Phillies Minor League Recap (Week 12 6/11-6/17)

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Last Week’s Schedule

*Game was part of a double header # Game was suspended

This Week’s Schedule

  • Lehigh Valley (29-38) vs Norfolk (35-34)
  • Reading (28-35) @ New Hampshire (28-35)
  • Jersey Shore (36-27) vs Brooklyn (32-31)
  • Clearwater (40-23) @ Jupiter (36-27)
  • FCL (16-11) @YAN#* @YAN, vsYAN, vsTIG, @TIG
  • DSL Phillies Red (4-5) @TEX Blue, vsTEX Red, @COL*, @COL*, vsTIG1
  • DSL Phillies White (3-6) vsTEX Red, vsARI Black, @MIN, vsNYM Orange, @MIN

#Continuation of a suspended game *Part of a double header

Hitter Spotlight

OF Carlos De La Cruz

9-26 3 HR 2 BB 4 K .346/.414/.692

It wasn’t the best week that Carlos De La Cruz has had this month, though 4 strikeouts in 29 plate appearances is pretty good for him. Over the first 9 weeks of the season he had hit .209/.296/.321 with a 10.5% BB% and a monstrous 35.5% K%. Over the last series homestand he is hitting .354/.436/.729 with 5 home runs and a 10.9% BB% and much more reasonable 21.8% K%. He had actually been showing signed of life in the previous three series, but he has now matched it with a home run barrage. It may be connected or not, but the Phillies have asked him to play much less center field of late as well. The cold start to the season, coupled with the way his stats collapsed at the end of last year had been highly concerning, but this bounce back gives some hope that he can get back on the back to AAA that he look on over last summer.

Pitcher Spotlight

RHP Jean Cabrera

6.1 IP 3 H 4 R 3 ER 1 BB 14 K

Teammate Samuel Aldegheri won SAL pitcher of the week because his outing was scoreless and a reliever gave up all of Cabrera’s runs left on base (plus two allowed earlier on some poor defense, some of it Cabrera’s). Cabrera’s 14 strikeouts were tied for the second most by a BlueClaws pitcher, and Cabrera just cruised in control for most of the game. He got all 14 strikeouts on offspeed pitches, using his fastball at 94-96 to get strikes and set up his slider and changeup. The changeup was the truly devastating weapon, disappearing under the bats of righties and fading away from lefties. He used his sweeping slider like a curveball to steal strikes on the outside of the zone to lefties, but then also using it glove side to break in on the feet of lefties and away from righties. One of the biggest knocks I had on Cabrera in the offseason was that he was very boring and predictable with his pitch usage, throwing to obvious places in obvious counts with obvious pitches. His slider isn’t the sharpest or nastiest pitch, but he is now throwing to multiple spots in the zone, and playing it off the sinker and the changeup. His changeup is a devastating pitch that he sells the arm speed on really well. He isn’t a front line starter, but Cabrera is really cementing himself as a starting pitching prospect, and one that will be of interest to the Phillies and other teams.

Notes and Thoughts

  • A 4-12 2 2B week with 4 walks to 1 strikeout qualifies as a cold streak for Allirio Ferrebus who is now down to .435/.531/1.000 with 7 walks to that 1 strikeout. It is fun to see a guy dominate a league he should dominate.
  • Keaton Anthony is getting the ball in the air more, and after two home runs last week, he has two this week, to give him 4 on the year. He has a .389 ISO in June after a .069 ISO over the first two months. On the season, he has walked more than he has struck out and is hitting .326/.454/.478 despite the lack of power.
  • Estibenzon Jimenez moved to the bullpen this week and had one good appearance and one horrible appearance. He has struggled for much of the year, so this could be mixing things up or an actual role change.
  • I could just copy the Max Lazar report forward every week. He faced 8 batters in two innings, gave up two singles and struck out 3. Since giving up two runs on 5/8 in his AAA debut he has now gone 11 games, 13 innings, with 4 hits, 3 walks, and 15 strikeouts.
  • It has been a struggle making contract in Clearwater for Raylin Heredia who has 34 strikeouts in May and 10 in the first 6 games of June. This week he had 3 walks to 4 strikeouts and 4 extra base hits. There is talent, but he is certainly struggling to find any consistency.
  • Otto Kemp has the type of hitting that could take well to Reading. He struck out a slightly uncharacteristic 7 times, but had 2 doubles and 2 home runs while reaching base in all 6 games.
  • William Bergolla kept hot, hitting .500/.571/.750 on the week with 4 walks and 0 strikeouts (he played in all 6 games, including both sides of the double header). He is hitting .455/.519/.682 in 14 May games.
  • It was a bad start to the week for Aidan Miller, but he turned it around nicely. His triple and home run were on beautiful swings.
  • The FCL Phillies only successfully completed 3 games this week, but Eduardo Tait continues to heat up. H had a double vs the Tigers in one game and a home run in the other. He picked up 4 walks to 1 strikeout on the week and I think we can retire the “since his 1-14 start” as he is now hitting .268/.353/.443 on the season.
  • Orlando Gonzalez was a 21 year old who looked too polished for the DSL this spring training and in his first appearance there. He was promoted to the FCL last Monday and came out of the bullpen with a 5 inning appearance that saw him face the minimum (and give up 1 hit) while striking out 6. He is a polished looking pitcher with a low 90s fastball, a changeup, and a slider.
  • Another week with a new addition having a big introduction to the org. This week it was Buddy Kennedy going 7 for 17, but with a hit in all 5 games he played, 3 doubles, a home run, 6 RBI, and 6 walks.
  • After two weeks of 5 innings, 4 runs, 1 walk, and 10 strikeouts, Samuel Aldegheri had a clean game with 2 hits, no runs, 2 walks, and 9 strikeouts. He is probably too good for the level, and is close to being the prospect most likely to be traded at this deadline.
  • It wasn’t entirely surprising that at a new level and with his start pushed a day by rain, George Klassen would struggle a bit. We was the same 96-98 with his fastball. He sailed some pitches up and arm side. The two earned runs on his line game from the two batters he let on to start the 5th, that both came around to score.
  • Justin Crawford has a multi hit game in 8 of his last 9. This week he cut down on the strikeouts (just 2 to go with 2 walks), but no extra base hits. He has the speed to feast on poor fielders (Bergolla’s triple was really a single and error, so he isn’t the only one), but his 60% ground ball rate and .373 BABIP is full of things that aren’t going to keep repeating.
  • Second straight start missing bats for Tyler Phillips who has gone 7 innings the last two times out with 2 walks and 16 strikeouts. He has a 5.06 ERA on the year, but he now gone at least 7 innings in 6 of his 13 starts, which is impressive at any level in 2023.
  • Mick Abel gave up 5 home runs in 5 innings, for 7 earned runs. The ball was flying out and none were particularly crushed, but that is damning with faint praise. He did not see another increase in velocity this week, but they seemed to scrap the sinker and his control was better (only 1 walk). It is still a real mess.
  • There were a couple of DSL bullpen meltdowns, and that is really just part of the territory.

Injuries and Transactions

Links and Things

Minor Thoughts

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