Phillies in for Adis Portillo?

Other Stuff

Hot off the presses at BA, the Phillies appear to be one of the front runners for Adis Portillo, a Venezuelan ranked right behind highly touted Michel Inoa. BA says this

As the international signing period approaches on July 2, the biggest name among pitchers in Latin America after Michel Inoa is Adis Portillo.

Portillo, a 16-year-old righthander from Maricaibo, Venezuela, is a hard-thrower with a fastball that has ranged from 88-92 mph, touching 93. International scouts love Portillo’s size—a wiry 6-foot-3 frame—and arm strength, though his present control leaves something to be desired.

“I saw him and we liked him,” said one international scouting director. “He’s got a good arm and he’s a big kid with a great body and a good feel for a breaking ball.”

The Royals apparently have strong interest, but the Padres and Phillies appear to be the top contenders for Portillo, who has been linked to both teams in potential deals of at least $1.5 million. One international scout said Portillo has been asking for $2 million, although it’s questionable whether any team will meet that price.

Continue reading Phillies in for Adis Portillo? →

Quick update on my Top 30

** My Top 30 Prospects

I figured now might be a good time to take a quick look at my Top 30 and see how poorly my rankings look. No indepth analysis here, just brief snapshots

30. Freddy Galvis, SS (A-; .233/.290/.267)

Actually hitting better than I expected, I ranked him here based on his defensive reputation and athletic ability. Everyone knew the bat was going to take a while. He’s only 18 in a league where the average prospect is 20. Hit .320 in May after an awful .143 in April. Stock up at this point.

29. Alex Concepcion, RHP (A+; .1 IP,)

Ouch. He’s made only one appearance and has battled injuries all season. Not much else to say here, I don’t know the exact nature of his injuries or what the prognosis is. At 23 now, this could derail his development to a degree if he needs major surgery. Stock down.

Continue reading Quick update on my Top 30 →

Kevin Goldstein’s Top 100 Update

Savery, Joe, Top Prospect Lists

Over the next few days Kevin Goldstein is going to do brief blurbs on his Top 100 guys. Here are the udpates on Carrasco and Savery

68. Carlos Carrasco, RHP, Phillies
Eligible Next Year? Yes
Production: 3.78 ERA at Double-A (88-85-32-85)
Stock Report: He’s missed more bats at Double-A this time around, but remains a bit more hittable than one would like. Still, it’s a slight step forward.

96. Joe Savery, LHP, Phillies
Eligible Next Year? Yes
Production: 4.69 ERA at High-A (78.2-99-33-64)
Stock Report: Down. After a good start to the season, Savery has been getting hammered of late, giving up 57 hits in his last 35 2/3 innings. Some scouts are worried that something else is wrong, as his stuff has been way off as well.

An injury might explain Savery’s very mixed results. Hmm.

EDIT –> This is an update of his 2008 preseason Top 100, not a current Top 100 or a projected Top 100 next year. “Eligible Next Year” has to do with projected prospect eligibility for next season.

Thursday quick hits

Other Stuff

Just a few random musings today

* I’ve added a few more player profiles in Carlos Monasterios and Jeremy Slayden. If you look on the left side and see a player’s name, but no profile link, it means I’ve got him on the list of players to do. But as you can tell, I have a lot more guys to add. If you see someone who isn’t listed that you think needs a profile, please list it here. I can figure it out too, but it will help when I’m creating them if I can just look somewhere and see a list of guys I need to add.

* The Lou Marson watch has been added!

* As you may have read, Michael Taylor and Drew Naylor have been promoted to Clearwater along with personal favorite Ben Pfinsgraff. Probably overdue. As I’ve mentioned on Taylor, I’m still going to wait until the end of the year to judge, but at this point he’s looking like a solid prospect and this is more than a fluky 2 months. We’ll wait and see.

* Had Taylor not been promoted, the Phillies may have had a realistic chance of winning 3 batting titles in one season. Taylor was comfortably leading the SAL with a .361 average, 17 points better than his closest competitor. Adrian Cardenas is hitting .316 and is 20 points behind the league leader in the FSL, and Lou Marson is 3rd in the EL at .348. Its sure nice to see non-mercenary Phillies at the top of these leaderboards, isn’t it?

Iron Pigs Report

7. Lehigh Valley

This weeks report a day early as I prepare for a trip to Las Vegas tomorrow…The ‘Pigs now stand at 26-48, in last place in the Northern Division, 18 games back of Scranton.  Since the last report, Lehigh Valley has lost 4 out of 5 games including a 4 game sweep by Pawtucket.

