Adventures in Clearwater: The Big Leaguers Take Over

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Saturday was a very eventful St. Patrick’s on the backfields at the Carpenter Complex. While the big club took care of business at Spectrum Field (beat Atlanta 10-6), there was plenty of big league pitching going on in the backfield. On the Ashburn field, the big money arm, Jake Arrieta, made his “debut”. And there was a crowd one heck of a gathering around the Ashburn field. All the From the Phillies and Yankees minor league players to the the coaching staff to the about 100 or so fans surrounding the area, it felt surreal. One fan who had been coming to Spring Training for the last dozen years or so, told me the last time their was a vibe like this in the backfields was when Roy Halladay arrived.

The plan was to face nine batters, using four players, essentially throwing about 30 pitches. Those four would be Scott Kingery, Andrew Pullin, Jorge Alfaro and Logan Moore. Kingery ended up taking all the pitches he faced in his first at-bat before ripping a “double” into the left-centerfield gap his first time up. After that it was essentially all groundouts except for Alfaro’s second at-bat, which has a line drive come-backer that shattered Alfaro’s bat. The moment was funny as the video below shows. Overall, Arrieta looked fairly crisp in his simulated game vs advanced Phillies prospects.

In the two minor league games on the Ashburn and Schmidt fields, a trio of the big club’s relievers would get in work today. On the Schmidt field, Hector Neris would throw to one batter and get a groundout before handing the ball off to Adam Morgan who would end up retiring all five batters he faced. On the Ashburn field, Pat Neshek came in to throw one inning after Ricardo Pinto threw the first two innings of the game. It was certainly

And now on to today’s notes from today’s AA and AAA action vs the Yankees

  • Adam Haseley had a very nice day at the plate. After striking out on a running fastball his first time up, he would bloop an RBI single in his next at-bat, before driving a ball into the right-center gap for an RBI double. As Mitch Rupert reminded me, Adam was quick to turn on that inside pitch to get that double. That was a bit of an issue for him last year along with pulling the ball. If he can fix those two areas, he could become a top tier top 50 overall prospect in a hurry

  • Jose Gomez, acquired in the Pat Neshek trade from Colorado last July, had a nice showing at the plate. In his second at-bat, he would get to a fastball on the outer-third and drive a low liner in to the left-center gap, hustling for a triple. In his next trip he would plop one into shallow right over the second basemen’s head. He then headed off a double steal by swiping second, allowing Moniak to steal home. What I do like about Gomez’s mechanics is that his swing is linear and he gets his front foot down early. His projection is likely no more than a backup infielder.
  • On the opposite end of the spectrum, Mickey Moniak once again did not help alleviate the concerns that plague him entering the season. Obviously he is facing pitching that will likely be a level above him in the two games I watched, but it just seems like early on in the first week of games that he can’t catch up to or recognize when to lay off anything that’s not a fastball.
  • Zach Green had the big blast of the day launching a two-run home run that cleared the left-field fence by probably a good 15 feet or so in the “AAA” game on Ashburn field. Green’s career has been plagued by injuries and poor discipline numbers. However his raw power is above average is tantalizing, and considering the lack of depth on the infield corners, it would be nice if a player like Green has a breakout season.
  • Seranthony Dominguez would get two innings of work on Ashburn after Neshek. It’s one thing to see his fastball on TV. It’s a whole another thing to see the sink and run on it up close. While it’s disappointing we won’t know what he could have been as a starter, the Phillies are making the right call putting his plus fastball/slider combination in the bullpen.