (.435, 6R 1HR 4RBI 4SB); Steve Susdorf (.429);  Miguel ABreu (.417); Larry Greene (.400); Sebastian Valle (.385); Darin Ruf (.360, HR 4RBI); Chace Numata (.355, 5R 1HR 5RBI, SB); Brian Pointer (.333, 5R 12RBI) Honorable Mention: Gillies, Alonso Continue reading Hot or Not →