A look at organizational leaders in the important categories: Williamsport not included as its too early in their season.

Runs: Dylan Cozens (70), Rhys Hoskins (58), Scott Kingery (49); Jesmuel Valentin (44), Roman Quinn (44), Nick WIlliams (44); JP Crawford (42), Taylor Featherston (41), Jorge Alfaro (41), Jiandido Tromp (40); Jake Fox (39)

Hits: Rhys Hoskins (88),Josh Tobias (87);  Dylan Cozens (87), Scott Kingery (83); Carlos Tocci (80);  Nick WIlliams (80), Jesmuel Valentin (78), Taylor Featherston (76), JP Crawford (73)

2B: Scott Kingery (25); Dylan Cozens (25), Jiandido Tromp (23); Jake Fox (20), Rhys Hoskins (19), Josh Tobias (19); Nick WIlliams (18), Brock Stassi(16), Taylor Featherston (16)

3B: Darnell Sweeney (4); Nick WIlliams (4), Taylor Featherston (4), Jesmuel Valentin (4), ROman Quinn (4); Malquin Canelo (4); Mitch Walding (4)

HR: Dylan Cozens (23), Rhys Hoskins (22), Jake Fox (15), Jose Pujols (14); Jiandido Tromp (12); Kyle Martin (11); Zach Green (10); Jorge Alfaro (10), Darin Ruf (9), Taylor Featherston (9)

RBI: Dylan Cozens (68), Rhys Hoskins (68), Jake Fox (50), Josh Tobias (48); Kyle Marn (47); Zach Green (47); Jose Pujols (45); Jorge Alfaro (44), Mitch Walding (39); Nick WIlliams (39),

BB: JP Crawford (49), Dylan Cozens (41), Brock Stassi (37), Mitch Walding (31); Jesmuel Valentin (30)

K: Jose Pujols (107); Dylan Cozens (102), Mitch Walding (83); Rhys Hoskins (80); Nick WIlliams (77), Jan Hernandez (72);  Zach Green (68); Kyle Martin (67); Taylor Featherston (66), Andy Knapp (64)

SB: Roman Quinn (25); Scott Kingery (21); Dylan Cozens (14); Carlos Tocci (11); JP Crawford (10), Grenny Cumana (10); Jiandido Tromp (10); Darnell Sweeney (8)

OBP: Zach Coppola (.392); KC Serna (.380), Brock Stassi (.372), Josh Tobias (.371); JP Crawford (.364), Dylan Cozens (.364); Roman Quinn (.361), Scott Kingery (.360); Jesmuel Valentin (.356), Cedric Hunter (.352)

AVG: Zach Coppola (.345); Cedric Hunter (.315), Andrew Pullin (.313); Josh Toias (.300); Jorge Alfaro (.296); Wilson Garcia (.294); KC Serna (.292), Rhys Hoskins (.289); Jesmuel Valentin (.288), Roman Quinn (.288) Continue reading Organization Leaders →

With their 3-2 win on Friday, Lehigh Valley is now 2-3 on their seven game home stand which concludes on Sunday after two more games against Charlotte.  Over the last six weeks, the ‘Pigs are 32-18 and are 47-35 overall, good for 3rd place in the Northern Division of the International League, 3 games behind division leading Scranton. In the wild card race, Lehigh Valley sits just 0.5 games behind Rochester for the wild card spot.  AFter finishing their series against CHarlotte, Lehigh Valley heads to Scranton for a quick two game series before returning home for two games against Rochester.

News and Notes: Jake Thompson has made six consecutive quality starts.

–C Andy Knapp, OF Cam Perkins and P Edward Mujica were all named to the IL ALL Star game upcoming July 13th in Charlotte.

–Over the last 10 games, the ‘Pigs bullpen has allowed just 2 ER in 26.2IP.  Edward Mujica, leading the bullpen corps has converted 11 straight save opportunities.

—Cedric Hunter remains very hot for Lehigh Valley hitting .348 over his last 26 games with 14RBI in those contests.

—Anthony Vasquez is tied for 4th in MILB in wins with 9 between Reading and Lehigh Valley.

–Since June 8th, P Frank Herrmann has made 8 appearances and allowed a lone run in 10IP.

—Cam Perkins has been slumping badly going 2 for his last 26.

—Darin Ruf continues performing at the AAA level hitting for both average and power, with a .326 average in his last 34 games, to go along with a .581 slg %.

–In his last 18 games, RP Luis Garcia is 6-0 with a 1.23ERA (22IP/3ER)

—Emmanuel Burriss has played well since being sent down from Philadelphia hitting in 13 of his 15 starts (.297)

–Taking the loss Monday, Ben Lively lost for the first time in his last 23 starts, spanning almost a year.

–In his last 7 starts, David Buchanan is 1-3 with a 5.95ERA.

‘Pigs prospects: JP Crawford has hit in 15 of his last 19 games, hitting .329 over that span to raise his average to .243 since joining the ‘Pigs.  On the year, Crawford is at .254/.362/.338 between Reading and Lehigh Valley with 3HR 24RBI and 10SB.  He has played 74 games at SS with 9 errrors this year (.975).

