Box Score Recap – 5/3 & 5/4/2013

Box Score Recap

I miss a day and they demote Tyson Gillies to AA. Someone said the other day that the club had retooled his swing this year to try to find a little more power. Not working yet. If they tinkered with Maikel Franco’s swing, that’s been working just fine. He hit his 6th homerun tonight. Dude’s mashing.

On a side note, my nephew, all of eight years old, throws hard enough to hurt my hand playing catch. In his game today, he couldn’t find his batting gloves, and then couldn’t find the bat he wanted to use, so he said “I’ll just grab a different one”. He did so, and then he drew a base on balls. A triumph over adversity. One of his teammates was sitting in the dugout facing away from the game and responded to his coach’s inspirational encouragement, (like “WE’RE STILL IN THIS!!!!”), with sarcastic negativity, (like “NO WE’RE NOT!!!!”). Also in this game, the other team pinch ran for someone because, as I swear to god the coach yelled across the diamond to my nephew’s coach to explain, the young man had to “take a dump”. Not embarrassing for that kid at all. Well done, coach.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 5/3 & 5/4/2013 →

Why Jesse Biddle Was Pulled From a Game Today

Biddle, Jesse

Jesse Biddle’s final line today was:

0.2 IP  1 H 3 ER 4 BB 0 K and 41 pitches

he was then pulled from the game and replaced by Tyler Knigge prompting internet speculation about an injury.  It turns out Biddle’s 41 pitches pushed him over the organizations limit for number of pitches in an inning.  To this point there is nothing to suggest that there is any sort of injury concern. Continue reading Why Jesse Biddle Was Pulled From a Game Today →

Around the System–Corner Infield

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The “Around the System” series is back as we continuously rotate through the System taking a look at the production of each and every player.  We start with Corner Infielders, and will continue through the middle infield, outfield, catcher, starting pitchers and relief pitchers, all in time to get back to where we started (corner infield) usually about 75 AB’s later. Stats are thru Friday May 3rd. Look for a report on the Middle Infield over the next several days…

Lehigh Valley

Cody Overbeck, 26, Phils 9th round pick in 2009; .250/.297/.515 in 68 AB’s; 5HR 12 RBI; 1SB; 6%bb/29%k rate; .417 vs. LH, .214 vs. RH, .214 with RISP. 14 games at 1B with 1 error (.992); 8.57 R/F. Overbeck has been simply OK in the years first month. He continues to show power but is far from consistent and has been striking out a ton.

Cody Asche, 22, Phils 4th round pick in 2011; .267/.330/.367 in 90 AB’s; 1HR 13RBI; 9%bb/25%k rates; .071 vs. LH; .303 vs. RH, .143 with RISP. 24 games at 3B with 3 errors (.952); 2.50 R/F. Asche had an awful start but adjusted and has been coming on strong in his transition to AAA as of late.  His progress has been similar to what I expected prior to the year, but some troubling splits. Continue reading Around the System–Corner Infield →

Draft Retrospective – Projectable High School Pitcher

2013 Draft

The Phillies like many teams draft for projectability when it comes to high school players.  The Phillies over the past 5 years have shown that they have a type of high school pitcher that they value.  That pitcher tends to be taller than 6′ 3″ and have large projectable frames with rumors that their velocity will increase and that they can hold up for a full season.

The thing to keep in mind is that many things can go wrong for high school pitchers.  Pitcher get hurt and often for strange reasons, and sometimes for entirely predictable reasons.  The velocity does not always increase and a player can be caught with fringy velocity.  Pitchers can also lose velocity in professional ball, this can be because they need to throw less hard to gain control or the increased work load can decrease their ability to throw hard every start.  The reward can be great with a high school pitcher that works out especially when those picks are in the later rounds. Continue reading Draft Retrospective – Projectable High School Pitcher →

Taking Stock a Month In – Making Sense of Hot Starts

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It is hard to not get excited about hot starts for prospects because they bring so much promise and optimism.  The key as always, is to know why they are starting out how they are.  Sometimes regression is right around the corner and other times there is something there that has changed our view on them.

