This Week’s Schedule
- Lehigh Valley (43-20) vs Worcester (34-28)
- Reading (20-35) vs New Hampshire (26-31)
- Jersey Shore (21-35) vs Aberdeen (22-35)
- Clearwater (31-26) @ Tampa (31-25)
- FCL Phillies (8-19)
- DSL Phillies White (3-3)
- DSL Phillies Red (3-2)
Hitter Spotlight
12 G 48 PA 16-46 5 2B 2 HR 2 BB 7 K .348/.375/.587
This is really a celebration of a strong month for Anthony who has hit .368/.417/.604 since the start of May. He is a bit of an odd first baseman with just 4 home runs in 48 games this year, but he now has 21 doubles on the season as he continues to pepper the gaps. He is running a high BABIP of .400 on the year after running a .378 BABIP in 2024, but with a comical 33.1% line drive rate, it isn’t entirely a fluke that balls are falling for hits. The walks have decreased and the strikeouts have ticked up in AA, and he is going to need probably get the BB% up around 10% to maintain this lower power output. Anthony has strangely hit all 4 of his home runs on the road, but his otherwise equally as good at and a way from Reading’s hitter friendly field. Anthony is a good defensive first baseman, and it is kind of interesting the Phillies have not given him any time in an outfield corner because he is blocked with the big league club. It would not be surprising if his name comes up around the trade the deadline.
Pitcher Spotlight
RHP Brad Pacheco
2 GS 11 IP 6 H 5 R 5 ER 4 BB 12 K
Both of Pacheco’s starts came against the FCL Blue Jays, and in his first inning he gave up 5 runs on 3 hits, 2 walks, and a hit by pitch. After that he shut the Blue Jays down for 3 scoreless innings before then throwing a 7 inning complete game shutout in his second appearance against them. In other words that is 1 inning of terrible and then 10 IP 3 H 0 R 2 BB 11 K of work. Overall it has not be a strong start to the season for Pacheco as his season ERA is still at 9.58. It is easy to forget that he has barely pitched, and his stuff and consistency definitely shows the lack of work. His fastball is mostly 92 to 95, mostly a four seamer that at its best will show ride and cut, but he will also mix in a sinker. There is real inconsistency in the shape, and while he can miss bats up he doesn’t always hit that spot. He has trouble at times locating and controlling his big breaking curveball, and he will throw some uncompetitive pitches with it. His changeup is a definite work in progress, showing poor command and shape as he learns to get a feel for it. His last start recemented him as the best pitching prospect in the complex, but it would be good if he could string together a couple of good appearances back to back.
Notes and Thoughts
- The Phillies are force feeding development for Andrew Painter, putting him in difficult and challenging situations and so far is has been a mixed bad. He walked 4 and only made it 4 innings in his last appearance, as they made him use some non-ideal pitch mixing. This week he will get two starts with just 4 days rest in between them. It will be a big challenge, as Painter has shown slightly decreased velocity over his starts and really needs to build up the stamina expected of a major league starter. At some point he is going to get to just pitch, but for now it is a crash course in getting him ready.
- Aidan Miller is gradually starting to come around. The strikeout numbers were not great overall in May (29.3%) and he has not hitting away from Reading, however he hit .284/.364/.432 in May and while only hitting .244 over the last two weeks, 8 walks in 53 PAs to only 12 strikeouts is a good sign. It is still incredible he has only had 27 PAs vs LHPs this year.
- A quad injury sidelined Justin Crawford for part of last week. He is walking more, striking out less, and went 14-29 over the two series. The ground ball rate is up to 63.6% and he has one extra base hit in his last 9 games.
- It wasn’t like Otto Kemp hit the cover off the ball (.273/.366/.545 which are poor numbers for him) prior to his promotion, but the call up is well deserved given the Phillies needs.
- Gabriel Rincones Jr. is still having a bizarre run of time. He ended May with more walks (24) than strikeouts (23) and over the last two weeks he came to the plate 46 times and had a walk or strikeout in 22 of those appearances.
- There won’t be many more updates on Mick Abel in these columns, but he got the job done in his AAA appearance and then battled with diminished stuff in his MLB appearance. The fact that the Phillies decided to move Walker to the pen and trust Abel in the rotation is a big win for his development.
- Just 3 appearances in the last two weeks for Seth Johnson due to a call up and some time sitting unused in the bullpen. He was up to 99 in his appearance before the callup and in the majors, but back at 98 in his return to AAA on Sunday. I would like to see the Phillies actually give him some MLB run to work through things.
- The power numbers tailed off for Eduardo Tait in May, but he hit .281 and probably the most surprising is that over the last two weeks he has 10 walks to just 6 strikeouts in 53 PAs. If he is starting to get his plate discipline under control, things could really take off.
- Aroon Escobar has also cooled up, but that means hit .308/.386/.462 in this stretch. He is still not striking out much, and is doing everything else you really want out of him.
- A 4 hit day ended this stretch for Dante Nori who hit .218 in May despite putting the ball in pay a bunch. He has shown more power and aggression at the plate and on the bases, but is still only sporting a .279 BABIP despite a 25.7% line drive rate and only 45.5% ground ball rate, partially because he has a lot of week fly balls on resume.
