A Critical Look at the Phillies Organization and Minor League Baseball
This piece was written by Mitch Rupert. Mitch used to cover the Williamsport Crosscutters (among other things) for the Williamsport Sun-Gazette. You can follow Mitch on Twitter at @Mitch_Rupert where he post minor league video highlights. I love posting highlights of Scott Kingery on social media. I love it for two reasons: 1) He’s a … Read more
Baseball analytics still exist in a paradigm where the goal for many is to find or develop a “holy grail” singular stat that says whether a player is good or not. This is not limited to the WAR based pursuits that will likely at some point start to include data from things like StatCast to … Read more
Minor League free agents signings are not something that most casual fans track, and for even the most hardcore of those of us who like minor league minutia they are little beyond preparations for the inevitable surprise at seeing a player on a spring training roster. For the most part minor league free agents compete … Read more
So not unsurprising the Ruben Amaro era has come to an end. It is an end that should have come earlier and one that we have seen coming for a long time now. It was unrealistic expect that Andy MacPhail would not hire his own guy to oversee the day to day of his vision … Read more
I made the statement on Monday that the Phillies might have the deepest farm system in baseball. Two days later I stand by that statement. A lot of focus has been put on the premium trade returns and players like Crawford, Nola, and Franco, but that is really not the legacy of the last few … Read more
Today Todd Zolecki published a very interesting interview with Phillies president Pat Gillick. There were a lot of very interesting answers because Gillick has an incredible baseball mind, but the quotes that stuck with me involve the draft and scouting philosophy. Question: You have new amateur scouting director in Johnny Almaraz. What do you think … Read more
Ten Phillies prospects are in town right now, and tonight they went to a Sixers game and there was a picture taken of all ten of them. Top #Phillies prospects at tonight's @Sixers game! (Photo Credit: David Dow, NBA Photos.) pic.twitter.com/6lfFU325vG — Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) January 14, 2015 Can you need them all L to … Read more
The biggest weakness in the Phillies system coming into the 2014 season (outside a general lack of talent) was that their minor league system was out of arms, and especially healthy starting pitchers. My Top 30 Prospect list coming into the season featured a grand total of 8 pitchers, of which 6 were starters. Of … Read more
Today Jessica Jensen (@JessicaFastball) interviewed me for her #BehindTheSeams interview series on Twitter. The series is interviews with people primarily around the game of baseball, really highlighting the dynamics and personal stories of the people involved and discussing topics normally outside of our normal conversation. Jessica is well worth the follow overall and the entire #BehindTheSeams series … Read more
So now that Yasmany Tomas has signed a contract, the next big unknown is Cuban teenager Yoan Moncada. Moncada is praised for his bat and his ability to play anywhere on the diamond defensively outside of shortstop and catcher (he is currently a shortstop, but no one seems optimistic he can stick there). Many have … Read more