Category Archives: 01. Site Features

Around the System–Corner Infield

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A first look at corner infielders throughout the system.  Next up will be middle infield, early next week.

Lehigh Valley

Maikel Franco, 21, Signed as a free agent in 2010; .215/.280/.322 in 121 AB’s; 2HR 10RBI; 1SB; 8%bb/18%k rates; .222 vs. LHP; .212 vs. RHP; .176 with RISP. 24 games at 3B with 2 errors (.970); 7 games at 1B without an error;  A very disappointing first 6 weeks for Franco, but some recent signs of life to hang onto.  He ultimately will come around, question is how long it takes.

Jim Murphy, 28, Phils 17th round pick in 2006; .277/.354/.482 in 112 AB’s; 4HR 18RBI; 9%bb/23%K rates; .200 vs. LHP; .312 vs. RHP; .273 with RISP; .321 in May.  26 games at 1B without an error; Murphy has been one of the most consistent performers for Lehigh Valley this year swinging a good bat and playing well at 1B.

Reading

Cesar Hernandez, Soon to be 24, Signed as a free agent in 2006; .353/.423/.518 in 85 AB’s; 3HR 13RBI; 1/3 SB; 11%bb/11%k rates; .367 vs. LHP; .345 vs. RHP; .368 with RISP. 14 games at 3B with 7 errors (.829); 7 games at SS with 1 error (.962); 2 games at 2B without an error;  Hernandez has simply scalded the ball since being sent to the minors in mid April.  The Phils have tried to get him acclimated at 3B and that has proven to be an uphill battle with some significant troubles at the hot corner.

Chris Serritella, 24, Phils 4th round pick in 2012; .216/.260/370 in 46 AB’s; 2HR 7RBI; 6%bb/32%k rates.  3 games at 1B with 1 error; Has shown very little in his limited playing time this year. Has been used almost exclusively at DH. Continue reading Around the System–Corner Infield →

Box Score Recap – 5/8/2014

Box Score Recap

Maikel Franco was 2-4 plus a BB, and Reid Brignac hit two three-run home runs in Lehigh Valley’s win over Charlotte. With Freddy Galvis demoted, and Brignac swinging a hot bat, you wonder if maybe that’s the move, especially after Cesar Hernandez was scratched yesterday with a sore groin.

Darin Ruf began his rehab assignment with CLR last night. He walked and struck out in 4PAs. Ken Giles put up 2Ks in a clean inning for Reading. Tommy Joseph seems to be doing fine after his latest concussion scare – he’s hit in four of the five games since he came off the DL. He’s OPSing .905 on the year, though he’s still well under 100 PAs.

And last, but (as they say) certainly not least, J.P. Crawford extends his hit streak to 10 games with his third double in two days. He’s OPSing 1.178 over those ten games. I think he might be pretty good at baseball. He should seriously consider it as a career.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 5/8/2014 →

XST and Threshers May 8, 2014

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I was all set to watch the Williamsport squad with Denton Keys starting when I went over to see Davis Whitehead warm up for the GCL game. He throws a heavy ball with some movement. He’s 6’4, 240 and reminds me of a thin Joe Blanton. I decided to watch him pitch since I hadn’t seen him since his return from TJ surgery last May. Since I went back and forth between the 2 fields, I don’t have a whole game summary for either game, but rather a few observations of individual players.

David Whitehead. The 34th round pick out of Elon University broke the bat of the first batter he faced but the third baseman air mailed the throw over Luis Encarnacion. The second batter broke his bat on a ball he punched into shallow center. Herlis Rodriguez charged and fired home preventing the runner from scoring. Unfortunately, the cut off man couldn’t handle the throw and the batter was able to take second. The third batter hit a line drive that Olvy Marte missed twice at second. He leaped to glove the ball but couldn’t control it. The ball landed on him as he hit the ground, but again he couldn’t get a handle on it. The runners had to hold. So, after breaking two bats and facing three batter the bases were loaded with no outs instead of a runner on first with two outs. The clean-up hitter lofted a double to left center and the Pirates scored 2 unearned runs. Whitehead’s one inning line was 1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K. He deserved a better fate. I left to watch the Williamsport squad and hopefully better defense. Continue reading XST and Threshers May 8, 2014 →

Box Score Recap – 5/7/2014

Box Score Recap

Can we be done with Mookie Betts already? Seriously. Enough.

