Gauntlett Eldemire interview

* Interviews

Thanks to JKearse for another interview.

.396/.496/.723 with 16 homeruns and 16 stolen bases in 202 at bats. These were Gauntlett Eldemire’s college stats as a junior for Ohio University. Gauntlett was the Phillies 2010 draft pick, and the 6’3 195 pound outfielder is known to have plus power along with plus speed. Unlike most Phillies outfielder picks, the 21 year old is right handed and murdered left handed pitching last year at a .400 clip. A 2010 All-Mid-American Conference First Team selection, Eldemire was projected to go anywhere from the second to fourth round and the Phillies grabbed  him with a sixth round pick. Unfortunately, while in Philly for his physical with the team, the doctors discovered a chipped bone fragment as well as two torn ligaments which came from being hit by a pitch and it prevents Gauntlett from getting on the field immediately. This was his second unfortunate injury recently, the other being a stress fracture in his leg dooming his shot at playing for Team USA. However, he should be healthy in the fall, and while his skills are raw, he has a ton of potential and could be very exciting to watch once he gets on the field. Thanks to Gauntlett for doing this interview.

Continue reading Gauntlett Eldemire interview →

‘Pigs Weekend Update

7. Lehigh Valley

Yet another lost weekend in Lehigh Valley, as they lost all three games to Gwinnett and have now lost an abysmal 12 out of 13.  They are currently at their low water mark of the year, 25 games below .500.

Friday–Another in a long line of one run losses, this time 2-1 to Gwinnett at home on Friday evening.  Gwinnett scored early on ‘Pigs starter Nate Bump who left after two innings after being on a pitch count, as he returned to the mound after suffering from Lyme’s disease. In his 2 innings, he gave up a run on five hits.  Lehigh Valley tied the score in the 3rd when a Rich Thompson sac fly scored Brian Bocock.  Gwinnett regained the lead in the 5th off of reliever Joe Savery (1-10) on consecutive doubles by Freddie Freeman and Joe Thurston. Savery went 4 innings giving up a run on 4 hits.  Lehigh Valley was unable to advance a runner past first base after the 3rd inning.  Melvin Dorta was the only player to speak of offensively with 2 hits, while on the mound Antonio Bastardo has another scoreless, hitless performance, striking out 2 in his 1.1 innings of work. Continue reading ‘Pigs Weekend Update →

Mayberry Going Down

Other Stuff

Multiple sources are reporting that John Mayberry has been sent back to Lehigh Valley after just 2 at bats with the big club.  Though not confirmed, the same sources are speculating that it will be a pitcher called up to take his spot on the Phillies roster.  If so, the obvious candidates are Scott Mathieson and Antonio Bastardo, with Bastardo being the more likely candidate because of his success and the struggles of JC Romero.

Around The System–Catcher

Around the System

Thin at catcher throughout the organization as you have to go down to Single A Lakewood before seeing a name that has starting catcher potential at the major league level.

Lehigh Valley

Paul Hoover, 34, 208 AB’s; .231/.310/.308 with 2 HR and 16 RBI’s; .313 vs. LH, .206 vs. RH, .233 with RISP, .250 since July 1.  10% bb rate, 23% k rate. 53 games at catcher, 6 errors (.985), 6 passed balls.  Thrown out 20/63 (32%). Hoover has struggled at the plate even at AAA this year, but is the best the Phils have for a September call-up Does a decent job defensively.

Dane Sardinha, 31, 176 AB’s; .227/.270/.330 with 4 HR and 22 RBI; .162 vs LH, .245 vs. RH, .310 with RISP, .160 since July 1; 4% bb rate, 28% k rate. 2 errors (.995) in 50 games at C.  7 passed balls. Thrown out 13/51 (25%). Adequate AAA backup.

