Another report from NYPhilsmaniac, who has done an outstanding job of providing us first hand accounts this summer. This report comes from yesterday’s Williamsport game. Thanks again Dave.

PITCHING:
ADAM MORGAN started. I came away impressed even though his line didn’t look good. He is a hard-throwing lefty (or so it appeared to me since there was no radar gun in Brooklyn) who mixes his pitches well. I would make a guess that he was hitting 91-92 but would love to know what he tops out at (jslasher can you help me out here?). Morgan cruised through the 1st inning with 2 lazy flies to CF and a K. In the second inning after retiring the first batter on a liner to right, he gave up an infield single and then a smashed triple. He struck out the next batter on a 3-2 curve but then gave a single that hit the LF wall on the fly. From there he settled down and threw a hitless 3rd and 4th (there was a BB in the 3rd). In the 5th, he seemed to tire and after getting the first two out, he gave up a 2B (that was hit the other way over the 1B head into the corner), another IF single and a walk on a 3-2 pitch. That was the end of his day. They hit probably 3 hard shots off him in almost 5 innings. He definitely was not economical with his pitches running a number of deep counts. So with the bases loaded and two outs, in comes another lefty…

Check below for the rest
Continue reading First Person Scouting Report: Williamsport 3 August 2011 →

As discussed in the box score recap post.

This kind of puts things in to perspective. Thankfully everyone is okay, but wow, I can’t even imagine.

Opening tonight is tonight for the short season Crosscutters, so lets take a look at the roster:

Catchers: Francisco Diaz (21, signed as a free agent in 2006); Robert Stumpo (23, 33rd round pick in 2010 draft)

Infield: Carlos Alonso (23, 32nd round pick in 2010); Cody Asche (20, 4th rd 2011); Taylor Black (22, 16th rd 2011); Maikel Franco (18, Signed as a free agent in 2010); Harold Martinez (21, 2nd rd pick in 2011); Patrick Murray (24, 34th round pick in 2010); Matt Payton (23, 27th rd pick in 2010).  Note: Jake Smith will start the season on the DL Continue reading Williamsport Roster →

The off-season news keeps on coming in what has been a busy week,  with former Phillie second baseman Mickey Morandini set to become the coach of the Low A Short Season Williamsport Crosscutters, according to Jim Peters of the Northwest Indiana Times.  Morandini had been the head baseball coach at Valpariso High School in Indiana, where he lives with his family. Morandini commented to Peters that “part of the reason I didn’t do it earlier was that I wanted to see my children grow up and coach them…I have done that almost the last 8 years.  The Phillies contacted me almost every year since I retired. I told them that eventually I wanted to get back in it. I am not getting any younger, so I figured this was a good time to do it.

Morandini who is a Pennsylvania native, is now 44 and has been out of professional baseball (other than spending some time instructing at Phils Spring Training) since retiring in 2000 after spending 11 seasons in the major leagues.   A thank you goes out to Mandy Housenick of the Allentown Morning Call for sending this information our way.

Courtesy of poster nyphilsmaniac (promoted from comments):

–Cesar Hernandez got the day off so Duran (SS) led off. Duran looked fine in the field making all routine plays. He one nice single, stole 2nd but then got picked off.
–Miguel Alvarez had only one hit but hammered a line drive that was right at the second baseman in another AB.

Continue reading Report on Williamsport morning game 8/11 →

Five Williamsport Crosscutters have been named to the New York Penn League All Star Team, in the game to be held next Tuesday in Staten Island, NY. Outfielder Miguel Alvarez, 2B Cesar Hernandez, P Eric Pettis, P Chase Johnson and Catcher Jeff Lanning were all named to the NL team (Note: Lanning was named as an injury replacement).

Both Johnson (21st round, 09) and Pettis (35th round, 10) were Phillies draft picks, while both Alvarez (2007) and Hernandez (2006) were signed as free agents.  Additionally, Lanning was signed as a free agent this season after being originally drafted by the Twins two years ago.

I noticed this comment needed my approval because of the links attached, but it really deserves its own discussion because of the length and quality of the report. Reader “Jslasher88” was kind enough to type out a long report from his recent trip to see the Crosscutters in action. I hope he’s okay with me bringing his report to the top of the site. Check below.

Update —> Bumped to the top for Jslasher’s 2nd review, which I’ve added to the original post.

Continue reading Crosscutters game report →

Williamsport, 7-9, T-5th in the NYPL Pinckney Division

The Crosscutters had a rough week, going 2-5, including a sweep at the hands of the State College Spikes. They now sit in a tie for last place, but trail the division leaders by only 2 games.

Continue reading Williamsport Weekly Report →