Category Archives: 01. Site Features

Hot or Not

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A look back at the week of July 18-24. Quick thoughts…when your team is struggling offensively as much as the Phillies, dont you find a way to get Cody Asche into the major league lineup? He won’t fix things, but will at the very least add some energy. (Ruf to LF, Brown to RF, Young to 1B, Asche to 3B)…Cameron Perkins has really struggled since coming off the DL with his broken wrist…Ethan Martin has been pitching extremely well over the past two months and may be positioned for a September call up…I am getting pretty excited about Kenny Giles again.

Hot Hitters: Cody Asche (.429); Cesar Hernandez (.390); Gabrial Lino (.364, 4R 2HR 5RBI); Matt Tolbert (.364); Angelo Mora (.350); Albert Cartwright (.346, 7R, 2SB); Maikel Franco (.333); Jiwan James (.333); Honorable Mention: Greene, Cozens, Dugan, Morelos Continue reading Hot or Not →

Box Score Recap – 7/23/2013

Box Score Recap

Very nice line from Ethan Martin -2H, 3BB, 6K in 6 scoreless innings, threw 65 of his 100 pitches for strikes. That’s what he needs to do, more or less, every time out for the rest of the year to prove to me that he’s a viable candidate to be a starter. The couple walks I can live with. A couple more hits, a couple runs? Fine. But if the strike rate is in the mid 60s, it means he’s not living outside the zone, which is all but an impossibility for a starting pitcher. That’s what I’ll continue to look for.

3-5, 2 HR for Cody Ashce. I would love to see him up in the bigs in a couple days, platooning with Kevin Frandsen or not. If the team moves Michael Young, hopefully that’s the play, though Freddy Galvis playing every day at 3B might be the club’s preferred option.

Elsewhere, Kelly Dugan 2-3 with a double, (off Top 50 guy Noah Syndergaard). Jesse Biddle couldn’t get out of the first inning. Brody Colvin came in with the bases loaded and allowed 1 runner to score, but then worked a solid 4.1 innings. Chris Serritella with a ninth inning, 2 out, full count HR to send the game into extras after Colt Murray couldn’t hold the 1-1 tie in the ninth. A fine start from Shane Martin to lead Williamsport to victory. And Jesus Chavez, strike-throwing lefty, continues to torch the VSL. I would expect him stateside next year after 66 K and just 6 BB in 66 IP so far. Any way you do the math, that’s pretty good stuff. 

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 7/23/2013 →

Lehigh Valley Weekly Report

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Its been a rough two weeks for Lehigh Valley, even with an 8-1 win last night, as they have gone 3-7 since the last report and now sit at 52-52, and in 3rd place of the Northern Division of the International League, 5.5 games behind division leading Pawtucket and 2 games behind Norfolk in the race for the wild card. Lehigh Valley is in the midst of an eight game road trip during which they play two more in Rochester, followed by a four game series in Pawtucket.

‘Pigs Prospects: Cody Asche has hit safely in 20 of his last 27 games and is hitting .359 during that time frame. Taking it back a bit further, Asche has hit in 38 of his last 49 games (.324). After having a fairly miserable time hitting left handed pitching during the first two months of the season, Asche has been a solid .294 since May 26th.  He continues to show the occasional pop, good base running and very good defense. On the year, Asche is at .292/.352/.451 with 12HR and 60RBI, to go along with 11SB. Extremely solid. I really hope to see him in Philly before the end of the year. Continue reading Lehigh Valley Weekly Report →

Around the System, OF, Lower Half

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Lakewood

Larry Greene, Jr, 20, Phils 1st round pick in 2011 draft; .234/.329/.317 in 278 AB’s; 2HR 23RBI; 5/9 SB; .131 vs. LH, .278 vs. RH, .229 with RISP; .275 since June 1; 13%bb/34% k rates. 77 games in the OF with 9 errors (.927); 2 OF assists; The good news is Greene has shown great improvement over the last two months, renewing hope that using a #1 pick on him wouldnt rank up there in the realm of Jeff Jacksonesque failures. The bad news: VERY pedestrian power and speed numbers combined with difficulties in the field and .131 against lefties. 

