Lehigh Valley Weekly Report

Other Stuff

Its been a rough two weeks for Lehigh Valley, even with an 8-1 win last night, as they have gone 3-7 since the last report and now sit at 52-52, and in 3rd place of the Northern Division of the International League, 5.5 games behind division leading Pawtucket and 2 games behind Norfolk in the race for the wild card. Lehigh Valley is in the midst of an eight game road trip during which they play two more in Rochester, followed by a four game series in Pawtucket.

‘Pigs Prospects: Cody Asche has hit safely in 20 of his last 27 games and is hitting .359 during that time frame. Taking it back a bit further, Asche has hit in 38 of his last 49 games (.324). After having a fairly miserable time hitting left handed pitching during the first two months of the season, Asche has been a solid .294 since May 26th.  He continues to show the occasional pop, good base running and very good defense. On the year, Asche is at .292/.352/.451 with 12HR and 60RBI, to go along with 11SB. Extremely solid. I really hope to see him in Philly before the end of the year. Continue reading Lehigh Valley Weekly Report →

Prospect Spotlight: Maikel Franco

Franco, Maikel

I am not a scout nor do I pretend to be.  I have not seen Franco in person this year because I live in Wisconsin which is a long distance from Clearwater and Reading.  These opinions are formed on video (game feeds and scouting video), reports, and people I have talked.

Since his breakout I have been wanting to discuss Franco, but I wanted to have fully formed opinions before I threw water on some people’s fires.  I don’t think I disagree with Franco’s ceiling so much as I think the polish is not where you want it yet.  Additionally I think we often ignore faults in players in an effort to recognize their gifts, it is a defense mechanism to avoid thinking about the amount of failure along the journey to the majors.  All that being said Maikel Franco is my #2 prospect in the Phillies system and a great prospect and scouting story. Continue reading Prospect Spotlight: Maikel Franco →

Around the System, OF, Lower Half

Other Stuff

Lakewood

Larry Greene, Jr, 20, Phils 1st round pick in 2011 draft; .234/.329/.317 in 278 AB’s; 2HR 23RBI; 5/9 SB; .131 vs. LH, .278 vs. RH, .229 with RISP; .275 since June 1; 13%bb/34% k rates. 77 games in the OF with 9 errors (.927); 2 OF assists; The good news is Greene has shown great improvement over the last two months, renewing hope that using a #1 pick on him wouldnt rank up there in the realm of Jeff Jacksonesque failures. The bad news: VERY pedestrian power and speed numbers combined with difficulties in the field and .131 against lefties. 

Brian Pointer, 21, Phils 28th round pick in 2010 draft; .228/.346/.357 in 311 AB’s; 5HR 39RBI; 21SB; .177 vs. LH, .241 vs. RH, .276 with RISP; .225 since June 1; 11%bb/26% k rates; 85 games in the OF with 4 errors (.974); 5 OF assists, I have been infatuated with Pointer’s skill set since I saw him in Spring Training in 2011 and am pretty consistently disappointed by his line. The guy has skills. He needs to hit lefties and strike out less and probably has one more year to learn to do those things. Continue reading Around the System, OF, Lower Half →

General Discussion – Week of 7-22-2013 – Pre-Deadline Edition

Weekly Discussion

Last chance for the big club to sway the thinking of their leadership. A strong week might rightfully lead to a buy-a-couple-pieces stance, though a big splash is probably not in the offing, I would guess. A mediocre week might lead to a sell-off of a couple pieces, or a stand-pat position – MYoung and Lannan are moveable, if someone wants them, wouldn’t necessarily harm the team, and might net you a big-league bench OF to fill in now and when Revere returns, replace Laynce Nix and his non-exystance off the Phils bench, and a middle reliever to fill in the gap so you don’t have to call up Phillippe Aumont again. An 0-6 week might lead Rube to hit the reset button, moving guys like Papelbon, Utley, Rollins, Lee, Ruiz, and who knows who else.

If they can’t find a taker for John Lannan before the non-waiver deadline, I would shop Kyle Kendrick. FIP and xFIP at 3.88 and 4.00 respectively, one more year of team control, cheap for the rest of this year, knows how to take a practical joke. (I missed in the original post that Lannan is an arb4 this year. He was a super 2 and so gets 4 years of arb, not 3- adds to his value and changes the complexion of both the Young comparison and the Kendrick point a bit). When Doc comes back, presumably in a couple weeks, it will likely send a competent Jon Pettibone back to AAA. Pettibone’s FIP and xFIP are right around 4.20. That’s fine with me for a fifth starter.

