The final three names have been added to the Lehigh Valley roster after final cuts were made from Phillies camp. OF Scott Podsednik, INF Hector Luna and P Raul Valdes will all be joining the IronPigs in time for opening night tomorrow. Congrats to much maligned Joe Savery for earning an opening day roster spot with the Phils.
Category Archives: 01. Site Features
Joe Savery has made the 25 man roster
That’s the word on the street, at least.
This site has been around for a little more than 5 years, and Savery’s story is probably the coolest thing I’ve seen since I started closely following the minor leagues like 10 years ago. He was close to calling it a career and retiring, he switched from pitcher to hitter, then switched back to pitcher, recovered 3-4 mph on his fastball, and is now on the opening day roster of the big league club.
No matter how good he ends up becoming or what role he carves out at the major league level, his story is a great inspiration for future players, and a good lesson that anything can happen in baseball, and even when you think you have a good idea of what is going to happen, you can still be completely surprised.
Congrats to Joe, and continued success.
Open Discussion: Week of April 2nd
Spring training is essentially over. The games start soon. This is exciting. My plan is to have one of these open posts every week, and I expect you’ll keep the random chatter unrelated to specific games or news stories in this post. I’ll again be providing nightly box score recaps, and also writing a few regular features and of course covering any big news and the like. I’m also going to spend some time updating all of the profile pages, time permitting. As I’ve done many times before, I’m going to ask that you behave and be nice to one another. We’ve carved out a really peaceful little corner of the internet here, and I want to keep it that way. As always, if someone is causing trouble, don’t feed them, just email me.
I appreciate everyone checking in this winter, even when there was really nothing to talk about, and I’m hoping the 2012 minor league season is the best yet in terms of this site. Thanks again for your support.
Lehigh Valley Roster
The Lehigh Valley roster came out today, albeit in an incomplete fashion as the final roster will be dependant on the last couple roster moves the Phils need to make. This is where we are at currently…
Catcher: Erik Kratz, 31, Kratz, a 2010 IL All Star was a key member of the team last year, hitting .288 with 15 HR and 53 RBI.
Tuffy Gosewisch, 28, had a very good season for Reading last year. His strength continues to be his defense, however, he provided some punch at the plate last year hitting .247 with 13 HR and 66 RBI.
John Suomi, 31, typically moves up and down the minor leagues filling in where the Phils need a spare catcher. I would expect the same role in 2012. Continue reading Lehigh Valley Roster
Lakewood Roster
The Lakewood Roster is as follows:
Catcher: John Hill (19th round, 2011); Logan Moore (9th round, 2011)
Infield: Chris Duffy (26th Round, 2010); Kelly Dugan (2nd round, 2009); Maikel Franco (FA, 2010); Gustavo Gonzalez (FA, 2011); Tyler Greene (11th round, 2011); Drew Hillman (18th round, 2011); Carlos Perdomo (FA, 2007)
Outfield: Aaron Altherr (9th round, 2009); Gauntlett Eldemire (6th round, 2010); Kyrell Hudson (3rd round, 2009); Brian Pointer (28th round, 2010)
Pitchers: Gabrial Arias (FA, 2007); Ryan Duke (25th round, 2011); Kenny Giles (7th round 2011); Colin Klevan (33rd round, 2009); Ervis Manzanillo (FA, 2009); Lino Martinez (FA, 2009); Bryan Morgado (4th round, 2010); Colton Murray (13th round, 2011); Mike Nesseth (17th round, 2010); Ryan Sasaki (13th round, 2009); Colby Shreve (6th round, 2008); Ethan STewart (47th round, 2010)
Pitcher Nicholas Hernandez will start the season on the DL and OF Zach Collier is suspended for the first 50 games of the season.
Some quick thoughts on J-Rod and Lisalberto Bonilla
I watched bits and pieces of last night’s Phillies game and got to see Julio Rodriguez and Lisalbert Bonilla both take their shot against the Yankees reserves and backups. Neither guy had a night they will cherish, but both flashed some positive things, and I think both are definitely interesting guys to watch in 2012. Here are some very brief thoughts on both guys
Rodriguez:
* His fastball was mostly 87-90, consistently hitting 89 from what I saw. It did have a little bit of late life with movement in to righthanded hitters
* The deception people talk about is very real. Though he’s not the wiry skinny kid he was when he was drafted, he still creates a lot of funk with his arms and legs in his delivery, and some of the hitters took late, defensive swings because they weren’t able to really see the ball.
* His location wasn’t great, and he did miss up a few times, which we’ve heard about before.
* His slow curveball was in the low 70s and it did not look like a swing and miss offering. Definitely the big thing he’ll need to work on this year.
* He threw one or two solid changeups, a weapon he’ll need against lefties.
Nothing in his performance really changed my opinion of him. Because of the deception he creates, I think he will be able to generate swings and misses at the next level. I do think his future is likely in the bullpen. Tyler Clippard has proven you don’t need to throw 95 mph to be a successful short reliever, and he gets by with deception. Rodriguez is going to need to tighten up both his changeup and curveball significantly to get to that point, but I think he does have that potential.
Bonilla:
* What struck me about Bonilla is how calm the first part of his delivery is, as he stays compact until his arm crosses his body, but his follow through is really violent, and he ends up falling off the mound to the first base side almost every time. This is going to cause command problems.
* His fastball was generally 90-92 from what I saw, I think I saw one 94. He has average or better arm strength.
* Like Rodriguez, his command was pretty poor, probably a case of nerves. He gets a pass.
* He threw a couple of really wicked changeups with excellent tumble and fade away from the lefthanded hitters. I believe he also hung one that got belted.
* His breaking ball was fringy, but he threw mainly fastballs.
I should have tivo’ed the game so I could have tried to capture the video and post it here, but this is from memory. If anyone else watched them pitch, please share your thoughts.
One Less Thing to Talk About
We won’t have Matt Rizzotti to kick around anymore as the 26 year old Designated Hitter was traded this morning to the Minnesota Twins for cash considerations. Rizzotti, the Phils 6th round pick in the 2007 draft was certainly one of the most discussed players over the last several years here at Phuture Phillies because of his ability to hit and do little else. The trade will give him the opportunity to do just that in the American League.
The Phils made the surprising decision to have RIzzotti repeat AA after an outstanding year in 2010 at the plate for the RPhils. Rizzotti again had a very good year in Reading in 2011 hitting .295/.392/511 with 24HR and 84 RBI. However as a liability in the field, it became apparant that the Phils felt there was no room in the organization for him.
Always gracious with his time and a very good guy….Good Luck Matt.
Matt Rizzotti traded to the Twins for cash considerations
The end of an era. Goodnight, sweet prince.
New minor league workout groups (26Mar2012)
Courtesy of loyal reader Bill. Click this link.
Some minor league assignments
Courtesy of Matt Gelb.
AA Reading: May, Pettibone, Julio Rodriguez, Jiwan James, Tyson Gilles, Sebastian Valle
A+ Clearwater: Brody Colvin
A Lakewood: Altherr, Eldemire, Kyrell Hudson, Brian Pointer, Maikel Franco, and Tyler Greene
Extended ST: Larry Greene and Roman Quinn
Not many big surprises. It will be interesting to see JJ and Gillies in the same outfield, and I expect that if this happens Jiwan James will play RF. Also nice to see Pointer is headed to Lakewood. Not surprised to see LG and Quinn head to XST, and I expect one/both of them will make it to Lakewood in May, which we’ll call “The Jon Singleton Plan”
Phuture Phillies 