Box Score Recap – 7/5/2014

Lehigh Valley outlasted Rochester. Maikel Franco had three hits including a double and a home run, (albeit in 8 ABs over 16 innings). Russ Canzler hit two homers. Cam Perkins 1-7 – he’s really scuffling. Kelly Dugan 2-4 for Reading, and MAG allowed one hit and walked one while striking out four over 2 scoreless innings. Carlos Tocci and Mitch Walding both had two doubles, while Dylan Cozens had two steals for Lakewood. Cozens has 15 on the year. Not bad for a monstrously large human being.

Aaron Brown and Emmanuel Marrero with multi-hit games in support of a good start for Alejandro Arteaga in Williamsport. The GCL squad walked seven times versus Yankees pitching, though they managed just four hits. Denton Keys worked four scoreless innings after Jeff Manship worked the first as the opening test of his rehab assignment.

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Box Score Recap – 7/4/2014

Maikel Franco was 2-5 with a double and a triple after a 4-4 on Thursday. He’s absolutely mashing in July. It’s just those two games, but still. Reading I don’t really want to talk about. Ok, same with Clearwater. Way to honor your nation’s birthday, dudes. Except the Latin guys. They get a pass.

Williamsport’s Mitch Gueller tossed a seven inning complete game shutout. Mitch Rupert mentioned he was sitting at 89 with his FB, but says he’s looking pretty comfortable with his slider. Encouraging. Jia Tromp hit his fifth homer of the year in game two of the double header. It’s the first time he’s hit just one home run in a game, and I guess one’s nice, but it does seem like kind of a letdown. Two’s better. He should try that again next time.

Big lefty Austin Davis earned his first pro save for the GCL, and Hugo Arrocha was 2-5 with two doubles in the DSL. Edwin Rodriguez also collected two hits in that game. Luis Mendoza had two hits, giving him multi-hit games in three of his last for in the VZL.

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Box Score Recap – 7/3/2014

Roman Quinn was 3-5, and JP Crawford was on base three times as well, with a hit and two walks. Carlos Tocci had gone a little cold, OPSing .469 since the SAL all-star break (13 games), though he did manage a triple on Thursday, his first XBH of that span, and he’s got seven hits in his last five games, so I’d say he’s turned the corner on that slump. Sam Hiciano’s been slumping since the ASB also. He went 2-4 with a double. His K Rate this year is a very respectable 22%. Tyler Viza managed his way through six innings, allowing 1R 4H 0BB and 4K. He could use a couple more games where he doesn’t get hit around, like he’s been since pretty much the start of May.

Cord Sandberg and Matt Shortall hit home runs in the twelfth inning to make Williamsport a winner. Both had multi-hit games, as did Jia Tromp, Aaron Brown (who added 2 steals) and Derek Campbell. David Whitehead threw six shutout innings, giving up three hits and walking one, but striking out just one. Scott Tomassetti celebrated his 21st birthday was his first professional hit. It was a double, pinch-hitting for rehabbing big leaguer Wil Nieves. I bet he’ll never forget it. I celebrated my 21st birthday by going to the store and buying beer. The guy who carded me wished me a happy birthday. Then I drank the beer at a party and I really don’t remember much else. Ahh…memories.

Out on the island, Julsan Kamara went 3-4 with a triple, his first multi-hit game and first XBH as a pro. Guy’s OBP is .385. He’s drawn seven walks in 10 games. Nice. Old-ish DSL rookie Ismael Cabrera threw five shutout innings and struck out six a day after his old-ish DSL rookie teammate Jose Taveras threw a CGSHO. Two guys to keep in the back of your mind and nothing more, I’d say. Cabrera’s walk rate is very high, and Taveras is almost 21 years old already, so not being stateside doesn’t inspire a lot of hope that the org thinks they have what it takes.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 7/3/2014 →