Box Score Recap – 7/22/2013

Box Score Recap

Adam Morgan back at Lehigh Valley 71 pitches, 46 strikes, 4 innings. Works for me. Sebastian Valle with his second 2 HR game in the last 4. Impressive. Less impressive? Your Clearwater Threshers were no-hit by three Jupiter Hammerheads. Continue reading Box Score Recap – 7/22/2013 →

Around the System–OF, Top Half

Other Stuff

A look at the OF at the upper reaches of the organization. Stats are thru Saturday. The report on Lakewood, Williamsport and GCL will be out this week.

Lehigh Valley

Leandro Castro, 24, Signed as a free agent in 2007; .267/.297/.397 in 292 AB’s; 7HR 43 RBI; 16/22 SB; .364 vs. LHP, .225 vs. RHP; .338 with RISP; 4%bb/18%K rates; .259 since June 1. 77 games in the OF with 6 errors (.966); 6 OF assists. Castro has had a very good year and in my mind has placed on himself on the radar screen for a 4th or 5th OF candidate in Philadelphia next year. His biggest issue has always been his free swinging. While still a free swinger, he is making a whole heck of alot more contact than in the past.  Work in the OF has been less than stellar.

Steve Susdorf, 27, Phils 19th round pick in 2008 draft;.341/.429/.438 in 185 AB’s; 1HR 24RBI; 8SB; .324 vs. LH, .344 with RH, .327 with RISP; .352 since June 1. 13%bb/14% k rates.  43 games in the OF with 1 error (.983); 2 OF assists; I am not quite sure what Lance Nix gives you that Steve Susdorf can’t. Susdorf has been the picture of consistency, hitting both righties and lefties and giving you a very good AB each and every time. Continue reading Around the System–OF, Top Half →

Box Score Recap – 7/20/2013

Box Score Recap

Lakewood and Clearwater both squeak out wins in their respective slugfests. Yacksel Rios got hit around a little in his start, while Josh Warner has been looks pretty good in relief. And Lehigh Valley went 12 scoreless innings with Columbus before Justin Friend finally gave up a solo HR in the 13th. I’ll have to skip the graphic for now, maybe get it up later, but here’s a place to discuss. Continue reading Box Score Recap – 7/20/2013 →

Box Score Recap – 7/19/2013

Box Score Recap

Maikel Franco back above .400 after a 3-5 night. Kelly Dugan with three hits as well, giving him 4 multi-hit games in his last six. That’s a nice little run after a slow start at AA. And Zach Collier hit his 6th HR of the year and brought his BA back above the old Mendoza line. Sounds like he made an adjustment after a video session a couple days ago that has helped his swing (read Mike Drago’s story about that – from the Reading Eagle). Ken Giles struck out 4 and walked 2 in 2 scoreless innings. He’s got a 14/4 K/BB ratio in 7.1 IP since coming back from injury. I’d say he’s healed, (though 4BB in 7.1 IP is not ideal). And a disappointing performance from Wilmer Oberto. 2-5 with a triple and ZERO HOMERUNS! Can you believe that? Shameful. Continue reading Box Score Recap – 7/19/2013 →

Box Score Recap – 7/18/2013

Box Score Recap

If not for Jesse Biddle’s really nice outing, the entire write-up for today may have been “If Wilmer Oberto isn’t the player of the week, we all know the fix is in” or “O My Berto” or “Wilmer is Spanish for Grand and Oberto is Spanish for Slam”. Or something. But alas, quite the performance from Mr. Biddle. Too good to not mention.

He picked up his first win since the beginning of May or something, (though he did have that career altering Futures Game W), while going 7 innings, allowing 2 runs (1 earned), on 3H 2BB with 7K. Threw 66% strikes. Very nice.

And while I’ve spoiled my week-long Wilmer Oberto love fest with other results, I may as well mention a decent game for Ethan Martin, (though he still didn’t throw enough strikes to work at the big league level), 3-5 from Maikel Franco, (though he did have an error in the field), and 2 HR for Sebastian Valle, (though he remains Sebastian Valle). Every GCL Phillie reached base, and only debuting Venn Biter did not have a hit (in 2 PAs). And do not stare directly at Mitch Gueller’s line. I REPEAT – DO NOT LOOK AT MITCH GUELLER’S LINE WITHOUT PROPER EYE PROTECTION. Not even one out. Let’s hope Mitch himself doesn’t look at that one too much. Better forgotten.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 7/18/2013 →