Threshers Week in Review

02. Org Reports, 5. Clearwater, Savery, Joe

The Clearwater Threshers finished another week with a 3-3 record and currently sit at 21-30 on the year twelve games out of first place with 19 games remaining until the end of the first half of the season. Barring a complete collapse by all five of the teams ahead of our club in the standings it seems unlikely that that team can secure a playoff berth in the first half of the season to try and defend their 2007 FSL crown. Of course as we say here just about every year, there’s always the second half .

Despite the team’s record the club is not as bad as their record would indicate. Offensively the team has made some strides while beginning to get some extra base hits which is certainly promising. After trailing the league most of the season they moved up three places to ninth (of twelve) in slugging percentage this week. Unfortunately the pitching also ranks ninth in ERA with a 4.11 mark on the year and the Threshers staff has surrendered the most HR in the league having given up 45 so far on the year while the offense has managed to hit just 23 HR of their own.
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Daily Discussion; 5/27

Daily Discussion

I don’t have time today to post all of the recaps from the weekend games, but feel free to discuss any of those results should the urge hit you. Here are a few talking points before we get to today’s games;

* Andrew Carpenter now has a 6.18 ERA in 55.1 IP. Is this just a case of him having a poor two months adjusting to AA? Is he carrying an injury? I raised the notion about 6 weeks ago that he could have trouble this year, as he violated the “Rule of 30” last season.

* Lou Marson has a 1.150 OPS in 36 AB v LHP. His .843 OPS against RHP is still impressive, but man is he destroying lefties. Overall, he’s hitting .424 in his last 10 games with 2 2B, 2 HR, 2 SB, and 8 BB to go with 8 K. Young Lou is on fire.

* While I’m normally the guy that stresses patience when everyone wants a guy promoted after 6 weeks, can someone explain to me why 24 year old Chance Chapman is still at Lakewood? Has he already ascended into “organizational filler” less than a year after being drafted? His peripherals are decent, but he’s pitching against guys 4-5 years younger than him. If anyone should be converted to a reliever and fast-tracked, its Chapman.

Now, onto today’s games

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Lakewood BlueClaws Report (5/20-5/26)

4. Lakewood

After a disappointing week in which the BlueClaws went 2-5, the team rebounded with an extremely impressive 6-1 record this last week. In a week in which they eclipsed the Hickory Crawdads to take a two-way tie for fourth place in the SAL Northern division, the ‘Claws found themselves dropping their first game of the week before picking up the pace in their current six-game winning streak. Once again, the key to the week was pitching, as the starters posted a combined 2.65 ERA for the week.

Continue reading Lakewood BlueClaws Report (5/20-5/26) →

Carrasco makes the BA Hotsheet

Ten Pack/Hot Sheet

Its Friday, that means the Baseball America hotsheet. Carlos Carrasco comes in at #10

The Scoop: If McGee is No. 9, then Carrasco fits in nicely right behind him after posting a nearly identical line at the same level (albeit in different leagues), with Carrasco allowing one more hit than McGee. Carrasco has mixed some outstanding starts with some not-so-hot starts, but the 21-year-old always shows flashes of his potential. “The stuff’s there,” Reading manager P.J. Forbes said. “He’s shown the flashes that he’s gonna pitch in the big leagues. We’re waiting to see the consistency that comes along with his stuff. He’s got three plus pitches, plus command and now it’s just a matter of him putting it together every five days. That consistency over two, three, four starts is all we’re looking for because the stuff is there.”

Obvious omission; Lou Marson. There will be a chat about the list at 2:30 Eastern. Hopefully we can find out why Marson was left off, though I’m guessing the response will have something to do with the “lack of extra base hits”….

Chat link.

Daily Discussion; 5/23

Daily Discussion

Happy Friday. First, a wrap of yesterday’s action

Lakewood wins 5-4.
Clearwater loses 2-0.
Reading loses 5-2.
Lehigh Valley wins 7-2.

