This Week’s Schedule
- Lehigh Valley (37-44) @ Rochester (49-30)
- Reading (34-41) vs New Hampshire (38-35)
- Jersey Shore (28-46) vs Rome (35-38)
- Clearwater (44-31) vs Fort Myers (43-30)
- FCL Phillies (15-27)
- DSL Phillies (10-10)
Hitter Spotlight
6 G 6-24 2 HR 2 SB 7 BB 4 K .250/.438/.500
Coming into this week, Escobar had not had an extra base hit in nearly two weeks. The two home runs he hit this week bring him to only 6 on the season, and his .100 ISO is his lowest since 2023. In June he is also only batting .227, which this week barely helped. However, his 7 walks to 4 strikeouts fit into the other trend of the month. In April he has 13 walks and 15 strikeouts, but that ballooned to 6 walks to 26 strikeouts in May, but he has now topped his combined walk total from the first two months with 20 in June to just 10 walks. Against LHPs he has 13 walks to 10 strikeouts on the season. His swing rate is also now below where it was in 2025 with an increase in his contact rate. His contact quality is still below where it has been and his low HR/FB rate hints at maybe a little less power than previously thought. When he was at his best, Escobar walked at a high rate, at this June feels like a return back to the player he was in 2024 and early 2025.
Pitcher Spotlight
LHP Cade Obermueller
1 GS 4 IP 6 H 0 R 0 BB 8 K
There are some nits to pick with Obermueller like he isn’t using his changeup enough, his fastball velocity is inconsistent, his sweeper movement is inconsistent, and he really does need a bridge cutter. He also does have a 2.81 ERA with 6 walks and 28 strikeouts in 16 innings, so it isn’t all bad. This week featured two good learning experience innings. In the 3rd, the first two batters reached on singles before Obermueller struck out the next 3 batters, and then in the 4th the first three reached to load the bases before he struck out the side again. His last three fastballs were 94.9, 94.3, and 95.0 so he has the ability to reach back for velocity. It is still too early to push Obermueller towards the bullpen, but now that he looks to be stretched out to an actual starting role he needs to start pitching like one.
Notes and Thoughts
- Fairly quiet week for Bryan Rincon who added his 11th home run of the season. He is only hitting .232 in June, but it mostly looks BABIP related. That said, it does look like a low BABIP is going to be a feature of Rincon’s batted ball profile.
- The doubles are way down for Griffin Burkholder in June which offsets that he is now at 4 home runs for the month. Strikeouts were also up again this week.
- Alirio Ferrebus’ aggression at the plate has come back to bit him in June, and much like Burkholder we see this in the drop in doubles from 10 to 2. His strikeouts are down, and this week he did draw his walks (3 to 1 strikeout this week), so the contact abilities are still there. Overall on the week Ferrebus went 9 for 20 with his 9th home run of the season.
- Marty Gair gave up a back breaking home run on Tuesday but struck out 4 of the 6 batters he faced. This month he has a 1.04 ERA with 3 walks and 18 strikeouts in 8.2 innings and the 1 home run is the only hit he allowed.
- After not hitting for much power, Juan Parra had two doubles in a suspended game and his first professional home run this week, and it wasn’t a cheap one.
- Francisco Renteria had a pair of 2 strikeout games after I pointed out he hadn’t done that in weeks. He is on an 11 game hitting streak with now 3 home runs in 21 games. He needs to elevate the ball more and you would like to see him have a few more doubles just from his speed and driving the ball.
- After spending the start of the year hitting the ball hard, Deivis Velasquez has taken his walks with 8 of them to 4 strikeouts in 5 games this week. He has barely caught, and he really needs to catch, but one of the problems with one team is there are just not enough reps behind the plate to go around.
- After some recent stumbles, Alex McFarlane had a 6 up 6 down week with 3 strikeouts. He certainly has some warts but he really should be in AAA.
- It was a better second game with Clearwater for Matthew Fisher, but the stuff is still not popping. His sweeper has intriguing qualities, but it might be worth just waiting until next spring to see if the velocity and fastball are better.
- In the last game of the previous series Devin Saltiban hit a home run, and that seemed to set him up for success this week, bookending his week with home runs while going 6 for 15 on the week. His OPS for June is up to .791 purely on hitting for more home runs. He is getting buried by his home park still.
- The Phillies have mostly used James Tallon as a one inning reliever, and he has struggled greatly in that role. This week he pitched the last 3 innings to close out a game. It was his best appearance of his career, still walking two, but not allowing another base runner while striking out 5 thanks to 9 whiffs on his fastball.
- It was an outlier strikeout week for Juan Villavicencio with 8 in 5 games, but he still went 9 for 23. He has more walks in June than May, but has largely continued the breakout from one month of the next.
- It was a 2 home run week for Raylin Heredia who continues to convert doubles to home runs in June. He is at a career high 14, with his 8 this month matching his previous highs on their own. His strikeouts are creeping down, which is hopefully a good trend on his approach.
Injuries and Transactions
- Raider Tello (CLW), Jackson Rutledge (CLW), Ryan Degges (CLW), Liover Peguero (JS), Orlando Gonzalez (FCL), and Naoel Mejia (FCL) assigned on rehab assignment
- Adam Seminaris, Jose Briceno, Ryan Dromboski, and Jalvin Arias added to 7-day IL
- Leonardo Larez and Kehden Hettiger activated from the IL
- Tommy Pham and Scott Mudler signed to minor league contracts and assigned to FCL
Links and Things
Minor Thoughts
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