Box Score Recap – 7/9/2014

Box Score Recap

Maikel Franco, Cam Perkins and Sebastian Valle had two doubles a piece for Lehigh Valley, and Franco added a walk, (his first in a while). He’s had multi-hit games in six of his last seven, and his last ten games’ OPS is .992. Feel, feel, feel, feel, feeeeuhl. Feel the heat. And speaking of feeling the heat, Brian Pointer is OPSing 1.082 in the second half of the season so far (~65 PAs). He had a really strong June and is continuing to hit in July, though he has been striking out a lot – 33k in 113 PAs since June 1 – that’s over 29%. Cliff Lee have up 3R on 4H, 1BB, 4K and a wild pitch in 4IP. Sounds like somewhere in the fourth inning, where he allowed all those runs, someone lost a ball in the lights, which counts as a hit but is not necessarily Cliff’s fault.

Aaron Altherr was 2-4 with two doubles and a walk for Reading. Kelly Dugan was 1-3 with two walks, as his OPS climbs above .800 for the year – his walk rate is around 9.5% over a decent ~110PA sample. That’s good to see after his AA total last year was a startlingly low 2.2%. Zach Green and Dylan Cozens had three hits a piece for Lakewood. Cozens line included a double, Green’s included two, and Andrew Pullin hit his seventh home run of the year. Not sure what’s keeping Samuel Hiciano on the bench, but he hasn’t played for two days in a row now. Could just be time off to try to pull out of the wretched slump he’s been in – OPSing .515 in 14 games since he was a SAL all-star. David Whitehead wasn’t dominant in picking up the win over Vermont, allowing 4R 3ER on 5H 1HR 0BB and 3K in 5.1IP. Williamsport pounded out six extra-base hits off of Lake Monsters’ pitching. Lake Monsters is a pretty good name for a team. Per Wikipedia: “The name references Champ, the legendary Lake Champlain monster which had been the team’s mascot since 1994.” Good to know. Also their home stadium, Old Centennial Field is the oldest stadium in minor league baseball. I don’t know if you guys have ever read things on this “Wikipedia”, but it’s filled with information. I recommend it. And every once in a while there’s stuff that people just made up and put on the page. It’s like a guessing game. Fun times.

Clete Thomas and Freddy Galvis are rehabbing with the GCL club now. The Phils and Yankees1 played 11 innings before the game was halted by rain, with Yoel Mecias going 5.2 innings as he works his way back from Tommy John. And Jesus Alastre was kept off base in the VSL for what seems like maybe only the third or fourth time this year.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 7/9/2014 →

Five Moves to Make Now

Other Stuff

With the trade deadline quickly approaching, its time to clear some space for what most of us hope will be incoming talent when (if) the Phils rid themselves of pieces that can be used by other teams.  A couple of these are no brainers, others not so much…

1. Grady SIzemore to Phils–Absolutely no reason that Sizemore should spend any more time at AAA. He is a major league player and can certainly help the abysmal production from the Phillies OF.  The release of Tony Gwynn, Jr is the likely corresponding move.

2.  Lee Ridenhour to Reading–Ridenhour has pitched very well as the Threshers closer over the last two months.  As a soon to be 25 year old, its time to move him up.

3.  Willians Astudillo to CLearwater–What more do we really need to see of Astudillo at Lakewood?  He mashes Low A pitching. With Knapp catching every day now, the only position at which Astudillo has a legitimate major league shot is filled.  Let him move on and share AB’s with Lino and DH in CLearwater.

4.  Jiandido Tromp to Lakewood–There is talent that needs consistent challenge.  Plenty of Cutters outfielders need AB’s and Tromp has the immediate ability to play above the level of short season ball.

5.  Jason Marquis to the Phils–Coming off Tommy John surgery, Marquis has allowed 1ER in 3 starts spanning 18 innings for Lehigh Valley.  He has struck out 18 in those 18 innings.  Believe it or not, I hear that teams think that Kyle Kendrick could be a useful part down the stretch for a contending team.  Jason Marquis and Kyle Kendrick will provide major league results that are very similar.  Take what you can get for Kendrick (who will be a free agent at seasons end), plug Marquis into the rotation for a team going nowhere and smile that you got a warm body for Kendrick.

