A Critical Look at the Phillies Organization and Minor League Baseball
The Phillies system is not just the 50 players that were on the list I wrote earlier this offseason. The difference between players that made the list and those that did not is often not large. My goal is to highlight every player in the system that I found interesting, with an eye towards players … Read more
In the last five weeks, we have seen Phillies 2B Cesar Hernandez suffer an oblique injury and AAA 2B Jesmuel Valentin have shoulder surgery, shutting down his season. Meanwhile, down in Reading, Scott Kingery continued to rake. All of Phillies nation has been clamoring for a while now that he should get the call-up to … Read more
Clearwater technically has not wrapped up the first half of its season (it has two more games with Daytona before that), but the All-Star break gives as good a time as any to check in on the Threshers to see how things are going in Florida. Crawford Rampages: For a month J.P. Crawford used the … Read more
Time to return from our draft high to talk about existing prospects and their ailments. Kelly Dugan Dugan has been sidelined since spring due to a stress fracture in his foot. He has been playing in Extended Spring Training for a couple of weeks now. Today the Phillies activated Dugan from the Reading DL and … Read more
Best Matchup: Friday – Clearwater – Brandon Leibrandt vs Kohl Stewart I have not been the highest on Brandon Leibrandt among those that follow the organization, but he is putting up big numbers so far. His fastball velocity has ticked up slightly from 86-88 to 88-90 which is enough to close the gap that he … Read more
Team Page Overview: Last year the Threshers were possibly the worst team in minor league baseball at the start of the season. They had no players in my Top 30 Phillies prospects and even beyond that it was mostly filler to make out of a roster. Eventually Roman Quinn and J.P. Crawford arrived, and they … Read more
The Top 50 starts at the very bottom, where the differences in rankings are very slight compared to the differences between players towards the top of the list. That does not mean it lacks for talent, but these ten players still have a lot growth in front of them before we can consider them among the … Read more
Yesterday I wrote my recap of the Williamsport Crosscutters, today here is our interview with Mitch Rupert about his impressions of the Crosscutters’ 2014 season. Before we jump into talking about players why don’t you introduce yourself and where people can find your writing? My name is Mitch Rupert and I’m a sports writer with the Williamsport … Read more
Team: Williamsport Crosscutters
Record: 33-44
Standing: 6th in Pinckney Division
Top Hitter Stat Lines:
Drew Stankiewicz – 23 G – 1 HR – 3 SB – .329/.485/.418
Jiandido Tromp – 69 G – 14 HR – 16 SB – .273/.325/.498
Rhys Hoskins – 70 G – 9 HR – 3 SB – .237/.311/.408
Top Pitching Lines:
David Whitehead – 74.0 IP – 2.19 ERA – 8 BB – 43 K
Ricardo Pinto – 47.0 IP – 2.11 ERA – 15 BB – 48 K
Brandon Leibrandt – 41.0 IP – 2.20 ERA – 8 BB – 45 K
Edubray Ramos – 22.2 IP – 0.79 ERA – 2 BB – 24 K
We will be spending all offseason talking about prospects, so this is the moment to honor those that put up the best statistical years for the organization. This list was put together with input from the staff here.
Catcher:
Andrew Knapp (.290/.354/.438 5 HR LKW)
It was a rough start for Knapp in his comeback from Tommy John surgery, but the former second round pick bounced back with a very good season in the South Atlantic League.