In move different from previous seasons, the Phillies have sent four of their low minors hitters to their Dominican Academy this winter to get extra work in.  The four players are Lakewood Third Baseman Mitch Walding whose season ended prematurely with a broken rib, Lakewood Left Fielder Larry Greene, Williamsport Second Baseman Andrew Pullin, GCL Outfielder Cord Sandberg, and GCL Third Baseman Jan Hernandez.  They will not be playing in organized games in the DWL but they will be work with coaches to get some extra reps in.  All five players had underwhelming years and have plenty of things to work on this offseason.  Overall this is a positive step in working to try and make up for lost time or accelerate development.

Kenny Giles day took a decidedly downward turn around the eight inning of the game on October 19, when he was called upon to pitch to hitters and attempt to retire them. He was unable to do the latter. At all. Just saw his results from today, and they were ok, I guess. No runs, a walk, a hit and 2Ks in his first (and likely only), inning. Aaron Altherr has not appeared in a game since the 16th. I’m wondering is he’s still nursing that hand injury he had early on.

Cam Rupp has continued to hit, and injury replacement Cam Perkins has a couple knocks. Cam those guys hit? They certainly Cam. Cam, Cam. (Apologies to any Marilyn Monroe fans out there).

Kyle Simon has been pitching well so far, allowing just four baserunners in 5.1IP, and Austin Wright has two scoreless outings since his initial two scoreful outings. And finally, Mike Nesseth continues to exist, throwing baseballs with varying success. Hashtag analysis.

Here’s the link for the Phils’ Off-Season League stats. Of note there – Cesar Hernandez has been hitting some and taking some time in center field for Los Bravos de Margarita. Severino Gonzalez walked three men in his two innings of work, (wait, he did what???), and apparently Rodrigo Lopez is associated with the Phillies still. Somehow.

http://mlb.mlb.com/milb/stats/org.jsp?id=phi

Continue reading AFL Update – 10-24-2013 →

A breaking ball is defined as a pitch that creates movement with sharp spin induced from the wrist. But all of the similarities end there. Almost all breaking balls fall into the slider or curveball, but there is a lot of slurviness in between and each pitcher defines their pitches differently.  There are different components to a breaking ball and they parallel those of the fastball. There is velocity or hardness, deception, command, movement, and breaking out from movement, shape.  Many of the components of a breaking ball are inherent to a pitcher based on their arm, wrist, and delivery.

Velocity in relation to a breaking ball is not a cut and dry with big velocity equaling success. The most obvious implication of velocity is that the faster the pitch the less time the batter has to adjust to the pitch.  The trade off to velocity is that it can often come with less movement.  This is due to the physics of a thrown baseball, in order to get sharp movement on a hard breaking ball, the pitcher must impart more rotation on to the pitch.

Continue reading Top Tools: Breaking Ball →

First you should read it here (it is behind the pay wall) http://www.baseballamerica.com/draft/2013-draft-report-card-philadelphia-phillies/.  There is a lot jammed into it making it difficult to paraphrase.

Here is the Quick Take:

The Phillies signed an exciting class of hitters, though Knapp had to have Tommy John surgery this fall, which may slow his progress. Their pitching class offers less upside after Keys and Viza.

Bonus Spending: $5.57 million

 

 

 

Continue reading Baseball America’s Draft Report Card →

I’ll kick off the AFL updates today, now that we’ve had a couple games for most everyone involved. The league is good about getting up new photos, and so we get a fresh reminder that Kyle Simon knows how to wear a mustache, and that Cameron Rupp could eat you whole if he wanted.

A couple roster notes – Kelly Dugan, originally on the roster, was sent home without seeing the field, as he battles turf toe. He was replaced by Cameron Perkins, who has yet to log a PA. Aaron Altherr had some kind of hand injury last week, but he was back on the field last night.

As for the results, it’s so early, in a league where it’s going to be early the whole time, but Kenny Giles clearly got it done in his two outings, strking out 5 of the 7 men he’s faced. Rupp has been hitting some – 3-8 with a double. And Austin Wright gave up a homerun to Byron Buxton last night, which proves almost nothing about Austin Wright. I’m sure somewhere there’s a Twins fan saying the same thing about Buxton hitting a homerun off of “Some Phillies guy name Ashton White”.