Brian Pointer, 21, Phils 28th round pick in 2010 draft; .228/.346/.357 in 311 AB’s; 5HR 39RBI; 21SB; .177 vs. LH, .241 vs. RH, .276 with RISP; .225 since June 1; 11%bb/26% k rates; 85 games in the OF with 4 errors (.974); 5 OF assists, I have been infatuated with Pointer’s skill set since I saw him in Spring Training in 2011 and am pretty consistently disappointed by his line. The guy has skills. He needs to hit lefties and strike out less and probably has one more year to learn to do those things. Continue reading Around the System, OF, Lower Half →

General Discussion – Week of 7-22-2013 – Pre-Deadline Edition

Weekly Discussion

Last chance for the big club to sway the thinking of their leadership. A strong week might rightfully lead to a buy-a-couple-pieces stance, though a big splash is probably not in the offing, I would guess. A mediocre week might lead to a sell-off of a couple pieces, or a stand-pat position – MYoung and Lannan are moveable, if someone wants them, wouldn’t necessarily harm the team, and might net you a big-league bench OF to fill in now and when Revere returns, replace Laynce Nix and his non-exystance off the Phils bench, and a middle reliever to fill in the gap so you don’t have to call up Phillippe Aumont again. An 0-6 week might lead Rube to hit the reset button, moving guys like Papelbon, Utley, Rollins, Lee, Ruiz, and who knows who else.

If they can’t find a taker for John Lannan before the non-waiver deadline, I would shop Kyle Kendrick. FIP and xFIP at 3.88 and 4.00 respectively, one more year of team control, cheap for the rest of this year, knows how to take a practical joke. (I missed in the original post that Lannan is an arb4 this year. He was a super 2 and so gets 4 years of arb, not 3- adds to his value and changes the complexion of both the Young comparison and the Kendrick point a bit). When Doc comes back, presumably in a couple weeks, it will likely send a competent Jon Pettibone back to AAA. Pettibone’s FIP and xFIP are right around 4.20. That’s fine with me for a fifth starter.

Box Score Recap – 7/22/2013

Box Score Recap

Adam Morgan back at Lehigh Valley 71 pitches, 46 strikes, 4 innings. Works for me. Sebastian Valle with his second 2 HR game in the last 4. Impressive. Less impressive? Your Clearwater Threshers were no-hit by three Jupiter Hammerheads. Continue reading Box Score Recap – 7/22/2013 →

Around the System–OF, Top Half

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A look at the OF at the upper reaches of the organization. Stats are thru Saturday. The report on Lakewood, Williamsport and GCL will be out this week.

Lehigh Valley

Leandro Castro, 24, Signed as a free agent in 2007; .267/.297/.397 in 292 AB’s; 7HR 43 RBI; 16/22 SB; .364 vs. LHP, .225 vs. RHP; .338 with RISP; 4%bb/18%K rates; .259 since June 1. 77 games in the OF with 6 errors (.966); 6 OF assists. Castro has had a very good year and in my mind has placed on himself on the radar screen for a 4th or 5th OF candidate in Philadelphia next year. His biggest issue has always been his free swinging. While still a free swinger, he is making a whole heck of alot more contact than in the past.  Work in the OF has been less than stellar.

Steve Susdorf, 27, Phils 19th round pick in 2008 draft;.341/.429/.438 in 185 AB’s; 1HR 24RBI; 8SB; .324 vs. LH, .344 with RH, .327 with RISP; .352 since June 1. 13%bb/14% k rates.  43 games in the OF with 1 error (.983); 2 OF assists; I am not quite sure what Lance Nix gives you that Steve Susdorf can’t. Susdorf has been the picture of consistency, hitting both righties and lefties and giving you a very good AB each and every time. Continue reading Around the System–OF, Top Half →

Box Score Recap – 7/20/2013

Box Score Recap

Lakewood and Clearwater both squeak out wins in their respective slugfests. Yacksel Rios got hit around a little in his start, while Josh Warner has been looks pretty good in relief. And Lehigh Valley went 12 scoreless innings with Columbus before Justin Friend finally gave up a solo HR in the 13th. I’ll have to skip the graphic for now, maybe get it up later, but here’s a place to discuss. Continue reading Box Score Recap – 7/20/2013 →

Box Score Recap – 7/19/2013

Box Score Recap

Maikel Franco back above .400 after a 3-5 night. Kelly Dugan with three hits as well, giving him 4 multi-hit games in his last six. That’s a nice little run after a slow start at AA. And Zach Collier hit his 6th HR of the year and brought his BA back above the old Mendoza line. Sounds like he made an adjustment after a video session a couple days ago that has helped his swing (read Mike Drago’s story about that – from the Reading Eagle). Ken Giles struck out 4 and walked 2 in 2 scoreless innings. He’s got a 14/4 K/BB ratio in 7.1 IP since coming back from injury. I’d say he’s healed, (though 4BB in 7.1 IP is not ideal). And a disappointing performance from Wilmer Oberto. 2-5 with a triple and ZERO HOMERUNS! Can you believe that? Shameful. Continue reading Box Score Recap – 7/19/2013 →