Reading

Tuffy Gosewisch, soon to be 27, 244 AB’s; .238/.343/.381 with 5 HR and 22 RBI; .264 vs. LH, .230 vs. RH, .220 with RISP; .303 since July 1.  12% bb rate, 17% k rate. 2 errors in 74 games (.996), 2 passed balls; Thrown out 19/68 (29%). Gosewisch continued to do a nice job defensively and has been hitting over the last six weeks. Continue reading Around The System–Catcher →

Iron Pigs game 8/7

7. Lehigh Valley

I went to the Iron Pigs game tonight, sat in the picnic area down the LF line about even with the left fielder.  Great seats to watch the action in the IF, and you could really see the movement in a lot of the breaking pitches thrown.

The IPs lost 11-7 to the Gwinnett Braves, largely because of bad BABIP luck and mistakes that came back to bite them.  The Braves had four flare doubles fall in down the lines, and, to their credit, made two difficult catches of flares hit by IPs batters.  IPs also hit more than their share of “at ’em balls”.

Continue reading Iron Pigs game 8/7 →

August 6th Discussion

Box Score Recap

TGIF. The boxes

GCL Phillies lost 2-0.
Williamsport won 7-3.
Lakewood suspended at 2-2.
Clearwater won 14-13.
Reading won 8-4.
Lehigh Valley lost 6-1.

3 notes

* Rizzotti 1/4 in his AAA debut
* Harold Garcia at .330/.407/.468 after 109 PA at 2A. Very impressive
* Kyrell Hudson has three consecutive 2 hit games. Progress!

Andrew Susac #13 on Keith Law’s Cape Cod Top 30

2009 Draft

2009 draftee Andrew Susac makes the list. You can see the whole list here.

13. Andrew Susac, C, Oregon State/Falmouth. Susac is age-eligible as a sophomore in 2011 and seems to be the consensus pick among scouts as the Cape’s best catcher. He has arm strength behind the plate and raw power at the dish, but he needs to demonstrate he can handle better quality stuff — which he’ll see often in the Pac-10 next year.

Lehigh Valley Weekly Report

7. Lehigh Valley

An ugly 1-5 week for Lehigh Valley, a team that continues to be decimated because of call ups to the Big Club (that being said, they were not very good even before the decimation). The ‘Pigs are now 45-66, in 5th place of the Northern Division of the International League, 20 games behind division leading Scranton. 

‘Pigs leaders (include only members on active roster) Hitting: Andy Tracy is 2nd in walks (58), 5th in OBP (.389), and 8th in SLG (.486); Pitching: Nate Bump is 6th in ERA (3.33); Brian Mazone leads the league with 22 starts, is 8th in WHIP (1.17), 8th in HR allowed (16)  and is 3rd in IP (130.2); Scott Mathieson is 2nd in saves (20) . Continue reading Lehigh Valley Weekly Report →

Jiwan James Q and A

James, Jiwan

You asked and Jiwan James answered with the help of Greg Giombarrese at the http://blog.blueclaws.com/.  See below for the deatils.

Have you used insights as a pitcher to help you hit? Not really. It’s just two totally different worlds. As a pitcher you’re trying to keep the hitter off balance. As a hitter, we’re just looking fastball and reacting. It doesn’t really help that much.

You had the long hitting streak but went 0-9 in the 18-inning game at Delmarva. Then you bounced back from that. What’s the key to responding mentally to tough nights over a long season? You just have to do it. You can’t do anything about yesterday. You have to take your confidence back to the plate and look forward to what’s coming ahead. Continue reading Jiwan James Q and A →

Comments from Gorm Heimueller, Minor League Pitching Coordinator

Other Stuff

Some interesting comments from Gorm Heimueller, The Phillies Minor League Pitching Coordinator during a recent conversation he had with Greg Giombarrese, the Lakewood BlueCLaws Media Relations Manager.  Check out the entire conversation at http://blog.blueclaws.com/. 

On Trevor May’s latest outing: “He has looked alot more under control, except maybe the first inning on Monday. Not that many times can you throw 35 pitches in an inning, not give up a run and nobody hits a fair ball. The most encouraging thing, with the long inning, he regrouped and gave us five more solid innings…A lot of those games he wasn’t taken out because of getting hit, but they were pitch counts. The other day, he threw 35 in the first but ended up with just 94.” Continue reading Comments from Gorm Heimueller, Minor League Pitching Coordinator →