A Critical Look at the Phillies Organization and Minor League Baseball
I have resisted writing about the draft because I honestly can’t get a good grasp on it. With the lack of a transcendent player at the top we are left with a bunch of players being maligned for not being transcendent players. For me Corey Ray, Kyle Lewis, Mickey Moniak, A.J. Puk, and Jason Groome are … Read more
Cesar Hernandez showed signs last year that he could at least be a quality MLB player. He did a solid job of getting on base out of the leadoff spot and working counts. This year, however, he has shown to be anything but a quality MLB player. He has a .248/.301/.301 slashline at the moment … Read more
Today Ben Lively was promoted to AAA to replace the injured Mark Appel. There is a lot of buzz around Ben Lively this year, a 1.87 ERA in AA will do that. Lively also has some name recognition. He was the sole return for Marlon Byrd and was a borderline Top 10 prospect coming into … Read more
With the first overall pick, the Phillies have all the options they want in terms of whom they select. Most mock drafts have them selecting a pitcher, and there are three who are the big dogs in the draft: lefties Jason Groome and A.J. Puk and righty Riley Pint. Groome is the top lefty coming out … Read more
I realize that I have not been writing as much here as I have been writing over at The Good Phight. I am not going to say I will be writing here more, I have a finite amount of time, but I will be still writing here. Also I am excited that we have a … Read more
J.P. Crawford is going from Reading to Lehigh Valley in what is his final tuneup on his way to the majors. Think of the IronPigs as finishing school for the talented shortstop, as I don’t expect him to spend as much time there as Maikel Franco and Nick Williams will ultimately spend there. Crawford’s approach … Read more
In an effort to get through as much as I can this week, not a lot of long answers and not a long intro. @comedicCPA – What can JP Crawford do to add power? change in approach? Can he do it while also keeping a .400ish OBP? The raw strength is there for Crawford, I saw … Read more
We are two months from the 4 year anniversary of the Phillies sending Hunter Pence to San Francisco for Seth Rosin, Nate Schierholtz, and Tommy Joseph. Joseph was the real prize of the deal, a former 2009 2nd round pick who was in AA blocked behind Buster Posey. In the Phillies system he would take … Read more
While we knew Jose Pujols had plenty of power while he was in short-season ball, he struggled to show it in game. While he flashed it, the keyword there is flash. However, he is starting to show more power in his start at Class-A Lakewood. Considering he spent three seasons in short-season ball, it only made sense … Read more
Much has been made of the Phillies’ record in 1 run games. The 11-3 mark has been pointed to as a mark for why the Phillies are sure to regress. But what if this is not a fluke, because 1 run games are an inherently narrow construct that fails to account for the circumstances that … Read more