Last Week’s Schedule
Lehigh Valley vs Worcester: W 7-4, L 2-5, L 2-6
This Week’s Schedule
Lehigh Valley (1-2) @ Rochester (2-1)
Reading (0-0) @ Bowie (0-0)
Jersey Shore (0-0) vs Aberdeen (0-0)
Clearwater (0-0) @ Bradenton (0-0)
*All teams except for Lehigh Valley play a 3 game series starting on Friday 4/5
Hitter Spotlight
IF/OF Kody Clemens
Clemens was the only Pig with 4 hits over the weekend, and had a home run for good measure. In AAA he has consistent hit the ball hard and for a good batted ball spread. He played 2B and DH over the weekend, and it will be tough to read where the Phillies view him strongest, but their positional flexibility means that he is the top left handed hitter call up as well as the primary injury call up.
Pitcher Spotlight
RHP Tyler Phillips
Phillips took the ball in Game 1, giving up just one run and 1 hit in 6 innings. His fastball was mostly 93-94, peaking at 95, and holding throughout his start. Phillips walked 3 and struck out 6 over his 6 innings, but the strike out number is slightly deceptive. Despite the 6 strikeouts, Phillips only had 3 swing and misses all night. It is much more sustainable for a pitcher to miss bats, and so while it is a positive marker for his command and deception that Phillips was able to get a large number of called strikes (Friday-Sunday is ump called with challenged, so not ABS aided), the lack of swings and misses has been a continuing concerning trend. The velocity uptick is a positive carryover from spring as many of his teammates struggled in the cold.
Notes and Thoughts
- Heroics are always fun, Opening Night heroics are the best. The IronPigs entered the bottom of the 9th down 4-0 and then proceeded to go walk, single, single, single, single, walk, walk, home run. Rodolfo Castro’s grand slam only scoring 3 as a base runner ran to celebrate, but what an opening night
- Matt Kroon had the hardest hit ball of the weekend at 111mph. It will come back to whether he can elevate more.
- Michael Mercado’s stuff was a bit more tame up north and in two innings, sitting 94-96 in across both his innings and working up to 35 pitches. Getting length becomes more immediately important given Luis Ortiz’s injury.
- Orion Kerkering is getting back to doing Orion Kerkering things, and it is good to see the sinker usage continue.
- Griff McGarry didn’t walk anyone and sat 94-95, but it did take him 23 pitches to get through the inning while allowing a run and getting 0 swings and misses. It is going to be a process.
- Much like the big league club, velocity was down for most pitchers and conditions looked miserable for some of the game.
Links and Things
Minor Thoughts
Around the Web
Videos and Tweets
Matt, really like this new setup. Looking forward to the season and more of your commentary.