The plan has changed rather abruptly for Phils top prospect Domonic Brown. Brown was supposed to be spending much of the next three weeks getting the at bats he missed out on riding the Phils bench during the seasons final months.  However, after a 2-29 start in his 9 games with Escogido, Brown has returned home reports Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer.  Gelb reported that Phils GM Ruben Amaro stated that Brown was feeling tired and sluggish and as such he was pulled out of the Dominican League. This will obviously lead to additional speculation as to the expected role Brown will be in at the beginning of the 2011 season.

While Brown should certainly contribute in a major way to the 2011 Phillies, the plan as to the manner and timeframe of that contribution could be swaying a bit.

A Thanksgiving hiatus for those of us here at Phuture Phillies but we are back at it with updates from the WInter Leagues.

Domonic Brown has gotten off to a slow start in the Dominican, hitting .053 in his first 19 AB’s with 2 RBI’s and 6 strikeouts.  This is his first consistent game action since July.

Freddy Galvis is still below the Mendoza line in the Venezulan League, at .188/.291/.229 with 48 AB’s under his belt. The 21 year old SS is making contact with just 5 strikeouts in his 54 plate appearances.

Harold Garcia has taken it up a notch and stands at .294/.368/.324 with 3 RBI’s in 21 games in the Venezuelan League.

Cesar Hernandez, newly added to the 40 man roster is hitting .320/.393/.320 in his first 9 games in Venezuela.

Antonio Bastardo continues his early domination in the Dominican, not allowing an earned run or hot in his first 5 appearances, while striking out 6.

Yohan FLande has made 4 starts in the DOminican and is 1-1 with 4.91 ERA in 18.1 innings of work.  He has allowed 22 hits, and walked 5 for a high WHIP of 1.47.

Julio Rodriguez has made 6 starts and is 2-1 with an impressive 3.10 ERA in 29 innings.  Opponents are hitting .250 against him and he has struck out 18.

The Arizona Fall League season comes to a close next week with the last games being played on Thursday, before the Championship Game next Saturday.  Look for the final report on the Fall League next weekend.

Matt Rizzotti played 1B on Thursday and Saturday and went a combined 2-4, with a run scored, an rbi, 5 walks, a strikeout and made his second error. Strange line for a cleanup hitter: .370/.521/.407 in 54 AB’s with 0HR 11 RBI and 2 extra base hits.  He has walked 18 times and struck out just 10.  Continue reading Winter League Update →

Per Todd Zolecki

Arizona Fall League. The Phillies will send eight players to the Arizona Fall League to play for the Mesa Solar Sox: righthanders Joe Bisenius, Andrew Carpenter and Pat Overholt; lefthander Sergio Escalona; catcher Lou Marson; infielder Jason Donald; and outfielders Quintin Berry and Jeremy Slayden.

No real surprises, with the possible exception of sending Berry instead of Taylor as the one below AA representative. This also tells me Slayden and Overholt will be protected on the 40 man roster, as you wouldn’t really want these guys in the limelight if you didn’t plan on protecting them.

The rosters were announced at the end of August last year, and the Phillies sent 9 guys; Bisenius, Happ, Outman, Mathieson, Savery, Marson, Golson, and Costanzo. Reminder on eligibility, for those who are unfamiliar with the process;

Each Major League organization is required to provide six players subject to the following requirements:

• All Triple-A and Double-A players are eligible, provided the players are on at least a Double-A level roster no later than Aug. 1.
• One player below the Double-A level is allowed per Major League team.
• One foreign player is allowed, as long as the player does not reside in a country that participates in winter ball, as part of the Caribbean Confederation or the Australian winter league.
• No players with more than one year of credited Major League service as of August 31 are eligible, except a team may select one player picked in the most recently concluded Major League Rule 5 Draft.
• To be eligible, players on Minor League disabled lists must be activated at least 45 days before the conclusion of their respective seasons.

So. Donald, Marson, Happ, Carrasco, Garcia and then maybe Savery again? I believe some teams end up sending fewer than 6 and then other teams send more, as the Phillies did last year. Any other suggestions?

