This Week’s Schedule
- Lehigh Valley (52-33) @ Syracuse (40-47)
- Reading (30-49) @ Chesapeake (34-45)
- Jersey Shore (30-48) @ Aberdeen (30-50)
- Clearwater (41-39) vs Fort Myers (33-46)
- FCL Phillies (13-32)
- DSL Phillies Red (13-13)
- DSL Phillies White (8-17)
Hitter Spotlight
4-13 2 2B 1 HR 3 RBI 0 BB 3 K
The draft is next week, and it probably isn’t ideal we haven’t talked about the player thought to be the Phillies best selection in last year’s draft. It doesn’t help that Burkholder started the year hurt, then got hurt again, and is now somewhere in his rehab journey. It also doesn’t help that he has 38 strikeouts in 29 games and has looked very poor against breaking balls. When he ahs been on the field and making contact, Burkholder has shown some of why he was a promising draft pick. There is plus raw power and he is athletic. He probably could play center field right now, but given the number of center fielders in the system, and his repeated hamstring problems, it probably is fair to have him already in right field. Burkholder beyond this week is actually on a nice little run on this rehab assignment. After going hitless in his first two games, over his last 7 he has gone 10-33 with 5 doubles, 2 home runs, 2 walks, and 8 strikeouts. There is a chance he gets things together and is a really dynamic baseball player, but so far as we head into another draft with the Phillies expected to take a high school hitter he is a real reminder that they have a long way to go in being good at this.
Pitcher Spotlight
6 IP 3 H 1 ER 3 BB 7 K
Back in 2023, Jimenez formed a 1-2 punch with Jean Cabrera for the Clearwater Threshers. He wasn’t a big time prospect, but I snuck him into my top 20 that offseason as sort of a high risk back end starter. Things went sideways in a big way, and quickly with the BlueClaws in 2024 and he found himself very quickly in the bullpen. This offseason he went to Adelaide and was dynamite out of the bullpen (26 IP 4 BB 44 K). He went back to the BlueClaws in 2025, had a terrible first appearance and worked as mostly a bulk guy before moving to the rotation full time in late May. It didn’t go great (12 ER in 10 innings), but since he has a 3.18 ERA in 6 starts (including a poor one in his first game in Reading). Jimenez isn’t overpowering, he will sit more 91-94 as a starter, but he can get to 97 in short bursts. It isn’t a particularly good shape, but it isn’t a disaster. His best pitch is his mid to low 80s gyro slider that he can throw in the zone or for chases. His changeup has looked better, but is a definite third pitch. I don’t think this offseason Jimenez will be a top 20 prospect, based on system weakness I can’t promise he won’t be ranked somewhere, but he is back on the the keep half an eye on radar. At this point he is probably an up and down depth bulk innings guy, maybe even he takes the lessons learned as a starter and can be 95-97 from a bullpen for two innings. Even that ceiling might be a bit out of reach, but it is a nice turnaround from a guy who put up a 7.02 ERA a year ago.
Notes and Thoughts
- Justin Crawford has gotten the ball in the air more this month, and is swinging and missing at a very low rate. But it was also a .500 BABIP week with a lot of ground balls and weird balls falling in. All that said, there are some swings that didn’t go for hits such as a 99.1 mph 390′ flyout to center that shows there is something there if all the pieces can come together.
- Checking in on Gabriel Rincones Jr. after a solid week (5-15 2 2B 4 BB 2 K), he still is not hitting for enough power, even if he is getting on base at a good clip. He is still somehow only hitting .068/.192/.068 vs LHPs in a no longer tiny sample size of 52 PAs.
- Andrew Painter is up to 99.5 mph, got 16 whiffs in 5 innings, but once again got hit around some, in this cast 4 runs. He finally started throwing some changeups this week, and he needs to get that pitch working because his command has not been stellar and lefties are hitting him around.
- I am not 100% sure what to do about Aidan Miller’s season, but it was a good week with his first home run in nearly a month and he is now up to 31 stolen bases.
