Many times early in the season I was told by various people that the Clearwater Threshers were the worst team in affiliated baseball and that they had never seen a team with so little talent. During the first half of the season the Thresher’s 17-51 record bore out that statement. The team itself had one player (Dan Child) off of Baseball America’s Top 30 prospects and no players off of my list. The team in the first half saw rehab and roster cameos by Top 30 prospects Andrew Knapp, Malquin Canelo, and Deivi Grullon, but the first real impactful talent to arrive was Roman Quinn (.252/.330/.361). After that in the second half, top prospect J.P. Crawford (.278/.354/.430) arrived, and then there was a quick stop by 2014 top pick Aaron Nola. The Threshers are currently 28-36 over the second half and it is not just the top prospects that have made the difference. A group of players of of prospect watcher’s radars have had good second halfs taking the Threshers from historically bad to just mediocre.
Affiliates
Roman Quinn’s Comeback From Surgery
The Clearwater Threshers (45-86) are the worst minor league team record wise in the Phillies system and one of the worst in baseball. Their biggest prospect on the roster is slick fielding shortstop J.P. Crawford who the Phillies selected in the first round of the 2013 MLB draft. Another name that should be on Phillies’ … Read more
GCL Phillies Unknown Starting Rotation
The GCL Phillies spent much of the early season being the rehab point for many rehabbing and drafted pitchers as Yoel Mecias, Nic Hanson, Brandon Leibrandt, Matt Imhof, Jesse Biddle, and Drew Anderson all made starts this year. But since the GCL Phillies have begun to settle into a 6-7 man rotation (double headers and … Read more
Phillies Acquire 2B Jesmuel Valentin for Roberto Hernandez
The first of the two PTBNL for Roberto Hernandez have been revealed, and it is Dodgers’ supplemental first round pick in 2012 Jesmuel Valentin (#51 overall). Valentin is the son of Jose Valentin who played 16 years in the major leagues. As an amateur he played second base next to Carlos Correa, and while there was some chance he would play SS, he has found his natural spot at 2B in the Dodgers system. Baseball America had this to say about him when he was drafted:
Jose Pujols to be Promoted to Williamsport
According to Ian Catherine, GCL right fielder Jose Pujols will be promoted to Williamsport.
Jose Pujols will join the Cutters in Mahoning Valley according to manager Shawn Williams.
— 𝙸𝚊𝚗 𝙲𝚊𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚎 (@IanCatherine27) August 15, 2014
Pujols will be rejoining the other big signing of the Phillies 2012 International FA class, Deivi Grullon. Pujols signed for $540,000 out of the Dominican Republic after showing impressive raw power that had one scout invoke the name of a certain Marlin slugger. At the time Pujols’ swing showed incredible bat speed but a lot of uppercut and natural miss to it. Last year the Phillies worked to retool his swing to be more level, the end result was a more contact oriented swing that did not sacrifice any of what may be 80 grade raw power. Pujols has made large strides in pitch recognition, but he still has approach and aggression issues at the plate that have lead to high strikeout totals, but he has also shown a willingness at times to work deep counts. Last year Pujols tied for the GCL lead in home runs, but most of his power was to the pull side, this year he has shown the ability to hit the ball hard to the opposite field as seen in his spray chart.
Freddy Galvis, Cesar Hernandez and Building the 2015 Bench
There are few things to say positively about the 2014 Philadelphia Phillies season. We’re nearing the final stretch to the season and September promotions should bring about an ounce of excitement for the faithful fans that still decide to watch this team. One area of the ball club that has been abysmal this season along with the previous years has been the bench.
The collective group of John Mayberry, Tony Gwynn, Cesar Hernandez, Wil Nieves and Reid Brignac is a group of mostly below replacement level players that don’t provide value offensively or even defensively. Nieves is the lone exception and works well with the pitching staff.
Offensively, the Phillies rank 24th in major league baseball, with a .245 on base percentage this season when pinch-hitting. They have a collective .542 OPS, 19th in the league. Their bench options lack positional flexibility and they struggle to get on base. Regardless of how the manager plays the matchups beyond John Mayberry against left handed pitchers, there are no strong options that will yield a positive outcome.
Some Roster Shuffling
Some quick transactions: Nick Rodesky promoted from GCL to Lakewood Aaron Brown promoted from Williamsport to Lakewood Jesen Dygestile-Therrien promoted from Williamsport to Lakewood Daniel Child demoted from Lakewood to GCL Aaron Baker promoted from Lakewood to Clearwater Samuel Hiciano placed on Lakewood disabled list Jesse Biddle promoted from Clearwater to Reading A lot of … Read more
Phillies Sign Jason Zgardowski
According to Angelo State University (and the GCL Roster) the Phillies have signed Angelo State junior RHP Jason Zgardowski. Zgardowski went unsigned in the draft this past year, and had gone on to play in the Northwoods League this summer. He was selected to play in the Big League Dreams Showcase in Madison, WI (which … Read more
Fastball Velocity and Brandon Leibrandt
Phillies 6th Round pick Brandon Leibrandt has been on a roll recently which has started the round of questions about how good he can be, which ultimately end up on fastball velocity. Velocity is the most tangible and quantifiable aspect of a pitcher’s arsenal. Movement, command, and deception are all in the eye of the beholder and once we start talking secondary pitches the amateur eye is really out of its league. So we debate velocity and whether it is enough for a pitcher to survive in the major leagues (should the prospect in question survive the other levels in between them and their major league aspirations).
VSL Phillies fall to VSL Tigers in VSL Championship
The VSL is only a 5 team league with the top two teams going to the championship. The Phillies took the first game from the Tigers but the Tigers took Game 2. A rain delay yesterday allow the VSL Phillies ace Ranger Suarez to take the hill today. Suarez is a diminutive LHP with a … Read more