While some Phillies prospects are enjoying the sun of Arizona and Hawaii winter leagues, others are playing in their native country winter leagues this off-season. The big change in 2007 is the demise of the Puerto Rican league due to financial difficulties. This leaves 3 top quality leagues still playing in Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and Venezuela. There are also minor leagues in Nicaragua and Columbia among others, though the major action is in the first 3 leagues. This post will look at all the current Phillies playing in these leagues as long as a few familiar names from recent Phillies past. Continue reading 2007 November Latin American Update →

The news is….well, it’s not particularly good.

Arizona

Golson: 46 AB, .196/.224/.261 — 4 R –3 2B — 5 RBI — 2 BB — 8 K
Costanzo: 43 AB, .163/.245/.302 — 3 R — 2 HR — 6 RBI — 5 BB — 17 K
Bisenius: 8.2 IP, 5.19 ERA — 10 H — 3 BB — 10 K
Outman: 7.2 IP, 5.87 ERA — 11 H — 2 BB — 8 K
Overholt: 7.2 IP, 8.22 ERA — 10 H — 3 BB – 5 K
Savery: 5.0 IP, 0.00 ERA — 2 H — 2 BB — 2K

Hawaii

Naylor: 3.0 IP, 0.00 ERA — 1 H — 0 BB — 3 K
Cruse: 13.0 IP, 4.15 ERA — 14 H — 4 BB — 6 K
Hill: 10.1 IP, 7.84 ERA — 14 H — 6 BB — 10 K

Hey, Naylor and Savery are awesome, so we’ve got that.

Oh, and pitching in Hawaii must really stink…

Forgive me if some of this info is lacking, but my Spanish is a bit rusty, and navigating around these websites can be a bit confusing. I can’t post direct links to the players’ stats because a few of the teams put all the numbers into pdf files. So, here are the links to those files, then the stats for Phillies players of note

Dominican Winter League

Gigantes del Cibao

Fabio Castro: 29 IP, 1.86 ERA, 17 H, 20 BB, 31 K
Alex Concepcion: 1.2 IP, 5.39 ERA, 0 H, 2 BB, 0 K
Julio De La Cruz: 7.2 IP, 7.04 ERA, 11 H, 4 BB, 9 K
Travis Minix: 9.2 IP, 4.65 ERA, 12 H, 4 BB, 3 K
Alfredo Simon: 31.1 IP, 1.72 ERA, 22 H, 8 BB, 22 K

Tigres de Licey

Carlos Ruiz: 41 AB, .317/.370, 5 2B, 1 HR, 8 RBI, 2 BB, 3 K

Augilas Cibaenas
Jim Ed Warden: 8.2 IP, 4.15 ERA, 7 H, 7 BB, 5 K
Anderson Garcia: 2.0 IP, 4.50 ERA, 3 H, 2 BB, 2 K

Azucareros del Este

Wellinson Baez: 1 AB, 0 H, 0 BB, 1 K
Eude Brito: 18.2 IP, 0.96 ERA, 11 H, 5 BB, 9 K

Venezuelan Winter League (Complete Pitching Stats) (Complete Batting Stats)

Joe Bisenius: 10.2 IP, 5.06 ERA, 11 H, 8 BB, 11 K
Jeff Farnsworth*: 32.1 IP, 2.51 ERA, 27 H, 16 BB, 28 K
Nick Mattioni: 5.0 IP, 1.80 ERA, 2 H, 1 BB, 7 K
Brian Mazone*: 15.2 IP, 8.62 ERA, 22 H, 3 BB, 6 K
Tim McClaskey: 60.2 IP, 4.15 ERA, 67 H, 11 BB, 43 K
Carlos Monasterios: 9.0 IP, 7.00 ERA, 11 H, 3 BB, 7 K

* indicates Spring Training invitee

If I’m missing anyone, or you have any more information, please let me know either by email or in the comments section. Thanks

Emailer Mark alerted me that Jeremy Cummings signed with Minnesota as a 6 year minor league free agent. Thanks for the tip, I missed that one.