This Week’s Schedule
- Lehigh Valley (45-51) @ Indianapolis (45-51)
- Reading (43-47) @ Harrisburg (45-43)
- Jersey Shore (31-57) vs Brooklyn (37-51)
- Clearwater (52-37) vs Daytona (35-53)
- FCL Phillies (20-36)
- DSL Phillies (21-14)
Pitcher Spotlight
RHP Gabriel Barbosa
Barbosa announced via his Instagram this week that he was diagnosed with colon cancer and had begun treatment. I wish the best for Gabriel and his family, and positive thoughts towards his treatment and hopeful recovery.
Hitter Spotlight
2 G 4-5 1 3B 3 HR 5 RBI 2 SB 5 BB 0 K .800/.900/3.000
It was a short week for the whole minor leagues, and it was only 2 games for the Threshers, but Villavicencio made the most of it raising his OPS 71 points to take the lead among Florida State League qualified batters. He is older for the level, but due to missed time he only had 28 games of full season ball before this year. It isn’t just the top line stats, Rob Orr’s numbers have him as 92nd percentile for the league in zone contact with a league average chase rate, but 70th percentile 90thEV to go with above average damage and approach stats. He has struggled against higher velocity, which has been his only real weakness. He will be Rule 5 eligible after this season which makes him an interesting trade candidate.
Notes and Thoughts
- Francisco Renteria, Juan Parra, and Jorge Mitre were named the DSL All-Star team. In the game Renteria and Parra combined to go 0-3 and Mitre did not pitch.
- That is now 3 good appearances in a row for Yilmar Samudio who went 4 hitless innings this week with a walk and 7 strikeouts, in his best game as a pro.
- It has been a relatively cold July for Francisco Renteria but he had a good last two games including his 5th home run. He is walking more this month with a walk in 9 of the 11 games.
- Outside of his one All-Star at bat Juan Parra continued his assault on July (.395/.587/.628) with a 5-10 week over the three games with 3 extra base hits, 5 walks, and an uncharacteristic 3 strikeouts.
- While Villavicencio was having the game of the year, Griffin Burkholder had about as been a game as you could have with 7 trips to plate and 6 strikeouts to show for it. He has been slumping for the last month, which is not entirely surprising given he has now played 20 more games than he did last year.
- On the other hand, Matthew Ferrara had a good two games hitting behind Villacencio, going 6 for 8 with two doubles, two stolen bases, two walks, and five runs batted in. In 11 July games his hitting .342/.435/.500 with 6 walks to 10 strikeouts, keeping near his pacing of the last two months after striking out at a high rate in April.
- Even in a 3 game week, Bryan Rincon got his normal work in going 3 for 11 with a home run, stolen base, two walks, and three strikeouts.
- A promotion to Jersey Shore and/or a 5-inning start have to be coming for Cade Obermueller soon. He walked two this week, but put up another solid start.
- With 9 strikeouts Gage Wood set a new pro high. He walked none, but was once again victimized by a home run, his 7th allowed in 9 AA starts. He only went 4 innings this week and was capped at 59 pitches. It seems logical that he gets back up to 5 innings next time and maybe gets more than 70 pitches to work with.
Injuries and Transactions
- Alex McFarlane (MLB), Giusseppe Velasquez (CLW), and Guillermo Rosario (JS) assigned to new levels
- TJayy Walton was activated from the IL
- Jose Familia was released
- Wuildredo Antunez signed to minor league contract and assigned to Jersey Shore
- Enmanuel Leon signed as a free agent and assigned to DSL
Links and Things
Videos and Posts
It is probably safe to assume we don’t see any of the DSL guys stateside this year, right?
Not in any game action. The FCL season ends this week, so that would leave just the Threshers which would be a big jump and will be packed with draft picks, FCL players, and an already talented roster. Do they maybe bring Parra or Renteria stateside for instructs? Maybe, but there is also robust DR instruct league.
Yeah, that makes sense. Thank you!