Plenty to talk about in the OF across the system.

Lehigh Valley

Aaron Altherr, 24, Phils 9th round pick in 2009; .296/.364/.483 in 375 AB’s between Reading and Lehigh Valley; 12HR 58RBI; 15SB; 9%BB/19%K rates; For LV: .301/.354/.486 in 146AB’s; 6HR 29RBI; 7SB; 7%BB/25%K rates; .417 vs LHP; .264 vs RHP; .282 in July. 94 games in the OF without an error; 7 OF assists;  Altherr has had an excellent year and has become one of the most talked about prospects with a healthy debate on when he should be called up.  The transition to Lehigh Valley has been a smooth one with perhaps a higher K rate that should normalize with time. Fielding continues to be excellent.

Brian Bogusevic, 31, Signed as a free agent in 2015; .285/.346/.389 in 347AB’s: 6HR 38RBI; 19SB; 8%BB/19%K rates; .248 vs LHP; .302 vs RHP; .286 with RISP; .186 in July.  80 games in the OF with 1 error (.994); 4 OF assists; Bogusevic has had a very good year overall but has cooled considerably recently.

Kelly Dugan, 24, Phils 2nd round pick in 2009; .309/.389/.398 in 181AB’s between CLearwater, Reading and LV; 1HR 18RBI; 2SB; 8%BB/21%K rates; .209 vs LHP; .352 vs RHP; .394 with RISP.  41 games in the OF with 2 errors (.978); 1 OF assist; A good batting average but plenty to work on for Dugan if he is going to be a major leaguer, including staying on the field, hitting lefties and hitting for power.

Tyler Henson, 27, Re-signed as a free agent in 2015; .268/.304/.363 in 325AB’s; 1HR 45RBI; 22SB; 5%BB/21%K rates; .265 vs LHP; .269 vs RHP; .286 last 30 days; .333 with RISP; 38 games in the OF without an error; 1 OF assist; 36 games at 2B with 11 errors (.944).  Henson is an extremely valuable player because of his versatility and the fact he is one of the best clutch hitters in the minor leagues.

Reading

Destin Hood, 25, Signed as a free agent in 2015; .317/.328/.492 in 63 AB’s with Reading; 2HR 11RBI; 15%BB/20%K rates; 15 games in the OF without an error; 2 OF assists; Hood was signed in July after being released by Washington.  He was initially a 2nd round pick back in 2008 and has some talent, which he has shown in the early going with Reading.  He hit .294 in almost of full year of AAA last year (Syracuse) and is a nice depth guy to have here. Continue reading Around the System–OF →

Next to go is OF Ben Revere who was traded this afternoon to the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for Pitchers Alberto Tirado and Jimmy Cordero.

Cordero, 23, is a big RHP that split time this year between High A and AA (New Hampshire) in the Blue Jays organization.  In 32 games combined, he was 0-1 with a 2.70ERA; 1.20 WHIP to go along with a 3.6/8.3 walk to strikeout ratio.  Cordero is known as a flame thrower who can consistently hit 100 on the radar gun, but is also someone prone to control issues.  He has been a reliever throughout his tenure in the Jays organization and profiles as a set up guy in years to come.  Cordero’s command has been markedly better this year, than in years past.

ALberto Tirado, just 20, was the Jays #17 prospect entering 2015 according to the Jays Journal.  .  Playing for High A Dunedin this year, Tirado is 4-3 with a 3.23ERA and 1.30 WHIP.  He allows a troubling 5.1 walks per 9 innings while striking out a hitter and inning(9.0/9). Once rated a top 10 prospect, Tirado had a difficult 2014 with both control issues and fatigue eating away his effectiveness. He has thrown better this year, but with continued command issues.

As an aside, I don’t quite get the call up of Jordan Danks to fill Revere’s roster spot.  While Danks has a spot on the 40 man roster, he has done nothing this year to warrant a call up.  He has been sub .250 all year with little to no run production and is among the IL leaders in strikeouts.  While really wanting to see Aaron Altherr, I understand the concept of wanting him to get more AAA AB’s.  Brian Bogusevic is really the guy that should be complaining.  He has been among league leaders in avg, runs, and stolen bases all year and plays very good defense.  In any event, maybe this will help solidify the #1 pick in the draft.

Reading 9  Erie 8

After a low scoring affair the night before, this game was clearly going to be a shootout from the beginning.  The Fightin’s won on a walk-off single by Destin Hood (after winning on a walk-off single from Dugan the night before).