Mike Cervenak remains among hitting leaders in at bats (3rd with 269), runs (7th with 45), and hits (1st with 83).  Andy Tracy continues his climb among hitting leaders.  He is 8th in RBIS’s (44), 3rd in walks (38), and 10th in on base percentage (.390).  Among pitching leaders, Brian Mazone is 5th in wins (7), 9th in ERA (3.12), first in innings pitched (98.0), and 4th in WHIP (1.09). James Happ is first in strikeouts (90), 8th in homers allowed (11), and 5th in innings pitched (88.0).  Matt Childers is now 4th in the league in saves with 9. Continue reading Iron Pigs Report →

BlueClaws players shine in SALLY All-Star game

4. Lakewood, Game Recaps, Other Stuff

In a game featuring the best of the best, Lakewood clearly demonstrated that it has players that can clearly play with the best of them. Michael Taylor, who began the game batting cleanup went 2-5, with an RBI double. Any doubt about Michael Durant‘s ability to come back from injury? Forget it – as the North’s DH, Durant went 2-5, scoring twice and hitting a two-run homerun in the 8th inning. Joel Naughton came in for the North in the 7th inning, to go 1-2 while scoring a run. From a defensive standpoint, it is worth noting that four of the six hitters to come to the plate while Naughton was catching struck out. The performance only helped to cement Naughton’s place as the top defensive catcher in the SAL. On the year, Naughton has caught twenty-seven would-be stealers, at a 46.6% rate, ranking hiim first among all catchers in the SAL.

Drew Naylor was named the game’s Most Outstanding Pitcher. On a night where no pitcher threw more than one inning, Naylor made his count, throwing a perfect inning in the 6th. After inducing a ground-out for the first out, Naylor struck out the rest of the side in earning the award.

Williamsport opens the season with a loss

3. Williamsport

The short season leagues are getting under way, which means one more scoreboard to watch every night, and a slew of prospects both new and old to add to the radar screen. Williamsport kicked off their season with a 4-3 loss to Mahoning Valley, the Indians short season affiliate. Freddy Ballestas started, going 5 innings and allowing 3 runs, 2 earned on 7 hits with 2 walks and 3 strikeouts, while getting 8 groundballs and 4 fly balls. Travis d’Arnaud opened up 3/4, and newly drafted Brandon Haislet went 2/5 out of the leadoff spot. It will be interesting to see how the lineup is rotated to get everyone reps, but tonight’s configuration is likely to be the “normal” lineup.

Encouraging signs from Julian Sampson

Other Stuff

I was very high on Julian Sampson coming into this season, ranking him #18 on my top 30 prospects list entering the season despite him only making one pro appearance prior to 2008. The Phillies got aggressive with Sampson, assigning him to Lakewood. I suspected he might struggle early on, as he was still a raw product out of the Pacific Northwest, but I figured he’d slowly turn the corner and adjust well once he got going. It looks like my suspicions may have been correct. Lets take a look at some splits

Continue reading Encouraging signs from Julian Sampson →

Lakewood Report 6/10-6/15

4. Lakewood

As they head into the All-Star break, the Lakewood BlueClaws have finished the first half tied for third place in the SAL Northern. In a week that began by dropping both games of a Tuesday double-header, the Lakewood BlueClaws sent four players to Tuesday’s All-Star game and Michael Taylor took home honors for Player of the Month for the month of May.

Continue reading Lakewood Report 6/10-6/15 →

Kevin Goldstein’s draft review

2008 Draft

KG is reviewing each division’s 2008 draft over at BP, and he did the NL East on Saturday. Here’s what he had to say

Draft Philosophy: Tools, tools, and more tools! Must have more tools! Enough to fill the shed!

First Pick: Anthony Hewitt, SS, Salisbury School (CT) (24th overall>
How High He Could Have Gone: There were some teams considering him towards the middle of the first round, but he was a very polarizing player. Some think he slotted well as a mid-first-round talent, others wouldn’t have touched him until the first 100 picks were already off the board.
Path To The Big Leagues: It won’t be quick. The best athlete in the draft is also one of the furthest away from the majors. He might not even be in Double-A by 2011, so be patient, Phils fans.

Rest of the First Day:
1. Zach Collier, OF, Chino Hills (CA): Expected to go about ten picks earlier; a touch less athletic than Hewitt, but a touch more polished.
2. Anthony Gose, OF, Bellflower HS (CA): A better pitching prospect, but he doesn’t want to pitch. As an outfielder, he’s loaded with tools, especially speed.
2. Jason Knapp, RHP, North Hunterdon HS (NJ): The pitching version of Hewitt. He’s huge and he throws very hard, but that’s about it.
3. Vance Worley, RHP, Long Beach State: A big-bodied pitcher with good velocity, but he has problems with his secondary stuff and control.
4. Trevor May, RHP, Kelso HS (WA): A projectable arm who needs refinement, but the ceiling is there.
5. Jeremy Hamilton, 1B, Wright State: The rare non-toolsy pick for the Phils–-he put up big numbers in college but doesn’t thrill scouts.
6. Colby Shreve, RHP, Southern Nevada CC (NV): Gifted with a plus sinker/slider combination, but he just had a Tommy John surgery.

Best Second-Day Selections:
7. Johnny Coy, 3B, Benton HS (MO): He May be more raw than Hewitt, but he’s 6’7″ and athletic, so there’s plenty to dream on.
8. Julio Rodriguez, RHP, Puerto Rico Baseball Academy (PR): Tall, projectable arm fits in well with team’s philosophy.
10. Jean Carlos Rodriguez, C, Washington HS (NY): Like most Philly picks, he’s raw, but he’s got a good arm and a ton of strength.