I received a text from a friend this morning alerting me to an intrasquad game at the Carpenter Complex. The same friend picked me up and we went to the fields. We were immediately rewarded when Zach Green came out of the clubhouse in uniform spikes. It got better when Cody Asche came out in uniform, too. Jackpot! Continue reading Intrasquad Game in Clearwater; June 9, 2014
Box Score Recap – 6/8/2014
Vance Worley homered against Lehigh Valley. That’s probably a metaphor or a parable or something. Jeb Stefan sturck out five and allowed just three hits in six scoreless innings for CLR – Roman Quinn homered there, and Jim did a great write-up of the game earlier.
Pullin, Hiciano and Grullon with multi-hit games for Lakewood, but Drew Anderson left after just one 15-pitch inning. Ominous. And Jesus Alastre was 2-4 with a triple and three runs scored for the VSL squad. We’re getting closer to the New York Penn League season – Williamsport’s media day is Wednesday.
Threshers; June 8, 2014
We’ve all heard the term “a heartbreaking loss”. Well, if there is such a thing as a “heartbreaking win”, the Threshers put their fans through one this afternoon. Actually, heart wrenching or gut wrenching are probably better descriptive terms
The Threshers hitters were facing a young hurler making his Florida State League debut for the Daytona Cubs. Right hander, Justin Amlung, was 4-0 with an ERA of 1.54 with Kane County in A ball. It seems that most of the games I cover, the Threshers run into guys with sub 3.00 ERAs who shut them down, or plus 4.00 ERAs who pitch their game of the season. Not today. Continue reading Threshers; June 8, 2014
Box Score Recap – 6/7/2014
There ultimately may not be a valuable, long-term big league starting pitcher among the four, but all four full-season starters pitched well on Saturday.
Severino Gonzalez – 3R, 2ER, 7H, 2BB, 5K in 6IP for Reading.
Colin Kleven – 4R, 2ER, 7H, 1BB, 8K in 7IP for Clearwater.
Jon Prosinski – 2R, 1ER, 4H, 2BB, 8K in 7IP for Lakewood.
And Brad Lincoln again pitched well for Lehigh Valley, allowing just one hit and one walk while striking out seven over six scoreless innings. He’s had success as a starter at AAA before, so I will reserve my excitement for the day when he has big league success, I think. But if he figures it out in the rotation at AAA, maybe he can still be useful in the big league bullpen this year. He had a good 2012 out of Pittsburgh’s pen, so it wouldn’t be the craziest thing to ever happen for him to recapture his optimal mechanics and form after getting reps in the rotation.
Moving On
With the draft over, I thought it was a good time to make this decision. I will no longer be writing for Phuture Phillies going forward, and will be moving on to other projects. I have thought a lot about this, and I have enjoyed writing here, but in the end I think it is a good change going forward. Gregg will continue to run this site, and there will still be great content by the writers here.
I want to thank Gregg for the opportunity to write here over the past year and a half. I have enjoyed my time here. And I would like to thank everyone who has read my stuff and interacted both in the comments and on twitter, it has been awesome being a part of this community here.
I will continue to write about prospects, the location of that writing will come together at some point soon, and I am excited about the future. You can always find me on twitter @Matt_Winkelman
-Matt
2014 Draft Tracker
This is the place to keep track of all signings, bonus information, pool spending, and media regarding all 40 2014 Draftees. I’d love your help here, finding me articles from local media and social media and the like. Please post any links you have, or if it’s a tweet, just post the text or however you like. I would ask only that you post any new information as a new comment so it appears at the bottom and makes it easier to find amongst what’s likely to be a pretty large post with possibly hundreds of comments. If you have something super urgent that you want to draw my attention to and you don’t think it can wait until I get back on and check this page, you can always tweet at me @bxe1234. Good chance I’ll see that within an hour or two most times.
Notes on when I update what will be kept in a running timeline after the jump. Continue reading 2014 Draft Tracker
What to Expect from Ken Giles
Mike Adams to the DL, which means Ken Giles is coming up. Giles has been a darling of fans so far because of his minor league numbers and triple digit fastball. However, you might want hold off before anointing him a dominant closer.
What you’ll See Now:
Giles will sit with the fastball mostly 96-98 but you will see 99s and 100s. He has had enough control to get it in the zone for the most part (walks were up in AAA), but he still lacks command of the pitch. When he misses he will miss up, and major leaguers will be able to time that pitch. He pairs that with a short slider around 90 mph. It is more of a quick cutting pitch that a wipeout pitch. There is potential for it to be a plus plus pitch in the long term, but right now it lacks consistency. He might mix a splitter in at times, but it is far behind his other pitches. Continue reading What to Expect from Ken Giles
Around the System–Corner Infield
This is really frighening. Next up, Middle Infield.
