Category Archives: Bastardo, Antonio

The Bullpen

Aumont, Phillippe, Bastardo, Antonio, De Fratus, Justin, Diekman, Jacob, Other Stuff, Savery, Joe

A bit of clarity was added over the weekend with addition of set up man Mike Adams into the mix as the key 8th inning bridge to Papelbon.  Beyond Adams and Papelbon, the bullpen is filled with questions marks.  It seems the only relievers assured of Phillies roster spots are Papelbon, Adams, and Antonio Bastardo, who was less than solid last year.  After that, questions abound.

From the left side, Jeremy Horst is a front runner to land in back of Bastardo.  Horst was impressive during his second half call up to the Phils, throwing in 32 games and going 2-0 with a 1.15 ERA and 1.17 WHIP. Horst struck out 40 in 31.1 innings of work.

The health of Mike Stutes is the first question mark from the right side.  Recovering from significant surgery, Stutes may need some time in AAA before he reaches the level at which he pitched during the 2011 season for the Phils.  The rest of the pack consists of Justin DeFratus, Phillippe Aumont, Michael Schwimer, BJ Rosenberg, Raul Valdes, and Jacob Diekman. Continue reading The Bullpen →

The Major-Minor Bullpen: Discussion

Bastardo, Antonio, Other Stuff

An open discussion for anyone regarding how the boys have been doing in the big leagues. Is this exactly what you expected? Did you think Joe would be better? Did you think Schwim would be better?

Is it hard to judge these guys based off of a few months of work, or is this their future?

Continue reading The Major-Minor Bullpen: Discussion →

Bastardo to Philly, Baez to the DL,

Bastardo, Antonio

The Phillies announced today that Right handed relief pitcher Danys Baez was placed on the DL with back issue and LHP Antonio Bastardo was called up from AAA Lehigh Valley to take his spot on the 25 man roster.  Bastardo, 24,  has allowed runs in just one of his 20 appearances for the ‘Pigs this year.  Opponents are hitting just .190 against him and he is averaging over 1.5 K’s per inning pitched.  Although he has struggled in his limited time in Philly this year, Bastardo certainly can bring more to the table then Baez at this late stage of the season, a season in which Baez has struggled consistently from the beginning of the year.

Also, the effort by Mike Cisco last night starting for Reading must be noted, a game in which he threw a complete game shutout, striking out 10.

Antonio Bastardo debut live blog

Bastardo, Antonio

West coast trip. I’m going to attempt to focus on Bastardo’s raw stuff tonight, as well as his mechanics and what I see. I’ll update this post during the game. Discuss his start here.

Here is the Gameday link, which will allow you to see his velocity and the break of his pitches.

Im going to put a break in here, and I’ll start updates below that.

Continue reading Antonio Bastardo debut live blog →

Another Big Night for Phillies Starters

Bastardo, Antonio

No, it wasn’t quite the banner day that last Tuesday was, but Saturday night was still an impressive night for 3 of the 4 minor league pitchers who took the bump in the Phillies organization.

Reading: Antonio Bastardo (5.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K)
Clearwater: Yohan Flande (7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 8 K)
Lakewood: Tyler Cloyd (7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 9 K)

Moved back to the rotation from the bullpen, Bastardo responded with 5 frames of no hit ball before being lifted, presumably for reaching his pitch count.  The 23-year old Flande, meanwhile, ran his scoreless streak to 18 innings after jumping straight to the FSL from the GCL, and Cloyd turned in perhaps his finest outing as a professional in the BlueClaws’ 1-0 win.

Obviously this trio isn’t nearly the caliber of prospect as the Carrasco/Drabek/Knapp group, but they certainly have a future if they continue the path they’re on this year.  Now if only those bats would warm up a bit…

Clearwater Threshers Report

5. Clearwater, Bastardo, Antonio, Savery, Joe

Well last week’s report contained 8 games due to a 10:30 am game on Wednesday last week, so this week’s report includes only 5 games because of a day off for the league on Tuesday this week. Of course the big story for the week was Antonio Bastardo’s line in his game this past week. Overall the team went 2-3 on the week winning it’s last two games making it the first time this season the team has won two games in a row.

