A Critical Look at the Phillies Organization and Minor League Baseball
I wrote not too long ago that the Lakewood BlueClaws had turned their season around on the back of good second half pitching. If I told you then that they would be sending their 5 best starters to the hill against Rome in the South Atlantic League Championship that they would have the advantage on … Read more
It is hard to draw any big conclusions after a player’s first year in pro ball after being drafted in the summer. Some players succeed as they face lower level competition before then fading away, others struggle to adjust before hitting the group running in their second year. Either way it is encouraging to see … Read more
The Lakewood BlueClaws were the Phillies’ worst affiliate during the first half of the 2015 season. They put up a 29-40 record on the back of a horrendous start. Then over the course of the season they had their 3 best starting pitchers (Luke Leftwich, Shane Watson, and Drew Anderson), three of their best hitters … Read more
There has been a lot written about Phillies leadership mentioning rebuilding around pitching. Given that they received back a combined 17 pitchers in notable trades in the recent phase of their rebuild it is hard to argue against those comments. Most of those trades have brought back pieces in the high minors, what about rebuilding … Read more
While we knew Jose Pujols had plenty of power while he was in short-season ball, he struggled to show it in game. While he flashed it, the keyword there is flash. However, he is starting to show more power in his start at Class-A Lakewood. Considering he spent three seasons in short-season ball, it only made sense … Read more
If you follow me on Twitter you may have noticed that I have started to contribute minor league coverage to The Good Phight. I will still be writing here so it won’t be as much a drop in coverage and more just a diversification. Part of that means that my affiliates previews for this season … Read more
Jim Peyton of Phuture Phillies has posted a picture of minor league rosters. Overall the assignments are very conservative so we will see how everything shakes out early in the season. These rosters are unofficial, and if they end up being the official rosters they are subject to constant change because this is the nature … Read more
In the middle of the minor league season, the Phillies devastated the Lakewood BlueClaws rotation. The Phillies’ lowest full season club had been sporting a 6 man rotation that was fairly standard and had led them to decent success. But within a span of weeks the Phillies promoted their top pitcher, Ricardo Pinto, to Clearwater … Read more
Listening to baseball on the radio is something that will never really get old for me, it is the ultimate story time. You never going to scout a player by listening to the radio, but it will help fill in the details you are missing. For those telling the story they need to be on … Read more
In many ways Lakewood was the forgotten affiliate in 2015. It didn’t get much help to start from a 2014 draft devoid of high school players (though it did get 4th round pick Chris Oliver and 5th round pick Rhys Hoskins), and for the most part it was full of under the radar players. Those … Read more