First-round prospect, Mick Abel pitched today.  This was the first time I was able to see him pitch.  It was certainly worth the wait.  But, it was also a disappointing tease.  Abel started the game and dominated the top of the rookie-level Tigers’ order.  Abel turned them away on 8 pitches, 6 strikes, and 3 ground outs. Continue reading Minor League Spring Training 2021, (4/23/21) →

Game two.  The Double-A Phillies hosted the Blue Jays.  They were perfect hosts allowing the Jays to come back and win 7-5.  Shawn Williams is the manager for the Fightin’ Phils.  Tyler Henson is the hitting coach, Brad Bergensen is the pitching coach.  With 3 Phillies’ coaches on the Covid-IL, Williams was absent.  I hear he’s in Allentown.

Games earlier in the week were canceled due to weather.  We are entering our rainy season.  Usually just means short showers sporadically throughout our weather zone.  But, we got heavy rain that washed out games and outdoor baseball activities.

Those scheming’ American Leaguers rolled innings twice when we had scoring threats – first and third, 2 outs and runner on second, one out.   Here’s my boxscore.

The Blue Jays took the lead with a solo HR in the third inning.  A walk and a stolen base doubled their lead in the fourth.  The Phils struck back on Arquimedes Gamboa’s 2-run HR in the fourth and took the lead on Matt Kroon’s solo HR in the fifth.

Two leadoff walks led to a 3-run inning and two-run lead for the Blue Jays in the seventh.  But, the Phils responded with two leadoff walks of their own in the bottom of the inning and scored on LukeMiller’s sac fly after a wild pitch and Jack Conley’s mammoth RBI double off the left-center field wall.

Two runs in the eight sealed the eventual victory for the Jays.  Here’s my pitchers’ box.

The first two pitchers were stretched out to three innings and 40+ pitches.  Ethan Lindow was effective.  He struck out two, walked one, and collected 7 air outs – a line drive, a popup, and 5 fly outs.  The 2 hits were solidly struck for a double and HR.  I think the same batter had both hits.

Julian Garcia gave up a leadoff walk that came around to score.  After that, he was darned good.  He struck out the side in the sixth, threw 27 strikes in 40 pitches (67.5%), and pretty much dominated the Jays.

Austin Ross opened the seventh with back-to-back walks on 9 pitches.  Then he found the strike zone and gave up 3 runs on 3 hits.  He did induce a double play ball.

Robinson Martinez looked extremely sharp during warm-ups before the eighth inning.  He had difficulty continuing to throw strikes when there was a batter in the box.  He gave up 2 runs, a couple of hard hit singles, and a hard hit sac fly to center.

Joel Cesar started the ninth with a 4-pitch walk.  He gave up some hard contact and loaded the bases with another walk before escaping any scoring damage with a popup.

Other Stuff

Josh Tols entered the game in the fourth inning.  Garcia had a runner on first and 2 outs.  It was a lefty v. lefty situation, the kind of situation Tols will see in Reading.  He has a slow fastball, but a curveball with the highest spin rate in the organization.  He walked the lefty but got the righty.  The batter almost spun into the ground trying to hit the curve.

Gamboa swung the bat well.  His HR was a no-doubter to left.  He made some nice (show-boaty?) flips to second.

Kroon’s HR was to right field, close to down the line.  The right fielder just turned and watched, then took a belated courtesy step toward the wall.

CJ Chatham batted out of order (intentionally) in the fourth inning.  (He batted third, in front of Gamboa’s HR.)  We speculated that he’s probably headed to the Alternate Site.

The Jays stole 3 bases, we had one by Gamboa.  We also advanced 3 runners on 2 wild pitches.

Tomorrow is a camp day. I’ll be back at my post Friday

Game One.  Redux.  High-A teams from the Phillies and Detroit organizations faced each other at BCB.  High-A for us is Jersey Shore.  We watched them lose yesterday to the Phillies’ Double squad, Reading.  Jersey Shore is managed by Chris Adamson.  Matt Hockenberry is the pitching coach.  Roly de Armas coached first base, but I’m pretty sure he’s managing in the GCL. Continue reading Minor League Spring Training 2021, (4/17/21) →

Game One.  Scheduled against the Detroit Tigers but they backed out expecting rain.  So, The Phillies Double-A and High-A squads, which were scheduled to host the Tigers, faced off against each other in BCB.  The Low-A and Rookie teams, which were to travel to Lakeland, played each other on one of the back fields.   Steve, Mark, and I took up our positions and watched the game. Continue reading Minor League Spring Training 2021, (4/16/21) →

It’s been over a week since my last report.  I’ll go into why later and provide an updated list of the players I’ve seen at the Complex.  This list has grown to a lot more than the 36 players I reported last time.  But, first yesterday’s observations.  (This could be a long one.)  (It is long.  Look how late it is for a Tuesday report.  Sorry.) Continue reading Minor League Spring Training 2021, (4/13/21) →

Still riding the euphoric high from the Phillies’sweep of the Braves, I went to the Complex.  I got there around 10:00 PM.  Two busses were parked in the parking lot.  Groups were already on the back fields (Carlton and Roberts).  Players were drifting onto Schmidt and Ashburn. Continue reading Minor League Spring Training 2021, (4/5/21) →

Against my better judgement, I drove over to the Complex after my morning “run”.  I pulled up about 10:37 AM and saw a couple buses discharging players at the entrance to the main, secured parking lot. It’s reserved for BayCare Ballpark employees year-round and major league players and staff during spring training. Continue reading Minor League Spring Training 2021, (4/3/21) →