This Week’s Schedule
- Lehigh valley (11-4) @ Gwinnett (7-7)
- Reading (3-6) vs Binghamton (3-4)
- Jersey Shore (3-6) @ Greensboro (7-2_
- Clearwater (6-3) @ Palm Beach (6-3)
Hitter Spotlight
5 G 23 PA 4 H 1 2B 3 HR 3 BB 6 K 2 HBP .222/.391/.778
It wasn’t quite the dramatic week that Escobar had, but it was a good week for the big catcher, who also got to catch Andrew Painter on Friday night. He has been very pull heavy (60%) and in the air (56%) overall this year. He is getting beat up in the zone which is a bit of a worry given his swing, he will need to show more patient and lay off those pitches or use his strength to go the other way with them. In the early going, none of the concerns around Tait have gone away, however it still is rare to see an 18 year old kid hit the ball like he does in full season ball.
Pitcher Spotlight
RHP Griff McGarry
1 GS 4 IP 0 H 0 R 3 BB 5 K
Griff McGarry started out like a repeat of last week by striking out the side in the first inning, but it was not quite as dominant a start for him overall. He is working down in the zone more, which takes away some swing and miss from the fastball, but seems to help both his command and his secondary pitches. His fastball was 93-97 and his cutter and sweeper looked very good. He definitely lost his delivery and overthrew the ball a few times. Right now, he is probably going to get eaten up by hitters who don’t chase as much, and I think the Phillies have him working the cutter more in the zone to offset that. He also had a really nice sequence to a lefty where he hit the bottom outside corner with two sinkers and then a 4-seam for a strikeout. It is still very unclear what the path and role are going forward for him, but after the disaster this spring, he looks interesting enough to keep watching.
Notes and Thoughts
- Tuesday night saw the Threshers be held scoreless for 7 innings, the BlueClaws for 6, and the Fightins for 5. In Florida, Clearwater was done 7-0 in the 8th when they scored 3 on some small ball. In the 9th inning, trailing 7-3 they made two quick outs before a Dante Nori single and walks by Avery Owusu-Asiedu and Eduardo Tait loaded the bases. Aroon Escobar then unloaded for a game tying grand slam and a Brady Day double and Joel Dragoo single cemented the walk off. Jersey Shore didn’t play around for the dramatics with a 3 run home run from Carson DeMartini capping a 6 run 7th. Meanwhile, Reading didn’t get the chance to walk it off on the road, but down 4-1 in the 9th, put together 4 walks, 2 hits, a scar fly, and a ground out into a 4 run 9th before Andrew Walling closed the door.
- Andrew Painter hit 100mph, was a little loose with his command, but looked like an ace. The sweeper appears to be back despite him saying it was gone, but it looks to now have more horizontal movement and the curveball more vertical. His cutter is going to be an absolutely devastating pitch for him.
- In addition to his big grand slam Aroon Escobar went 7-19 on the week with 3 walks to 4 strikeouts. He is hitting .345/.424/.552 in the early going with a high ground ball rate than you might like given he also has an average exist velocity of 92 mph so far. He has exclusively played second base, but we will see if that is a semi-permanent positional decision or if he will start to rotate to third more as the season goes on.
- Aidan Miller is batting just .103 on the season with 4 walks to 12 strikeouts, and this week went 1 for 20. It isn’t time to panic because it has only been a week and a half in some very cold AA weather, but it has been a frigid start.
- Speaking of cold, the BlueClaws top hitters have also started poorly. This week Devin Saltiban went 2-18 with 2 walks and 10 strikeouts, Bryan Rincon went 1 for 14 thought with 6 walks and 6 strikeouts, Carson DeMartini hit a home run on Tuesday, but still went 2-19 with 2 walks and 11 strikeouts, and Dylan Campbell like Rincon got on base (4 walks to 3 strikeouts) he also went 2 for 16 on the week.
