Phillies Minor League Recap (Week 20 8/5-8/11)

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This Week’s Schedule

Hitter Spotlight

OF Devin Saltiban

10-23 3 2B 2 3B 1 HR 4 RBI 3 BB 4 K 3 SB .435/.519/.870

Saltiban has exclusively played center field since the beginning of July, and unsurprisingly has looked fine at the position. The BlueClaws returned home last week, and Saltiban put his terrible week in Brooklyn behind him, hitting for power and keeping the swing and miss to a minimum. It is hard to get a full judge on his season because of the injury, especially since he needs to the at bats vs good offspeed pitches. He is going to need to cut down on his swing and miss, but he has started to really show that he can consistently get to pull side power with some majestic home runs to left field. The power will play at his new position and he certainly has the speed to give it a go. It remains to be seen if he sees the infield dirt again or gets time in the corners just for flexibility.

Pitcher Spotlight

RHP Griff McGarry

5 IP 2 H 2 ER 0 BB 11 K 1 HR

McGarry has periodically had extreme setbacks, but largely is putting together a solid season (4.29 ERA, 3.92 with Reading) and a career low 5.4 BB/9 largely thanks to starts like this week. It was his second time reaching 5 innings, his first time being over 10 strikeouts in a game, and his 3rd time this season without a walk (the other two were his first start and his first rehab start). The only blemishes on the day came in the 4th inning where he allowed a triple (which was just a misplay by RF Leandro Pineda) and a home run, his only two base runners of the game. It is difficult to know how to judge McGarry, who is now 26 and in his 5th professional season. Last year the Phillies made the obvious move and put him in the bullpen and while his ERA wasn’t a disaster, everything else was. He went back to the rotation in Fall League and then after some adventures in major league camp and the prospect game ended up in the Reading rotation.

The results has somehow been his best season since 2022. He is not pitching deep into games, and he missed time to injury, but he is walking fewer batters and his stuff looks the most dominant of his career. We don’t have the full Statcast for Reading, but during his rehab Griff stopped in Clearwater, and that glimpse shows a 4-seam fastball from a much lower release height than before giving it elite plane through the zone. In his prior start the Hartford TV velocity reading had him sitting 93 to 96 and reaching back for a 98 and a 99. He backs that up with a full starter’s arsenal. He will mix in an occasional sinker, but his go to second pitch is an upper 80s gyro slider/cutter that he can use for chases, in the zone, or to back door to lefties. His primary pitch to expand for a chase is a low 80s sweeper, but he will also occasionally drop in a true curveball that is just a little slower. He even has a changeup with good vertical separation from his fastball. It is the best his arsenal has really looked and it does not take much squinting to see at minimum 3 plus or better pitches with a chance that might be a low reckoning.

The problem is as always command and consistency. Griff has gotten better on throwing near the zone, but he is still a low % in the zone pitcher, who is reliant on hitters expanding. He has a tendency to rush his delivery and get overamped, which is partially why relieving never seemed to work for him. He looks at his best when he is dissecting hitters with a selection of pitches than just trying to blow a fastball by them up in the zone. As you would expect for a pitcher with delivery troubles, Griff has struggled greatly with runners on base. With the bases empty, opposing hitters are just hitting .137/.223/.214 off him with a 10% BB% and 36.9% K%. However, when a runner gets on they are hitting .286/.440/.429 with a 20.2% BB% and 25% K%. As a reliever, Griff would really need to get that under control. As a starter, he would need to work deeper into games (he has never exceeded 5 innings or 79 pitches this year), and he would need to not have games where he just doesn’t have the zone. There just isn’t a lot of role for that. However, you watch him pitch and you really wonder if there isn’t a 5 and dive starter who is inefficient but effective every 5 days in there.

