A Critical Look at the Phillies Organization and Minor League Baseball
Often short season ball is the place where the current crop of college draftees go to get their feet wet. However, in recent years, the rise of the Phillies’ Latin Program has made it a place of breakouts for unknown players both from the Caribbean complexes and from the GCL. That trend should continue in … Read more
Stay tuned for the announcement of the 2015 Cutters Coaching Staff tomorrow! Hint- The Cutters will be managed by a former World Series MVP! — Williamsport Crosscutters (@crosscutters) November 17, 2014 This is just so much fun, so in honor of this here is a fun voting for who you think it could be (I … Read more
The New York Penn League was very strong this year, especially among the international ranks (7 of the top 10). It is good to see Aaron Brown crack this list as he was one of the lower drafted players on the list (only the #20 prospect was taken after him in the 2014 draft). Brown … Read more
Yesterday I wrote my recap of the Williamsport Crosscutters, today here is our interview with Mitch Rupert about his impressions of the Crosscutters’ 2014 season. Before we jump into talking about players why don’t you introduce yourself and where people can find your writing? My name is Mitch Rupert and I’m a sports writer with the Williamsport … Read more
Team: Williamsport Crosscutters
Record: 33-44
Standing: 6th in Pinckney Division
Top Hitter Stat Lines:
Drew Stankiewicz – 23 G – 1 HR – 3 SB – .329/.485/.418
Jiandido Tromp – 69 G – 14 HR – 16 SB – .273/.325/.498
Rhys Hoskins – 70 G – 9 HR – 3 SB – .237/.311/.408
Top Pitching Lines:
David Whitehead – 74.0 IP – 2.19 ERA – 8 BB – 43 K
Ricardo Pinto – 47.0 IP – 2.11 ERA – 15 BB – 48 K
Brandon Leibrandt – 41.0 IP – 2.20 ERA – 8 BB – 45 K
Edubray Ramos – 22.2 IP – 0.79 ERA – 2 BB – 24 K
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.
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).
Cord Sandberg was the Phillies 3rd Round pick in the 2013 draft, many scouts had him as a late first, early second round talent, but he fell due to a college scholarship to play quarterback. After a hot start in the GCL last year he hit .207/.313/.272 on the season with poor contact. In 2014 … Read more
I could tell you a bunch of box score scouting tidbits about what each player is doing, but you can do that on your own. So rather than that, here are some tweets by guys watching the players. They can tell you a lot more than me paraphrasing their work. Miguel Nunez (Clearwater) Miguel Nunez … Read more
The announcement of rosters each year is a good marker of where players stand with the organization. The release of short season rosters is always in flux as new draftees alter the lineup over the first week of the season. So here is the current roster, what it means and how the 2014 draft fits in.
Pitching:
Mitch Gueller, Alejandro Arteago, Richard Bielski, Delvy Francisco, Manaure Martinez, Ricardo Pinto, Frank Rivas, Keivy Rojas, Feliberto Sanchez, Josh Warner
The only set members of the rotation are likely Arteaga (who started 9 disastrous games for Lakewood this year), Sanchez, and Gueller. Of that group Gueller’s return trip to Williamsport is the most interesting name here, a former 1st round pick who had the potential for 3 plus pitches coming out of the draft. In 2013 he showed inconsistency across the board along with a drop in velocity, but if he can show some of his pre-draft stuff he could jump back up lists.
2014 Draft – The Phillies top 2 picks Aaron Nola and Matt Imhof could skip past Williamsport on the way to Lakewood or higher. However, the Crosscutters rotation should pick up 4th round pick Chris Oliver and6th round pick Brandon Leibrandt. Depending on signings, Matt Hockenberry (9th), Austin Davis (12th), Nathan Thornhill (13th), and Joey DeNato (19th) could all factor into the rotation and at least into the bullpen. Speaking of the bullpen, 22nd round pick Ryan Powers is a power RH reliever out of Miami (OH) who could factor into the late innings of the Crosscutter bullpen if the Phillies send him there.