Nick WIlliams has been playing well when not benched, having hit safely in 14 of his last 15 games (.306, HR, 8RBI, 8R).  Since JP Crawford arrived on May 20th, WIlliams has hit .319 with 5HR and 21RBI. Over his 275AB, Williams is at .287/.329/.469 with 8HR 39RBI to go along with 5SB.  WIlliams is hitting .272 vs LHP and .295 vs RHP.

Next report: Jake Thompson, Ben Lively, Andy Knapp

‘Pigs Probables: Sun: Russell; Mon: Buchanan; Tue: Vasquez; Wed: Thompson

‘Pigs league leaders, Hitting:Nick Williams is 6th in runs (44), 8th in strikeouts (77) and 8th in SLG (.469); ; Tyler Featherston is 8th in runs (41) and  6th in triples (4); Brock Stassi is 7th in walks (36) and 6th in OBP (.374). Pitching: Luis Garcia is 6th in wins (6); Jake Thompson is 7th in ERA (2.76), 2nd in IP (97.2) and tied for the league lead in starts (16); Edward Mujica is 3rd in games (33) and leads the league in saves(21); Zach Eflin leads the league in WHIP (0.88)

Transactions: Comings: P Phil Klein (claimed off waivers), P Elvis Arajuo (from Phillies); Goings: P Edubray Ramos (promoted to Philadelphia)

Lehigh Valley

David Buchanan, 27, Phils 7th round pick in 2010; 14 games (13 starts); 4-4 with a 4.54ERA; 83.1IP 88H 19BB 38K; 10HR allowed; .275 opp avg; 1.28 WHIP; 1.08 GO/AO; 2.1BB/4.2K per 9; .240 vs LHH, .296 vs RHH; .288 opp avg in June.  Buchanan has given the ‘Pigs nothing more than innings this year.  Mostly unimpressive, his run with the organization is likely coming to an end this off season.

Ben Lively, 24, Acquired from Reds in 2014; 15 starts between Reading and Lehigh Valley; 10-0 with a 2.12ERA; 93.1IP 55H 26BB 75K; 6HR allowed; 2.5BB/7.2K per 9; .168 opp avg; 0.87 WHIP; 0.88 GO/AO; For LV: 6 starts, 3-0 with a 2.45ERA; .144 opp avg; 0.77 WHIP; 2.5BB/5.8K per 9.  Lively has dominant all year whether pitching for Reading or Lehigh Valley.

James Russell, 30, SIgned as a free agent in 2016; 15 games (8 starts); 2-3 with a 5.01ERA; 41.1IP 47H 13BB 28K; 6HR allowed; 2.8BB/6.1K per 9; .114 vs LHH, .328 vs RHH, .350 opp avg in June; Russell had been throwing well until a very ugly June turned his season around.  He appears clearly better suited for a situational lefty role than starting. Wouldnt be surprised to see Russell back in the bullpen if Morgan moves down to Lehigh Valley on Monday.

Jake Thompson, 22, Acquired from Rangers in 2015; 15 starts; 6-5 with a 2.88ERA; 90.2IP 79H 27BB 63K; 9HR allowed; .238 opp avg; 1.17WHIP; 0.99 GO/AO; 2.6BB/6.2K per 9; 3-0 with a 0.76ERA in 5 June starts; .198 vs RHH, .259 vs LHH, .211 opp avg in June; After somewhat of a slow start, Thompson has been outstanding since the beginning of May and is on course to be one of the primary members of the 2017 rotation.

Anthony Vasquez, 29, Re-signed as a free agent in 2016; 15 starts between Reading and Lehigh Valley; 8-3 with a 3.46ERA; 96.1IP 99H 27BB 69K; 6HR allowed; 2.5BB/6.4K per 9; .275 opp avg; 1.31 WHIP; 1.06 GO/AO; Vasquez knows how to pitch and he has been effective this year.

Reading

Tom Eshelman, 22, Acquired from Houston in 2015; 12 starts between CLearwater and Reading; 4-2 with a 3.22ERA; 64.1IP 65H 12BB 69K; 7HR allowed; 1.7BB/9.7K per 9; .259 opp avg; 1.20WHIP; 1.20 GO/AO; Eshelman has progressed very nicely this season with 11 of his 12 starts coming for CLearwater before his recent promotion to Reading.  His pinpoint control is certainly the first step towards success.

Mark Leiter, 25, Phils 22nd round pick in 2013; 10 games (6 starts) for Reading; 3-0 with a 3.50ERA; 36IP 25H 12BB 28K; .198 opp avg; 1.03WHIP; 0.95 GO/AO; 5HR allowed; 2.7BB/7.0K per 9; .228 vs LHH, .174 vs RHH, .193 opp avg in June; Leiter has thrown well after missing the first month plus of the season injured. Continue reading Around the System–Starting Pitching →