Category Archives: 01. Site Features

Anthony Hewitt Released

Hewitt, Anthony, Other Stuff, Transactions

When you pick for the boom, sometimes you get the bust – Clearwater announced on Twitter that Phillies 2008 First Round Draft Choice Anthony Hewitt has been released. Hewitt was old for his class, when at 19 years old he was taken with the 24th overall pick in out of Salisbury Prep (CT). He received a $1.38 million signing bonus at the time.

Over 2300+ PAs of professional ball, Hewitt triple slashed 223/264/370, with 82 doubles, 24 triples, 63 home runs and 94 stolen bases, and 763 Ks to just 91 BBs.

Matt’s profile of Hewitt’s career is here, last updated in the fall of 2012, before he had what I guess you would call a resurgence in 2013. Last year, the right-handed hitting Hewitt OPSed above .700 for the first time in his career, and added a couple points to his walk rate, while feasting on left-handed pitching, prompting some to wonder at the time if he’d make a short big league career for himself as a platoon/bench option if he could play decent defense and steal some more bases. 2014 has been a train wreck, however, as he OPSed .317 over two levels, having been demoted from AA Reading to A+ Clearwater a few weeks ago.

By many accounts, Hewitt was one of the hardest working guys on every team on which he appeared, and it’s a shame to see a guy like that never figure it out. Sometimes that’s just not enough to force a good ballplayer out of a good athlete.

Box Score Recap – 6/11/2014

Box Score Recap

As some of you may have seen on “The Twitter” today, I am going to be doing some minor league/prospect writing for Crashburn Alley, on a weekly/whenever basis . You’re stuck with me, though, as I’ll still be doing the box score recaps for at least the rest of the year, if not beyond. But enough about me…

It was a light day, with LV and CLR off. Aaron Altherr won the day, going 3-5 with a triple and a home run. Jesse Biddle struggled, and didn’t get through four innings, walking six men and allowing five runs, (though only two were “earned”). Jiwan James with his first two hit night of the year.

The Lakewood lineup went off for 10 runs against Hagerstown, in celebration of Zach Green‘s return to the lineup, no doubt. Green played 1B, which is not ideal for his long-term development, so we’ll see how long that lasts, but he, Crawford, Knapp and Hiciano each had multi-hit games, in support of a strong outing from Mark Leiter Jr., who struck out seven in 7.1 innings and allowed just two runs (0ER) on five hits and no walks.

A couple notes – Drew Anderson hit the DL with a finger injury that had him leave a game this week after one inning. Better than an elbow or a shoulder, hopefully. And Roman Quinn indicated on Twitter that he’d be working on a switch to the outfield. H/T Mitch Rupert for confirming that before Quinn deleted the associated tweets. His value drops a little bit, but if he’s personally got more defensive value in CF than SS, then there’s nothing to be done but hope the bat keeps warming up. We’ve all seen this coming as a strong possibility, and it will free up the position in CLR for J.P. Crawford, whenever he’s promoted. As Matt Winks pointed out on Twitter last night, the SAL all-star break is next week at the full-season mid-point, so that might just be moving day for Crawford, among others, from Lakewood or elsewhere. I could see any of Yacksel Rios, Samuel Hiciano, Leiter or Cody Forsythe moving up as well.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 6/11/2014 →

General Discussion – Week of 6-9-2014 – Wow, It’s Thursday The 12th Edition

Weekly Discussion

Yeah, sorry I forgot to post this Monday. And Tuesday. I remembered Wednesday but then forgot before I got to it, so I guess that doesn’t really count either.

Discuss.

Hot or Not

Other Stuff

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 →

Williamsport Roster

Other Stuff

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.

Box Score Recap – 6/10/2014

Box Score Recap

Of course the big news of the day was the Aaron Nola signing, and reports that he’ll likely start in Clearwater (or higher, according to Amaro). I wrote a little bit more about that in the post on that subject from earlier.

Roman Quinn was 1-4 with a double, his second extra base hit of the year, and second in the last three days. Brian Pointer was 3-3 – he also had three hits two nights ago, but in a testament to his continuous inconsistency, he sandwiched a Golden Sombrero in between.

Carlos Tocci managed the only hit for Lakewood, and J.P. Crawford drew the only base on balls, as Hagerstown pitching shut down the Claws. Tyler Viza pitched pretty well, and he continues to throw a heavy ball – he tallied 12 ground outs in seven innings. Continue reading Box Score Recap – 6/10/2014 →

Threshers; June 10, 2014

Game Reports

The rain I joked was scheduled for Wednesday arrived early.  The game with the Tampa Yankees was delayed after 4.5 innings.  Miguel Nunez had pitched a solid 5 innings allowing 2 hits, 2 walks, 5 strike outs, and 1 earned run on a home run to right that would have been a routine fly ball 2 innings later when the weather moved in.   The offense attacked early.  Roman Quinn opened with a ground ball double down the left field line that kicked off the stands.  He scored on a KC Serna single.  Brandon Short followed with a single, but the Threshers could do no further damage.  The Threshers collected hits in each of the next 3 innings, getting the lead off hitter on in 2 of them.  But in spite of singles by Brian Pointer, Angelo Mora, and Chris Serritella, the Threshers were unable to score.  When the heavy rain and lightning caused the umpires to clear the field, the score was knotted at one apiece.

During the break in the action, I went hunting.  Before the game, the PR Director had told me that  at least 8 draftees were in town, but he hadn’t been told who.   Continue reading Threshers; June 10, 2014 →

Lehigh Valley Weekly Report

Other Stuff

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 →

Final Practice; June 10, 2014

Game Reports

A truck was backed up to the doors of the Carpenter Complex.  Bags were being loaded even as the last intrasquad was being played.  This afternoon the truck will head for the airport to begin the long trip to Williamsport.

They only played 5.5 innings today.  Six pitchers made brief appearances.  The most notable was Brody Colvin.  The former member of the “baby aces” was hit around in 1.1 innings, giving up 5 hits and 4 runs, 3 earned.  Continue reading Final Practice; June 10, 2014 →

Box Score Recap – 6/9/2014

Box Score Recap

Leandro Castro is trying hard to haul his OPS up over .700 for the year. He was 1-3 with his 18th walk of the year last night. Remarkable for a guy who hasn’t walked that many times in a full season since 2010. He’s added .42 OBP points over last year and he has the exact same AVG. Nice to see.

Aaron Altherr was 3-5 plus a walk – he’s on a bit of a tear, OPSing over 1.000 this month after an abysmal May which saw him OPS .505. Ryan Demmin and the CLR bullpen shutout a pretty bad Daytona Cubs team.

Andrew Pullin had three hits and Dylan Cozens launched his eighth home run of the year, leaving him tied with a handful of guys for sixth in the league. Yacksel Rios struck out five in four innings of scoreless work. He’s been pretty solid out of Lakewood’s pen this year.

Bryan Martelo made his pro debut in the DSL. The 2013 signee ($230k), went 0-4 with a strikeout. Hugo Arrocha, who you may recall was seriously injured in a collision at 1B during spring training, is also back in the DSL after a long look at XST. And it took 17 innings for the VSL squad to take down Seattle, on a walk-off wild pitch. Three men logged seven offical ABs, two men took nine (!) and Jesus Alastre was 2-6 and was hit by a pitch twice. Only one offensive substitution was made the entire game – not showing a lot of confidence in the bench, there, skip.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 6/9/2014 →