- I don’t know why Alex McFarlane is in the BlueClaws rotation. Caveats about the weather, but he has been brutal command wise and was more low 90s than the electric high 90s he was in the Spring Breakout. It looks like they have taken an electric reliever and put him into a worse role.
- Justin Crawford went 5 for 24 this week with 2 walks and 7 strikeouts. His ground ball rate is down to 66% on the season after being at 70% last week. It is sort of a pity that some of them didn’t find the hits they deserved. His approach continues to be horrendous, with a low zone contact rate, high chase rate, and passivity on pitches in the hitting zone. More than anything, it is important to view AAA not as Crawford being a step away from the majors, but Crawford dealing with some needed development challenges.
- Gabriel Rincones Jr. went only 5-22 this week, but that included 2 doubles and 2 home runs and only 2 strikeouts (Rincones now has 12 strikeouts in 57 PAs, a very respectable 21.1%). On the season he has an average exit velocity of 91.7, but his max exit velocity (113.9mph) and 90th percentile exit velocity (110.1mph) are 98th and 99th percentile for AAA.
- Seth Johnson with another solid start, more walks than you want, but it has been a very good start to the season for Johnson.
- Trent Farquhar is continuing to draw walks at a high rate (9 walks and 3 strikeouts this week), but has only one extra base hit on the season. Upper level pitchers are going to force him to do damage.
- The final line for Mick Abel wasn’t great (5 IP 5 H 4 R 3 ER 4 BB 7 K). He battled through most of his start, but began losing velocity late. He had Jon Singleton struck out on a pitch that would have been overturned had he or Stubbs challenged it, if they had his line would have been 5 IP 4 H 1 R 0 ER 3 BB 8 K.
- Another 4 walk performance from Jean Cabrera. It will be important to see if it is because he is struggling to throw strikes or if he is struggling to put batters away.
- Unsurprisingly, Casey Steward was not 97-99 as a starting pitcher in his debut. He had some 95s and 96s early before fading. His command was definitely shaky (3 walks in 4 innings), but the secondary stuff looks good if he can throw a little harder when it isn’t in the 40s.
- It was less velocity than his first appearance (he sat 90-93), but Sam Highfill’s rising fastball go 18 whiffs on 26 swings on Thursday. Baseball Savant has him averaging 20.6″ of IVB on the season. His release point is higher, so there is a chance the flat approach angle he showed last year is not quite as present.
- Moises Chace is still in the low 90s and walked 4 batters in 2 innings. If he doesn’t start showing signs of incremental improvement over the next few starts it is time to get worried.
- Eiberson Castellano will need to build up after spending the spring in a bullpen role, but he faced the minimum over 3 innings in relief of Chace while striking out 5.
- 2024 5th round pick, Carter Mathison, is having a strange start the year. He has 18 strikeouts in 35 plate appearances, and is 4 for 30 overall, but 4 of those hits are home runs, including an inside the park one.
- I don’t think Raider Tello is going to put himself on prospect maps, but he had a .979 OPS this week with a walk off hit and a home run. He looks like a decent org guy who will hit all around the infield.
- Marcus Morgan looks like a complete mess right now. This is now two starts where the velocity has been pedestrian and the pitches a muddled mix.
Injuries and Transactions
- Mitch Nuenborn and Lou Albrecht were added to the Development List
- Gabe Mosser, Austin Schulfer, John McMillon, and Erick Brito were activated from the Development List
- Payton Henry (right hand contusion), Christian Arroyo, Matt Kroon (right oblique strain), and Daniel Harper added to 7-day IL
- Carson Taylor and Tristan Garnett transferred to 60 day IL
- Andrew Painter (FCL->CLW) and Andrew Schultz (FCL->REA) were promoted
- Ranger Suarez (CLW) and Weston Wilson (CLW) were sent on rehab assignments
Links and Things
Minor Thoughts
Around the Web
- IronPigs Today: “Let’s Go Streaking” 4/9/25 – Top Level of the Minors
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