Phillies Minor League Recap (Week 5 4/23-4/28)

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Last Week’s Schedule

Lehigh Valley (9-9) vs Charlotte (8-12): L 4-5, L 3-5, W 7-6, L 4-6, W 8-4, L 3-6

Reading (6-9) vs Somerset (7-8): W 10-4, W 4-3, W 5-0, L 2-13, L 0-9, W 6-3

Jersey Shore (8-7) @ Aberdeen (6-9): L 2-9, L 4-5, W 1-0, L 0-5, L 7-12, L 6-7

Clearwater (10-5) vs Bradenton (3-12): W 2-1, W 5-3, W 5-4, L 0-1, W 3-2, W 5-3

This Week’s Schedule

Lehigh Valley (11-13) @ Worcester (11-15)

Reading (10-11) @ Portland (11-8)

Jersey Shore (9-12) vs Bowling Green (12-9)

Clearwater (15-6) @ Lakeland (14-7)

FCL Phillies (0-0) – @TOR, vsTOR – Season Starts Saturday 5/4

Hitter Spotlight

2B/SS Trent Farquhar

5 G 17 PA 3-8 2B HR 3 SB 9 BB 1 K – .375/.706/.875

It is hard to ignore a player that comes to the plate 17 times in a week and reaches in 12 of those trips. Farquhar (a 2023 NDFA) has been in the lineup quite a bit for the Threshers, more so with the injuries to Saltiban and Miller over the last week. He has been good up to this point, but had himself a real week against the Marauders. He had a pinch hit double in the 10th on Saturday to tie the game and hit his first home run of the year on Sunday. Farquhar is not the biggest guy (he is listed at 5’7″ 185lbs) and has not hit the ball especially hard on the high end (max EV or 102.6 mph and 90th percentile of 100.8 mph), but he average 94 mph on his 7 balls in play this week. His selectivity at the plate has been good (as to be expected with 13 walks to 7 strikeouts on the season), but that is sort of to be expected from a guy who walked 43 times to 26 strikeouts in college last year. He is 23 and spent 4 years in college, the last 3, including a great 2023, at Michigan State, so dominating low-A isn’t hugely unexpected. I would not put him on a prospect list yet, but he has got my interest and it was quite a week.

Pitcher Spotlight

LHP Samuel Aldegheri

1 GS 5 IP 1 H 0 R 0 BB 10 K – 70 pitches

I was honestly trying to hold off on talking about Aldegheri until I had a game to track and verify velocity, but he missed last week’s home series with a back injury. He will be a priority for me with the BlueClaws home this week. He was up to 95 in the Spring Breakout and looked crisp in his start this week, with both the slider and changeup looking visually good as well. He has not allowed an earned run on the season. His 4 walks in his first game mar his overall season line, but last two times out 11 innings pitched with 3 hits, no runs, no walks, and 17 strikeouts is pretty good. His stuff was improved last year from the previous season, but was not elite, but if it has taken another jump he is going to trend as a mid to back end starter type.

Notes and Thoughts

  • Saul Teran allowed his first run of the season (it was unearned) and saw his lofty strikeout numbers drop a bit, but he is now at 8 innings with 5 hits, 4 walks, and 15 strikeouts. His fastball has been fairly pedestrian this year, but he has leaned heavily on the slider, using 12 of them in a row for the last 4 outs on Sunday.
  • Jordan Luplow has been laying waste to AAA in much the same way Jake Cave did last year (David Dahl has also been quite good). His 6 walks to 15 strikeouts do underline this is not total dominance, but he is hitting the ball very hard and does not really have a path to the majors with the Phillies without there being an injury.
  • Another good start for Clearwater RHP Luke Russo (5 IP 1 H 0 R 3 BB 8 K). None of his stuff jumps out to me, but I have not dug deeply into the shape data. It does seem he has good deception on his secondary stuff that is fooling the low minors hitters.
  • I don’t think you can say that Kehden Hettiger has had a good season (he is batting .167/.388/.278), but it hasn’t been a bad season, and it has been sort of an odd season. He is splitting time with Luis Caicuto and only played in 3 games this week where he went 0-7 with a strikeout, but walked 6 times. The week before that he had a game with 3 walks followed by a game with 3 strikeouts and now has 12 walks to 8 strikeouts in 49 plate appearances. He has hit better as a left handed batter vs RHPs than as a righty, where he is still looking for his first hit of the year.
  • Nikau Pouaka-Grego just hits. He is at .278/.350/.417 in 11 games with not great walk and strikeout numbers and not great exit velocities so far. He has made some great plays at third as he has moved between the hot corner and second. He is still only 19 after missing all of 2023.
  • Jake Eddington moved to the bullpen for the Threshers with much better results (3 IP 2 H 0 R 0 BB 4 K). Things looked a bit optimistic after his first appearance when he got his fastball up to 97, but he was right back down to the low 90s in his second appearance.
  • The Reading team got hit hard by injuries in the last week and a half, but Caleb Ricketts has quietly put up a good start. He went 5-10 with 3 doubles in his 3 games this week and is hitting .282/.420/.359 through 12 games with 9 walks and 12 strikeouts. Those 3 doubles this week are the only extra base hits he has this season.
  • Gabriel Rincones Jr. was going to be the spotlight player this week with a big home run last Wednesday and now hitting .300/.417/.600, but he hit the injured list immediately after the game.
  • Mick Abel’s velocity was up some this week, and his line (6 IP 7H 2 ER 1 BB 4 K) was mostly fine. He has been home prone, and the command has been spotty. I don’t know if it is time to be concerned concerned, but you want to see more continued start over start growth.
  • George Klassen is good. Another scoreless outing (6 IP 2 H 0 R 1 BB 8 K) where he paced himself well, reached back for 99 when needed. He certainly has warts, but I think we are nearing consensus that he isn’t fixing them in Clearwater.
  • The Phillies made an aggressive assignment when they sent William Bergolla to Jersey Shore, and so far he is hitting .146/.172/.218 with 2 walks and 8 strikeouts in 15 games. He is very young for the level, but he has looked a bit overmatched so far.
  • I don’t really know what the Phillies end game is with Michael Mercado, but he got a start on normal starter’s rest where he went 3.2 innings with no hits or runs, 1 walk, and 4 strikeouts. He held 94-96 throughout the appearances which was better than when he was bleeding velocity, but is worse than the single inning version. I don’t know if there is a starting pitcher in here, and they don’t really need a starting pitcher. It is sort of strange, but also I am not sure it is really worth worrying about.
  • Jaydenn Estanista only pitched once this week, but he went 3 perfect innings with 3 strikeouts. Only 4 walks in 9.1 innings for him, with 2 of them coming in his first apperance.
  • Devin Saltiban has been struggling, but he did hit two home runs on Sunday, one more of a bomb and the other a laser.
  • FCL starts over the weekend. They have looked good in the couple of Spring Training games I have seen. Eduardo Tait continues to get to power very easily.

Injuries and Transactions

  • TJayy Walton came back from the injury list and Aidan Miller came back from being day to day for the Threshers.
  • Samuel Aldegheri missed just one start with his back injury.
  • Reading got Ethan Wilson and Baron Radcliff back early in the week and Carlos De La Cruz late in the week. They have been sort of an injury mess.
  • Gabriel Rincones Jr. has an undisclosed injury and was placed on the IL after Wednesday game.
  • Raylin Heredia has been playing in Extended Spring with the FCL team.
  • The Threshers and BlueClaws swapper relievers with the struggling Jonathan Petit returning to the complex and 25 year old Trey Dillard (2023 NDFA) heading north.

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Minor Thoughts

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