The offense has come to life a bit as of late coming up from last in the league in team batting average after week one, and next to last in batting average after week two to fourth (of twelve teams) in batting average currently. The offense has drawn the second most walks in the league, and has struck out fewer than all but one team in the league. Unfortunately the team is hitting without any power at all. The offense is last in slugging percentage, and in all XBH categories, last is RBIs, and next to last in runs scored as a result. (The odd thing is the team with the fewest runs in the league, the Tampa Yankees, are only one game out of first in the division.)

For the most part pitching remains the team’s strength and they lead the league with four shut outs so far this year, and have allowed the second fewest runs. The team has the third most strikeouts in the league with 197, but has also allowed the second most walks with 99. Continue reading Clearwater Threshers Report →

All Bastardo, All the time

Bastardo, Antonio, Ten Pack/Hot Sheet

Its Monday Morning Ten Pack time

Antonio Bastardo, LHP, High-A Clearwater (Phillies)
Bastardo can be seen as one of those “is what he is” kind of players: a short lefty with average velocity. However, beyond his left-handedness, he’s also got fantastic command and a killer changeup. That’s enough to make him some kind of prospect, and he’s on a roll with the Threshers, striking out 13 over eight two-hit innings yesterday—his third double-digit strikeout game in five starts. Currently sitting with a 1.17 ERA and 47 Ks in 30 2/3 innings, Bastardo is starting to get some attention as something more than just a future lefty lefty specialist, though he still has that in his back pocket, as lefty batters are currently 3-for-37 with 23 strikeouts against the 22-year-old Dominican.

I think KG is getting a little carried away with the “excellent command”, but Bastardo is getting noticed. Move over Cole Hamels….

Another lesson on patience

Bastardo, Antonio

Its not a surprise for me to log on and see people ranting about Antonio Bastardo, and of course you only have to go back to last summer to see this lesson, which will be explained again, in the case of Tyler Mach. I had a few posters vocally ranting about Mach needing to be promoted to Clearwater, because he was clearly a better prospect than I was giving him credit for. This was when he was hitting a ridiculous .400+ after a weeks of the short season. Of course he cooled down dramatically, and now he’s still MIA and pondering retirement. Of course those calls about how off base I was, and how I was “disrespecting his prospect status” have died down. Now it looks like history is getting ready to repeat itself with Antonio Bastardo. So, again, I ask you to be patient, and here’s why…

Continue reading Another lesson on patience →

Bastardo and the Sharks Blank the Yanks

5. Clearwater, Bastardo, Antonio, Game Recaps

Despite having given up just four runs in four games while striking out a league high 34 batters Clearwater Threshers’ starter Antonio Bastardo had earned just one win in his first four tries this year. On Sunday afternoon he would be given his fifth chance to earn a win, and he certainly made the most of his outing. Antonio had his best outing of the year going 8.0 innings and striking out 13 Yankees in the process both season highs for him. Continue reading Bastardo and the Sharks Blank the Yanks →

Tony Bastard makes the team photo

Bastardo, Antonio, Ten Pack/Hot Sheet

Baseball America’s weekly wrap up of the best performers of the week comes out today, and Antonio Bastardo makes the team photo.

IN THE TEAM PHOTO

White Sox 1B Brandon Allen hit .381/.435/.952 with three homers this week for high Class A Winston-Salem, though he remains strikeout prone and a bit rough at first base . . . Phillies LHP Antonio Bastardo struck out 12 in a seven-inning outing this week for high Class A Clearwater and is among the top five in the minor leagues in strikeouts, with 34 . . .

Hey, not bad. There will be a chat at 2:30 Eastern, so if you want, try and get some Phillies questions answered.