Since I knew there was just no chance in hell I was getting a report up before that crack of dawn 9:35 AM game Monday morning at FirstEnergy Stadium, I figured we would include that in this week’s report.
It was a busy week for the Fightins roster-move wise, probably the busiest week of the season in that sense. It was also a tough week on the field for the team, as there was a five-game losing streak with just two wins sprinkled in.
I received a text from a friend this morning alerting me to an intrasquad game at the Carpenter Complex. The same friend picked me up and we went to the fields. We were immediately rewarded when Zach Green came out of the clubhouse in uniform spikes. It got better when Cody Asche came out in uniform, too. Jackpot! Continue reading Intrasquad Game in Clearwater; June 9, 2014
Vance Worley homered against Lehigh Valley. That’s probably a metaphor or a parable or something. Jeb Stefan sturck out five and allowed just three hits in six scoreless innings for CLR – Roman Quinn homered there, and Jim did a great write-up of the game earlier.
Pullin, Hiciano and Grullon with multi-hit games for Lakewood, but Drew Anderson left after just one 15-pitch inning. Ominous. And Jesus Alastre was 2-4 with a triple and three runs scored for the VSL squad. We’re getting closer to the New York Penn League season – Williamsport’s media day is Wednesday.
We’ve all heard the term “a heartbreaking loss”. Well, if there is such a thing as a “heartbreaking win”, the Threshers put their fans through one this afternoon. Actually, heart wrenching or gut wrenching are probably better descriptive terms
The Threshers hitters were facing a young hurler making his Florida State League debut for the Daytona Cubs. Right hander, Justin Amlung, was 4-0 with an ERA of 1.54 with Kane County in A ball. It seems that most of the games I cover, the Threshers run into guys with sub 3.00 ERAs who shut them down, or plus 4.00 ERAs who pitch their game of the season. Not today. Continue reading Threshers; June 8, 2014
There ultimately may not be a valuable, long-term big league starting pitcher among the four, but all four full-season starters pitched well on Saturday.
Severino Gonzalez – 3R, 2ER, 7H, 2BB, 5K in 6IP for Reading.
Colin Kleven – 4R, 2ER, 7H, 1BB, 8K in 7IP for Clearwater.
Jon Prosinski – 2R, 1ER, 4H, 2BB, 8K in 7IP for Lakewood.
And Brad Lincoln again pitched well for Lehigh Valley, allowing just one hit and one walk while striking out seven over six scoreless innings. He’s had success as a starter at AAA before, so I will reserve my excitement for the day when he has big league success, I think. But if he figures it out in the rotation at AAA, maybe he can still be useful in the big league bullpen this year. He had a good 2012 out of Pittsburgh’s pen, so it wouldn’t be the craziest thing to ever happen for him to recapture his optimal mechanics and form after getting reps in the rotation.
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
I kinda rambled on and on here. I blame the dudes tearing down a shed outside my bedroom window at 7:15 am. Anyway, Happy Draft Saturday, everyone! Let’s all keep a good thought for “Prep Arm With Upside” or “Toolsy Outfielder Who Really Isn’t As Interested In College As He’s Led His Parents To Believe, And Is Willing To Break It To Them Over The Next Five Weeks, Because While Breaking Your Mother’s Heart Is A Bummer, Money Is Way Better Than Learning And Stuff”.
On to Friday’s results – Cam Rupp had two hits and Cam Perkins drew two walks for LV. Perkins has done a nice job taking his walks this year, improving drastically over his 2013 rates. If you’re a corner OF with an ISO of around .150, any extra offensive value you can add is huge, and walking your way to an OBP over .400 is a pretty good start.
Jesse Biddle did not fair well in his start – 7R on 6H, 2HR, 2BB, 2K in 2.1 IP. Just under 60% of his pitches went for strikes. Colt Murray with six Ks in an extended relief, and first baseman Brock Stassi played mop-up for Austin Wright, inducing a fly ball out with the bases loaded to close out the top of the ninth of a Reading blow-out loss. Wright walked four men (around a FC and a wild pitch) in the ninth. That’s…that’s not so good.
