A Critical Look at the Phillies Organization and Minor League Baseball
When the Phillies took Cord Sandberg in the 3rd round of the 2013 draft the consensus was that they had gotten a late first round talent. It has been a mixed bag since as Cord had a rough first two years (.585 and .612) and so far 2015 has not been much different as he … Read more
Over the years my preferences for what I like in a pitcher has adapted and changed. But if you have followed me for a while you know that I like projection, I like left handers, and I like players with feel for a changeup. One pitcher checked all these boxes and was my first real … Read more
The announcement of Philadelphia Phillies pitching prospect Jesse Biddle skipping his previous start before he returned to Reading’s rotation against New Hampshire Tuesday night surely worried a good amount of Phillies’ fans. A majority of the fan base has seemed to give up on Biddle over the last calendar year but they shouldn’t. Jesse Biddle's … Read more
Phillies’ top ten prospects Aaron Nola, Zach Eflin and Jesse Biddle are the top starting pitchers with the Reading Fightin Phils. While Reading boasts five potential major league starters, the Fightin Phils final two starters, Ben Lively and Tom Windle, are bigger question marks and lack the upside like Reading’s front three. Lively, 22, was … Read more
Maikel Franco really emerged as a prospect in 2012 when he hit .341/.395/.530 in the second half of the year for Lakewood. He then had his breakout in 2013 where he compiled a .320/.356/.569 line with 31 home runs while splitting time between Clearwater and Reading. He was rated extremely highly by some publications before … Read more
The Phillies are in a state of flux regarding their outfielders and there will be likely be numerous roster moves made in late May or early June. Dominic Brown could return to the outfield with the Phillies, along with Cody Asche sliding into left field and Ben Revere starting in center. The moves will also … Read more
On the surface it has not been the greatest third season in Reading for Jesse Biddle, his 4.60 ERA is ugly and he is posting his lowest strikeout numbers of his career. However, that doesn’t tell the entire story here. Fangraphs has Biddle at a 2.77 FIP thanks to his zero home runs on the … Read more
On the year catcher and 2013 second round pick, Andrew Knapp is hitting .292/.339/.396. On the bad news, is that the line comes with 30 strikeouts in 106 ABs (26.1% K%) and a .403 BABIP that doesn’t look sustainable. Last year in Lakewood it was a similar story with Knapp hitting .290/.354/.438 with a 22.6% … Read more
I noticed that this year Maikel Franco had walked in his first 4 games and only one since, and that he had hit 8 of his 10 doubles in his first 10 games (he has played 25). So I set out to find out why Franco appeared to be low on power and expected to find … Read more
It is hard to make any sweeping judgements on early season stats, so the best question is often “What is this player doing new?”. In the case of shortstop Malquin Canelo he is showing power that he has never shown up this point. Canelo up to this point has been a bit of an after … Read more