Box Score Recap – 6/5/2014

Box Score Recap

Maikel Franco and pinch hitter Greg Smith (uhh…ok) hit home runs for Lehigh Valley. Phillippe Aumont drew a walk in that contest. Baseball’s interesting. Both LV and Reading used what seems like all of their pitchers, so let’s hope for some long starts today. Aaron Altherr, Logan Moore and Carlos Alonso each had three hits for REA, and Roman Quinn managed the same for CLR. Looks like Jeb Stefan’s been pushed to the bullpen for that squad, and 2013 pick Mark Meadors made his first outing of the year there as well. Lakewood was blanked by Delmarva, though Carlos Tocci and Dylan Cozens managed  XBHs.

We reach the end of an era, as Jesus Alastre did not reach safely for the first time in his career. Pour one out, folks. And in the Dom Rep, the pitching tandem of Yonathan Trinidad and Yonathan Gonzalez couldn’t hold off the Cubs. It was a fairly low-scoring affair, and I wonder if anyone thought, “What A Yon Fest”. Probably not. And now I’m yawning. And can’t stop. And maybe so are you. Hope no one’s in a meeting or anything.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 6/5/2014 →

Draft Day 2 Discussion Rounds 3-10

2014 Draft

The drat kicks off today at 12:35 ET.  The Phillies will have 8 picks, they will likely take a mix of players, and that mix of players will determine where they go underslot, or if they stick to their board.   We will keep this post updated with picks as they come in.

Round 3 – Aaron Brown, OF, Pepperdine University

Round 4 – Chris Oliver, RHP, Arkansas

Round 5 – Rhys Hoskins, 1B, Sacramento State

Round 6 – Brandon Leibrandt, LHP, Florida State

Round 7 – Emmanuel Marrero, SS, Alabama St

Round 8 – Sam Mc Williams, RHP, Beech HS (TN)

Round 9 – Matt Hockenberry, RHP, Temple (Senior)

Round 10 – Matt Shortall, OF, Texas-Arlington (Senior)

The Phillise Select LHP Matt Imhof with the #47 Overall Pick

2014 Draft

After starting their draft with a polished college pitcher, the Phillies continued with another college pitcher with good fastball command in Matt Imhof from Cal Poly.  Imhof leads the NCAA in strikeouts thanks to a low 90s fastball that he can get good movement on.  The secondary stuff needs a lot of work for him to stay in the rotation.  He is young enough with enough size that the stuff FB could tick a bit up.  He is more a #3/#4 starter if it all works out, but likely on the low side without a major jump in stuff.

He is a bit of a reach at #47, but if the Phillies could save a little bit of money here to spend later, he is a good value.

The Phillies Select Aaron Nola with the 7th Overall Pick

2014 Draft

The Phillies didn’t buck the mock drafts and took LSU RHP Aaron Nola with the #7 pick.  I am not a huge fan of the pick, but do not confuse that with Nola being a bad pick.  Most experts thought that #7 was the lowest that Nola would fall, and that he would return value equal to that level of pick.

Nola does not have a prototype  starting pitcher build at 6’1″ 170 lbs and the delivery is very low for a RHP.  Nola’s calling card is plus control and a good feel for pitching.  Don’t confuse this with a lack of stuff, as Nola can get the fastball up to 96, though he is more 92-95.  The changeup is a current plus pitch, and there could be more given his feel for pitching.  The slider is still a work in progress, and given his low slow will likely be a pitch that sees heavy platoon splits. Continue reading The Phillies Select Aaron Nola with the 7th Overall Pick →

2014 MLB Draft: Round 1 (Aaron Nola) and 2 (Matt Imhof)

2014 Draft

The draft is here.  The Phillies pick at #7 and #47 tonight.  The team here will update this post as the night goes on, but let the fun begin.

MLB.com Live Draft Stream

Phillies select LSU RHP Aaron Nola with the #7 overall pick

Phillies select Cal Poly LHP Matt Imhof with the #47 overall pick

Draft Talk & Guessing On Phils Second Round Targets

2014 Draft

There will be 74 picks tonight, through the end of the Competitive Balance B round after Round 2, and The Phils will select seventh tomorrow at the front of round three. We know The Phils will have a bunch of very talented options at #7, and that is in constant flux, at least to the people who are out there writing about it. Tyler Kolek seems to be falling on many boards, and as sure a Top 5 pick as he was a week ago, I’m that sure today that I wouldn’t put very much money at all on him being popped in the Top 10. He probably still, will, but it’s seemingly less of a lock than it was.

No matter who they get at 1.7, the Phils do have another pick today, it’s 2.6 (Seattle lost their second round pick when they signed Robinson Cano), or pick #47. I’m not going to write up much for each guy, and this may be a good place for some crowd sourced opinion on what the Phils might do with this second rounder, but here are a handful of guys who might be available and attractive to the Phillies, or are at least attractive to me for the team to take, and a couple names ranked around that pick who I think the Phils would not or could not take. I’ve included their BA Top 500 rankings so those casual draft fans among you can easily read something about them if you’re a subscriber, though remember that BA’s rankings are just one (well-researched) opinion of many.