Commence the debate and criticism.

Box Score Recap – 7/8/2014

Box Score Recap

Maikel Franco is having a good July. He’s OPSing 1.286 in six games, with six XBH and five multi-hit games. He was 2-4 with a triple on Tuesday, and Grady Sizemore also had two hits for Lehigh Valley, as Jason Marquis went five scoreless, striking out six, while allowing three walks and three hits. Aaron Altherr had three hits, as did Jake Fox. Ryan O’Sullivan is working out of the Reading rotation right now – he allowed two runs on five hits, walked none, struck out none, but did induce nine ground ball outs. That’s his game. Doubt it plays in the rotation long-term. MAG blew the save there, though there’s no way he was coming in to get a save in the fifth inning. Dumb stat. All we need to know is he struck out three and allowed a home run in two innings of work, and reports on Twitter had his fastball sitting in the mid 90s again.

Be sure to check out Jim’s report from the CLR game. Zach Green and Andy Knapp had two hits a piece for Lakewood. Willamsport’s Derek Campbell was a triple or a home run short of getting a thing named after him – he went 3-5 with two doubles and a homer. About 80 PAs into the year, and he’s OPSing over 1.000. Feliberto Sanchez threw five no-hit innings, striking out three and walking two to take the W for the Cutters. Luis Encarnacion had two hits including a triple for the GCL, while Austin Davis got roughed up in his two innings. Jose Taveras with his second monster start in a row, struck out 11 in eight innings for the DSL. And Ranger Suarez had a big game himself for the VSL – he struck out seven in six innings. The 18-year-old has 56ks and 1BB in 53.2 IP on the year. That’s a 56:1 K:BB ratio, in case you don’t want to have to do the math yourself. Those are video game/Severino-Gonzalez-in-the-VSL-type numbers. H/T to Jay Floyd ( @phoulballz )for pointing that insane ratio out on Twitter last week.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 7/8/2014 →

Threshers Win Tight One, 3-2; July 8, 2014

Game Reports

Tonight’s game against the Tampa Yankees featured Yankees’ pitching prospect, Luis Severino. The 20-year old emerged as their top pitching prospect last season and continued to excel this year in the SAL before being promoted to the FSL for a June 25th start against the Threshers. He no-hit the Clearwater that night thru 6 innings. He threw 4 strong innings tonight before being lifted after throwing 78 pitches. He allowed 1 unearned run, 4 hits, 2 walks, and struck out 8 Threshers.

Colin Kleven got the start for the Threshers and pitched equally well through his first 5 innigs. However, he ran into trouble in the 6th inning, giving up a leadoff home run. He struck out the next batter before conceding a walk and a single. He left having pitched 5.1 innings, allowing 2 earned runs, 6 hits, 2 walks, and struck out 3 Yankees. Through 16 starts, Kleven has allowed only 17 walks in 91.2 innings pitched. He entered the game with the 4th lowest BB/IP (1.56) in the FSL. Continue reading Threshers Win Tight One, 3-2; July 8, 2014 →

Lehigh Valley Weekly Report

Other Stuff

Lehigh Valley is 2-4 on their season long 10 day road trip and they currently sit at 43-48 and in 5th place of the International League, 11 games behind division leading Syracuse. They are 8 games behind Rochester in the wild card race.  The road trip continues with one more in Indianapolis before four games against Louisville leading the IronPigs into the All Star break next week.

Note: Due to the All Star Break, look for the next ‘Pigs report 7/21 or 7/22.

News and Notes:Lehigh Valley was shut out both Sunday and Monday, giving them seven shutouts against this season.

–After two games off, Maikel Franco went 13-28 over the next six games. Continue reading Lehigh Valley Weekly Report →

Around the System–Outfield, LV, Reading, Clearwater

Other Stuff

A look at how outfielders at the upper levels of the organization are performing, Since our last report, two highly talked about under-performers have left the organization through their release, Tyson Gillies and Anthony Hewitt.  Look for the report on Lakewood, Williamsport and GCL outfielders before the end of the week.

