Phillies Minor League Recap (Week 24 9/3-9/9)

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Last Week’s Schedule

This Week’s Schedule

  • Lehigh Valley (63-70) @ Scranton Wilkes-Barre (79-57)
  • Reading (56-75) @ Harrisburg (65-67)
  • Jersey Shore – Season Complete
  • Clearwater vs Lakeland – FSL Division Series

Hitter Spotlight

1B Keaton Anthony

11-23 1 2B 1 HR 1 BB 2 K .478/.520/.652

Keaton Anthony got the rare midweek promotion of an actual prospect. The Phillies had to strongly thinking about bumping him to Reading anyway for the extra week of games, but the rash of injuries sort of forces things in the middle of the week. Anthony only went 2 for 9 with Reading, with just the one strikeout, but he left Jersey Shore with a bang, going 4 for 5 with a double, home run, and a hit by pitch in his last game at the shore. Anthony hit .356/.418/.483 with the BlueClaws after hitting .322/.446/.470 earlier this year with the Threshers. He is good defensive first baseman, but for now he is first base only (they could theoretically try him in an OF corner). At the plate he continues to be an outlier. His already below average game power dropped when he went north, but Jersey Shore is known for killing even plus plus power. His walk rate unsurprisingly dropped when he moved away from the ABS system, but the stable strikeout rate points to solid approach and contact skills. His BABIP is way out of norms, but he leads all minor leaguers with at least 400 PA in line drive rate at a whopping 31.8%. He isn’t going to hit many home runs with his current approach, but only 20 doubles is also a bit of a disappointment.

All of that said, this was Anthony’s first full pro season and he is right at the cut off to make this age 23 season and not age 22, so he is still young for a college bat now in AA. He definitely has room to add some strength and bulk, and that should help some on the raw power (which is below average for the position). Some of getting more impact will be some mindset changes to drive the ball in the air more, in a similar way as Alec Bohm (though Bohm had much more raw power). It is all going to be a sort of prove it until you make it for Anthony, which is going to cause him to be under ranked to many because it is a much riskier profile than it looks.

Pitcher Spotlight

RHP Orlando Gonzalez

3 IP 0 H 0 R 1 BB 5 K

It was admittedly a light week for notable pitching performances by pitchers who have not been recently featured (looking at you Braydon Tucker), but Gonzalez put up a good start and has had a really interesting season. The Phillies signed him late last July out of Mexico as a 20 year old. He made his Phillies org debut in 2024 pitching one game ion the DSL before moving the FCL where he displayed some control problems (20 BB in 27.1 IP) but limited damage with a 1.32 ERA. He first came out of the pen when moved to Reading, that made a conventional start before rain and end of season limited his last two appearances. He missed 11 bats in his 3 innings this week, and his fastball was up to 94. His command has struggled at times, and overall the results have been a bit hit or miss. His sinker has some real run to it, which gets some chase, but batters make contact with it, which means it is probably better in the zone because hitters make really poor contact with it. His 4-seam fastball is movement and results wise a poor pitch, except for this week when he managed 6 whiffs on it. His changeup has been his best swing and miss pitch so far with the Threshers, getting low minors batters to miss in the zone on it. It doesn’t get a lot of drop vs his sinker, and that is probably a separation that should be built in if he goes more winker heavy in the future. By nature of pitching on Friday, he is probably the pitcher most likely to get bulk innings if the Threshers take the FSL Divisional Round to a game 3.

Notes and Thoughts

  • Justin Crawford went 9 for 19 this week, just one double, but two walks and only two strikeouts. He is hitting .331 in AA, and while there are worries, it is definitely an accomplishment.
  • A rough first series in Reading for Aidan Miller. Not sure a new level for two weeks should or will change opinions.
  • It was a miserable season at Jersey Shore for Jordan Viars, but it should be a small boost to end the season by going 6 for 17 with his first two extra base hits, a pair of home runs, this week.
  • The bad control was back for Mick Abel this week. He bounced back from a bad first inning, but 5 walks and 89 pitches in 4.1 innings is not ideal
  • The Reading bullpen has been asked to carry a large load this week. Tommy McCollum bounced back from a bad appearance to have two scoreless 2 inning outings with 8 strikeouts.
  • A week after his dominant start, Moises Chace got hit around a little bit, as did Eiberson Castellano. It wasn’t going to be completely smooth sailing, so not a worry.
  • A very good start by Braydon Tucker for the BlueClaws (7 IP 6 H 0 R 1 BB 8 K) to cap off a great season for the 2023 UDFA signing.

Injuries and Transactions

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Minor Thoughts

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