A Critical Look at the Phillies Organization and Minor League Baseball
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
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
Throughout the season I am interacting with many people watching Phillies’ prospects everyday and this series was my way of bringing that to all of you. Mitch Rupert and Ian Catherine have been my go to people on the Williamsport Crosscutters everyone of the three years I have covered the system. They combine a near … Read more
The lack of high school players selected in the 2014 draft gave the Williamsport Crosscutters a strange base, then they didn’t get any of the top 5 round players the Phillies selected in the 2015 draft leaving the team as a bit of a mutt in terms of team construction. The result however, was a highly … Read more
The season has come to an end so it is time to recap everything that happened. We will have wrap ups on all the affiliates complete with interviews with individuals covering the teams. Additionally, all the players who graduated from offseason lists will get a send off. Any other content from recaps will go where … Read more
The League Top 20s march on with the New York Penn League. In general the list tends to be a bit weak outside the top few names. This is because the top HS picks tend to skip over the league, which leaves it with some college draftees who qualify for the innings and PA thresholds, … Read more
The Williamsport Crosscutters lead the Pinckney division from poll to poll with a team that may have lacked in some prospect fire power, but made up for it with a very solid 2015 draft. Much like the Threshers the Crosscutters will play a three game series, however the following series will be a three game series … Read more
This all starts with a question. If everyone is aware of a problem, knows the solution to the problem, and has a plan to fix it, is it really a problem? The answer is probably still yes, but the problem is a lot smaller than it really appears. If your pipes are leaking and you called … Read more
Buried on the Clearwater transaction list was the fact that second baseman Jesmuel Valentin has been reinstated from the restricted list and activated for the Williamsport Crosscutters. Valentin was arrested this April on misdemeanor domestic violence charges, there is no news on any legal outcome. He has been at the complex in Clearwater for the … Read more
Yesterday Jim Callis reported that the Phillies had signed LSU junior outfielder Mark Laird for slot money in the 9th round. In addition to Laird, it appears the Phillies have also signed Florida infielder Joshua Tobias. No bonus figures are known on Tobias. Both Laird and Tobias were assigned to short season Williamsport where they will … Read more