The days of Mike Rouse, TJ Bohn, Ron Chiavacci and Dave Huppert are now gone and forgotten as Lehigh Valley have completed their sweep of Pawtucket to move onto the International League Championship Series against Columbus (Indians affiliate).  The names replacing those above are Galvis, Bass, Moss and Ryne Sandberg, along with  21 others who have brought a brand new brand of baseball to the Lehigh Valley that includes aggressiveness ,attention to detail ,and fundamentals. Continue reading ‘Pigs Fly, ‘Pigs Fly →

Three hits by Brandon Moss  including a walkoff RBI single led the way to a 3-2 victory in ten innings  for Lehigh Valley, giving the ‘Pigs a 2-0 series lead.  Moss, who is now 5-7 with 2 homers in the series has been dominating Pawtucket pitching. 

Pawtucket jumped out on Lehigh Valley with a run in the first inning on an RBI double by Lars Anderson.  Brandon Moss answered with a long homerun to dead center to tie the game at one in the 2nd.  When Moss came up again in the third, he broke the tie when he laced an RBI double, scoring Scott Podsednik who had walked. Continue reading Brandon Moss leads Lehigh Valley to a 2-0 series lead →

A look at where we are with Catching throughout the system.  Look for the Middle Infield Report early next week.

GCL

John Hill, 22, Phils 19th round pick in 2011; .226/.315/.258; 0HR and 12 RBI; .357 vs. LH, .188 vs. RH, 11%bb/22%k rate. Caught 31 games with 3 errors (.984); 3 passed balls; 9/33 CS (27%); Look for Hill in Williamsport next season.

Logan Moore, 21, Phils 9th round pick in 2011 draft; .225/.243/.268 in 71 AB’s with 1HR and 9 RBI; .182 vs. LH, .245 vs. RH, .333 with RISP; 3%bb/23% k rates; Caught 28 games with 2 errors (.986); 4 passed balls; 12/37 CS (32%); Look for Moore and Hill to spilt time with the Crosscutters.

Angel Chevarin, 20, Signed as a free agent in 2009; .109/.180/.174 in 46 AB’s with 0HR and 0 RBI; Caught 23 games with 3 errors (.968); 7 passed balls; 6/33 CS (17%); Back to the GCL again for CHevarin next season. Continue reading Around the System–Catcher →

Lehigh Valley jumped to a 1-0 lead in their best of five Division series against visiting Pawtucket with their 4-2 victory on Thursday evening.  As usual, Rich Thompson got things rolling for the ‘Pigs in the first inning, singling, stealing second and scoring on a Kevin Frandsen ground out to put Lehigh Valley up 1-0 early.  The ‘Pigs added a run in the 2nd inning when Erik Kratz homered.  A Brandon Moss homer, a shot that actually left Coca Cola Park put Lehigh Valley up 3-0 in the 4th and ‘Pigs starter Dave Bush was cruising along until Lars Anderson hit a solo homer for the Red Sox in the 6th to cut the lead to two runs. Bush gave way to Joe Savery in the 7th, having thrown 6.2 very effective innings, giving up just one run on 5 hits.  He walked one and struck out 6.

SS Freddy Galvis answered Anderson’s homer with one of his own to put the ‘Pigs back up by three runs, 4-1 in the 7th. On came Phillipe Aumont for Lehigh Valley in the 8th, who immediately got himself in trouble with two walks, one of whom ended up scoring on a fielder’s choice, cutting the ‘Pigs lead back to two. Ryne Sandberg called on Justin DeFratus to pitch the 9th, and DeFratus was lights out, retiring the PawSox 1-2-3 tp secure the victory.

Notes: Ryan Edell is expected to start Game Two at Coca Cola Park,  Brian Bass will get the call in Game Three in Pawtucket.

—Domonic Brown returned to the lineup and went 0-3 with a walk and a stolen base.

All of the beat guys tweet the news within 15 seconds of each other, but I’ll link to David Hale’s tweet, since he’s probably my favorite of the bunch. No word on why yet, but Ruben Amaro is quoted as saying it was a “disappointment”. My guess? He’s going to interview for Scouting Director jobs this winter, and possibly even GM jobs. But we’ll see. It is relevant news here, as he does scouting work, though more on the pro side. Just passing it on.

With the end of the season, comes the final “Around the System” report where we take a look at each player in the organization and how he performed this year, along with a projection as to where the player will begin the 2012 season.  We start with the corner infield. Look for the report on Catchers either Friday or Saturday.

GCL

Chris Duffy, 23, Phils 26th round pick in 2010 draft.  28 games at 1B with 3 errors (.987); 8.91 R/F.  .293/.399/.504 in 123 AB’s; 6 HR 27 RBI; .282 vs LH, .298 vs RH;.220 with RISP; .395 in August;  14%bb rate/22% k rate. Duffy had a good year but is 23 and in Rookie Ball. I would think Lakewood next Spring. Continue reading Around the System–Corner Infield →

There will be more baseball in Allentown as Lehigh Valley has clinched a wildcard position with their rain shortened 4-1 victory over Syracuse, in Syracuse.  With the victory, the ‘Pigs are guaranteed to finish higher than Gwinnett in the wildcard race and will open the Division Series with two home games Wednesday and Thursday against division winner Pawtucket.  Continue reading Lehigh Valley Wins WIldcard →