PITCHING:

BEN LIVELY: I was really hoping to see a good game from Ben, but he did not deliver.  He seemed to spot the ball pretty well and change speeds decently, but he gave up 3 HR’s and other hard hit balls in 5 innings.  The only good news was 5K’s and 0 BB’s.  He reached 94 once, but was usually between 87-91 with his fastball.  On the low end, he varied between 73 and 76.  Here is the breakdown by inning:

1^st: Foul popout to catcher/two 4-3 groundouts

2^nd: Swinging K/Hard double down LF line/No Doubt HR off roof above the pool in RF/Popout to 2^nd base/Swinging K (he had excellent movement on a few pitches in this AB)

3^rd: Line single between 1Bman/2Bman/Broken bat 6-4-3 DP/ 2B into left center on a long 9 pitch AB/Fly out to CF Hood who jumped and made a nice catch in front of the wall

4^th: Looking K/Infield single up middle/E-4, Greene missed a 2 hopper (during the AB Lively threw a Wild Thing Vaughn wild pitch over everyone straight to the backstop/RBI Double in the RC Gap/3 run HR/2 swinging K’s.  So… Lively struck out the side yet gave up 4 runs (3 earned).

5^th:  4-3 groundout/Long bomb HR/F-7 caught in CF/ Infield single (it was a cool play as SS Mora fielded the ball crossing in front of 2^nd base, he then flipped the ball to a surprised Brodie Greene (2^nd baseman) in hopes that Greene could make a better throw to first.  Greene did relay to first but the batter beat it out/Hard ground single to RF/Swinging K

TOM WINDLE:  Windle has been much improved since going to the bullpen.  He looked good in his first inning, but not as much in his 2^nd.  He was usually sitting at 91-92, and topped out at 93.  (All speeds were from the Reading stadium gun which is notoriously off).

6^th:  Hard lineout to LF/Bunt right back to the box 1-3/Soft lineout to LF

7^th:  Easy flyout to CF/HR (Dean Green’s 2^nd of the day- he is a serious power hitter)/BB, at which point he was relieved by O’Sullivan.  (As if this wasn’t enough, I got the “pleasure” of also watching the other O’Sullivan at the Iron Pigs game later).  Stephen Shackelford (Reading closer) pitched a perfect 9^th and ended up getting the win.

OFFENSE:

DUGAN (1-5):  Not a good day for Kelly who K’d three times (once looking, twice swinging at low pitches).  He also grounded out to first base and had a nice single that he served the opposite way into LF

PERKINS (1-4): Line Drive HR right down the LF line/High flyout to shallow CF/Sac Fly to CF/2 swinging K’s on fastballs (94,96 mph).  Cameron also made a nice catch in the field and later threw out a runner trying to score from 2^nd on a single.  The run would have given Erie a 9-8 lead in the 8^th.

STASSI (1-5):  Swinging K on an 80 mph change-up/Pop out into shallow LC, SS made a very nice over the shoulder catch or he would have had a single/2 run triple (could easily have just been a single, the left-fielder dove in for the ball, missed it and it bounced right over him and rolled to the track)/Hard 1-3 grounder back to the box/E-4 which extended the inning.   Brock scored the winning run from 2nd when Hood delivered the walk-off single.

KNAPP (2-3):  Hard ground single up the middle (scored from 1^st on a Hood double)/Double that one-hopped off the left-centerfield fence/BB/Groundout to 1B/BB (worked the count full in the 9^th) which moved Stassi into scoring position and set-up the winning hit.  Knapp also had a 2-run 2B in the 4-run 9th inning rally the previous night, along with a walk.

JPC had the day off so there wasn’t anyone else to report on.  Angelo Mora doubled, tripled, and singled in his first three AB’s but did not get a hit the rest of the way (seemed to be swinging extra hard in hopes of hitting one out and completing the cycle).  Harold Martinez went 2-4 and raise his average to .303.

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There is no point in doing a report from last night’s LV game since Altherr is the only prospect there.  He had a rough day vs SWB ace, Luis Severino, bugt still found ways to contribute.  Here are his AB’s:

K’d looking at an 86 mph 2-2 pitch/5-4 FC, hustled to avoid the DP- went to 2^nd on a WP, 3^rd on a deep flyout, and scored on another WP/HBP on a 1-2 pitch after fouling off 5- one of which was a long shot down LF line/K’d looking with runners on 1^st and 3^rd, looked at 2 strikes and couldn’t check his swing on the other

-nyphilsmaniac19