Ricardo Pinto’s strong start has shades of Yoel Mecias

This winter Ricardo Pinto turned a few heads with some high rankings on Phillies top prospect lists.   He had just made his stateside debut in Williamsport on a team that does not get a ton of eyes.  On first glance Pinto is not physically what you would expect from a good starting pitcher prospect … Read more

2015 Lakewood Preview/Guide

Team Page Overview: The BlueClaws are far from the most stacked team in the system, the only top 10 prospects are defensive minded Deivi Grullon and Carlos Tocci.  The pitching staff is fairly unheralded, but features a pair of very interesting Latin arms in Ricardo Pinto and Elniery Garcia that join a pair of returning … Read more

Lakewood BlueClaws set Pitching Rotation

The BlueClaws have announced that they will going with a 6 man rotation to start the season.  Right now their rotation will be RHP Ricardo Pinto, LHP Josh Taylor, RHP Tyler Viza, RHP Ranfi Casimiro, RHP Chris Oliver, and LHP Elniery Garcia.  Viza and Casimiro return to Lakewood after up and down years (both probably … Read more

2015 Top 50 Phillies Prospects: 11-20

As we get closer to the top 10, the players in the system start to separate themselves into specific tiers of talent and profile.  In the last three groups of 10 the players could arguably have been slotted in many different orders.  Here those groups become smaller and the order starts to become more important.  I am making … Read more

2014 Williamsport Crosscutters Recap: Interview with Mitch Rupert

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

2014 Williamsport Crosscutters Recap

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

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Low Minors Starting Rotation Crunch

The Phillies entered the season with one of the thinnest systems in terms of starting pitching in major leagues.  Through the draft, international development, and trades the Phillies have turned this weakness into a strength.  The result has been starting rotations in the low minors that ended the year in 6 and 7 man rotations … Read more