Notes and Thoughts

  • Last week it looked like Aidan Miller was turning things around, but this week that got accelerated. He went 10 for 26 with 5 doubles, a home run, and had 3 walks and 2 hit by pitches with an ok 6 strikeouts. He also had 6 more stolen bases to bring him to 44 on the season. Over the last two weeks (11 games) he is hitting .378/.463/.600 all away from Reading (and suddenly his home/road splits are near identical).
  • Not much power from Felix Reyes this week despite a 5-6 game on Saturday. He just hits the ball and has put the ball in play in 42 of his 47 trips to the plate this month (2 walks and 3 strikeouts). He is also hitting .383/.423/.723 off of lefties.
  • Jean Cabrera had his worst start of the season on Tuesday (5 IP 7 H 6 ER 2 BB 1 K), but then came back on Sunday against the same team and probably had his best start of the season (6 IP 0 H 0 R 1 BB 5 K) and was likely only pulled as the Phillies looked to protect him on the second half of the double start week. He has come back better in all three of his starts vs a team a second time in a week.
  • Meanwhile for Andrew Painter the double week went bad and worse giving up 12 earned runs in 8.1 innings across his two appearances. The home runs showed up in the second game and he had shaky command in the first.
  • It wasn’t a particularly standout week for Aroon Escobar, but his home run on Sunday ended a drought of 26 games without a long ball, dating back to his time with the Threshers.
  • Over his last 5 starts Mavis Graves has gone 23 innings, allowing just 9 hits, and a single unearned run, to go with 9 walks and 25 strikeouts. He walked 2 and struck out 8 in 5 innings this week on 75 pitches. His secondary pitches are starting to actually get chases and his fastball was up to 93 much more this week.
  • I guess if you are going to hit a bunch of triples in a week then you hit 3, which Dante Nori did with one in each of the first 3 games of the week. Since the start of June he is hitting .305/.407/.463 with 34 walks and 34 strikeouts.
  • He is still striking out a bit too much, and not driving the ball with authority, but TJayy Walton went 8-24 over 5 games as he continues to try and salvage the remains of the season after the early hamate injury.
  • Through June 19, Andrew Walling had a 7.63 ERA and 9 walks in 15.1 innings. Since then, he has not allowed an earned run, going 19.2 IP 10 H 2 R 0 ER 5 BB 19 K. He did blow the save and the no-hitter on Sunday on a double after a Carson DeMartini error, but he appeared 3 times this week and has not walked a batter in his last 6 appearances. He is throwing 93-96 mph with a 89-91 mph cutter and low 80s sweeper in sort of a Matt Strahm like look. If he keeps this up he is going to end up in Rule 5 consideration.
  • Justin Crawford turned on an inside pitch for a nice home run this week, and just generally has done Justin Crawford things going 9 for 23 in 7 games. We are now into month 3 of good strikeout and walk rates.
  • Gabriel Rincones Jr. had a great 4 games with two home runs this week before an ankle injury landed him on the IL.
  • 19th round pick, Robert Phelps get the award for best debut, going 5 for 20 with 5 walks and 4 stolen bases in 5 games this week at middle infield for the Threshers.
  • It wasn’t as good a start as Griff’s, but Estibenzon Jimenez followed up McGarry’s 11 strikeout outing with 10 in 6 innings to go with only 1 walk, but did allow 3 runs. Jimenez had only struck out 2 batter in his last two starts.
  • Luke Gabrysh has gone under the radar for Clearwater, but he has not allowed a run in his last 3 starts (15 innings) and has only allowed runs in 2 of his last 10 games. The 2024 15th round pick out of St. Joseph’s has a relatively vanilla arsenal with a sweepy slider, changeup, and two fastballs, but he averages 94.6 on the 4-seamer and all of his pitches are competitive.
  • It has been since the middle of July since Anderson Araujo has hit a home run, but he went 8 for 18 this week and even without the power surge is still hitting .306/.392/.563 on the season.
  • After starting last year and at times this year, Orlando Gonzalez has moved to the bullpen full time and has become a 2 inning closer since Titan Kennedy-Hayes was promoted to Jersey Shore. He struck out 5 in 4 innings this week with 2 base runners. His velocity has increased in his new role and his slider has been carving through Florida State League hitters.
  • It appears Dylan Campbell is in the middle of another hot streak even if his hitting streak came to an end (in a game he walked 3 times). This week he went 6 for 16 while walking 8 times and stealing 5 bases.

Injuries and Transactions

Links and Things

Minor Thoughts

Around the Web

Videos and Posts

The second leadoff home run of the season for Justin Crawford is his fourth overall. Crawford hits it 375 feet at 100.7 mph to give Lehigh Valley a 1-0 lead

— Mitch_Rupert (@mitchrupert.bsky.social) 2025-08-08T23:35:39.311Z

Dante Nori triples for the third consecutive game to drive in Clearwater’s first run. He then scores when Fort Myers throws the ball into the dugout before time is called

— Mitch_Rupert (@mitchrupert.bsky.social) 2025-08-08T00:05:23.915Z

Avery Owusu-Asiedu triples to the right field corner to score a pair of runs and put Jersey Shore ahead in the bottom of the eighth inning

— Mitch_Rupert (@mitchrupert.bsky.social) 2025-08-06T01:16:58.265Z

Gabriel Rincones Jr launches his 12th home run of the season 437 feet at 110.7 mph to get Lehigh Valley on the board

— Mitch_Rupert (@mitchrupert.bsky.social) 2025-08-06T00:10:53.553Z

1 thought on “Phillies Minor League Recap (Week 20 8/5-8/11)”

  1. What a turn around for Mavis Graves. It took Miller a minute but he is looking back to normal. I am to the point I just need to see Justin Crawford face MLB pitchers. His numbers have been absurd all season – its just time.

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