A Critical Look at the Phillies Organization and Minor League Baseball
I am sorry I have not written as much as I used to. A big thanks to Jeff for taking over the draft previews. Some things happened in the last week and I want to write about current events the way I used to write about current events. Jesmuel Valentin to Have Surgery for Shoulder … Read more
I feel like I haven’t just written in a while so pardon me while I talk about the potentially inane, reliever promotions. We can start with the non pitcher move as Carlos Alonso adds another trip in his back and forth between Reading and Lehigh Valley. The infielder is a good org player who has … Read more
Cesar Hernandez showed signs last year that he could at least be a quality MLB player. He did a solid job of getting on base out of the leadoff spot and working counts. This year, however, he has shown to be anything but a quality MLB player. He has a .248/.301/.301 slashline at the moment … Read more
J.P. Crawford is going from Reading to Lehigh Valley in what is his final tuneup on his way to the majors. Think of the IronPigs as finishing school for the talented shortstop, as I don’t expect him to spend as much time there as Maikel Franco and Nick Williams will ultimately spend there. Crawford’s approach … Read more
With the Phillies’ major league starting rotation having success it has taken some pressure off of the minor leagues to produce, but it has also has accelerated the perceived timeline of the Phillies. This has then focused the spotlight on the Phillies’ top prospects to perform. The top level of the system has been less … 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
Both the Ruben Amaro and Matt Klentak lead front offices acquired a lot of pitching in the past few seasons through trades, signings, drafting, and waiver claims. Much of that pitching was in the high minors at the time of acquisition, and was poised to be part of the wave of players that the organization … Read more
We jump out of order to go to Lehigh Valley before we wrap our series up with AA Reading. No Phillies affiliate has been as hard hit by the talent glut and subsequent rebuild as the IronPigs. They have been lucky the past few years to get a single good prospect (much like having Maikel … Read more
It was a weird year in Allentown. The team started with Maikel Franco and a lot of AAAA players. Its pitching staff was mostly patched together with guys whose best hope was getting a spot start for the Phillies to augment some pitchers with fringier stuff trying to find their way to major league debuts. … Read more