Phillies Minor League Recap (Week 16 7/9-7/15)

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Last Week’s Schedule

*Part of double header

This Week’s Schedule

  • Lehigh Valley (46-45) vs Worcester (44-48)
  • Reading (37-49) @ Portland (46-39)
  • Jersey Shore (49-38) @ Brooklyn (40-47)
  • Clearwater (50-37) vs Fort Meyers (43-41)
  • FCL Phillies (28-23)
  • DSL Phillies Red (9-20)
  • DSL Phillies White (12-17)

All full season teams are playing 3 game series Friday-Sunday

Hitter Spotlight

SS Aidan Miller

2-4 2 RBI – Jersey Shore / 0-1 RBI K – Futures Game

It is a bit of an out to feature Miller this week when he played in one game of the series (after missing a week to a minor injury) and then the Futures Game. Miller didn’t have a great Futures Game. He struck out and then got hit with a pitch with the bases loaded in his second plate appearance. In the field he flubbed a ball, but then turned a double play on the next ball. He didn’t put on a notable show in batting practice either. It can be easy to forget that this is first pro season and he is struggling in hi-A in just 21 games there. His walk and strikeout rates are a bit worse than Threshers, and his contact quality is somewhat worse too. He also has a .224 BABIP and it has been a long season for a first year player. With the mid season list, Miller is ascending into one of the better prospects in the game, and if he can take advantage of the rest he has a chance to break out even more in the second half.

Pitcher Spotlight

RHP Braydon Tucker

6 IP 0 H 0 R 0 BB 6 K 4 HBP

Pay no attention to the hit by pitches. This was also in relief, but of a starting length, so lets paper over that too. Tucker was a non drafted free agent signee by the Phillies last year, started in the bullpen, and then moved into the rotation and is now headed up to the BlueClaws. On the year he is now at a 2.94 ERA in 64.1 innings with just 13 walks and 62 strikeouts. None of his batted ball data stands out, other than suppressing home runs, but he has not been hit around either.

He sits mostly 89-92 and can get up to 94, and he mixes a 4-seam fastball, sinker, changeup, and slider. Unsurprisingly the fastballs, are not great pitches. He gets some decent horizonal break on the sinker, but it generate very few swings and misses. He gets a few more whiffs on the 4-seamer fastball, which is good because it lives in the zone. His changeup his is primary chase pitch, but it doesn’t generate a bunch of swings and misses. His sweeping slider has good shape, but doesn’t get chases and whiffs out of the zone, but weirdly is in the zone a bunch where batters struggle to make contact. None of it really adds up to the results and there is a chance this run of success ends when he reaches the high minors, but for now a good start by a good story.

Notes and Thoughts

  • Eduardo Tait had 20 plate appearances this week and put the ball in play 17 times (1 strikeout and 2 hit by pitches) and had 7 hits with two doubles and home run. He his now hitting .321/.383/.518 on the season and hitting .500 in July.
  • It is a weird year for Devin Saltiban, who has shown pieces, but not put it all together. He went 4 for 17 this week, but two home run and a double, and is now at 11 home runs on the season and has shown some good power to the pull side.
  • A bounce back start from George Klassen who allowed a leadoff home run and then ended up with 4 innings with 1 other hit, a hit by pitch, and 5 strikeouts. He did it on 59 pitches, which was better efficiency than his last few starts.
  • Justin Crawford went to the Futures Game as well and then will be on to Reading. He only played two games this week and had a 3 hit game and a 2 walk game. He is going to be tested in Reading against better pitching, but Reading is a good place for power and it might be a good place to see the results of elevating the ball more.
  • Lachlan Wells went 7 scoreless innings this week. He hasn’t been dominant, but he has been really solid with a 3.84 ERA and excellent command with 10 walks in 84.1 innings to go with 66 strikeouts.
  • Eiberson Castellano will be joining Cabrera and Aldegheri in Reading and posted another 10 strikeout game. He still is probably a reliever, but he has really had a good year and there is a chance that he could be a guy that another team looks at as a secondary or tertiary piece in a trade.
  • Griff McGarry went on a rehab assignment to Jersey Shore and got all three batters he faced, including 2 strikeouts. TV broadcast mentioned a 95 and 96 and his cutter looked sharp, but his command wasn’t particularly sharp.
  • After some steps forward, things just imploded for Mick Abel again as he walked 7 in 3.2 innings.
  • Jean Cabrera (5 IP 4 H 3 ER 4 BB 3 K) and Samuel Aldegheri has mixed results in their AA debuts
  • Second straight poor start for Mavis Graves. His June pace was unsustainable, but an immediate stumble isn’t ideal. He was very fastball heavy (over 57%) and they are clearly his worse pitches. The usage indicates some direction for the development team because his cutter and sweeper are just too dominant for batters at this level.
  • It has been a really rough July for Jordan Viars who went 3 for 16 on the week and has 0 walks to 15 strikeouts in the month. He has been hit 5 times this month, adding some injury to insult as well.
  • Diego Gonzalez has been good filling in since Aidan Miller was promoted. It hasn’t been dominant this month or this week, but he hit two home runs this week after none and just 7 doubles up to this point.

Injuries and Transactions

  • Trent Farquhar, Griff McGarry, Alex Garbrick, Simon Muzziotti, and Michael Rucker all started rehab assignments
  • Ruben Cardenas was released to sign in Korea
  • Justin Crawford, Andrew Walling, Eiberson Castellano, Erick Brito, and Leandro Pineda were promoted to Reading. There are more promotions expected.
  • Matt Russell, Baron Radcliff, Efrain Contreras, Jose Godoy, Esteban Quiroz, and Leonardo Rondon were released.
  • William Bergolla returned from the IL
  • Freddy Tarnok, Andrick Nava, and Kleyderve Andrade were added to the IL

Links and Things

Minor Thoughts

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