Today’s action below the fold…

Continue reading Daily Discussion; 5/23 →

The Iron Pig News

7. Lehigh Valley

Lehigh Valley had an up and down week, but it ended in an up note with a 3-3 record on the week. The ‘Pigs are now 13-34, last in the Northern division, 17.0 games back of leading Scranton. Hitting leaders include Mike Cervenek who is 8th in the league in at bats (167), 6th in runs (29), and 4th in hits (52). Andy Tracy is 6th in the league in homers (8), and 10th in RBI’s (28). Pitching leaders include Brian Mazone who is 5th in wins (5), and leading the league in innings pitched (65.2). JA Happ is 5th in innings (57.1), 7th in homers allowed (8), and leading the league in strikeouts with 66.

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Daily Discussion, 5/22

Daily Discussion

I’m short on time today, so behave yourselves. Yesterday’s recap

Lakewood wins 3-2.
Clearwater wins 5-1.
Reading loses 15-5.

Today’s action

KG’s NL East notebook

Other Stuff

phuturephillies favorite Kevin Goldstein is doing updates of all the farm systems in baseball, and today is the NL East. He has two nuggets of note

Nailing It On Naylor: Profiled in a recent Ten Pack, Australian righty Drew Naylor has a 2.59 ERA in nine starts for Low-A Lakewood, with even better peripheral numbers, including just 39 hits allowed in 59 innings to go with 65 strikeouts and 15 walks. One scout who recently watched Naylor liked what he saw on a scouting level as well. “He needs to tighten some things up, and there is still some real rawness to his stuff, and his command is average, but he has real strikeout pitchability,” said the scout. “He sat at 91-92 with good movement and has a really good put-away curve with a big bend–-almost a 12-6 bend. I liked the arm quite a bit.”

Good Bat, Questionable Glove: Double-A Reading shortstop Jason Donald has rarely given anyone reason to question his hitting, and this year is no different, as he’s hitting .296/.409/.409 in 31 games for the R-Phils. A scout who recently saw Reading fell in with most who have evaluated Donald–-loving the bat, but wondering where he fits in defensively. “I saw the bat really good; that bat will play and carry him to the big leagues and keep him there a while,” said the scout. But the defense? “He’s such a grinder at shortstop-–he makes the plays, but nothing looks easy for him, and he sits back on too many balls while trying to make up for it with his plus arm. He could play second or third, but you wouldn’t want to over-expose him at shortstop.”

Its great to hear on Naylor, obviously, and you have to like that scouts are starting to get in line on Donald’s bat. Again, finding him a home defensively will be the issue. You know, 3B is right near SS, it might not hurt to try….

First Jim Callis mock draft/impending doom

2008 Draft

I meant to do a writeup on this before, but it slipped my mind. I just read Callis talking about it again two days ago, so I guess its time to address it, even though I’d just like to ignore it and move on. In his first mock draft, posted a few days ago, Jim Callis at BA projected Anthony Hewitt heading to the Phillies at #24. Here was his writeup

24. PHILLIES. Philadelphia GM Pat Gillick built the Blue Jays’ World Series clubs on sheer athleticism, and the best athlete in this draft is Hewitt. He’s very raw, but that never has scared Gillick. Collier and Hood are two other possibilities.

Projected Pick: ANTHONY HEWITT.

This fits the profile. The Phillies love raw athletes, and they loved them even before Gillick came aboard. Hewitt is an apparent “toolshed”, ala Greg Golson, but from what I remember before Golson was drafted, Hewitt is even more raw. Golson was a highly touted prospect, ranked the 7th best prospect in Texas, which was loaded in 2004. So, how did Hewitt make it here when he wasn’t even ranked by BA in their Top 100 high school seniors?

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Daily Discussion; 5/21

Daily Discussion

Yesterday seemed to go well, so we’ll follow suit today. Quick recap of yesterday’s action

Lakewood lost 3-1.
Clearwater won 9-3.
Reading lost 3-0.
Lehigh Valley won 6-5.

Here’s a look at today’s action, as 3 of 4 teams play with Lehigh Valley having the day off