Phillies Minor League Recap (Week 12 6/9-6/15)

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This Week’s Schedule

Hitter Spotlight

1B Keaton Anthony

6 G 5-20 3 HR 3 BB 5 K .250/.385/.700

Keaton Anthony has 5 home runs in 22 games this year and hit a home run in 3 games in a row. Given that the knock on him has been power output, it was worth looking at to see if things have changed, but we don’t really find a meaningful difference. He had a small spike with the Threshers, but after two weeks with the IronPigs his 90th percentile exit velocity is 102.1 mph, it was 102.9 last year and his max is 106.9 mph and was 107.2 last year. For reference, that is about where Justin Crawford was for 90th last season in AAA (Crawford had a higher peak). That said, Anthony is getting the ball in the air more to the pull side, which is a good thing to do if you have marginal power, and something he has largely been allergic to. He is also chasing less, but it has come with a passivity in the zone that is not sustainable, but might be fine as a transitory state to finding the right approach. It is a small sample size in AAA, but it looks like the physical traits for Anthony have not shifted at all, but he might be making some of the needed approach and batted ball type shifts.

Second home run of the day for Lehigh Valley’s Keaton Anthony. Goes down to get a breaking ball and launches it for his fifth homer of the year. He’s just 3 homers behind his career best of 8 for a season.

— Mitch_Rupert (@mitchrupert.bsky.social) 2026-06-13T00:38:05.410Z

Pitcher Spotlight

RHP Seth Johnson

2 G 2.2 IP 2 H 1 R 0 ER 1 BB 4 K

It wasn’t that this was the best week of Johnson’s time in AAA, but he just keeps chugging along. The run he allowed this week reached on an error and scored when Carter Kieboom failed to catch a routine pop fly. On the season he has allowed 7 earned runs, and 3 came in his first major league appearance where he was asked to eat innings. His strikeout rates are slightly down month over month, but he is walking fewer batter, and he is limiting hard contract. He is tearing through right handed batters, and limiting lefties, and most impressive when runners reach base hitters are hitting just .161/.235/.194 off of him. He clearly has a major league ceiling and the Phillies don’t have room right now. At some point they should give him a chance or find a way to move him for some value.

Notes and Thoughts

  • It has largely been a terrible year across the system with the exception of the Clearwater Threshers (39-24). This week for the third time in the last 4 seasons they clinched the first half title and a postseason spot in the Florida State League (last year they ended up getting a playoff spot based on the second half standings). They are 3rd in the league in OPS and just 7th in ERA, but are 2nd in strikeouts with the second best strikeout rate from their bullpens and first from their starting pitchers. They immediately this week had a drain of three of their prominent starting pitchers. None were likely to be there by the time the postseason came around, but this will hurt their 2nd half record. It is a big boost to a moribund Jersey Shore team.
  • Marty Gair has enough ups and downs that he is going to peak week to week fairly often. This week he had two identical games where he threw 11 pitches (10 strikes) while striking out all 3 batters he faced. He is more consistently throwing hard (he averaged 100 this week), and now in 4 June appearances he has face one over the minimum (1 walk) with 10 strikeouts in 5 innings.
  • The Phillies bumped Caleb Ricketts down from AAA to AA this week and he he immediately hit 3 home runs this week. Ricketts was on fire in April (.902 OPS) and was ice cold in May (.204 OPS). It has been a strange season for Ricketts as he has not walked, struck out a ton, and been a disaster behind the plate. There is some form of hitter in there, but the sum of the parts don’t really add up.
  • In theory Raylin Heredia should be starting to force his way into the conversation of the Phillies outfield mess, especially now that he has a .937 OPS vs LHP this year. But the doubles machine continues to have an approach at the plate that is terrifyingly poor. This week was find as he picked up 2 walks and 5 strikeouts in a 3 home run week, but Heredia on the year has a 3.2% BB% and 27.7% K% with just a 68% contact rate. He isn’t a product of Reading, but that doesn’t mean it has been sustainable.
  • Nathan Humphreys has seen his good approach start to fall apart with 2 walks to 10 strikeouts this month. He still isn’t facing LHPs, but he went 6 for 20 this week with 4 more extra base hits. The trade off for the strikeouts has been more power, but he is going to need to find a way to have both attributes.
  • After having 6 walks and 26 strikeouts in May, Aroon Escobar has 7 walks and 5 strikeouts in June. The problem is is 7 for 44 on the month with 1 extra base hit. He is putting up ok lines vs lefties, but righties continue to give him problems. This week also accounted for just one of each of those walks and strikeouts, which would indicate he is getting bat to ball, but probably should not be and is swinging too much.
  • It was another clean start for Cade Obermueller, who continues to carve through LHBs. He is still averaging about 93 mph, but there has been some better metering of the velocity over the course of his appearances. His command has still been spotty, but this week saw more changeups thrown. He just has struggled to throw them in the zone.
  • Juan Parra has yet to have an extra base hit this season despite not being a slap hitting. His 10 walks to 10 strikeouts are somewhat reminiscent of Starlyn Caba’s time in the league. The power should come at some point.
  • On Monday, Francisco Renteria ruined his oops all triples streak by adding his first professional home run and double. Much like Parra, the walks (7) and strikeouts (8) have been reasonable. His 7 stolen bases show a player who is active and aggressive in the game.

Injuries and Transactions

Links and Things

Minor Thoughts

Videos and Posts

Francisco Renteria goes opposite field at 101 mph for his first professional home run. Renteria, 17, who was signed by the Phillies for $4 million, picked up his first extra-base hit since June 6

— Mitch_Rupert (@mitchrupert.bsky.social) 2026-06-15T15:13:45.383Z

Marty Gair having one of those night for Clearwater helps the Threshers clinch the first half FSL West title. He throws six pitches at 100 mph or faster. For the month of June he’s thrown 5 innings, hasn’t allowed a hit, struck out 10, and walked one.

— Mitch_Rupert (@mitchrupert.bsky.social) 2026-06-14T01:39:03.309Z

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