The Phillies prospects faced off against their Tigers counterparts on Thursday afternoon, and after jumping out to the early lead, fell 5-1 behind from some poor defense, bad pitch location, and two Jace Jung home runs. It was however, a one game exhibition featuring an extremely young Phillies lineup.
The youth was very apparent on the Phillies side. Only one hitter, Carlos De La Cruz has seen time in Reading, and there were 4 other hitters who had made it as far as Jersey Shore. Two members of the starting lineup had yet to actually play a game stateside, and 4 others had not yet played full season ball. On the pitching side, the first three pitchers (Abel, McGarry, and Mercado) all are ticketed for Lehigh Valley, but the rest were all A-ball arms.
Justin Crawford reached base 3 times in 4 trips to the plate. He is noticeably larger, but it was hard to get a good feel for any swing changes he has made. He drew a walk in his third trip to the plate in a big spot, and it was good to see him lay off pitches. He, Bryan Rincon, and De La Cruz played the full game. The other two were relatively quiet with Rincon drawing a walk and De La Cruz scalding a ball, but Rincon’s error cost a run and De La Cruz is still struggling with contact.
Aidan Miller brought in the first run on a single, was hit by a pitch, and should have walked in a run had the Phillies challenged a strike 3 call. That strike 3 and a Gabriel Rincones double play, erased a bases loaded no outs situation. Miller has a great feel for the strike zone and should thrive in the FSL if they use the ABS system this year.
The rest of the bats looked relatively overmatched. Eduardo Tait hung in against upper 90s from Ty Madden, but was taken apart by lefty sliders in his first at bat. Starlyn Caba and TJayy Walton picked up singles. Devin Saltiban nearly hit one out in his first trip to the plate before having to face Wilmer Flores for the last out of the game. It was a lot of experienced arms for the Tigers so it was not a huge surprise that the mostly teenage contingent of Phillies bats struggled.
On the mound, Mick Abel’s command was a bit loose, and he left a changeup middle middle to Jung. After giving up a double to Josue Briceno in the second, he struck out the next three when he went to his offspeed pitches. Abel doesn’t have the ace look right now, but he was 94-96 with more ride on his 4-seamer today and really showed how a diverse arsenal can work for him.
Michael Mercado is apparently being stretched out some. He was good in his first inning (though he did walk two), as you would predict for a guy who looked good in big league camp. However, once the velocity started slipping, so did the command and the second inning was less successful. He threw 44 pitches, which was definitely a surprise.
Griff McGarry is definitely still a work in progress. He gave up Jung’s second home run of the day on cutter over the plate. He walked another, but ultimately got three strikeouts because his fastball is still very good. You an see why relief will work for McGarry, but the command is certainly not there yet.
Samuel Aldegheri’s line doesn’t look great (Jean Cabrera let both walks score), but he showed increased velocity and was 93-95 on the mound with good life on his fastball. The secondary pitch command was lacking and while his slider is a nice pitch, they aren’t overwhelming enough offerings to hold up on their own. The increased velocity is something to watch closely because it could really solidify him as a back end starter.
On the subject of increased velocity, Jean Cabrera might have been overthrowing, but was 95-97 out of the bullpen. He went to the slider and changeup in his second inning, but came out pumping sinkers when he first came in. The slider is a solid pitch, but he was definitely exclusively throwing it for a chase to righties and they just were not biting. With that more sweeping slider he is going to need to keep it closer to the zone and land for strikes enough to make guys actually chase it.
Wesley Moore was the last arm out of the bullpen for the Phillies and you can see why he was great in the low minors last year. The two batters he faced had no real idea what the changeup was out of his hand.
Overall, a win and better performances would be nice, but the Phillies decided to reward the young guys in the system (which is also where much of their talent actually is) and it made for a nice little showcase and preview of the season to come.