Here’s the open discussion thread for Phillies’ talk and other topics. Continue reading Open Discussion: Week of April 18th
Box Score Recap – 4/17/2016
Five wins for the organization, from the Phillies down thru Lakewood. Lots of good pitching as the the org outhit the opposition 47-23 and outscored them 33-5.
Lehigh Valley (4-5) Beat Rochester 3-0. Zach Eflin gem. Two hits, zero walks in 8.0 innings. Edward Mujica picked up his second save with 2 K in a 1-2-3 ninth. Cam Perkins broke a scoreless tie with a 2-run HR in the seventh.
2016 Draft Discussion, April 18th
The 2016 draft discussion continues here. These discussions will be accessible under the draft menu for reference. Continue reading 2016 Draft Discussion, April 18th
Box Score Recap – 4/16/2016
Lehigh Valley (3-5) Beat Rochester 8-5. Bullpen game. Andrew Bailey blew the save, got the win. Edward Mujica got first save. Ryan Jackson broke seventh inning tie with an RBI single. Cam Perkins tripled in an extra run in the eighth. Max Venable doubled Perkins home.
Lehigh Valley Report
Another year begins, this time with the youngest team in Lehigh Valley team history and a number of legitimate prospects to track as the year progresses. The season started off in a bizarre manner with the ‘Pigs entire first weekend series in Syracuse postponed because of unplayable field conditions. Lehigh Valley was able to accommodate to some extent, moving two of the four games to Coca Cola Park, but played in bizarre conditions without any spectators in the stands as the stadium was not yet ready to receive fans with their actual opening night not set for another week.
An open and down first week plus for Lehigh Valley, taking five games before they won their first home game but ending the first eight games at 3-5, 2.5 games behind division leading Scranton. Lehigh Valley remains home thru Tuesday with two more games against Rochester, followed by two against Syracuse before leaving on a 9 game/8 day road trip.
‘Pigs Prospects: We will take a look in alternating weeks at the production of a series of Lehigh Valley prospects. This week:
Andrew Knapp has started the same way his 2015 finished. Hot. He has been on base consistently in each of his starts and is currently hitting over .350. His defense has been somewhat problematic as he has thrown out just 1 of the 6 runners attempting to steal on him and committed two throwing errors.
Mark Appel had a very nice start in his initial outing with the IronPigs. He went 5.2 scoreless innings, giving up just 5 hits, walking two and striking out five. He will be on the mound again Monday evening.
Adam Morgan started twice, one good and one poor in the seasons first ten days, leaving him with an 0-1 record and a 4.22ERA. In his 10.2IP, he has allowed 12 hits, walked 3 and struck out an impressive 14. The opposition is hitting .273 against him.
Next week: Nick Williams, Jake Thompson, Darnell Sweeney, Zach Eflin
News and Notes: Catcher JP Arencibia has thrown out 3 of the five runners trying to steal on him this year.
–INF Ryan Jackson has reached base in 6 of his last 7 games, including three hits last night.
–C Andrew Knapp has reached base in 12 of his last 17 plate appearances.
–Prior to this season, OF Will Venable had not played in the minors in five years.
–The average age of the Lehigh Valley opening day roster (26 years, 9 days) is the youngest in team history. The roster has seven players that were drafted by the Phillies.
–In their first trip through the rotation, Lehigh Valley starters went 2-1 with a 2.05ERA.
Probables: Sunday: Eflin; Monday: Appel; Tuesday: Buchanan; Wednesday: Thompson
‘Pigs league leaders: Darnell Sweeney is 3rd in triples (2); Ryan Jackson is 4th in OBP (.478); Adam Morgan is 4th in strikeouts (14)
Transactions: Placed on the DL to begin the season were RP Jimmy Cordero, RP Frank Hermann and RP Yoervis Medina. With the suspension to Daniel Stumpf in Philadelphia, RP Elvis Arajuo was called up to Philadelphia on Thursday. Prior to Friday’s game, INF Carlos Alonso broke his jaw after he was struck by a line drive in batters practice. He was placed on the DL and his roster spot was taken by P Severino Gonzalez who was called up from Reading.
