Phillies Minor League Recap (Week 19 7/29-8/4)

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This Week’s Schedule

Hitter Spotlight

OF TJayy Walton

7 G 8-25 1 2B 1 3B 3 RBI 2 SB 5 BB 7 K .320/.433/.440

Walton has struggled to stay healthy and has struggled on the field when healthy. Walton missed the first two months of 2025 with a hamate injury, which was always going to make it a bit of a lost season as it can often take up to a year for power to come back from the injury. He made good in zone swing decisions last year, but this year has been more hesitant in the zone. His zone contact rate has gotten worse this year, and based on whiff rates he has struggled with fastballs, unsurprising given the injury. This week he got the strikeouts more under control and drew some walks. Walton’s impact on the ball may not be something he is able to control for the rest of the year, but if he can show better swing decisions that is something he can build on for next season.

Pitcher Spotlight

RHP Deiry Gonzalez

5 IP 2 H 0 R 0 BB 4 K

With Geremy Villoria heading to Minnesota in the Harrison Bader trade, Gonzalez becomes probably the best pitching prospect on the DSL teams. Statistically he has been on of the better pitchers in the league with a 1.06 ERA, 5 walks, and 31 strikeouts in 34 innings, and making the All-Star game. Signed this January, Gonzalez is a 6’1” 17 year old with some physical projection, but already has a solidly built lower half. Much like Villoria, Gonzalez’s polish stands out more than his present stuff. He seems to throw both a 4-seam fastball and sinker at 88 to 92. Without pitch tracking it is hard to say explicitly if there is one or two breaking balls in the 75-80 mph range, but he has the feel for spin that he probably will have some sort of sweeper and some sort of vertically oriented breaking ball in the future. He throws a low 80s changeup that shows some feel but is mostly just throw armside as a chase pitch to lefties. His lack of projectability probably makes him more of a back end arm, but he is polished enough he should be stateside in 2026.

Notes and Thoughts

  • Felix Reyes just keeps hitting. It was a 10 for 24 week with 3 doubles and 2 home runs. Reyes walked twice to one strikeout on the week and walked more in July with only a moderate increase in strikeouts. Also it is only 52 plate appearances, but he is hitting .383/.423/.723 off of lefties which is a change for most of the Phillies corner bats (he also has a .861 OPS vs RHPs)
  • It was not a good week for Devin Saltiban as he went just 3 for 29 with 1 walk and 14 strikeouts after having a solid return to the BlueClaws.
  • Bryan Rincon had what is probably his first good series since hitting 3 home runs on the road in Greensboro in April. He went 8 for 22 with 4 walks and 4 strikeouts and a whopping 9 stolen bases. He is hitting better as a left handed batter, especially getting on base. Given his struggles this year, it would be interesting to see if they experiment with him giving up switch hitting.
  • It is good when a player moves up a level and does what they did before, and Keaton Anthony continues to get hits and doubles, and the occasional home run. He is walking slightly more with slightly more strikeouts in AAA, but he really needs to get his walks up given his lack of power.
  • On the mound Andrew Painter didn’t always look the best his week, but it was a solid stat line (6.1 IP 7 H 1 ER 2 BB 4 K). More importantly he checked a bunch of boxes. He threw under 40% fastballs, did not allow a home run, pitched into the 7th for the first time this year, and threw 100 pitches in a game for the first time in his pro career. He feels just on the cusp of putting many of the pieces together.
  • If you aren’t going to hit for power, you should at least walk. This week Dante Nori picked up 8 walks to 3 strikeouts in 7 games after walking more than he struck out in July. Pitchers are going to challenge him in the zone given the lack of power, but if he can translate patience into some selective aggression it may be a path to impact at the plate
  • Anderson Araujo put his final stamp on July with a 3 hit game. He hit .373/.431/.814 on the month and then proceeded to go 4 for 13 with 2 doubles to open August. He has a claim on the top hitting prospect on the Phillies DSL teams. He doesn’t have the physicality and raw power of Eduardo Tait, but he squares the ball up more than his peers.
  • He didn’t set the world on fire this week (though he did homer), but it is worth keeping an eye on DSL SS Jonathan Alcantara. He was with the team in Spring Training, then signed later and went immediately to the first spot of the DSL Phillies Red lineup.
  • With 4 walks in 5 innings this week, we can’t quite count this as a continuation of the Mavis Graves hot streak, however the wheels did not come off and it was 5 scoreless innings with just 2 hits.
  • Just a shoutout to Cristhian Tortosa (who I was informed signed a 2 year minor league deal so won’t be a FA after this year). He went two scoreless in his first appearance of the week with no walks and 3 strikeouts, but his second appearances so him give up a single run in 3 innings, but he walked 0 with 8 strikeouts. He is 26, but is mid 90s with a good slider from the left side.
  • It wasn’t that Saul Teran was pitching poorly when he first came to the BlueClaws, but he was walking some batters at an uncharacteristic rate. He went up on July 6 for an emergency appearance with Reading, and since returning to the BlueClaws he has not allowed an earned run in 5 appearances (6.1 innings) and has walked only one batter.
  • It is a modest 6 game hitting streak for Aidan Miller who went 7 for 19 in his 5 games this week. Just 3 strikeouts to go with 3 walks. We are once against saying it would be good to see him put together a run after two months of sub .200 batting average.
  • Two scoreless, hitless appearances for Eiberson Castellano, one with walks and one with a strikeout. He is a minor league free agent after this year, and will certainly have suitors. If he can find some of the reliever vibes from his time with the Twins, he would fit enough of the Phillies needs that they will need to really consider just giving him the 40 man spot this time.
  • It was a 9 strikeout appearance for Jean Cabrera this week in 5.2 innings. He survived the trade deadline and seems lined up to be the top starting pitcher depth option once Painter makes his major league debut. In continuing with his trends he lowered his ERA month over month and increased his strikeout rate.

Injuries and Transactions

Links and Things

Minor Thoughts

Videos and Posts

Keaton Anthony goes the other way for an RBI single to tie the game in the eighth inning. He’s got 3 hits tonight, has driven in a pair, and is a triple shy of the cycle

— Mitch_Rupert (@mitchrupert.bsky.social) 2025-07-30T01:46:59.713Z

Carson DeMartini takes 95 over the left field wall for his second AA home run to get the score knotted at 2-2 for Reading

— Mitch_Rupert (@mitchrupert.bsky.social) 2025-07-30T00:10:22.110Z

Keaton Anthony goes opposite field over the high wall for his second AAA home run to give Lehigh Valley a 2-0 lead

— Mitch_Rupert (@mitchrupert.bsky.social) 2025-07-30T00:11:31.814Z