- Just when it looked like Griffin Burkholder was starting to put it together (he had a 3-4 HR 2 2B BB K game) he landed back on the IL. He first needs to be able to stay on the field, but he has a concerning amount of swing and miss vs offspeed pitches.
- Jean Cabrera did give up 5 runs in his first start of this stretch, but only 2 were earned. It has been a real one step forward, one step back season for Cabrera overall. However, last three starts he has walked 3 total batters after battling his control for much of the year. He had 13 strikeouts in 11.1 innings in these two weeks. He is interestingly struggling vs lefties and holding righties down, which is a reversal of his past history.
- Alirio Ferrebus earned himself a promotion after hitting .364/.432/.545 over the last two weeks. He still needs to get the ball in the air more, but he is too good a hitter for the FCL.
- Speaking of promotions, Carson DeMartini got himself away from Jersey Shore for 2 weeks and had 3 doubles and 5 home runs in 11 games. His strikeout rate continues to be high (30% in May), but he hasn’t shown a huge problem with lefties which is encouraging.
- It wasn’t reported, but Kehden Hettiger gave up switch hitting and had 3 home runs over the past two weeks to quietly give him 6 on the year. He walked 14 times to 15 strikeouts in May, and overall looks like a much different hitter.
- Having just 3 walks in 25 games isn’t great, but Manolfi Jimenez has absolute scorched the ball of late. He has a couple of cold stretches, but over the last two weeks he is hitting .457/.474/.943 with 7 doubles, 2 triples, and 2 home runs. He has now had an extra base hit in 6 straight games. He is a bit on the older side (20) for the complex, but this has been a very exciting run.
- It isn’t bad for your top pitcher signing in your international class to go out and throw 4 scoreless innings like Geremy Villoria did. No walks and 5 strikeouts was another good sign for the 16 year old righty.
- The Phillies signed 19 year old Ramon Marquez this offseason and then pushed him directly to the FCL from DSL spring training. He has a 3.86 ERA in 4 games (3 starts) and 3 walks to 5 strikeouts. I don’t have stateside data on him, but he was up to 94 with a three pitch mix about a month ago in the Dominican complex.
- In May, Avery Owusu-Asiedu hit .288/.410/.485 with a 14.3% BB% and 20.2% K%. He had a two home run night against Dunedin at home and then hit another home run this week against Bradenton. Another month of low strikeout numbers and he will be on the map again.
- The good times are definitely over for Alex McFarlane who struck out just two batters in his last two starts after striking out 0 in his previous game. What looked like a breakout now looks like the wheels are coming off.
- Saul Teran got bumped to Jersey Shore last week, a fitting promotion for the righty who ended May with 1 walk and 16 strikeouts in 11 innings of work for the Threshers.
Injuries and Transactions
- Guillermo Rosario (FCL), Alirio Ferrebus (CLW), Yhoan Escalona (CLW), Carson DeMartini (REA), Cole Roberts (JS), Luis Verdugo (REA), Josh Breaux (LHV), Otto Kemp (PHI), Cam Brown (FCL), Maxwell Hernandez (CLW), Reese Dutton (JS), Erik Ritchie (CLW), Juan Amarante (CLW), Jake Eddington (JS), Saul Teran (JS), Josh Hejka (REA), and Trent Farquhar (JS) all assigned to new levels.
- Christian Arroyo, Luke Gabrysh, Griffin Burkholder, Trent Farquhar, Aaron Combs, Luke Russo, Eiberson Castellano, and Ethan Chenault all added to 7 day IL
- Freiderman Aguilera, Marcus Morgan, Esterling Rodriguez, Geremi Delpino, and Micah Ottenbreit all added to 60 day IL
- Kleyderve Andrade, Kyler Carmack, Tegan Cain, and Wen-Hui Pan all added to full season IL
- RHP Josias Utrera, RHP Yordy Magdariaga, and RHP Luis Quintero signed to contracts and assigned to DSL
- Caleb Ricketts, TJayy Walton, Griff McGarry, and Daniel Harper started rehab assignments
- Matt Kroon and Nabil Crismatt were activated from the IL
- Ryan Cusick claimed on waivers and assigned to FCL
- Jose Rodriguez returned from ineligible list, non-tendered, signed to a contract, and assigned to Clearwater
Links and Things
Videos and Posts
A year or two ago, it seems like it would have been crazy to see Abel pitch in the majors before Painter. Great stuff!
Pacheco looks like Brett Myers IMO
– DeMartini showing power but have you noticed he roles his right ankle on swings. I have seen it on multiple videos. https://www.milb.com/video/carson-demartini-s-two-homer-game?t=playerid-701831
– Tait & Escobar look ultra talented but both don’t look in optimal shape. Imagine if those two lost some weight and really took conditioning serious. They are monsters at plate. I heard Law say he is not sure Tait is everyday catcher – doesn’t know if that body can hold up at that position.
– Burkholder can’t catch a break. Injury again and was showing just mild progression. This was player many scouts thought Phillies hit on after making questionable selection of Dante Nori in last year draft.