Another weekend of action ahead of us with 8 teams going per day. No matchup really stood out, but I can always highlight days that Franklyn Kilome starts.
Lehigh Valley: (vs Louisville)
Friday: Chad Billingsley
Saturday: Jason Berken
Sunday: Severino Gonzalez
After Maikel Franco got his promotion the IronPigs were rather bare. Since then they have gain Aaron Nola, Aaron Altherr, Gabriel Lino, and now Nefi Ogando. It isn’t exactly the full cavalry but it is an improvement. The rotation is a train wreck after the promotion of Adam Morgan and Phillippe Aumont electing free agency. I would assume that someone will get the bump from Reading rotation to Lehigh Valley.
Reading: (vs Akron – Friday, @Portland)
Friday: Ben Lively (Game 1), TBD (Game 2)
Saturday: Jesse Biddle
Sunday: Zach Eflin
Reading continues to be the center of the Phillies prospect world as they trade out Aaron Altherr for Andrew Knapp. Jesse Biddle has looked better of late, and Zach Eflin goes back and forth between good and dominant. Lively looks like a back end starter and Windle has been a disaster (but is still early in his career). Otherwise J.P. Crawford is a stud and Kelly Dugan just keeps hitting.
Clearwater: (vs Dunedin – Friday @Charlotte)
Friday: Victor Arano
Saturday: Ricardo Pinto
Sunday: TBD
On the hitting side, Clearwater loses Knapp to Reading, but adds Rhys Hoskins and Malquin Canelo to the already added Carlos Tocci. Overall the Threshers are red hot right now after charging to a first half title in the FSL North. Victor Arano will look to turn his season around, he is very young and his stuff is still good, he just needs to get through a lineup twice. Ricardo Pinto was masterful his first time out as he was able to pitch at 91-94 touching 96 while mixing in his plus changeup. Sunday’s starter is still TBD as rainouts shuffled the rotation up.
Lakewood: (@Hickory)
Friday: Ranfi Casimiro
Saturday: Chris Oliver
Sunday: Elniery Garcia
Lakewood might get the short end of the roster shuffle this week. They shipped out Carlos Tocci, Rhys Hoskins, Malquin Canelo, and Ricardo Pinto in exchange for Kyle Martin, Scott Kingery, Gustavo Martinez, and Yoel Mecias. Martin and Kingery will be interesting as they make their pro-debuts at the full season level. Both started their careers off with hits yesterday. Cord Sandberg has been “hot” of late, but the in person looks have been far from optimistic. The rotation is a bit thin as Casimiro has been less than sharp for a few starts now. Oliver has struggled of late, especially with his control. Garcia is solid if unspectacular.
Williamsport: (vs Batavia – Fri/Sat @Mahoning Valley – Sunday)
Friday: Franklyn Kilome
Saturday: Jose Taveras
Sunday: Mitch Gueller
Williamsport is now the most exciting team in the Phillies system. #KilomeDay has become a trending thing, but Denton Keys actually had the best performance of the Crosscutters’ 7-0 start. Jose Pujols and Venn Biter are destroying baseball and Pujols in particular seems like he is teetering on just exploding. So far he has had a ton of success lining the ball the other way, once he starts to pull the ball he could go on a home run tear for a while.
Outside Pujols and Biter, Jesus Posso is unfortunately stuck at first base right now and should be playing catcher where he has good upside. Jose Taveras throws a ton of strikes and doesn’t have terrible stuff either. Mitch Gueller is nearing the end of the line because of all of the depth around him, but he has looked marginally better of late. In the lineup Zach Coppola and Brendon Hayden have come out on fire (Hayden hitting and Coppola with everything involving running). This all isn’t doing the Crosscutters justice as they are playing loose and easy with aggressive baseball and lots of hitting to go with solid pitching.
‘Mitch Gueller is nearing the end of the line because of all of the depth around him, but he has looked marginally better of late’….I wonder if anyone has noticed how many Northwestern HS high Rule 4 draftees (top ten round picks) seem to fall short? Except for Andrew Pullin, many are struggling or left the system….Walding, Gueller, and Mattair to name three. Will see how this year’s group does, ie Falter.
Wondering why the Phillies persist in that market, ilo of more say in Georgia, Florida, Texas and Southern Cal
It seems like better weather better players , and for obvious reasons the mire time you can play the better you can become, however and this is a big however there are always diamonds , heck trout is Millville of all places , ever been to Millville you ain’t missing that much , but once again bad weather in a long winter, sorry for anybody who lives in Millville , move if you can
Hey PhillySF….MattWinks is a Mount Holly guy from way back….not to far from Millville and Rt 49. he may take offense 🙂
And I notice mattwinks doesnt call Mount Holly home anymore , its also not that close, had he been from say Vineland than maybe , well then again I seem to recall a millville vs vineland rivalry but its been a while ,so I might be mistaken, atleast I did say sorry
phillysf….you are correct, Vineland and Millville are pretty. And rivalry does exist. This year the Carpenter Cup was wrestled from the south Jersey kids…they had won it last year.
And Mt Holly is a little ways north…. about a half-hour or so drive.