This Week’s Schedule
- Lehigh Valley (53-61) vs Scranton Wilkes-Barre (61-50)
- Reading (53-55) vs Chesapeake (51-56)
- Jersey Shore (40-66) @ Brooklyn (46-60)
- Clearwater (63-43) @ Fort Myers (58-48)
- DSL Phillies (33-17)
Hitter Spotlight
4 G 8-14 3 2B 2 RBI 1 BB 3 K 1 SB .571/.600/.786
Ramirez was supposed to sign with the Marlins in the last signing period and then signed with the Phillies a month into the 2026 signing period. He missed most of the spring and some of the season with injury, but has slotted in behind Parra and Renteria in the lineup as Saenz has slid down the lineup. He hits the ball hard with a quick swing, mostly on a line right now. He needs to elevate the ball more to get more use out of his power, and he should as he gets older and stronger. He won’t run a .500+ BABIP and .400 batting average (and 15 game hitting streak) forever, but he is one of the more interesting upside batters on the team and a nice value signing (his bonus was not reported). He is playing mostly left field for now, and looks like he has the chance to stick in an outfield corner depending on how he fills out.
Pitcher Spotlight
RHP Justin Burgos
1 GS 4 IP 1 H 0 R 2 BB 4 K
To open the season, Burgos struggled with his command while not allowing many runs with 13 walks and 10 strikeouts in 15 innings over his first 5 games. He then had two disaster appearances where he gave up 10 runs in 2 games, one of which he didn’t record an out. Over his last 3 starts he has brough the better control and run prevention (12 IP 7 H 0.75 ERA 5 BB 11 K). He is throwing more at 90 of his 88 to 90 range, and he has thrown a better changeup and located his curveball better. He needs to find more velocity on all of his pitches need a level of sharpness and command, but he is also a 6’5″ 17 year old in his first pro year. For a while it looked like he had been dusted by Samudio, Rego, and Ortiz among the larger bonuses signings this year (not to mention Park and Ho who have yet to pitch), but he is now hanging on a bit at the back of that pack. In the short term he also gives the DSL Phillies a 4th reliable starting pitcher down the stretch run as they look to secure a postseason spot and have a change to compete for a title.
Notes and Thoughts
- It remains to be seen if the Phillies will actually recall Alex McFarlane to replace the injured Caleb Kilian in the long term, but he is surviving AAA so far. He has not gone back to back, but he went over and inning in his first appearance this week and while he walked two he did not allow a run. His second appearance on Saturday was funny in that in came in a pitching disaster for the team and he struck out 2 of the 3 batters he faced.
- It continues to be a good stretch for Aroon Escobar as he went 7 for 22 with a double and home run, and had 3 walks to 3 strikeouts.
- The strikeouts (8 this week and 13 in 10 Jersey Shore games) for Juan Villavicencio have been a bit elevated since his promotion. He is walking and hitting the ball though with a 9 game on base streak. He is Rule 5 eligible this offseason and the last month will say a lot about his offseason.
- TJayy Walton has gotten lost in a pile of his own injuries, and he is not hitting for any power. He has a walk in all 4 games with the BlueClaws this week and he was starting walk more since the middle of June (including a 5 walk game) and since that time he has 25 walks to just 12 strikeouts, and 14 walks to 9 strikeouts since returning from his latest injury.
- Of the two new outfielder draftees, Will Gasparino has gotten the starts in center field. He went 4 for 12 this week with no extra base hits, but just the 2 strikeouts in 15 PAs after striking out 3 times in his debut. It is much too early to read into contact numbers.
- Teammate Caden Bogenpohl has been manning right field, and did pick up a home run, as well as going 5-12. After 4 strikeouts in his debut series, he has just 3 this week.
- Carson DeMartini returned to Reading after a brief rehab and was literally off and running with a 4 stolen base week. He isn’t a speed demon, but he will run. He did pick up a home run and had a 3 strikeout game. He missed almost 3 months, and his return could help provide more depth for trades or the big league roster.
- It was a weird week for Mavis Graves who is mostly just throwing offspeed pitches. He faced 9 batters and got them all out, just none by strikeout.
- There are some weeks where a player just won’t put the ball in play. For Bryan Rincon, over 6 games he came to the plate 29 times and put the ball in play in 10 of them. He walked out of that with 6 hits, and walk 9 strikeouts, but 10 walks. He is on base for his highest strikeout rate in a month, but he is also going to blow past his walk rate as he has a .537 OBP for the month and .399 for the season.
- After he torched July, it is disappointing, but unsurprising, that Juan Parra has entered into a deep slump. He has three doubles this week, but ultimately went 3 for 17 with an uncharacteristic 5 strikeouts to 1 walk. His OPS is down below .900 for the first time in a while. It isn’t a real worry, but it would have been fun if he had continued to run roughshod over the league.
- With all of the catching shuffle, Paul McIntosh has been the primary catcher for the IronPigs and has been quite good offensively. Since the start of June he is hitting .293/.328/.480 and hit .333/.412/.667 this week.
- Yordanis Guerra has moved fully into the Threshers rotation, this week with a good start this week (4 IP 3 H 1 ER 2 BB 6 K). Guerra is throwing a fastball with inconsistent velocity, but to 96, with cut, but not great vertical movement. He has struggled with his breaking ball, but his changeup has performed well in his two starts.
- After walking 5 in his last start, Cristian Rego bounced back with 4 strong innings as part of the DSL Phillies run of success.
Injuries and Transactions
- Brandon Beckel (LHV), Romeli Espinosa (CLW), Angel Liranzo (CLW), Nick Biddison (REA), Owen Clyne (CLW), Tegan Cain (JS)m Cade Climie (CLW), TJayy Walton (JS), Robert Phelps (JS), Braydon Bakes (CLW), Jack Hopko (CLW), Gabriel Flores (FCL), Angel Mata (JS), and Matt Quintanar (CLW) assigned to new levels.
- Brady Day (CLW), Bryson Ware (JS), and Mark Kolozsvary (JS) were assigned on rehab.
- Kolby Allard placed on full season IL
- Owen Clyne, Alirio Ferrebus, and Aaron Combs added to 7-day IL
- Kevin Warunek, Ryan Dromboski, Jhoener Tovar, and Carson DeMartini activated from the IL
- Peyton Havard, Lou Albrecht, Colin Pelus (now coaching), Yohali Geraldo, Rainy Mota, Luis Gonzalez, Gabriel Azocar, Pedro Peralta, Trent Farquhar, Nikau Pouaka-Grego, and Liover Peguero were released
Links and Things
Videos and Posts
What do you make of Nelson Prieto? He, like Ramirez, seems to be on a tear.
Catching has improved, but still not great. At least plus raw power, but swing can get a bit stiff and he has some swing and miss. I will probably write up something larger on the team in the next week or so, but I really like a lot of the hitters on the team and one bucket them probably as Renteria, big gap, Parra, gap, Ramirez, small gap, Prieto/Saenz/Tovar/Adames/Velasquez, gap Cruceta/Severino/Izaquirre, gap, Maduro/Silva
What happened to Ferrebus?