Excited?
10 days in and there is plenty to be excited about in the Phils minor league system to go along with areas of moderate early areas of concern. The numbers below are not enough to form an opinion but are enough to have a reaction.
So, with that said, here is a look at how the Phils top prospects have started. The rankings below are based on the Phuture Phillies reader pre season rankings.
- JP Crawford, SS, Reading–.342/.419/.500 in 43 plate appearances. 1HR 3RBI, 1SB, 10%BB/10%K rates. Crawford has been very solid thus far.
- Nick Williams, OF, Lehigh Valley–.174/.222/.261 in 27 plate appearances; 0HR 4RBI; 1SB; 7%BB/21%K rates. Multiple games lost to rain out have led to a very small sample size.
- Jake Thompson, P, Lehigh Valley; 2 starts, 0-2 with a 6.75ERA, 1.63WHIP, 5.6BB/11.2K per 9; One good start and one very poor start thus far for Thompson.
- Mark Appel, P, Lehigh Valley; Just one start by Appel so far and it was excellent. He threw 5.2 scoreless striking out five last week vs. Rochester. Next scheduled to go on Monday.
- Cornelius Randolph, OF, Lakewood, .121/.237/.182 in 37 plate appearances; 0HR 2RBI; 3SB; 11%BB/27%K rates. Started extremely slow but has had a good last few games.
- Roman Quinn, OF, Reading, .229/.308/.314 in 37 plate appearances, 0HR 1RBI; 4SB; 5%BB/22%K rates; Leading the organization in SB right out of the gate
- Jorge Alfaro, C, Reading; .464/482/.571 in 29 PA; 0HR 5RBI; 3%BB/17%K rates; Alfaro has multiple hit games in his last five consecutive starts and has played very well behind the plate.
- Franklyn Kilome, P, Lakewood, 2 starts, 0-2 with a 14.85ERA; 3.15WHIP; .433 opp avg; walking over a hitter an inning. One bad start followed by a horrific start.
- Andy Knapp, C, Lehigh Valley, Hitting .417 with a HR and 2RBI in 12AB. Has hit in 3 of his 4 starts for the ‘Pigs thus far.
- Zach Eflin, SP, Lehigh Valley, Allowed one ER in 6 innings pitched in his first start of the year, picking up the win. Scheduled to throw on Sunday.
Box Score Recap – 4/15/2016
Lehigh Valley (2-5) Lost to Pawtucket 6-5. Adam Morga struck out 5 in 5.2 IP but was victimized by a couple errors in the sixth inning.
- Perkins went 3-4 with 3 R and a 3B.
- Featherston went 2-3 with a 2B, HR (1), and 2 RBI.
- Red Sox stole a base, Arencibia threw out two.
- Joseph (missed catch) and Jackson committed errors that allowed 2 unearned runs to score. It was the first error for both.
Box Score Recap – 4/14/2016
Lehigh Valley (2-4) Lost to Pawtucket 13-1. The Red Sox collected 19 hits. Sean O’Sullivan got the win for Pawtucket.
- Williams picked up an outfield assist.
Box Score Recap – 4/13/2016
Lehigh Valley (2-3) Blew a 6-4 lead in the ninth and fell to Rochester 7-6. Edward Mujica gave up 5 singles in the 3-run ninth.
- IronPigs had 13 hits.
- Lough went 4-6 with an RBI.
- Williams went 1-3 with 2 BB and 2 RBI.
- Knapp went 1-3 with 3 BB.
- Stassi went 1-5 with a 2B and RBI.
- Joseph went 2-3 with a 2B, 2 BB, and RBI.
- Featherston went 3-3.
- Starter, David Buchanan went 5.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 2 K.
Reading (4-3) Beat Richmond, 6-4. Ben Lively went 5.0, 2-run innings and struck out nine. J.P. Crawford hit his first home run, as did Christian Marrero. Jorge Alfaro returned to the line up and had 2 hits.
- The Fightin’ Phils mashed 13 hits.