Lehigh Valley
Maikel Franco, 21, Signed as a free agent in 2009; .223/.290/.357 in 224 AB’s; 5HR 25RBI; 8%bb/16%k rates; .276 vs. LHP; .205 vs. RHP; .243 with RISP; 46 games at 3B with 2 errors (.984); 11 games at 1B without an error; Hitting .255 since May 1. Improved since we last spoke but nowhere near where most of us thought he would be offensively. Playing well with the glove.
Jim Murphy, 28, Phils 18th round pick in 2006; .240/.321/.423 in 208 AB’s; 8HR 31RBI; 9%bb/24%k rates; .211 vs. LHP; .252 vs. RHP; .236 with RISP; .226 since May 1. 49 games at 1B with 3 errors (.993); Murphy is providing some pop but he is hitting about 30 points below where most expected this year. Continue reading Around the System–Corner Infield
Draft Day 3 Recap
The Phillies had a strange Day 3 of the draft, starting it off with 18 straight college players, despite having freed up money on day 2. They did rebound with a lot of HS guys late, so we will see how it all filters out on signing day. With 30 picks there is no way to give them all full attention, but here are some highlights.
Drew Stankiewicz – A bloodlines guy. Drew is a left handed hitting SS who likely moves to 2B in pro-ball. It is a long road to climb, but second baseman who can hit have a chance to stick around and surprise later. Solid pick.
Austin Davis – I love this pick, but I have a thing for lefties with changeups. Davis has been up to 94 with the fastball and the changeup is solid, he also lacks the heavy workload of other college juniors. Right now he has to find a consistent arm slot and a breaking ball. This pick my take a bit, but there is upside here. Continue reading Draft Day 3 Recap
Box Score Recap – 6/6/2014
I kinda rambled on and on here. I blame the dudes tearing down a shed outside my bedroom window at 7:15 am. Anyway, Happy Draft Saturday, everyone! Let’s all keep a good thought for “Prep Arm With Upside” or “Toolsy Outfielder Who Really Isn’t As Interested In College As He’s Led His Parents To Believe, And Is Willing To Break It To Them Over The Next Five Weeks, Because While Breaking Your Mother’s Heart Is A Bummer, Money Is Way Better Than Learning And Stuff”.
On to Friday’s results – Cam Rupp had two hits and Cam Perkins drew two walks for LV. Perkins has done a nice job taking his walks this year, improving drastically over his 2013 rates. If you’re a corner OF with an ISO of around .150, any extra offensive value you can add is huge, and walking your way to an OBP over .400 is a pretty good start.
Jesse Biddle did not fair well in his start – 7R on 6H, 2HR, 2BB, 2K in 2.1 IP. Just under 60% of his pitches went for strikes. Colt Murray with six Ks in an extended relief, and first baseman Brock Stassi played mop-up for Austin Wright, inducing a fly ball out with the bases loaded to close out the top of the ninth of a Reading blow-out loss. Wright walked four men (around a FC and a wild pitch) in the ninth. That’s…that’s not so good.
Ethan Stewart induced 11 groundball outs and struck out five over seven innings. That’s the kind of performance that keeps people wondering if there isn’t something valuable lurking under the surface on that guy, if only he could be at all consistent. You don’t generally get 11 guys to ground out in a game by accident. Since a meltdown, seven walk performance on May 26th, Stewart has walked just five over 16.1 IP. So keep any eye on him going forward.
Dylan Cozens hit his third triple of the year. He’s a guy who’s not ready to give up on the idea that he can be a true athlete – he’s stolen 10 bases and been caught just twice this year. If he doubles up on his counting stats by the end of the year, (we’re close to the halfway mark), he’ll have 30 doubles, 6 triples, 14 homers and 20 steals. His 26% K rate is high, and his walk rate is historically low for him, ~6.5%. It was around 10% last year and even higher in the GCL in 2012. All in all, I’d take that kind of season as a pass of the level, for sure.
Also of note from Friday, Yacksel Rios struck out four in a two inning save, adn Carlos Tocci was 2-4 with a double for Lakewood. KC Serna had four hits including two doubles for CLR. Carlos Alonso hit a double and a home run for Reading. Sean O’Sullivan managed to work his way through seven innings of one-run ball for Lehigh Valley. And both Complex League teams lost to the respective Complex League Cubs, or “Los Cachorros”. I could never do the “rr” sound. It’s why my career dream of being a diplomatic translator for the Chilean Minister of Agriculture, Horticulture and Fisheries was eventually crushed. DAMN YOU TONGUE ROLL SOUND!!!!!!!!!!!
Roster news from the last couple days – Tyson Gillies was DFAed by the Phillies and cleared waivers, and is expected back on the Lehigh Valley roster. Cesar Jimenez was also DFAed to make room for Ronny Cedeno to go up to the Phils. Luis Garcia completed a quick rehab assignment at AAA and was optioned off the DL, and Jiwan James is back in Reading, as is previously injured C Lars Davis – not sure if they’ve moved Logan Moore back to CLR, but I wouldn’t be surprised, even though he’s had seven hits in his last four AA games.
