Phillies Minor League Recap (Week 18 7/21-7/27)

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This Week’s Schedule

Hitter Spotlight

OF Elian Adames

5 G 10-18 3 2B 2 HR 6 RBI 2 BB 2 K .556/.600/1.056

The Phillies signed Adames for $75,000 in January of 2025 and he had about the season you normally get from a 17 year old in the DSL. He hit the ball hard a couple of times, had a decent looking batting average and struck out a ton. This season he got off to a slow start at the plate, but wasn’t swinging and missing as much. After ending June on a high note he has scalded the ball all July (.415/.429/.662). He is a tall right handed hitting outfielder with easy power. His swing can look a bit stiff at times and pitchers throwing better breaking balls will test him at higher levels because he still is a free swinger even if the whiff is down. He should be part of the group moving stateside next year.

Pitcher Spotlight

RHP Cristian Rego

1 GS 4 IP 0 H 0 R 1 BB 5 K

Rego was the starting pitcher for the organization’s second combined 7 inning no-hitter of the season, sharing his work with RHP Filippo Sabatini and RHP Jorge Mitre. It wasn’t Rego’s first good start of the season, he has mostly been good outside of a 5 run outing in late June, but it was his best and his first career outing of 4 innings. The 17 year old Cuban was signed for $300,000 in April and features a fastball that can get up to 96, but mostly sits 90-93, a two plane low 80s slider, and an in progress changeup. He has solid feel to pitch and size at 6’3″. His control has been good as well with just 6 walks over 22 innings to go with his 30 strikeouts. None of his stuff pops off the chart as having big breakout potential, but he has a clearer looking path as some sort of starting pitcher than most of his peers.

Notes and Thoughts

  • Andrew Painter has technically graduated, but is back in the minors and being rebuilt. His release characteristics haven’t changed much, but his fastballs has been harder and his splitter is both harder and dropping more. Over his two starts he went 11 IP 12 H 3 ER 1 BB 14 K, and was better on 4 days rest against the same team.
  • Another good appearance for Jean Cabrera, who went 6 scoreless this week, though he is still not missing bats with Reading.
  • Ramon Marquez carved himself through a line up for the third start in a row, this time allowing just 1 hit and no runs. Over his last three starts with the Blue Claws he has thrown 15 innings with just 5 walks, 2 runs, and 3 walks, while striking outs 28 batters. Marquez has thrown 54 innings this season with 18 walks and 18 strikeouts and currently leads the minors among pitchers with at least 50 innings pitched in both strikeout percent and batting average against.
  • While he never went on the IL, Alirio Ferrebus missed time before returning this week and only DHing. His 4 hit game did the heavy lifting, but he picked up his 11th home run while going 6 for 17.
  • It has continued to be a good month for Matthew Ferrara who hit .316/.381/.368 this week to move to .333/.418/.456 for the month. He is striking out less and has 8 walks to 11 strikeouts in 17 games this month. He has not hit for much power since cutting down on the swing and miss.
  • Esterling Rodriguez hit .227 for the FCL season, but that hid a season that involved 27 walks to 35 strikeouts and .304/.389/.478 in July. He did not hit lefties all season.
  • It was a disappointing FCL season for Romeli Espinosa who went 5 for 8 in the last two games of the season. He will now be one of the youngest players in the Florida State League.
  • Juan Parra only hit .214 this week, but all three of his hits went for extra bases and he walked 4 times (with two HBPs) to only 2 strikeouts. He now has 24 walks to 9 strikeouts in July for a .554 OBP.
  • Does it count as a disappointing week when you hit .364/.417/.682 and your season line is .368/.453/.618?
  • Samuel Ortiz was a noted prospect to open the DSL season and has now put up 2 straight scoreless 4 inning starts with 4 walks and 12 strikeouts. For the season he has a 2.52 ERA over 25 innings with 11 walks and 30 strikeouts. He is sitting 87-91, but his slider has been his best pitch.
  • The Phillies have consistently batted Sebastian Saenz third in the DSL order despite a terrible June. That patience has been rewarded as he has hit .305/.368/.441 in July. He is another member of the team who is struggling at home.
  • This was Cody Bowker’s first big strikeout game for the BlueClaws with 8 over 5 innings. It is also three straight starts at 5 innings as he also has seen his workload allowed to expand.
  • Chuck King has been surprisingly effective in AAA, with 8 innings of 1 run ball on just 83 pitches being his best start of the year. His fastballs have struggled and breaking balls have been ok, but his splitter has been dragging him forward to success.
  • It was a good bounce back game for Mavis Graves, but he still hasn’t gone 5 innings since mid May and may be having a role change as he moves up to Reading.
  • It wasn’t as good a start for Brad Pacheco this week (5 IP 5 H 2 ER 0 BB 4 K), but he battled back and has only the 1 walk on the month. His name will definitely be discussed this week.
  • It was nondescript and solid week for Juan Villavicencio who will be bumped to Jersey Shore in time to be talked about in trades. It will be a test to see if his power numbers can hold up, but his approach numbers are coming off of a nice bounceback.
  • Jose Tovar has continued just chugging along. There are holes to poke in his offense, but also he played third base, second base, center field, and catcher this week, so he has a lot going on.
  • As we head into the deadline Bryan Rincon will be big name and this week showed a lot of why his value is subjective. He hit 3 home runs, but has 2 walks to 8 strikeouts and went just 1 for 12 on other balls in play. The BABIP problems are real.

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