Continue reading Draft Talk & Guessing On Phils Second Round Targets →

Was Domingo Santana On The Pence PTBNL List By Mistake?

Other Stuff

Were I a reputable reporter with sources within the Phillies organization, I would try to get a quote from someone in the Phils’ Front Office and add it here, whether confirmation, denial, or obfuscation. As I’m not, I will just put this out there with the caveat that this is an unnamed/unknown source and hasn’t been, as far as I can tell, corroborated by anyone. It sounds like it was mentioned in passing on 97.5 the other day as well, (as mentioned by Steve in the comments yesterday), though I can’t find it on their website. Anyone who has a link to that, please share it. Either way, click through to this Monday report from Houston Chronicle beat writer Jose de Jesus Ortiz:

http://blog.chron.com/ultimateastros/2014/06/02/singleton-move-a-reminder-how-the-astros-won-the-pence-trade/#22102103=0&23907101=0

This is the relevant quote: “In spring training, a Phillies official admitted that Santana wasn’t actually supposed to be on the list that was given to the Astros to pick from to satisfy the final piece on Aug. 15, 2011.”

If true, I don’t know that it’s a damning indictment of anyone in particular, so much as it is a huge foul-up. Not sure how you add a player you don’t intend to add to a list except by sheer negligence in creating and proofreading the list. They should have sent the list over to PP so we could tell them not to include Domingo Santana. They should probably just do that from now on. Someone with a F.O. contact let Ruben know I said we’re here for him, ok?

And thanks to Steve for pointing this out to us. I had missed it completely. Perhaps many of you had not and I’m just too deep in the draft this week.

Hot or Not

Other Stuff

Just a very poor week in the organization(5/29–6/4), especially with the bat…JP Crawford has been struggling as of late but deserves leeway based on a year of continued production…Hoby Milner was outstanding in a rain shortened start in Harrisburg…Very inopportune time for Kenny GIles to land on the Not Hot list…What the heck is up with Cameron Rupp? Brutal Week and down to .163 on the year…still injured? Cedeno continues very hot with an average approaching .290…still remember its Ronnie Cedeno. Maikel Franco is back down to .223 on the year with an OBP well under .300.

Hot Hitters(Min 13 AB’s):Ronnie Cedeno (.409, 5R 4RBI); Leandro Castro (.370); Steve Susdorf (.350); Carlos Alonso (.364, 5R 2HR 4RBI); Tyler Henson (.333)

Not Hot Hitters: Cameron Rupp (.050); Chris Serritella (.077); Art Charles (.091); JP Crawford (.111); Wilmer Oberto (.118); Andrew Pullin (.136); Deivi Gruillon (.143); Anthony Phillips (.150); Angelo Mora (.150); Maikel Franco (.167); (Dis)Honorable mention: Stassi, Hiciano Continue reading Hot or Not →

Box Score Recap – 6/4/2014

Box Score Recap

Perci Garner gave up 3R on 8H, 1BB and 8K over 6 innings – he threw 65/100 for strikes. Good effort, and the first time he’s managed to allow just one walk since April 22. Dylan Cozens was 1-2 with a BB. Twice. He had an identical line in both games of the morning/afternoon double header. Impressive, I guess. Willians Astudillo‘s hit streak ended at 18 in a seven inning game which totally doesn’t count, IMO. He did pick up a hit in the “afternooncap”, as it were. Andrew Knapp was 2-3 in that game.

Jesus Alastre is back on the field for the VSL, so I guess he’s been dinged up or sick or on a surfing trip or something, and is not on the way to the states for the GCL. He had a hit, of course. He’s still been on base each game of his pro career.

For those interested, I just listened through the Mike Baumann/Eric Longenhagen draft discussion from Crashburn Alley. They answered one of my questions and two of Matt’s and had a nice long discussion of many different aspects of the draft and scouting. Entertaining stuff, and a decent focus on the Phillies #7 pick and second rounder at one point. It’s pretty long, close to two hours, so maybe turn it on in the background, The video is just the two dudes talking, so if you treat it like a podcast you won’t miss much.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 6/4/2014 →

XST; June 4, 2014

Game Reports, , , , , ,

Today’s games with the Pirates began at 10:00AM. While waiting for the Williamsport squad to take the field, I saw Zach Green in uniform.  I followed him over to Roberts Field.  After determining that he wasn’t playing the field, I headed back to Ashburn Field.  Ricardo Pinto started and threw 6 great innings. While over at Roberts, I missed the first batter he faced. When I got back to Ashburn, there was a runner on second; he scored with two outs on a throwing error by Jan Hernandez. Pinto picked the runner off second to end the inning. Over the remaining 5 innings, Pinto allowed 2 walks and a hit batter. He also picked a runner off first base. So, depending on how the first batter reached base, I saw either a no or one hitter over 6 innings. He also struck out 6 batters. Continue reading XST; June 4, 2014 →