Ethan Stewart induced 11 groundball outs and struck out five over seven innings. That’s the kind of performance that keeps people wondering if there isn’t something valuable lurking under the surface on that guy, if only he could be at all consistent. You don’t generally get 11 guys to ground out in a game by accident. Since a meltdown, seven walk performance on May 26th, Stewart has walked just five over 16.1 IP. So keep any eye on him going forward.
Dylan Cozens hit his third triple of the year. He’s a guy who’s not ready to give up on the idea that he can be a true athlete – he’s stolen 10 bases and been caught just twice this year. If he doubles up on his counting stats by the end of the year, (we’re close to the halfway mark), he’ll have 30 doubles, 6 triples, 14 homers and 20 steals. His 26% K rate is high, and his walk rate is historically low for him, ~6.5%. It was around 10% last year and even higher in the GCL in 2012. All in all, I’d take that kind of season as a pass of the level, for sure.
Also of note from Friday, Yacksel Rios struck out four in a two inning save, adn Carlos Tocci was 2-4 with a double for Lakewood. KC Serna had four hits including two doubles for CLR. Carlos Alonso hit a double and a home run for Reading. Sean O’Sullivan managed to work his way through seven innings of one-run ball for Lehigh Valley. And both Complex League teams lost to the respective Complex League Cubs, or “Los Cachorros”. I could never do the “rr” sound. It’s why my career dream of being a diplomatic translator for the Chilean Minister of Agriculture, Horticulture and Fisheries was eventually crushed. DAMN YOU TONGUE ROLL SOUND!!!!!!!!!!!
Roster news from the last couple days – Tyson Gillies was DFAed by the Phillies and cleared waivers, and is expected back on the Lehigh Valley roster. Cesar Jimenez was also DFAed to make room for Ronny Cedeno to go up to the Phils. Luis Garcia completed a quick rehab assignment at AAA and was optioned off the DL, and Jiwan James is back in Reading, as is previously injured C Lars Davis – not sure if they’ve moved Logan Moore back to CLR, but I wouldn’t be surprised, even though he’s had seven hits in his last four AA games.
In their quest to add to their pitching cupboard, the Phillies last night turned their attention to Aaron Nola and Matt Imhof, two men they hope will join the Major League rotation in Philadelphia someday.
Four years ago, however, it was Jesse Biddle’s time in the spotlight, when the Phillies made him the 27th pick in the 2010 MLB Draft. While Biddle is still just 22, there are certain pressures and expectations that come with being the top pitching prospect in an organization. Throughout his career in the Minors, Biddle has done a fine job of navigating the waters while finding himself as a pitcher.
As Matt mentioned in his blog post last week, one of the moves he would make in June would be to promote Biddle to Lehigh Valley as soon as possible. While we did just see two call-ups this past week, with Tyler Knigge and Cam Perkins going to the Iron Pigs, is Biddle due for a promotion as well? Continue reading Is Jesse Biddle Still on Track for a Mid-Season Call-Up to AAA?
Maikel Franco and pinch hitter Greg Smith (uhh…ok) hit home runs for Lehigh Valley. Phillippe Aumont drew a walk in that contest. Baseball’s interesting. Both LV and Reading used what seems like all of their pitchers, so let’s hope for some long starts today. Aaron Altherr, Logan Moore and Carlos Alonso each had three hits for REA, and Roman Quinn managed the same for CLR. Looks like Jeb Stefan’s been pushed to the bullpen for that squad, and 2013 pick Mark Meadors made his first outing of the year there as well. Lakewood was blanked by Delmarva, though Carlos Tocci and Dylan Cozens managed XBHs.
We reach the end of an era, as Jesus Alastre did not reach safely for the first time in his career. Pour one out, folks. And in the Dom Rep, the pitching tandem of Yonathan Trinidad and Yonathan Gonzalez couldn’t hold off the Cubs. It was a fairly low-scoring affair, and I wonder if anyone thought, “What A Yon Fest”. Probably not. And now I’m yawning. And can’t stop. And maybe so are you. Hope no one’s in a meeting or anything.
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:
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.
Phuture Phillies 