Jonathan Pettibone and the Iron Pigs bullpen held Charlotte to two runs over 11 innings, with Justin De Fratus, Seth Rosin and Luis Garcia locking down 5.2 of those without allowing a run. It’s weird to see a bunch of right-handed relievers capable of such things. Wonder where the Phils could find a couple guys like that…

Carlos Alonso, Zach Collier, Cameron Perkins and Aaron Altherr each had two hits, while Albert Cartwright had three, as Reading went off for six runs in the sixth inning to take down Portland. Hoby Milner‘s best start of the year gets the job done, though he continues to be homer prone. He’s allowed seven in his last three starts. Less would be better. A revelation, I know.

A rehabbing Ethan Martin worked around two hits to pitch a scoreless sixth for CLR, while Andrew Knapp got his season off to a mixed start, doubling, but striking out three times (less would be better) in his first game as DH after Tommy John Surgery last fall. The Phillies released Chad Carman and sent Justin Parr to XST as part of the roster maneuvering to get Knapp and Willie Carmona on the CLR active roster. Sorry to see Carman go, as he was friendly on social media, and by all accounts, in person. And his dad and I once had a spirited argument about the role of The Red Cross versus local non-profits in disaster relief in the comments on this very website. So there’s that.

And finally, J.P. Crawford had two doubles for Lakewood – he’s now OPSing near .900, though he does currently have one more strikeout than walk on the year. WASHOUT! Drew Anderson took the worst of the Kannapolis offense, surrendering eight runs in 3.2 IP. He left with the bases loaded in the fourth, and Yacksel Rios couldn’t get an out before all three men crossed the plate.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 5/7/2014 →

Hot or Not

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A look at the time period of May 1 thru May 7.  Some quick notes….How is Cesar Hernandez not in Philly.  He is mashing in the minors and has shown he can hit major league pitching. I simply can’t comprehend why they are choosing to not put their best 25 players in Philadelphia…And on that note, on to Luis Garcia, who has yet to allow an earned run pitching in AAA and has converted 9 of 10 save opportunities over two year.  Can he not do what SHawn Camp and Jeff Manship do?…When does JP Crawford get moved up?  My thought is there is zero reason to rush and I would let him get another 100-150 AB’s in Lakewood…Perci Garner’s start this week opened some eyes.  It will be interesting to see how he follows up….I would think the day is coming sooner rather than later where Brody Colvin is no longer with the organization.  He $600K plus bonus is the reason he is currently around…Finally, for the first time in “Hot or Not” history, there were no “not hot” hitters, meaning that no hitter in the Phils organization during the time period discussed hit under .200 in a minimum of 12 AB’s. Kind of remarkable.

Hot Hitters: Min 12 AB’s; Cesar Hernandez (.524, 5R 2HR 6RBI); JP Crawford (.433, 5R 1HR 5RBI, SB); Tommy Joseph (.375); Matt Tolbert (.368); Tyler Henson (.347, 5R 3HR 9RBI); Aaron Altherr (.346, HR, 7RBI, SB); Willians Astudillo (.345, 5R 1HR 8RBI); Dylan Cozens (.333); Andrew Pullin (.320, 2HR); Honorable Mention: Duran, Franco, Lavin

Not Hot Hitters: None

Hot Starters: Perci Garner (6IP 2H 0ER 2BB 9K); David Buchanan (6IP 7H 1ER 1BB 6K); Colin Kleven (6IP 6H 1ER 0BB 2K); Jesse Biddle (7IP 3H 2ER 3BB 6K)

Not Hot Starters: Miguel Nunez (4.2IP 9H 8ER 1BB 1K); Mark Leiter (2 starts, 5IP 9H 9ER 2BB 5K); Mike Nesseth (2IP 4H 5ER 3BB 1K); Brody Colvin (4IP 6H 5ER 2BB 0K); Ranfi Casimiro (5IP 9H 5ER 1BB 4K); Alejandro Arteaga (5.2IP 6H 6ER); Hoby Milner (2 starts, 12.1IP 15H 9ER 6BB 8K) Continue reading Hot or Not →

