Phillies Minor League Recap (Week 22 8/20-8/26)

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Last Week’s Schedule

This Week’s Schedule

  • Lehigh Valley (59-63) vs Syracuse (68-56) – 7.5 GB
  • Reading (52-67) @ Somerset (61-57) – 12.5 GB
  • Jersey Shore (67-53) vs Hudson Valley (65-54) – 3 GB
  • Clearwater (58-60) @ Fort Myers (63-52) – Clinched 1st Half Title

Hitter Spotlight

OF Emaarion Boyd

5 G 8-24 1 2B 2 3B 1 HR 6 RBI 2 SB 0 BB 5 K

Boyd had 2 hit games in the last 4 games of the series, and is now batting .295/.349/.459 in August, far and away his best month of the year. Boyd spent the first two months in the cold hitting .198/.308/.231, and is hitting .272/.329/.414 since. Boyd is striking out more (18.9%), walking less (6.5%), and stealing a lot fewer bases (56 to 22), but some other aspects of his game have taken a step forward. He has 3 home runs and 20 extra base hits this year vs 1 home run and 14 extra base hits in 2023. He has exchanged ground balls for line drives and fly balls (though he is hitting a large number of infield fly balls). There is no getting around it being a disappointing season for Boyd, but he is trending in the right direction. On top of the offensive trends, Boyd is now consistently playing center field since Crawford was promoted to Reading.

Pitcher Spotlight

RHP Eiberson Castellano

1 GS 6 IP 2 H 1 ER 1 BB 11 K

A problem I have had over the last few weeks is not whether Eiberson Castellano is a good pitching prospect, it is how good a pitching prospect is he. I work in an area of sharp divide in information available to me. For Lehigh Valley and Clearwater, I have more information than I know how to appropriately use. For Jersey Shore, I usually have a TV radar gun and a decent and consistent camera angle. For Reading pitchers, I have nothing, no velocity (except in Hartford) and some really bad camera angles at times. I am reliant on some occasional series and drips of information (like Geoff Pontes on Moises Chace), but am otherwise trying to piece together a profile with an arm behind my back. I have Castellano as 93-96 earlier in the season, the Phillies tweeted him sitting 97, which I think is really just touching 97 as the last two tv broadcasts have mentioned a 97, but also 94s and 95s, so let’s call it as sitting “mid 90s”. He throws a sinker and a 4-seamer, and he can elevate the 4-seamer for swings and misses thanks to good command more than outlier movement as it doesn’t have that explosive jump to me. He throws at least two breaking balls, using a bigger curveball both for chases down and called strikes (which allowed him to tunnel the fastball up). I have seen what I thought was a sweeper before, but might have been the curveball, and I have heard cutter. There is definitely a vertical shape and a horizontal shape, and he shows good feel for commanding them. This week I saw what looked like and was called a changeup deployed with some success. He seemed to sell it well and it had solid arm side movement. Castellano has shown improved command throughout the season, and he really highlighted this week his ability to pitch backwards by landing the offspeed stuff for strikes early and then using the fastball for chases out or called strikes in the zone where a batter was looking for the curve intended to a elicit a chase. Earlier in the year I thought Castellano was trending towards reliever, but now he is much more looking like the Phillies type of mix and match a bunch of stuff starter. However, until I get some data or in person reports there is always going to be a doubt that I am either too low or too high on him based on piecing together some video.

Notes and Thoughts

  • Jersey Shore did not take their winning streak all the way through the week, but they only dropped the one game and so have won 9 of their last 10 to put themselves back in the postseason race. They are now 3 back of Hudson Valley with the Renegades coming to town this week. Unsurprisingly many top performers from the BlueClaws ranks this week.
    • After spending 2023 with Jersey Shore, I am sure Mitch Neunborn didn’t expect to spend his age 27 season a BlueClaw again, but after a terrible stint in Reading’s bullpen, he is back at the Shore. It is lucky for them that he is, because over 12 starts he has a 2.03 ERA. He went 6 innings this week with 1 run, 1 walk, and 7 strikeouts. He has a 0.79 ERA in 4 games in August.
    • Speaking of lucky, the shuffling of the rosters for MLB needs have led to AAA players going to Jersey Shore this week as paper and real moves. That led to 35 year old David Buchanan on the mound for 7 shutout innings on Sunday.
    • It had been a struggle for Trent Farquhar since he was promoted, hitting .231/.378/.277 in 20 games, with his penchant for being hit by pitches helping to keep him valuable. He played all 6 games this week, going 12 for 28 while pitching up 3 doubles and a triple. He can help set the table for this lineup and make the whole thing work.
    • Setting the table only works if the guys behind hit, and so far in August Aidan Miller had been hitting. This week was a new level as he went 9 for 20, with 6 extra base hits and 5 walks to 3 strikeouts in a real reversal of trends. He is hitting .342/.419/.618 in August and now up to a respectable .251/.355/.432 line with the BlueClaws.
    • Helping in the middle of the lineup is Felix Reyes, who is just swinging away, but he is hitting .296 in August thanks to a 10 for 19 week and a 4 hit game on Sunday.
    • Bryson Ware hit .201 for the Threshers, including .138 in July before his promotion to Jersey Shore. So of course he is hitting .327 this month and .421 over the last two series.
    • The BlueClaws bullpen has stepped up and that has involved a scoreless month for Jaydenn Estanista who picked up 3 innings in two games. It hasn’t just been the blank scoreboard, but just 3 hits and 3 walks in 8 innings.
  • It is a lot of strikeouts so far for Eduardo Tait, who picked up 9 more this week in 5 games. He turns 18 this Tuesday, so as with all things with him, it is more hopefully a bump in the road as they challenge him this year.
  • Carson DeMartini kept up his hot start, hitting .304/.360/.565 in 6 games with 2 walks to just 3 strikeouts. He also played second, third, and shortstop. He is a chasing a little bit more than you want, but on the other hand he is swinging at balls in the zone and has a very impressive 94.2% zone contact rate and fairly low whiff rate on secondary pitches.
  • Fellow 2024 pick, Joel Dragoo, went 5 for 12 in 4 games, but walked 5 times and now has a 1.127 OPS through his first 8 games. Much like DeMartini he is swinging at hittable pitches, but unlike DeMArtini, he owns a miniscule chase% (8.3%) and some worse in zone contact rates and whiff rates vs secondaries. He has not hit the ball especially hard yet, but very small sample size (12 balls in play).
  • This week Mick Abel struggled less with control and more with command, leaving some hittable pitches out there and getting hit around (though there was some bad defense behind him). Overall his line of 5.1 IP 8 H 5 R 4 ER 2 BB 8 K represents another step forward and step back type game.
  • Seth Johnson struggled with efficiency, throwing 98 pitches in 5 innings, but it was a second solid start in AAA. His fastball gets some ride, but is not particularly flat in shape. He did hole his velocity throughout his start and he mixed in his splitter late. He was fastball heavy and that led to a lack of whiffs and chases.
  • Johnson isn’t the only recent Phillies acquisition struggling with efficiency. Moises Chace only lasted 4.2 innings despite only 1 hit thanks to 4 walks and 89 pitches. He did strike out 10, so the stuff is clearly there (now 29 strikeouts in 18.1 innings since the trade). He has the arsenal to mix and match, and the fastball to overpower, he just needs to get in the zone a bit more like Castellano has.
  • Micah Ottenbreit (6 IP 1 H 1 ER 2 BB 8 K) had his best start in a while as for the second time in the year had a no hitter through 5. He was able to spot is sinker in the zone and then expand with his curveball.

Injuries and Transactions

Links and Things

Minor Thoughts

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