Lehigh Valley

Leandro Castro, 25, SIgned as a free agent in 2007; .264/.319/.394 in 292 AB’s; 5 HR 34RBI; 5/11SB; 7%bb/15% k rates; .299 since June 1; .213 vs. LHP; .288 vs. RHP; .270 with RISP.  77 games in the OF with 5 errors (.974); 7 OF assists; Castro has been very good since late May and with all the issues in the Phils outfield should be getting a shot to see what he can do in the majors.

Cameron Perkins, 23, Phils 6th round pick in 2012; .292/.353/.416 in 298 AB’s between Reading and Lehigh Valley; 5HR 40RBI; 5/10 SB; 8%bb/14% k rates; Hitting .196 in 102 AB’s for Lehigh Valley.  71 games in the OF without an error; 6 assists; Outstanding in Reading and having trouble adjusting thus far in Lehigh Valley.  Still has time and the year that Perkins has had should still be considered a success at this stage.

Grady Sizemore, 31, Signed as a free agent in 2014; .270/.341/.51 in 37 AB’s for Lehigh Valley; 7 games in the OF with 1 error; I expect to see Sizemore in Phillies pinstripes by the weekend. Continue reading Around the System–Outfield, LV, Reading, Clearwater →

Box Score Recap – 7/7/2014

Box Score Recap

Aaron Nola allowed just one hit and struck out five in five scoreless innings relieving Cliff Lee from last night’s rainout. Maikel Franco was 2-3 for Lehigh Valley, and Roman Quinn was 2-3 with a triple in the second game of the CLR double header. Quinn was hit by a pitch in both games, though one was yesterday before the rain.

Larry Greene and Dylan Cozens had three hits a piece, but the Claws earned a pair of Golden Sombreroes – Andrew Pullin and Samuel Hiciano both struck out four times. Not sure I recall a time when two of or guys managed that in the same game. Matt Imhof pitched really well for WIL – surrendering two hits and a walk with five Ks in four scoreless innings. Derek Campbell and Rhys Hoskins each put up four hits in that one.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 7/7/2014 →

General Discussion – Week of 7-7-2014 – You Be The GM Edition

Weekly Discussion

With the A’s/Cubs trade in the books, it’s just about “hug watch” time around the bigs. So let’s all talk about the trades we think could happen for the Phils. I will have a tweet opened to @BadMLB just in case any of you go off the rails, so watch out.

Discuss.

Box Score Recap – 7/6/2014

Box Score Recap

Another good line from Severino Gonzalez, though he allowed another longball – his HR/9 rate is something like 1.25. That’s quite bad. And before we “Hey, doesn’t he pitch in a bandbox” this one, I’ll note that his rate on the road is almost twice as bad as it is at home. Nefi Ogando has been horrendous lately, but he threw 9/12 pitches for strikes and struck out two men in a clean inning of work. Speaking of…Phillippe Aumont threw 12 of his 13 pitches for strikes en route to an identical result to Ogando. Aumont had a stellar June, walking just two men and striking out 13 in 9.2 IP. His July was of to an inauspicious start, as he walked four men in his first two appearances. Hopefully Sunday’s turn is a precursor to more success.

J.P. Crawford hit his third A+ home run, (matching his A- total in far fewer PAs), and Cliff Lee worked two scoreless innings before the skies opened up over Brevard County. Zach Green had three hits and Yacksel Rios pitched well again as a starter, going seven strong innings for Lakewood. Frank Rivas is having a fine year out of the WIL bullpen in his stateside debut. The soon-to-be-22-year old has 13K to just five walks in 13.1 IP. Jia Tromp hit his sixth home run of the year, second in the league to State College’s Rowan Wick’s 11. Wick’s been in a bit of a slump lately, though, he’s only OPSing 1.182 over his last 10 games. Weak.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 7/6/2014 →

Hot or Not

Other Stuff

Doing things a bit different and extending the hot or not time frame to 10-11 days rather than a week to get a better sample size.This is a look back at June 26–July 5. …Min AB’s to qualify as a hitter is 17…Is there any legitimate reason to not give Leandro Castro a big league cup of coffee at tis stage to see what he may have??Maikel Franco heating up…Very nice to see Kelly Dugan healthy and on the hot list…Cameron Perkins is really struggling over the last several weeks…Mitch Guellar has seemed to have figured things out over the last two weeks…Perci Garner hits the starter and reliever “not hot” list….EThan Martin has been just awful since being sent down to Lehigh Valley.

