Ottawa played the remaining three games of their four game series with Columbus and took on the Toledo Mud Hens, again a four game series, to finish off week eleven of the 2007 season. The Lynx took two of the remaining three games with Columbus and began to show definite signs of life, definite signs that the team was beginning to come around and start running on all cylinders. This was especially true of the offense who, up until now, were not showing much power or clutch hitting. It was also a week of several roster moves for Ottawa as the team continued to get players healthy and make adjustments, especially to the pitching staff which had been struggling with the many injuries and poor performances.
New layout
Thoughts? The old layout was really starting to bug me because the categories were all jumbled together and it was tougher to navigate. The main column here is a bit more narrow, but I think it’s more visually pleasing. I have some other options, if you think this one really bites the big one, let me know and I’ll try something new.
Cardenas and Carrasco heading to Futures Game
Nice choices, I’d say they represent our best pitching prospect and position prospect. The game is Sunday, July 8th, and will be televised on ESPN 2 at 4 Eastern. Congrats to Carlos and Adrian.
Phillies will sign Jacob Diekman
Diekman, the team’s 30th round pick, looks likely to sign.
The Phillies took him as the 18th pick in the draft’s 30th round. He was the 923rd player selected overall.
Immediately after the draft, Diekman planned to continue to play for the Bruins this summer. He said the Phillies had indicated they planned to watch his progress and could make an offer later.
At that point, Diekman also said he planned to stay in school and head to Lincoln and the University of Nebraska for the fall semester.
But “later,” became now, in a hurry.
“The Phillies made a really good offer now and I don’t want to wait the whole summer,” Diekman said.
Diekman said he decided to “take” the offer from the Phillies when it came.
“They said they want me in their organization so they can work with me,” Diekman said. “I guess they have a left-handed pitching coach and he thinks he can really improve me.
“They really want me now.”
Diekman said initially he’ll be headed to Florida and the developmental league.
Thanks to e-mailer Allan for the heads up on the link. Diekman is only 20, and has a great pitcher’s frame. He was pitching at Cloud County CC, and I don’t really have much info on him, but the Phillies must like what they see.
Mike Costanzo’s splits tell the whole story
We all know about Mike’s predominant first half v second half splits, but I think these splits tell an even bigger story;
2005 v LHP: .155/.269/.190
2006 v LHP: .191/.338/.300
2007 v LHP: .208/.266/.292
2005 v RHP: .306/.380/.550
2006 v RHP: .277/.371/.442
2007 v RHP: .270/.357/.546
2006, v LHP: 136 PA — 14.0% BB — 32.4% K
2007, v LHP: 79 PA — 6.3% BB — 34.2% K
2006, v RHP: 455 PA — 12.1% BB — 19.6% K
2007, v RHP: 199 PA — 11.1% BB — 31.2% K
He’s striking out a lot this year in general, but he’s still striking out more against LHP, and more importantly, isn’t drawing near enough walks off southpaws. We’ve already detailed his defense, so I think this makes him even more of a candidate for an outfield platoon. Couple him with a guy who can hit left handed pitching, and you might have a useful major leaguer.
Midseason Review, Part 1
Ok, so we’re putting the prospect cards on hold till the end of the year, but that doesn’t mean we can’t take a quick look at how the prospects in our system are fairing so far. Just a few quick notes. I won’t be looking at any of our new draftees, and I also won’t look at the new arrivals from the DSL and VSL, because we just don’t have enough data on them. Also, guys who are playing at Williamsport and the GCL now will be excluded, because a handful of games doesn’t mean a whole lot. With those qualifiers aside, let’s get started.
Reading Report
Reading closed this week with a record of 33-37, still 7.5 games out of first place in the Southern division as we approach the seasons, mid way point. Statistically, in the hitting categories Jesus Merchan continues to lead the league in hitting at .347. Greg Jacobs is 9th in average (.315), 5th in hits (73), 5th in doubles (19), 6th in homers (10), and 2nd in RBI’s (46). Mike Costanzo is 5th in runs (42), 2nd in homers (13), and 2nd in strikeouts (91); Randy Ruiz is 9th in hits. Jason Hill is 7th in the league with 19 doubles and Javon Moran is 6th in the league with 16 stolen bases. On the hill, Landon Jacobsen is 2nd in the league with 6 wins and leads the league with 87.2 innings pitched. Matt Maloney, is starting to come on strong and is 2nd in the league with 85.1 innings and 4th in the league with 71 stikeouts. Continue reading Reading Report
New Players from the 2006 VSL and DSL Teams
This year’s Williamsport and GCL rosters feature a number of players from last year’s Latin American rookie squads. This post will go through the new players on each team and summarize what we know about them. This is not meant to be a scouting report of these players, however, as we have very few eyewitness accounts of them playing. Hopefully we can fill in the blanks with live reports as the season goes on. These players are important to the Phillies future, however. They also tend to be slightly better prospects on average than the draft prospects because the lesser prospects do not get promoted from their home country leagues. These prospects would probably all have been selected in the top 10-15 rounds of the draft if they had been eligible.
Continue reading New Players from the 2006 VSL and DSL Teams
Wednesday morning musings….
Some random thoughts this morning
* Carlos Carrasco and Pat Overholt are now at Reading. To be honest, I’m kind of worried about both guys. Overholt seems to have gotten away from what was working early in the season, that is, being a dominant groundball pitcher. In the last 8 or so starts he’s had, he’s been okay in that department, but not dominant. He does not have plus plus stuff, so he has to keep the ball down if he’s going to be effective, and I just don’t know that he was ready for AA, but maybe he’ll prove me wrong in the second half. As for Carrasco, I’m both excited and concerned. The last time the Phillies moved him aggressively, it was a disaster. Over the last month, he’s been locked in and as good as any pitcher in the minors. If he goes to Reading and gets bombed, what does it do to his confidence? I like seeing prospects moved aggressively for the most part, but there are some cases where it might not be a good idea. Cross your fingers that Carrasco continues to roll along. This also likely speeds up his ETA in Philly, with sometime next year looking more like a possibility.
Reason for Hope: Brad Harman
If you remember back to this past winter, I have a bit of a soft spot for Brad Harman. He seems like a genuinely good kid, he made a bigtime impression 2 years ago, and he’s dealt with a ton of off the field adversity in his short time in the Phillies organization. His 2006 was marred by the death of his mother back in Australia, and he still played the season, despite clearly being in another place mentally. Because of all of these factors, I was very high on Brad entering this season, thinking this would be his bounceback campaign. Through April and May, it looked like maybe I was off my rocker. But in June, he’s turning things around. Could this be the start of him re-entering the prospect chatter? Let’s have a look.