- Carson DeMartini also broke a near month long home run drought this week.
- On the notes of long home run droughts, Aroon Escobar had not hit one since June 3 before going deep on July 3. It was a struggle of a June for him, but he is still heading north to Jersey Shore and it will be important to see if he can bounce back despite the long grind.
- There used to be sites where I could see for the non-Statcast leagues if a player like Hendry Mendez was starting to see his ground ball rate climb back up again, but weirdly that type of site has been lost. He played 6 games this week with 1 extra base hit and 3 walks to 2 strikeouts as the approach numbers continue to be excellent.
- Jean Cabrera hasn’t been perfect, but 6 IP 4 H 1 ER 2 BB 6 K is yet another solid start for the righty.
- Strikeout rate is up for Avery Owusu-Asiedu at his new level, but contact rate is actually up on his season mark (that said we know his April was poor and he was much better in May and June). This week he went 7-21 in 6 games with 3 extra base hits. He has played strictly center field since his promotion.
- It feels bad to bury a no-hitter, but a 7-inning combined no hitter is not the greatest accomplishment, but it is an accomplishment. Not as many strikeouts this week for Alex McFarlane, but he now has 10 straight hitless innings and the 5 innings this week only took 56 pitches. Ethan Chenault and Josh Hejka finished off the no hitter.
- Eduardo Tait bounced back from the high strikeout numbers last week with 3 in 5 games this week with 5 walks. He will be heading to the Futures Game and then it will be interesting to see if they think about a promotion.
- It has not been a good time in Clearwater for Alirio Ferrebus who has 3 walks to 18 strikeouts in 22 games while hitting .177/.226/.228. This week was not the cause of that as he went 6-14 in 4 games with 2 walks and 3 strikeouts. He has slipped down the lineup some as he has struggled.
- The problem isn’t Dante Nori’s ability to hit the ball, he hit .333 this week and .304 in June, it is that he is hitting it more and he has 7 doubles and a triple to show for it, despite not being a ground ball merchant. He needs to hit the ball harder and that hasn’t come.
- John Spikerman hit a home run on Sunday, it was also an exit velocity of 91.8 mph and went 300 feet according the tracking data. The sample sizes are minuscule, but the 2024 3rd round pick is once again not hitting the ball hard and striking out at an alarming rate.
- Devin Saltiban has played center field his last 3 times out. He only went 2-14 this week, but had a home run. He missed nearly 2 months with his injury so a little early to judge. With Aroon Escobar to moving to Jersey Shore it will be interesting to see how they manage positons.
- Zuher Yousuf had another solid start with the FCL Phillies over the weekend (5 IP 3 H 1 ER 0 BB 3 K).
- The Phillies in desperate need of pitching brought back Adonis Medina to pitch for the IronPigs (we was previously released by the Mariners). It went poorly has his velocity was way down from his prospect peak.
Injuries and Transactions
- Saul Teran (REA), Mitch Neunborn (LHV), Seth Johnson (MLB), Jaydenn Estanista (REA), Mick Abel (LHV), Daniel Harper (LHV), John Spikerman (CLW), Manolfi Jimenez (FCL), and Erick Brito (REA) assigned to new levels.
- Reese Dutton and Mavis Graves activated from Development List
- Raylin Heredia and John Spikerman activated from IL
- RHP Markos Sanchez signed to a minor league contract and assigned to DSL Phillies White
- RHP Enyel Garcia signed to a minor league contract and assigned to DSL Phillies Red
- RHP Adonis Medina signed to a minor league contract and assigned to Lehigh Valley IronPigs
- Rickardo Perez, Nabil Crismatt, Seth Beer, Eduardo Lopez, and Joel Kuhnel released
- RHP Nabil Crismatt was signed to a minor league contract and assigned to Lehigh Valley IronPigs
- Jordan Viars add to Development List
Links and Things
Videos and Posts