XST Camp Day; May 7, 2014

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Wednesdays are Camp Days for the Phillies in XST.  On camp days, the coaches run the players through fundamentals in the morning.  Later, an intrasquad game is played with accredited umpires.  This morning, I decided to walk over to watch the game.  It seemed to me that it would provide some interesting observations as players strove to impress while competing against their peers. Continue reading XST Camp Day; May 7, 2014 →

Looking at Some Mock Drafts

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We are now right abouta month from the MLB First Year Player Draft.  There are many mock drafts floating around the internet so lets see who they have going at #7.  Remember that these are not necessarily who the Phillies have been linked to, it is also an interpretation of how other players are slotting into picks.  As always these mocks are subject to seismic changes over the next month, so don’t panic.

MLB Draft Insider – Chris Crawford (5/7/14)

Bradley Zimmer – CF – University of San Francisco

Baseball Prospectus – Bret Sayre (making the pick) (5/7/14)

Alex Jackson – C/RF – Rancho Bernardo HS (San Diego, CA) Continue reading Looking at Some Mock Drafts →

Box Score Recap – 5/6/2014

Box Score Recap

Sean O’Sullivan managed the Lehigh Valley game well in a losing effort, but the offense just didn’t get it done against Tommy Hanson. Maikel Franco drew his second walk in two days, which seems good, but Jim Murphy‘s solo home run (4) was all the scoring the Pigs could muster.

Severino Gonzalez didn’t have it working on Tuesday – he gave up 4R on 6H, 4BB, 2K over 6IP. He’s been struggling some this year, but as the season wears on, we’ll find out a lot more about the young Panamanian. Remember that he is one of the fifteen or so youngest guys in the Eastern League, and last spring he was ticketed for the New York Penn League. He’s going to have setbacks. How he responds over the course of this full season will tell a much greater tale than where he sits on May 6th.

Colin Kleven scattered six hits and allowed just one run in six innings, and Brian Pointer hit a two run home run in the top of the ninth to salt away Clearwater’s second victory in as many days. Colt Murray stranded two batters for a one-out save in that game, his second save in as many days. He’s on the Harold Martinez career path, though, so unless he’s promoted and starts doing good work at AA, or we hear scouting reports saying he’s “finally figured it out”, or that he’s “poised to turn the corner”, or something to that effect, I’ll choose to not get too excited about his stats.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 5/6/2014 →

Lehigh Valley Weekly Report

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The ‘Pigs continued their eight game road trip in CHarlotte Monday and Tuesday, losing both games  after sweeping Gwinnett over the weekend and now stand at 15-16 and in last place of the Northern Division of the International League but just four games behind division leading Buffalo.  Lehigh Valley finishes their series with CHarlotte on Thursday and then returns home for an 8 game home stand against Gwinnett and Scranton that begins on Friday evening.

‘Pigs Leaders: Hitting: Maikel Franco is 9th in AB’s (113); Reid Brignac is 5th in runs (20); Jim Murphy is 5th in doubles (9); Clete Thomas is 4th in walks (20) and 4th in steals(8); Tyler Henson is 9th in SLG (.524).

Pitching: David Buchanan is 3rd in wins (4); Luis Garcia is 5th in saves (5); Sean O’Sullivan in 9th in IP (35.0); Barry Enright is 4th in HR allowed (5).

Pigs Prospects: Maikel Franco is showing improvement at .209/.263/.327 on the year and .300 over his last 10 games but in not nearly where we thought he would be at this stage.  His K rate (21%) is not all that problematic, but he has struggled to make solid contact for a good portion of the year before just recently.  Franco has 2HR 10RBI and is hitting just .188 with RISP. Continue reading Lehigh Valley Weekly Report →

XST vs. Yankees; May 6, 2014

Game Reports

Due to scheduling and weather it has been about 10 days since I’ve been able to attend the games at the Carpenter Complex. On April 28th, I was able to report that Ethan Martin was getting the start and that Roman Quinn was in uniform and in the line up . Well, Martin has move on to the Threshers to begin his rehab and Quinn was not in uniform today.

However, Darin Ruf started in left field for the GCL squad and Chace Numata was behind the plate.   Continue reading XST vs. Yankees; May 6, 2014 →