- Crawford went 1-4 with a HR (1), RBI, and a BB.
- Alfaro went 2-5.
- Cozens went 1-4 with a 2B.
- Hoskins went 1-3 with a BB.
- Aaron Brown went 2-3 with a BB.
- Lively went 2-2.
- Marrero hit a pinch-hit, 3-run HR.
- Alfaro was picked off first by the opposing catcher.
- Joaquin blew the save, got the win.
- Ramos notched his first save.
Clearwater (3-4) Dropped another heart-breaker 1-0 in ten innings. Tom Eshelman pitched well over seven, two-hit innings. Read about the game here.
Lakewood (1-6) Franklyn Kilome got roughed up again and the BlueClaws were held to two hits in an 8-0 defeat. Cornelius Randolph was not in the line up.
- Kilome – 4.2 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 4 BB, 1 K, 1 HR
- Tobias went 0-2 with 2 BB.
- Hiciano went 1-4 with a 2B.
- Hernandez went 0-3 with 2 K.
- Hayden went 1-3.
- Hayden stole his first base.
- Tobias was caught stealing.
- Coppola threw out a runner at home.
Here’s the affiliate scoreboard from MiLB.
Extra Innings –
- The Phillies have assigned an analytics guy to each affiliate to gather information. I met the Threshers’ guy today, Joe. I hope to report on the types of data he is gathering later in the season.
Threshers Get Good Pitching, but Drop a 1-0 Decision in 10 Innings; April 13, 2016
Tom Eshelman made his first start at Bright House Field since a Cal State Fullerton v. USF game in February 2015. Eshelman and the Titans lost that season opener for both teams, 2-1. He fared better today, tossing 7.0 shutout innings against the Charlotte Stone Crabs.
Eshelman uncharacteistically walked 2 batters in the early innings, but allowed the Stone Crabs just 2 singles, an opposite field flare to shallow right in the first and a shift-defeating ground ball thru the vacated shortstop position in the sixth.
Eshelman threw 77 pitches in his 7 innings, 56 for strikes. Thirty-four of his FB were 89-90 mph and he touched 91 mph 3 other times. His movement and location of these and his off speed offerings kept Charlotte from squaring up many pitches. Charlotte batters took a lot of pitches in the first two innings. They changed tactics in the middle innings, swinging and fouling off more pitches, with little success.
Eshelman induced 5 swing and misses (2 for Ks on an 89 FB and 75 CB), 19 called strikes (2 for K on a 78 CH and 88 FB), and 14 foul balls. He also got 9 ground outs, 3 pop ups, 3 fly balls, and a line drive to third.
Eshelman’s line was – 7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 77 pitches, 56 strikes, 89-90, T91 mph.
Victor Arano (2 innings) and Jairo Munoz (1 inning) took over and had to contend with lead off singles in each of their innings. Arano was 91-94 and recorded 3 K. He benefited from a diving catch by Carlos Tocci in center field to save a run in the ninth. Munoz was 91-95 in the tenth and almost escaped unscathed. Cord Sandberg made a layout, diving catch into the left center field gap to save a run. But Carlos Tocci couldn’t catch up to a later drive in to the gap that brought home the game’s only run.
Arano’s line – 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 27 pitches, 18 strikes, 91-94, T95 mph.
Munoz’ line – 1.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 23 pitches, 15 strikes, 91-95, T 98 mph.
The Threshers’ offense was stymied by the Snow Crabs’ pitching. They ran a successful hit-and-run in the first inning when Tocci hit behind Kingery. They managed to load the bases with a walk, but couldn’t push across a run.
The Threshers only managed 3 singles and a walk the rest of the way.
The box score and recap for the games are here.
Extra Innings –
- Manager Greg Legg was ejected in the second inning for arguing a balk call. He was tossed after the discussion was over and he was almost back to the top step of the dugout. The Threshers have history with this umpire. He called a strike on Dylan Cozens on a 3-1 count for stepping out of the batter’s box. This occurred late in the game, in a key situation, with no warning then or at anytime during the game when players from both sides had been guilty of the same infringement of the box.
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