A Critical Look at the Phillies Organization and Minor League Baseball
Two-year colleges are a unique opportunity for many students in this country. Some use it to lessen the financial burden of higher education. Others, like myself, need a fresh start after giving the four-year experience a go. For baseball players, it is a chance to improve deficiencies and play in front of Major League scouts. The three … Read more
Imagine being 18 years old, getting ready to be drafted by a Major League team, having already played on national television before. That’s the life of Nick Pratto. Six years ago at the age of 12, he stepped up to the plate against the always daunting Japan Little League team in the championship game of … Read more
This past weekend, Bryce Harper once again destroyed Phillies’ pitching. Pitch selection continued to be a problem on Saturday night, as it has been throughout the nine games Harper’s faced the Phillies this season. They should not be throwing him fastballs. But Harper’s dominance stems from a much deeper issue that I mentioned in my first ever … Read more
Philadelphia is in a draft frenzy mode right now. Last weekend, the city was center stage as the hosts of NFL Draft, which was a monster success and wild party. The Eagles fared pretty well in the draft as well getting some real quality players. As the NFL draft concluded, the Flyers lucked into a … Read more
We are still over 6 months away from the Phillies needing to make decisions about who to protect in the Rule 5 draft. This list will change over the season as players fall back and others step up. However, I feel like this exercise highlights players that are reaching a critical point in their development, … Read more
On April 13th, I went to my 1st minor league game of the year. It was the home opener for the Lakewood and Sixto Sanchez’, arguably the Phillies top pitching prospect, depending on who you talk to, was on the bump. While he got zilch in run support that night in a loss, it was a … Read more
Last week I looked at hot hitting starts in the system. While the list was exciting, the number of hot pitching starts is more interesting then the list of hitters. Part of this is the depth of interesting pitching prospects in the system. But, the other part is that pitchers are dealing with smaller sample … Read more
Last night the Mets lineup in the 6th began Bruce/Walker/Duda, so LH/switch/LH. So Joely Rodriguez, as the only LHP on the active roster, was obviously the choice. But in his brief career he hasn’t been reliable at getting LH hitting. Entering last night, LH hitters: 11/30 (2 XBH), 3/6 K/BB; RH hitters: 8/33 (5 XBH), … Read more
Unless you are completely off the grid, you heard that I have taken over as the Managing Editor of Crashburn Alley. That does mean some of the bigger and deeper minor league pieces will be moving there, but I am not abandoning this place. So I am going to jump back in with my thoughts … Read more
The past few years I have done a prediction survey with people who write and talk about the Phillies and baseball in general. This year I got 31 responses to the survey, which included writers from The Good Phight, Crashburn Alley, Baseball Prospectus, Baseball America, and others (including radio broadcasters). This year I forgot to … Read more