Threshers; July 3, 2014

As much as I enjoyed posting reports on Wednesday’s Threshers’ game and the GCL game this afternoon, I did not want to report on this one.  The Threshers fell behind early and lost 14-6 to the Dunedin Blue Jays.  Jeb Stefan started and quickly dug a hole from which the offense could not recover.  Relievers, Dan Child and Ramon Oviedo were also ineffective. Continue reading Threshers; July 3, 2014 →

GCL Phillies; July 3, 2014

The humidity was a little lower than it had been during the past 10 days, so I went to the Complex to watch the GCL game between the Phillies and the Braves.  Yoel Mecias got his third rehab start.  He pitched 5 uninspiring innings.  His fastball maxxed out at 87 mph.  By the third inning, he had lost the ability to throw it consistently for strikes and relied heavily on his 82-83 mph changeup.  The Braves bunched 6 hits and a walk into the third and fourth innings to score 3 runs.  He threw 49 strikes in his 78 pitches.  His final line was –

  • 5.0 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 K

Darrin Ruf and Wil Nieves both hit line drive singles in the first inning with 2 outs.  Continue reading GCL Phillies; July 3, 2014 →

Aaron Altherr In Tonight’s Philadelphia Lineup

Just a quick note – Aaron Altherr will make the start in left field tonight for the Phillies. Altherr was called up in June while Tony Gwynn was on bereavement and took one PA, and he was recalled yesterday when Dom Brown went on the paternity list. The German-bron Altherr, nicknamed “The Rhineland Rocket” (by me – I am beating it into the ground, folks), OPSed .930 in June at AA Reading, but is OPSing .688 on the season between two MiLB levels.

Box Score Recap – 7/2/2014

Jason Marquis pitched well again, and could be a trade chip if they bring him up and get him a couple starts in the bigs pretty soon, IMO. Might not net you much, but maybe a low-level flier type guy from a position of depth in someone’s org. If you were contending and needed a fourth/fifth starter on the cheap, would you give up someone like Malquin Canelo or maybe Jia Tromp for someone like Marquis? Probably.

MAG debuted in Reading with a scoreless inning and 2K. Roman Quinn hit his second HR of the year, and Brian Pointer his sixth. Ethan Stewart worked out of the bullpen for CLR for just the second time in his four-year pro career. We’ll see if that’s permanent, and if it helps his stuff play up to more Ks, helping to nullify his soul-crushing walk rate. Dylan Cozens went deep for the third time in five games. He struggled in June, but he’s OPSing .927 over his last ten games.

In the short-season leagues, second rounder Matt Imhof got the starts for WIL, pitching to a line of 1R 1H 2BB 3K in 3IP. Luis Encarnacion was 2-4 with a double for the GCL, while Darin Ruf and Wil Nieves rehabbed. 20-year-old Jose Taveras pitched a complete game shutout for DSL. Julsan Kamara logged his first pro hit in that contest and Bryan Martelo had two in that one.

Look for my July 2 recap at CrashburnAlley.com later this morning.

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Threshers; July 2, 2014

The Threshers’ offense exploded Wednesday night.  They collected 15 hits, of which 6 were XBH including a triple and 3 home runs.  They scored in each of the first 4 innings as the ran out to a 10-1 lead.  They maintained their advantage to win 11-5 against the Dunedin Blue Jays. Continue reading Threshers; July 2, 2014 →

Staying optimistic about the future in center field

In what has been a disappointing 2014 season for the Phillies, one thing has become abundantly clear: the team’s future in the outfield is muddled. Ben Revere, Domonic Brown, and Marlon Byrd have struggled as a unit, and out of those three guys, the only one who has provided much of anything may not be here past July 31.

Brown’s problems are another story for another day, and Byrd’s story may be written over the next few weeks if Ruben Amaro, Jr. finds a taker for the right fielder.

There is one big question here: What is the team’s future in center field? Set aside Brown for a second. Forget about Byrd. Just block the corner outfield out of your mind. Where does this team plan to go in center field?

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Box Score Recap – 7/1/2014

His name is Rios, and he set down lots of Suns //

They tried to hit off him, but he allowed just one.

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