This Week’s Schedule
- Lehigh Valley (36-15) @ Norfolk (19-31)
- Reading (16-27) vs Erie (30-15)
- Jersey Shore (17-27) @ Greenville (20-25)
- Clearwater (24-21) vs/@ Dunedin (24-21)
- FCL Phillies (4-13)
- DSL Phillies White (0-0)*
- DSL Phillies Red (0-0)*
* Season begins Monday June 2
Hitter Spotlight
7 G 7-22 1 HR 5 RBI 5 BB 5 K .318/.444/.455
If you liked Justin Crawford’s penchant for hitting hard ground balls, but wish it game with more plate discipline and a worse defensive profile, then Hendry Mendez was the prospect for you. Mendez has consistently posted good walk and strikeout rates, with this year’s 10.9% BB% and 14.5% K% being another solid entry. He already is left field only defensively, and while he doesn’t need to be a DH right now, he is going to be a negative in the field. Prior to 2025 his best full season ground ball rate had been 59.9% in 2023 when he was in the Brewers organization. It has crept up a bit in recent weeks, but this year he stands at a 51.7% ground ball rate, with career highs in both line drive and fly ball rates. He has enough power that the fly balls are turning into home runs, and even with a modest 13.3% HR/FB rate he has 4 home runs in 40 games, 1 off of his career high of 5 from 2022. Mendez does struggle against LHPs, but Reading has seen so few lefties that he has only 17 plate appearances against them this year. His home runs are also split evenly between Reading’s friendly confines and the road. Visually it looks better as well. His swing is still not geared for damage in the air, but it looks more on balance, it just comes through the zone incredibly flat. Previously he would show impressive pitch recognition coupled with a swing that made you question if this was his first time holding a bat. Mendez will be Rule 5 eligible this offseason, which may become more relevant as trade talks come up, but he is also only 21 so this bit of improvement may not be the end of his growth.
Pitcher Spotlight
RHP Rene Yrish
Yrish did not pitch in a real game this week as the DSL teams are still in spring training. I called out Yrish earlier in the spring as he set a new Phillies complex record with a 99 mph fastball. This week he was 92-96 as the Phillies look to move him to a starting role. The 18 year old has shown a high 80s slider and changeup, but both need work. After walking 27 in 22 innings last year, his still relatively poor control looks like a massive improvement. A couple of weeks ago I had him pegged as a relief only prospect who might need to move stateside if his velocity overwhelmed DSL hitters. Given his age and arm strength, having him try to be a starting pitcher is a real upside move. If he continues to make improvements he will be one of the must watch seasons for the Phillies DSL teams.
Notes and Thoughts
- You probably don’t want to see 4 walks on Mick Abel’s line, but overall he threw strikes (63 on 98 pitches and a 54% zone%) and worked through trouble. Abel’s stuff also wasn’t as dominant as it was in the majors with his fastball averaging 96, almost 1.5 mph lower than his MLB debut, but close to where he has been in AAA. It was a disappointing start if you wanted to see the dominance from last week carry over, but if you thought his season up to this point had been good, this was just more of how good he has been in AAA this year.
- Strikeouts are a good bit down for Justin Crawford in May and his 1 strikeout in 5 games this week certainly was a big contributor to that. He also picked up 4 walks, so it wasn’t just him putting everything he saw into play.
- Otto Kemp’s bat had been quiet for most of the month, but he picked up two home runs vs the Bisons this week. He did strikeout 9 times and his K% is up at 31% for the month of May.
- It continued to be an odd month for Gabriel Rincones Jr. He went 0-14 this week, but had 6 walks and 5 strikeouts. He is only hitting .140 this month, but has 19 walks and 20 strikeouts in 17 games, so his OBP is 62 points higher in May than March/April.
- It continues to be a slow process for Andrew Painter who is still capped at about 70 pitches an outing. His fastball is sitting more in the 95-97 range than some of the dynamic upside we have seen, and we will eventually get to see if that is more management than just what he is. His breaking ball consistency seems to continue to be a problem, and this week he did not go to the changeup much. Overall, it is looking like the time at Lehigh Valley is actually needed.
- It has not been a good season for Bryan Rincon who has been just as bad in May as he was to start the season. He has faced very few pitchers from the right side, but has largely struggled against them (1 for 26 with a home run). However, this week he hit .300/.391/.650 with a big grand slam to go with 2 doubles, a triple, and a respectable 3 walks to 5 strikeouts over the 6 games.
- Carson DeMartini has not hit for as much power as expected, but he did hit two out this week. Concerningly, his batting after has fallen this month as the strikeouts continue to be high, even with the reduced power production.
- It was a very poor start for Alex McFarlane this week (3 IP 3 H 3 R 2 ER 4 BB 0 K), but he also had to deal with a postponement, poor weather, and a very good offense from Brooklyn. He looks to be settling into the 92-96 (fading over the course his starts) with the occasional 97-98 early. Hopefully this week was more of a bump than a trend.
- Eduardo Tait had a 4 hit game to highlight his week, but 0 walks and 7 strikeouts in 5 games continue to pile on the concerning trends about his approach as he now has 7 walks and 37 strikeouts in his 37 games this year. He continues to be very free swinging and that will continue to be exploited.
- Saul Teran just continues to be dominant out of the Threshers bullpen. The short righty had 7 strikeouts in 3.1 innings this week and now has 30 strikeouts to go with just 3 walks in 17 innings.
- The FCL Phillies team continues to be miserable, but Isaias Dipre just keeps hitting. He went 4-9 in 3 games with 3 walks, 0 strikeouts, and his 6th double in 12 games.
- Manolfi Jimenez is mostly having an ok return trip to the FCL and hit .188 this week after three straight 0-4 games, but I did want to call out he was a double short of a cycle in a 7 inning game to start the week.
- It was not a good return from injury for Eiberson Castellano who was 94-96 and very hittable while also walking 3 in 1.1 innings.
Injuries and Transactions
- Cole Roberts (REA), Trent Farquhar (JS), Gabe Mosser (LHV), Angel Mata (FCL), Luis Avila (CLW), Erik Ritchie (FCL), Andrew Baker (JS), and Josh Hejka (REA) assigned to new levels
- Nabil Crismatt and Micah Ottenbreit added to 7-day IL
- Jack Dallas, Ryan Dromboski, and Jordan Viars added to Development List
- Andrew Walling, Nolan Beltran, Orlando Gonzalez, Angel Mata, and Eduardo Lopez activated from IL
- Alex Binelas signed and assigned to Reading
- Lucas Sims signed and assigned to FCL Phillies
- Wil Crowe signed and assigned to Reading
- Eiberson Castellano, Jordan Dissin, and Andrew Walling assigned to Jersey Shore on rehab
- Giussepe Velasquez sent on rehab assignment to FCL Phillies
- Moises Chace moved to full season IL
Links and Things
Videos and Posts
I looked up Saul Teran the other day after noticing some good counting stats. I noticed he’s a little old for A ball. Anything you see to suggest he could be a quick mover if he continues to show this kind of success at the lower levels?
I don’t know if he is a quick mover towards the majors or if he really is a major league prospect (chance he is an up and down reliever), but given where they use him, they trust him and I would like to see him get the bump to Jersey Shore at some point.