Phillies Minor League Recap (Week 18 7/23-7/29)

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Last Week’s Schedule

This Week’s Schedule

  • Lehigh Valley (51-49) @ Jacksonville (49-52)
  • Reading (42-53) vs Hartford (54-40)
  • Jersey Shore (54-42) @ Hudson Valley (46-48)
  • Clearwater (51-45) vs Jupiter (52-44)
  • FCL Phillies (33-25) – Season Complete (Missed Playoffs)
  • DSL Phillies Red (13-26)
  • DSL Phillies White (18-22)

Hitter Spotlight

OF Raylin Heredia

16 PA 5-15 1 3B 2 HR 8 RBI 1 BB 3 K 1 SB

A year ago I over-ranked Heredia on my midseason list. He was in his age 19 season and had laid waste to the FCL to the tune of .326/.415/.532 and while he had some warts, it was a very intriguing set of tools. It has not gone particularly well for Heredia since (.249/.308/.442 this season), he now has 18 walks and 87 strikeouts in 261 PAs and an astronomical whiff rate vs secondaries, especially in chasing out of the zone. He has actually hit righties better than lefties. This week saw him strike out just three times and hit a pair of balls out of the park. He is still only 20 and he does have power and speed (and a great arm in right field), but now looking back a year it is important, if not sad, to note that not all potential breakouts will be actual breakouts.

Pitcher Spotlight

RHP Danyony Pulido

1 GS 4.2 IP 2 H 1 ER 3 BB 7 K

There is a chance you have never heard Pulido’s name before and there is a chance you will never hear it again. The Phillies signed the Venezuelan righty back in February of 2021 and then he spent three years in the complex, the last two as members of a dominant DSL Phillies White pitching staff. Control has always been a bit of a worry, but from 2022 to 2023 his velocity made a jump, and it made another one as he arrive stateside this year, first pitching in the FCL and now with the Threshers. This is his age 21 season, and he is maddeningly inconsistent. His fastball will touch 97, but he sits 90-96 with a wide variance throughout that range. He will show IVBs up to 20″ or more, but also fastballs with terrible movement profiles. He looks to have two different breaking balls that he cannot throw with consistent shape or distinctness. He will sparingly throw a changeup too. It is all sort of a mess, but also he has allowed 2 runs, and 6 hits in 13.1 innings across his last 3 appearances with the Threshers and he had a 40% whiff rate on his fastball this week, even while throwing it 73% of the time. He is almost certainly a reliever, and he might not even be a top 50 prospect when we get to the offseason, but in the mess of things there is something that intrigues me.

Notes and Thoughts

  • It has not be a great time in the DSL for the Phillies this year, but Victor Cardoza is now up to .828 OPS buoyed by a 8-21 stint with 3 home runs since swapping from White to Red on the 22nd.
  • Suspended games made it look like Joel Heredia pitched 9 innings this week, but instead the big RHP only pitched 5 shutout innings. Over his last 5 starts he has now gone 22 IP 11 H 1 R 0 ER 2 BB 17 K. On the season he has a 2.08 ERA in 34.2 innings. He sits in the low 90s and throws a changeup, slider, and curveball. There is probably some more velocity in his frame and I would expect to see him stateside next year.
  • Another gem for Casey Steward (7 scoreless innings), who has allowed just 3 earned runs in 23 innings since joining the BlueClaws. He has a cutter now to go with the sweeper, four-seamer, changeup, and sinker. That is the same recipe as other big bodied starting pitchers in the org (see Phillips, Tyler).
  • Things still have not clicked for Aidan Miller in Jersey Shore, but he walked 7 times to 7 strikeouts this week while going 5 for 21 with 2 doubles. He reached base in all 6 games as well. The quality of contact just hasn’t been there.
  • He is 27 and in AA, but Lachlan Wells is on a real heater in July. This was his second straight start of 7 shutout innings, this time with 1 walk and 11 strikeouts. The Phillies are going to need to make a decision on whether they value him for a Reading postseason push or in Lehigh Valley to see if his stuff plays in AAA.
  • In his first full week in AA, Justin Crawford hit .286. He walked once, struck out 6 times, and stole 3 bases. He is not elevating the ball at all and 55% of his balls in play have been the opposite way.
  • A week after looking good in multi innings stints, the Max Lazar hype train took a hit as he allowed 6 hits and 4 earned runs in 1.2 innings across two games.
  • It is definitely relief work for Wen Hui Pan who appeared in one game to pitch the 8th and then pitched the first two innings 3 days later.
  • Starlyn Caba was only 1 for 12 this week, but walked 4 times and stole 6 bases. The underlying data was pretty good (his selectivity was predictably very good), he just doesn’t make the most impact yet.
  • Eduardo Tait chased a bunch this week as he got used to the new level, but he hit two balls very hard in the air on Sunday, including a home run off the foul pole.
  • It was an actually good Mick Abel start this week (5 IP 4 H 1 ER 1 BB 5 K on 84 pitches). His fastball was up to 97.8 and averaged 96.0, and he used it 61% of the times with 8 whiffs. Abel was coming off of extra rest and he wasn’t the most economical pitch wise, but it was a good start with better stuff.
  • Jaeden Calderon is hitting well in his return trip to the DSL. He only went 4 for 14 this week, but 6 walks, 3 hit by pitches, and 3 extra base hits led to a .286/.565/.714 line for the week as he has hit .289/.466/.539 in July with 12 walks and 14 strikeouts in 17 games.
  • Part of having a bad start is that it can linger. Andrew Walling has a 1.63 ERA on the season, but walked 13 in 19.1 innings over the first two months. He was promoted to Reading last week and this week made one appearance where he went two innings and struck out 4 of the 6 batters he faced. Since the beginning of June though, 15 game, 19.1 innings 14 hits 1.40 ERA and 9 walks to 23 strikeouts. The walk rate is still a touch high, but he looks like a good RP again.
  • A bounce back performance for Mavis Graves (6 IP 2 H 0 R 2 BB 7 K). He worked all of his pitches, got 14 swings and misses. Fastball average 91 and was up to 92.9.
  • Robinson Pina (7 IP 2 H 0 R 0 BB 9 K) with a gen this week after getting hard for a few starts in a row. He now has 12 walks to 98 strikeouts in 87.2 innings.
  • Because his control has been so bad, Andrew Schultz was buried a while ago on the bullpen depth chart. This week he pitched twice, walked a batter in one appearance (erased on a double play) and struck out the three batters in his other appearance. He has been pitching at the back of the Reading bullpen since the beginning of June and now has a 1.13 ERA over those 16.0 innings with 5 walks and 17 strikeouts.

Injuries and Transactions

Links and Things

Minor Thoughts

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