A Critical Look at the Phillies Organization and Minor League Baseball
On April 13th, I went to my 1st minor league game of the year. It was the home opener for the Lakewood and Sixto Sanchez’, arguably the Phillies top pitching prospect, depending on who you talk to, was on the bump. While he got zilch in run support that night in a loss, it was a … Read more
Last night the Mets lineup in the 6th began Bruce/Walker/Duda, so LH/switch/LH. So Joely Rodriguez, as the only LHP on the active roster, was obviously the choice. But in his brief career he hasn’t been reliable at getting LH hitting. Entering last night, LH hitters: 11/30 (2 XBH), 3/6 K/BB; RH hitters: 8/33 (5 XBH), … Read more
It is list writing season and right now I am in the middle of writing my Top 50 Phillies prospects. Part of the process is thinking about the next season and where players fit into the organization. As you go through this process it is hard to not start putting together future rosters. It is not … Read more
Ranking season goes ever onward and we are now firmly into Baseball America’s league Top 20 prospects. Joining the GCL list we now have the NYPL list and SAL list. I am going to address the NYPL list first before going into my philosophical differences with the SAL list. New York-Penn League Top 20: (Link) … Read more
The nice people of the Rome Braves live in the 21st century so we got a video stream of yesterday’s Game 1 matchup in the South Atlantic League Championship. We already know the results, but here is a breakdown of the highlights of the game. Top 1st: I get why people like Mike Soroka immediately, … Read more
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