The Phillies value the playoff experience for their minor leaguers. This year the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, Clearwater Threshers, Lakewood BlueClaws, and GCL Phillies East all made the playoffs. The GCL playoffs were over quick, but for the full season leagues, it is just getting started.
The 2018 Clearwater Threshers started the year as the power team in the Phillies system. Their rotation was topped with Sixto Sanchez and Adonis Medina, But was deep in competent arms. Their lineup had former first round picks Mickey Moniak and Adam Haseley to go with top prospect Arquimedes Gamboa, and minor league masher Darick Hall. The Threshers missed out on the first half title despite having breakouts from Jose Pujols and Austin Listi. Despite losing Pujols, Listi, Hall, Haseley, and Connor Seabold to AA, McKenzie Mills to trade, and Sanchez to injury they found themselves with a second half title thanks to pitching reinforcements David Parkinson and Ramon Rosso.
Lineup:
The Threshers have strayed away from having a defined lineup, more by necessity than choice. They have Daniel Brito, Arquimedes Gamboa, and Mickey Moniak locked in up the middle. Moniak has been on fire for two months now, and might be the best offensive player the Threshers still have. Brito has been ok since reaching Clearwater, and Gamboa has been a disaster for a few months now. However, both have talent, and maybe more apparently, they should provide excellent defense. Outside of the young up the middle players, Edgar Cabral and Henri Lartigue are totally acceptable catchers for the level. They have some pop, they may draw a walk, and both are fairly solid defensively. First baseman Quincy Nieporte slides up from Lakewood to take the spot of the injured Kyle Martin. Nieporte didn’t really hit well in Lakewood, but he doesn’t strike out much and can hit a double. Luke Williams can play everywhere on the diamond, but has primarily been a third baseman. He hit for a career high in home runs this year, but considering he had 3 total coming into the year, he is more of a supporting than carrying player. The Threshers could choose to flank Moniak with Grenny Cumana and Kevin Markham, both speedy, light hitting outfielders. Overall the Threshers are going to need to be lucky to string together hits to score runs.
Rotation:
Game 1: Adonis Medina
Game 2: Alejandro Requena
Game 3: TBD
Adonis Medina is the second best pitching prospect in the organization and for stretches of times he has been completely dominant. He also has struggled with his command in some starts. If Medina has his control and slider going in a start he could carry the Threshers. Alejandro Requena missed a good chunk of the season due to injury, but has been very solid since returning to the Threshers. The 21 year old RHP, will show a 3 pitch mix topped with a fastball that will get up to 94. He is not overpowering, but mixes his pitches well and tends to limit the walks and damage overall. After Medina and Requena, the Thresher’s rotation is unannounced. They will only need one more pitcher in round 1 should it go to game 3, but they will need a full rotation for the second round. The rest of the regular rotation gives Clearwater some interesting arms to choose from.
Coming down the stretch, Mauricio Llovera has put up some of the most dominant starts from the Threshers staff. Llovera has improved his offspeed pitches and control this season, and while he may end up in a bullpen, for now he may not be the most consistent member of the Threshers staff, but he is right there with Medina in likelihood of turning in a dominant start. Bailey Falter lacks the big stuff of Medina and Llovera, but he comes into the playoffs off of some good starts and he has been able to limit free passes. David Parkinson is another feel over stuff guy from the left side, and while his arsenal is not overpowering, he is the middle of the most dominant season of any pitcher in the Phillies organization, including a 1.24 ERA for the Threshers. Ramon Rosso had another breakout year, after breaking onto the scene in 2017. He doesn’t have the full arsenal of some of this teammates, but his breaking ball can be a devastating pitch, and his combination of control and deception have allowed him to dominate two level this year. He was pulled early in his last start, and his 123.1 innings represent a large jump on his career high, so his season may be over.
Bullpen:
- Trevor Bettencourt
- Grant Dyer
- JD Hammer
- Jonathan Hennigan
- Jakob Hernandez
- Addison Russ
- Alberto Tirado
If the Threshers win the FSL crown it is going to be on the back of their bullpen. All seven pitchers are running sub 3.00 ERAs over their last 10 games. Trevor Bettencourt and Addison Russ have combined to allow two earned runs in their last 27 innings combined. Bettencourt with his low 90s fastball and plus curveball can go multiple innings, and Russ will probably use his splitter to close things outs. Alberto Tirado, JD Hammer, and Grant Dyer are all not at their former glory, but are all very good when their control is there. Hennigan is a perfectly serviceable reliever who is probably the weak link. Hernandez has control problems at times, but just mows down hitters, particularly lefties. Altogether the group has enough arms to bail the rotation out for 4-5 innings a night without breaking.
Bench:
The bench for a DH available minor league is not going to typically be of much help, but one of these players will be tasked with DHing on most nights. The best hitter on the bench every night (and likely DH) will be whichever catcher does not get the start. Otherwise, Gabriel Lino is a veteran of the high minors who has just not hit at all this year. Brian Mims, Raul Rivas, and Jose Gomez give the Threshers 3 different takes on the light hitting infielder. They could move one of them to third and Luke Williams to an outfielder corner if they want to solidify the infield defense some more. Overall the bench does not project to be much of a factor.
Overview:
It is really hard to see the Threshers hitting enough to win a series. All of their big bats are in AA, and their top prospects aren’t really hitting outside of Moniak. Their pitching should be very good, but there is some variability there. Medina in Game 1 could just carry the team or he could implode. The bullpen should be able to throw up zeroes, but they are going to need the starters to limit the early damage. In the end it might all come down to whether Mickey Moniak can carry a team for two weeks.