A Critical Look at the Phillies Organization and Minor League Baseball
This piece is a companion to my J.P. Crawford major league preview on Crashburn Alley. In a game that probably should not have been close, the Lehigh Valley IronPigs clinched a wild card berth for the International League playoffs. After the game it was announced that the Pigs would have to go on without their … Read more
Sunday was going to be my last minor league game of the season with Adonis Medina scheduled to pitch. Unfortunately the weather got in the way on Saturday while I was driving back from Williamsport and instead of scheduling a doubleheader for Sunday, they ended up canceling the game altogether. That meant that Lakewood would … Read more
I hadn’t made the trip to Williamsport since my weekend escapades in July when Adam Haseley hit his 1st professional home runs, Kyle Young struck out 11, Spencer Howard made his professional debut and Jhailyn Ortiz made my eyes pop out of my head with his power. And being this a Phillies minor league weekend, … Read more
Last night was Reading’s home finale, which meant that the stadium would be packed to see some fireworks after the game. Well they got a lot of fireworks for watching the game. Hours prior to the start of game time, it was announced the Phillies would be sending Odubel Herrera and Aaron Altherr to Baseballtown … Read more
Franklyn Kilome has been on my radar for a few years now and has been the one prospect that has eluded my scouting eye I’ve wanted to see in the system. Kilome was promoted last week from Clearwater to Reading and had a bit of a shaky AA debut last Thursday. Wednesday night, he would … Read more
The Phillies have a grand tradition of trying to make the slowest plodding players on the field play in the outfield. It started with an attempt to put Ryan Howard in left field to not have him be blocked by Jim Thome, and has continued to this day. Now some of this has been in … Read more
Trade Deadline Day can be such a stressful time for a number of executives as they try to make the right move for the team’s future or it’s present. On a day we have seen the Dodgers and Yankees beef up their rotations with Yu Darvish and Sonny Gray respectively, and a whole other bevy … Read more
Back on July 12th, I went to my third Sixto Sanchez start. There was nothing going on in the sports industry that night other than the ESPYs. There were dozens of scouts and writers on hand to watch Sixto roll through six innings allowing just one run. That night I also provided video, and the … Read more
Last night I made my third trip to Lehigh Valley this year to watch the Phillies top bats take on the Rays’ top prospect Brent Honeywell of Durham, who is considered one of the best pitching prospects in the baseball right now. Honeywell had his way last night after scuffling through the 1st five batters … Read more
If you guys follow me on Twitter (@JPhils90), you would know last night I went to Reading for the second time in four days. And unlike Saturday where Drew Anderson got knocked around and got ejected seven batters into the 1st inning and the game was called after five innings due to rain. This one … Read more