Here’s the link for the Phils’ Off-Season League stats. As we go, I’ll mention anything interesting I see in those stats as well. So far, all I see is Manuel Chavez pitching in his native Mexico. Recall he had a fine year in the VSL, striking out 72 and walking just nine in 74.1IP. One to keep an eye on, even if he is about to turn 20 and has yet to pitch stateside in competition.

http://mlb.mlb.com/milb/stats/org.jsp?id=phi

Continue reading AFL Update – 10-15-2013 →

We now transition from hitting to pitching where we can scout individual tools more easily but the complete package is often more difficult to put together. So we start with the most basic of pitches, the fastball. I break the fastball down into 4 components; velocity, command, movement, and deception of which each pitcher and pitch will combine to form a unique offering.  If a player cannot get their fastball in for strikes he is going to struggle to reach the majors, and if he cannot get weak contact or swings and misses in the strikezone, he is going to have a severely limited ceiling.  By mastering other parts of his fastball a player can marginalize weaknesses and amplify strengths. Continue reading Top Tools: Fastball →

Franco with another high placement on a list.  This time coming in behind Xander Bogaerts, Miguel Sano, and Noah Syndergaard.  He did place a head of two guys who are better prospects who were hurt by limited time in the league in Gregory Polanco and Anthony Rendon, but they are/were among the very elite prospects in the game.  He also placed ahead of 2010 #2 overall pick Jamison Tallion who has scouts split around whether he is a top of the rotation or mid rotation starter. Continue reading Maikel Franco #4 and Jesse Biddle #11 on BA’s Eastern League Top 20 →

In recent years AAA has been a league light on prospects, but in 2013 it had some real star power roll through it in Wil Myers, Xander Bogaerts, Gerrit Cole, Chris Archer, Nick Castellanos, and Danny Salazar.  Even so the back end of the list tends to be littered with fringe prospects.  Another thing to keep in mind, that while these are mostly pure prospects lists only scouting from their time in the IL was used, and the amount of time spent in the league can skew the rankings a little bit.  This years list went 16 strong to Trevor Bauer with the last four Darin Ruf, Carlos Sanchez, Kevin Pillar, and Joey Terdoslavich profiling more as second division regulars or bench players. Continue reading Cody Asche #9 and Darin Ruf #17 on BA’s IL Top 20 →

Hit and speed tools are at complete opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to evaluation.  Speed is the easiest tool to measure if you have a stop watch and good hand-eye coordination.  Evaluating the hit tool can take decades to learn how to project, and even then the sharpest evaluator can miss horribly.  The hit tool is a fundamental part of the game and it is the one tool that can end and make careers on its own.  Speed is possibly the most overrated tool in the game, because it is exciting and tangible, but that does not mean it cannot make a huge impact on the game. Continue reading Top Tools: Hit and Speed →

The defensive profile of a player has always been important to scouts, but recently the public’s understanding of defense has expanded.  Advanced stats and video analysis have allowed even casual fans to break down defensive plays.  Even so the baseball world is only starting to scratch the surface of defense and its value.  In terms of raw tools defense is a component of speed, arm, and glove, but instincts and coordination also play a big park in defensive success.  Rather than break down the best of each across the system I am going to break down the defensive profiles of major position groups in terms of the players that best exemplify that tool for that position.

Catcher:

Catcher defense is the farthest behind in terms on analysis because it touches so many part of the game.  We can measure pure arm strength by pop times, and a good throwing catcher will limit how much opponents even try to run.  Tommy Joseph has a cannon of an arm, it is at least a plus tool, only limited by his ability to get moving his arm has accuracy to go with the pure power.  Catcher receiving is often underrated and as fans we often look at their ability to block balls in the dirt and out of the zone, but a catcher who is quiet in the zone can make a huge difference.  Cameron Rupp offers pitchers a huge target and a quiet glove; he is not an elite receiver but he is very solid behind the plate.  The whole package of catcher defense can be an incredible thing, a catcher combining both the receiving and arm can be worth many wins in value without hitting.  It is not a complete package yet but Deivi Grullon combines an arm that could be plus plus by the time he is fully mature and he is a work in progress receiving but the feel is there to have a plus glove, giving him a near elite defensive profile. Continue reading Top Tools: Defense →