Put another year in the books for the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs who finished the year in 3rd place of the Northern Division of the International League at 75-68, 9 games back of division leading Scranton.  The season was a challenging one for Lehigh Valley. From the get go they were faced with a myriad of call ups and injuries that left the team in a state of total flux, literally all year. With the Phillies bullpen decimated by both injury and ineffectiveness, just about every pitcher in the bullpen on the IronPigs opening day  roster received  a shot with the big club. My perspective is that even with a record that stood well below the level of success of the 2011 team, the job done by Manager Ryne Sandberg was far better, getting alot more with less talent.  On paper, this was no more than a .500 team that Sandberg took into the final weekend of the wild card hunt. Continue reading Lehigh Valley Report–End of Season Edition →

Ok, the Mike Piazza line always gets me.  The notion is this – Piazza was passed on by every team 61 times before the Dodgers took him at the end of the 62^nd round.  Scouts failed to get it right on Piazza and only by “friend of his dad Tommy Lasorda” did he even get a chance. And from that, proof that scouts don’t always recognize talent, and that, in this case, Darin Ruf, (or really anyone else), might just be better than scouts think.  Let’s look at the story, from what I know of it.  Continue reading Mike and Tommy and Darin →

I am going to to make things more exciting during this off season, putting up polls fairly often to keep the conversation going…

Feel free to respond in the comment section about ideas for polls you would like to see.

Have fun, and PLEASE be respectful.  First poll is in the post below. Sometime in January, I will put up a post with cumulative poll results.

The last Hot or Not for the 2012 season….lets get at it.

–Is there anymore more to say about Darin Ruf.  Put simply, he could not have had a better year at the plate.  If for no other reason than to prevent a Ryne Sandberg type mistake (and no,I am not comparing Ruf to a Hall of Famer), the Phillies need to see what they have against major league pitching.  There is no downside for the seasons final month. He needs to be in Philly.

–Brian Pointer ranks high on the 2012 disappointment list. Such a pretty swing that just can’t make contact.

–Hoby Milner is opening eyes at Lakewood making it pretty clear he is ready for a jump to High A in 2013.

–Very nice to see Trevor May have an outstanding outing after really struggling for quite awhile.

–Ethan Martin joins the not hot list after some fairly significant control issues, while Brody Colvin remains consistently “not hot”.

–Kyle Simon has opened eyes in the organization since the Thome trade and appears to be a legit prospect who could help the Phillies in 2014 in the middle to late innings.  His work against very good competition in the AFL will be something to watch closely.

Now the stats: Min 11 AB’s; Stat period 8/24–8/30.

Hot Starting Pitchers: Colin Klevan (7.1IP 5H 0ER 2BB 4K); Josh Warner (6IP 2H 0ER 0BB 4K); Hoby Milner (6IP 2H 0ER 2BB 6K); Trevor May (8IP 2H 0ER 1BB 9K); Tyson Brummett (5IP 1H 0ER 1BB 3K); Manny Martinez (9IP 7H 2ER 5BB 9K);Austin Hyatt (11.2IP 10H 3ER 3BB 8K) Continue reading Hot or Not, Final Edition →

The Phillies announced who will be participating in the Arizona Fall League and because I am very time constrained…here you have it:

Pitchers: Tyler Knigge, Jay Johnson, Colby Shreve, and Kyle Simon

3B: Cody Asche; C: Tommy Joseph; OF: Zach Collier

Have at it…should provide some interesting conversation come October and November.

According to, well, everyone on Twitter, the Phillies have selected the contract of Tyler Cloyd from Lehigh Valley to pitch tonight in place of an ailing Cole Hamels, who is out with a gastrointestinal issue. 

Cloyd has had very fine results in AA/AAA this season, posting 15-1 record with a 2.26 ERA, giving up 127 hits and a quite good 41BB (2.21 BB./9), but just 113K (6.09 K/9) in 167IP.  He gave up 15HR, at a rate of 0.81/9, which is a bit on the high side. His WHIP for the year sits at 1.01, giving up just one more hit/BB than he’s pitched innings.  He was recently name the International League’s Most Valuable Pitcher for 2012.

At AAA he sported a BB% of 6.9%, K% of 16.8 and a .233 BABIPA on 46% GB rate, and an FIP of 4.03, indicating his ERA was getting some help from a little bit of better than average luck. The knock on him is that he does not throw very hard.  His advantage is clearly a repertoire of pitches that he commands well, and first hand reports from commenters on this site have said that he seems to keep hitters off balance.

I, for one, can’t wait to see what he can do.  He could wind up baffling the Mets for innings on end.  We shall see.

Tyler Cloyd, who has been the model of consistent excellence this year for Lehigh Valley has been named the Most Valuable Pitcher of the International league.  Cloyd, 25, is the winningest pitcher in Minor League baseball this year and set a Lehigh Valley club record for wins.

Cloyd leads the league in WHIP(1.01) and ERA(2.35) and is 2nd in both Wins and opponents batting average. Cloyd has gone six or more innings in 21 of his 22 starts and allowed three or fewer runs 20 times.

Cloyd, an 18th round pick in 2008 is a combined 15-1 with a 2.26ERA this year in 26 combined starts between Reading and Lehigh Valley.

I just wanted to give all of you an update on what to expect from the site during the off season.  At seasons end, I will be putting out a report card on each player in the organization. It will go position by position and will take us through September into early October and will hopefully kick start some good conversation.  October will bring the beginning of Arizona Fall league coverage which will flow into late November and be covered by Brad, who has done a great job with box scores and thoughtful commentary throughout the year. Continue reading Off Season Plan →

The Eastern League all star team, picked by staff, coaches and the media was named and three members of the 2012 Reading team were included. 26 year old 1B Darin Ruf, who has spent the entire season with Reading was the “no brain” pick of the three accumulating 33 HR and 92 RBI to go along with a .312 average in 128 games with Reading this year. Ruf is also the first player in Reading history to have 30 doubles and 30 HR in a season.

21 year old Tommy Joseph, a catcher, was acquired from the Giants organization earlier this year and had been playing for the RIchmond Spiders prior to the trade. Joseph is hitting .255 with 9HR and 43 RBI, and most impressive has thrown out 44% of runners attempting to steal.  Joseph was the starting catcher in the Futures Game this year and also a starter in the EL All Star game.

Cesar Hernandez, a 2B, was promoted to Lehigh Valley about a month ago after an outstanding first four months of the season in Reading. Hernandez, a member of the Phillies forty man roster and just 22, was hitting .304 in 103 games before him promotion to AAA.