This isn’t a Hot Start This Is Who He Is:

Maikel Franco – Franco is by no means a finished product or a perfect prospect.  He has some limitations that will likely keep him from being a superstar.  At the plate he is a free swinger (not a hacker) and is going to have reasonable strikeout rates and walk rates but he is not going to be a high OBP guy.  His swing can get long and he can sell out for power exposing him to premium stuff, especially when pitchers can get inside on him.  But what he has, is special, Franco has a very quick bat that makes solid contact and projects to have a plus hit and plus power tool.  He should be able to be average to above defensively at third, and all round you have an occasional All-Star and well above average third baseman. Continue reading Taking Stock a Month In – Making Sense of Hot Starts →

Box Score Recap – 5/2/2013

Box Score Recap

Hoby Milner taking care of business, and a Manny Martinez sighting in the Clearwater bullpen. Can’t imagine that’s anything more than an inning from a guy who was in town and available to give one. And one more note there – Jose Mojica with 4 hits, raises his BA to .400. On May 2. He’s clearly outmatching the pitchers there as he repeats the league as a 24 year-old. There’s nowhere to go with him though, so he’s probably stuck there unless Duran goes down with an injury, or goes up to LV.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 5/2/2013 →

Box Score Recap – 5/1/2013

Box Score Recap

Yoel Mecias struck out eight of the 21 batters he faced. Chace Numata hit his first homerun of the year, and is now (after an admittedly “spike-enducing” game), OPSing .784 in a reasonably-age-appropriate league. He’s about a year younger than the average SAL hitter at around 20.7, compared to the league’s hitters, who average 21.6, (per BRef). Also in that contest, Roman Quinn stole his 11th base. He’s only been caught once, which puts him on pace for a success rate of 11/12. You’re welcome.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 5/1/2013 →

Hot or Not

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A look back at the April 24-30 time period.  Quick thoughts/questions…What should Biddle’s timeline for promotion be?….Very rough week for the Lakewood rotation….Cesar Hernandez remains on fire. As solely a 2B, what should the Phils do next year if he keeps it up?10 RBI week for Maikel Franco whose stock is clearly rising into the very top echelon of Phils prospects…Zach Collier is overmatched at AA(0-8, 7K’s the last two days)…Start paying attention to Mauricio Robles. He is on the 40 man roster and has been dominant this year, striking out 22 in 15.1IP, with a WHIP well below 1.

Hot Hitters:(12AB MIN) William Carmona (.500, 5R, 4RBI); Cesar Hernandez, (.458, 6R HR 3RBI, 3SB); Cameron Perkins (.412, 5R); Darin Ruf (.400, 3HR 9RBI); Kelly Dugan(.375, HR 3RBI); Tyler Henson (.368); Maikel Franco (.333, 5R 3HR 10RBI);   Honorable Mention: Castro, Rupp, Pointer

Not Hot Hitters: Edgar Duran (.059); Roman Quinn (.077); Zach Collier (.100); Logan Moore (.125); Larry Greene (.125); Albert Cartwright (.125); Dis (Honorable) Mention:  Orr, Overbeck, Martinez, Hudson Continue reading Hot or Not →

AA Pitching Transactions and Discussion

Colvin, Brody, Other Stuff

A couple reports from Mike Drago and Anthony Burkhart on Twitter, (sorry to them I don’t know who “scooped” who – they’re both getting the same info on these couple items, at least). Continue reading AA Pitching Transactions and Discussion →

Taking Stock a Month In – They Are Who We Thought They Were

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We often think of minor league players as needing to continuing to improve.  Sometimes it is almost as good to sustain success on a higher level.  the second part of this series taking stock in the system looks at  the guys where nothing has really changed this year.  Some of the stats may be slightly above or below but the profile has not changed.

Adam Morgan – Morgan has been dominant at times and has struggled during other times.  He is more the guy he was in Reading then Clearwater, which is a very solid #3 starter with some upside.  Despite clamoring for him to be called up, Morgan still has a lot to do on the AAA level.  He now has only about 66 innings (11 starts) above A ball, and could easily take the whole year to refine his secondary pitches without it affecting his value. Continue reading Taking Stock a Month In – They Are Who We Thought They Were →