A Critical Look at the Phillies Organization and Minor League Baseball
We are deep into prospect ranking season, and one thing it does every year is thrust me into the middle of the minutia. Last week that got me ranting a bit on Twitter about Matt Vierling and the gap between public prospect rankings and Phillies fan perception. One of the big sticking points is that … Read more
Earlier this week all major league free agents all had their times with their current teams come to an end. On Friday, the same happens on the minor league side. Major league teams have until then to add any eligible player to the 40 man roster that they want to prevent from becoming a free … Read more
The minor league playoffs start in earnest tonight and IL North Champion Lehigh Valley IronPigs kick off their post season against their rivals the Scranton Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. The IronPigs won 11 more games than the RailRiders, but both teams enter the postseason slightly depleted by their big league parents. This years the IronPigs also owe … Read more
This past week, I spent time at each of the Northeast affiliates of the Philadelphia Phillies scouting some of the intriguing depth pitchers in the organization. This report won’t have the usual pitching stats I give out because of time spent on video editing, so I apologize in advance if you were looking forward to … Read more
I was planning on writing about Dylan Cozens this week, but after he hit 3 home runs today for the IronPigs, I thought I would move it up. Dylan Cozens is hitting .278/.385/.557 on the season, which is a large improvement on his 2017 season. He has made improvements this year, but that doesn’t mean … Read more
Scott Kingery, 2B 5’10”, 180 lb Bats/Throws: R/R Drafted in 2nd round of 2015 MLB Draft Teams Played for: Reading (AA/Eastern League), Lehigh Valley (AAA/International League) Dates Seen (all w/LHV): 6/26, 7/24, 7/28, 9/1 Eyewitness Stats: 5/19, 3 K, SB What the Numbers Say Reading (AA): 69 G, 317 PA, .313/.379/.608, 87 H, 18 2B, … Read more
The danger of writing up the AAA playoff preview yesterday was that the Phillies might do something drastic with the roster before the series, and the Phillies did something dramatic with the roster today. In: RHP Mark Appel, SS Malquin Canelo, RHP Victor Arano, LHP Elniery Garcia, RHP Franklyn Kilome, RHP Jacob Waguespack, 3B Mitch Walding … Read more
Lost now in the jubilation of J.P. Crawford’s callup to the majors was that the Lehigh Valley IronPigs had overcome a late season slump to win 6 straight games, including 4 against rival Scranton-Wilkes Barre to win the International League Wild Card. The IronPigs opened the year as a bit of a juggernaut, but that … Read more
The “Phillies minor league Labor Day Weekend Blitz” made it’s second stop last night in Allentown. This would be the third time this season I have made the trek to the place that Billy Joel wrote a song about. Last night’s trip was about accomplishing three things: check on the rehabbing Odubel Herrera and Aaron … Read more
Last night I made my third trip to Lehigh Valley this year to watch the Phillies top bats take on the Rays’ top prospect Brent Honeywell of Durham, who is considered one of the best pitching prospects in the baseball right now. Honeywell had his way last night after scuffling through the 1st five batters … Read more