Hot Hitters: Willians Astudillo (.423); Leandro Castro (.405, 9R 1HR 6RBI); Derek Campbell (.378, 5rbi); Angelo Mora (.360); Maikel Franco (.355, 1HR 7RBI); Matt SHortall (.348, 3R 4HR 6RBI; Russ Canzler (.344, 9R 3HR 8RBI) Kelly Dugan (.333, 6R 2HR 8RBI); Emmanuel Marrero (.333); Damek Tomscha (.320, 5R); Brock Stassi (.320); Tyler Henson (.320); Roman Quinn (.310, 7R 1HR 5RBI, 2SB); Honorable Mention: Z. Green, Sizemore, Lavin

Not Hot Hitters:Trey Williams (.053); Albert Cartwright (.087); Larry Greene Jr. (.100); Carlos Alonso (.111); Logan Moore (.125); Cameron Perkins (.136);  Sebastian Valle (.148); Mitch Walding (.152); Samuel Hiciano (.160); Gabrial Lino (.176);  Aaron Altherr (.179)

Hot Starting Pitchers: Jason Marquis (13IP 7H 1ER 3BB 12K); Mitch Guellar (12IP 7H 1ER 3BB 9K); David Whitehead (13IP 10H 2ER 2BB 3K); Sean O’Sullivan (6IP 5H 1ER 2BB 7K); Greg Smith (11.1IP 7H 2ER 1BB 11K); Matt Imhof (6IP 3H 1ER 3BB 5K); Aaron Nola (4IP 1H 0ER 0BB 3K); Mark Leiter (6IP 8H 2ER 0BB 6K); Adam Loewen (13.2IP 6H 4ER 4BB 8K)

Not Hot Starters: Ryan Demmin (3IP 7H 10ER 3BB 1K); Jon Prosinksi (8.1IP 16H 11ER 3BB 5K, 2 starts); Julio Reyes(2 starts, 5.1IP 12H 8ER 4BB 2K); Perci Garner (3.1IP 4H 6ER 8BB 2K); Jeb Stefan (2 starts, 8.2IP 18H 12ER 5BB 3K); Ryan O’Sullivan (3.2IP 7H 4ER 2BB 1K); Miguel Nunez (4.2IP 9H 4ER 1BB 4K); Chris Bootcheck (2 starts, 9.2IP 13H 9ER 5bb 8k); Francibal Alejo (3.2IP 3H 5ER 5BB 4K); Ranfi Casimiro (2 starts, 11.2IP 14H 8ER 12BB 5K)

Hot Relievers:Matt Hoffman (5.2IP 3H 0ER 2BB 6K, SV); Will Morris (5.1IP 3H 0ER 0BB 3K); Ulisses Joaquin (5IP 3H 0ER 0BB 5K, SV); Edubray Ramos (3.2IP 2H 0ER 2BB 5K, SV); Brian Sova (3.2IP 4H 0ER 0BB 1K, SV); Keivi Rojas (3.1Ip2H 0ER 0BB 2K); Matt Hockenberry (3.1IP 2H 0ER 1BB 1K, SV); Lee Ridenhour (3IP 2H 0er 2BB 3K); Austin Davis (3ip 3H 0ER 0BB 1K, SV); Scott Harris (6.2IP 2H 1ER 1BB 7K); Honorable Mention: Keys, M. Martinez, Walter, M. Gonzalez

Not Hot Relievers:Hector Neris (6IP 10H 10ER 2BB 10K); Ethan Martin (5.1ip 7h 6er 7bb 5k); Nefi Ogando (2.1IP 8H 5ER 3BB 3K); Perci Garner (1.2IP 2H 3ER 4BB 1K); Seranthony Dominguez (4IP 6H 5ER 4BB 3K); Chris Oliver (1.2IP 3H 3ER 2BB 3K); Lino Martinez (4IP 6H 5ER 3BB 4K); Dan Child (3.2IP 6H 5ER 1BB 3K); Aaron Baker (4IP 10H 4ER 0BB 5K); Lewis Alezones (4IP 6H 4ER 1BB 2K)