On a rainy day in baseball and with everyone at All-Star Games only Lakewood played among the Phillies stateside affiliates. It was a busy day for the Blueclaws as well as their roster reshuffled both days. Here are some highlights from the field and the transaction sheet.
Imhof Promoted:
The Phillies promoted 2nd round pick Matt Imhof to Lakewood to pitch on Saturday. In 3 New York Penn League starts Imhof went 12 innings with 4 walks, 11 strikeouts, and a 0.75 ERA. Imhof’s fastball has been down a bit in pro-ball sitting more 89-91, but he has shown good deception and movement on the pitch. The Phillies are likely to limit his innings the rest of the year, and he is likely to start 2015 in the Threshers rotation.
Lakewood will go with a six-man rotation. Prodinski will pitch today. Rios tomorrow. Casimiro Friday. Imhof Saturday. Viza Sunday. More.
— Steven Falk (@smfalk) July 16, 2014
Mecias made his first non-rehab start of the year going 5 innings and allowing 2 hits, 0 runs, while walking 3, hitting 1, and striking out 7. It was a solid debut for the lanky lefty.
Mecias at 87-91 T92 with life. Solid change 79-82, playable SL 77-81 and CB 75-77. A bit of a slinger.
— Nathaniel Stoltz (@stoltzs_words) July 16, 2014
It came up later that the changeup is still showing signs of rust and looked more like a fringe average pitch (Chris King had it flashing its old brilliance in some of the GCL rehab assignments). Overall Mecias’s return from injury is a huge boost to the Phillies system. He could finish the season as their 3rd best pitching prospect and be set up nicely for a breakout year in Clearwater in 2015.
Dylan Cozens:
Last night Cozens hit his 12th and 13th HR on the year, bringing his season line to .246/.302/.424 with 13 HRs and 16 SBs. The counting stats have looked pretty good, and he has had some great ABs this year (hit a HR to straight CF in Lakewood off of Lucas Giolito). However on the year Cozens is sporting a 24.74% K% and paltry 6.6% BB%. There is some length to Cozen’s swing that will always cause some miss, but he is going to need to learn how to control his spots. From Jeff Moore’s MiLB Update this morning
He’s at his best when he stays up the middle and drives the ball to the gaps. When he gets pull-happy, his bat leaves the strike zone too much, and he loses power because he generates too much topspin. There are some pitch recognition issues that may never get worked out and he’s aggressive, a combination that leads to a ton of bad contact, strikeouts, and a low batting average.
Cozens is a large man and the future projection is lacking and there are questions about his long term home. These questions will keep him lower on prospects lists in a much improved Phillies system, but his power makes him an interesting guy in the system.
Dan Child:
Dan Child was my sleeper this year as a fast moving reliever for the Phillies, and when he started in Clearwater I thought he could move very quickly and end the year in AA or AAA. However, things went poorly for Child as he posted a 5.70 ERA in 36.1 IP while walking 17 and only striking out 24. He was demoted to Lakewood yesterday and made his debut last night, giving up a hit and striking out 2 over 2 innings. His stuff looked solid
Dan Child throws an inning of all fastballs, 92-94 T95. Big kid, flashed an interesting SL in warmups.
— Nathaniel Stoltz (@stoltzs_words) July 16, 2014
and his numbers backed that up. There was some inconsistency at Oregon State for him, but if he can put it all together again he could rerocket back up the system as a future reliever.
Carlos Tocci:
For those that have followed me for a while, you know of my fondness for centerfielder Carlos Tocci. Tocci this year has had his set of struggles as his .252/.302/.326 batting line shows, but is a large improvement over .209/.261/.249 a year ago. Here are his number by month
| Month | AB | XBH | BB | K | BA | OBP | SLG |
| April | 94 | 5 | 2 | 25 | 0.277 | 0.303 | 0.351 |
| May | 98 | 2 | 7 | 18 | 0.184 | 0.257 | 0.214 |
| June | 94 | 6 | 3 | 17 | 0.245 | 0.304 | 0.319 |
| July | 55 | 7 | 3 | 8 | 0.345 | 0.379 | 0.491 |
With the exception of a down June he is seeing his strikeout rates drop each month and his power is showing up more. His walk rate of 3.94% is still low, and his OBP is getting boosted by 10 HBPs, but overall Tocci is starting to grow up. He has shown enough this year that he should move on to Clearwater next year.
UPDATE: Carlos Tocci hit his first career home run today!
Matt, what are your projections for Imhof? Does he show any plus pitch potential?
His fastball is currently 89-91 but it shows great deception and life so if that ticks up a little bit, it is a true plus pitch. Some scouts really like the breaking ball or changeup, but there are mixed opinions on the future potential of either, I haven’t seen Imhof in person so it is hard for me to give more than that
I saw Child pitch in Clearwater a few weeks ago, in relief of Nola. He is a hard thrower. Looked good when I saw him, so I was a little surprised when I looked him up in their book and realized how bad his stat line was.