This Week’s Schedule
- Lehigh Valley (41-46) vs Columbus (48-38)
- Reading (37-44) @ Somerset (42-39)
- Jersey Shore (28-51) @ Frederick (49-29)
- Clearwater (48-33) @ Tampa (46-35)
- FCL Phillies (18-29)
- DSL Phillies (15-10)
Hitter Spotlight
C/2B/3B/SS/CF/LF/RP Jose Tovar
5 G 7-18 2 2B 7 R 3 RBI 2 BB 5 K 5 SB .389/.476/.500
Not every prospect is a mega prospect, sometimes they are just utterly fascinating. This week Jose Tovar started two games at third, one each at second, short, and center, and caught all 12 innings of Saturday’s game. Listed as a catcher, it was Tovar’s first start behind the plate all year. He isn’t a big guy, and he hasn’t hit the ball particularly hard, nor does he really project to do so in the future. It is rare you see a player be intentionally moved around the diamond at such a young age, especially when catcher is involved. Also he came in to pitch in a mop up situation and was 86-89 off the mound, so what is not to like?
Pitcher Spotlight
RHP Matthew Fisher
1 GS 4 IP 2 H 1 ER 2 BB 5 K
Fisher made his 3rd start for the Threshers and matched his season high with 5 strikeouts. His fastball mostly sat 91, but with some interesting things with shape. His primary 4-seamer looks like a cutter, and then he nominally has a sinker that is more 4-seam shape. He was throwing a changeup at 89-90 that was labeled a sinker, but spin rate is a changeup. Statcast struggled to separate cutter and slider, with the slider more of a frisbee sweeper that drops less than some of his fastballs. He ended up with 14 whiffs, many of them on things labeled sliders. He is pointing the zone with his fastball, which is good for control, but it doesn’t look like a good enough fastball to not get crushed. As we continue to get looks at Fisher, the more positive and negative attributes show up.
Notes and Thoughts
- Injuries have forced Paul McIntosh into move playing time, and he stepped up this week with home runs in back to back games. He is quietly hitting .267/.345/.459 over 44 games for the IronPigs.
- It was 6 walks to 3 strikeouts this week for Bryan Rincon, who chipped in his pretty usual home run and double. His batting average continues to be unimpressive, but his .392 OBP is very good.
- Griffin Burkholder hit .219 in June, so it was nice to see him go 6-14 this week with a double and a home run to go with 4 walks and 4 strikeouts.
- It is becoming automatic for Marty Gair who struck out 5 of the 7 batters he faced this week.
- Wilmer Blanco has moved fully to the bullpen this season and his stuff continues to slow tick up. He was up to 97 this week as he faced the minimum over his 3 innings of work.
- It was 2 home runs and 2 doubles for Raylin Heredia this week, but also 1 walk and 6 strikeouts. He isn’t even showing better approach numbers against LHPs.
- It has a been a terrible season for Kehden Hettiger, but two doubles and two home runs this week while going 6 for 15 was a nice bright spot.
- Home runs continue to be a problem for Gage Wood who allowed his 5th and 6th in 7 AA starts. On the other side, after not finishing 4 innings his last three times out, Wood finished 5 innings for the first time as a pro, and did it on 70 pitches.
- It wasn’t a clean week for Alex McFarlane, but he went 1.2 and 2.0 innings in his outings which indicates they are maybe looking at him over multiple innings and not one inning high leverage as his short term role.
- It was a 5 XBH week for Nathan Humphreys, where he also had 4 walks to 1 strikeout. He is hitting .261/.384/.493 on the season despite a .604 OPS vs LHPs.
- Naoel Mejia hurt his arm at the end of extended spring training in 2025, and missed all official games. He has now made 4 rehab appearances in the FCL and the big right handed reliever is already back to 96-98.
- It is probably good not to overanalyze Francisco Renteria’s season week to week. He is walking as much as he is striking out and you wish he would drive the ball in the air more, and he still have a OPS over .900 for the week.
- It hasn’t been as BABIP friendly a week for Juan Parra, but he hit his second home run of the season, and walked 7 times to 2 strikeouts, which brings him to 22 and 19 on the season with a .435 OBP.
- Brad Pacheco broke out a new changeup this week, but it was also just a good start this week – 5 IP 1 H 1 R 0 ER 1 BB 7 K. He is firmly over his career high in innings pitched and has only shown a slight slip in velocity.
- It has really just been one bad inning for Ramon Marquez with the BlueClaws, who just got right back to business with 5 innings of one run ball on 65 pitches with 1 walk and 9 strikeouts. He is now universally a top 5 prospect in the system and second best pitcher.
- For the season, Dayber Cruceta is hitting worse than 2025 with his batting average way down, but all of his other metrics in line. This week he hit his first home run of the season, and it was a big one in the 12 inning win. You can still see the outlines of a good player if he can get stronger.
- A lot of the press of signings has gone to the pair of Asian pitcher signings, but the Phillies signed Cuban RHP Cristian Rego for $300,000 in April. It has been a struggle at times this spring for the 6’3″ 17 y/o, but he had his best start of his career this week (3 IP 4 H 1 ER 0 BB 5 K) and has 3 walks to 17 strikeouts on the season despite a 7.50 ERA. He was also up to 96 mph in his appearance this week.
- Yilmar Samudio has been brutal since his first start, and came out of the bullpen on Saturday. His first inning was cleaner, but he started to have command problems in the second. He is still almost entirely fastball, sitting 93 to 97.
- Camron Hill has been fairly quiet with the BlueClaws, but had two clean outings this week and is starting to throw strikes and get outs again. He is still holding opposing batters toa .124/.295/.281 line for the season.
Injuries and Transactions
Links and Things
- Gabriel Azocar (CLW), Giussepe Velasquez (JS), Raider Tello (REA), Gabriel Flores (REA), Gabriel Barbosa (REA), and Tommy Pham (LHV) assigned to new levels.
- Hua Ho and Payton Henry signed to minor league contracts.
- Rene Pinto released
- Carter Kieboom, Jonathan Alcantara, and Erick Brito added to 7-day IL
- Andrew Bechtold, Adam Seminaris, and Rey Cruz activated from IL
- Jalvin Arias transferred to 60-day IL
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