*This will be brief because of writing the midseason Top 30, so I hope you all understand
Hitting Spotlight: Scott Kingery 6-13 2B 3 K
Some people on Twitter this weekend pointed out I haven’t talked much about the Phillies’ 2nd round pick Scott Kingery, which I realize has a lot to do with me staring at rankings and unwritten pieces, but Scott is worth talking about. This past weekend wasn’t the best 3 games of Kingery’s short pro career, but he is hitting .375 over his past 10 games and over his 30 game career he is batting .279/.347/.405 for Lakewood. That isn’t setting the world on fire, but he is in full season ball unlike his contemporaries in short season, and he is doing it in a fairly sustainable way. Kingery isn’t going to mash a ton of home runs, he won’t strikeout much, he is going to play solid defense, and he is going to steal some bases at some point. It is not a huge tools filled profile, but it is a starting second baseman in the major league. Given that he is hitting in low-A it is not unreasonable to think that the Phillies could push him all the way to AA to start next year which could get him to the majors by late 2016 if it all goes perfectly.
Pitching Spotlight: Tyler Gilbert 5 IP 3 H 0 R 0 BB 6 K (69 pitches 49 strikes)
Gilbert was the Phillies’ 6th round pick this year and came with little fanfare as he was a guy splitting time between the rotation and bullpen for USC. However, through his first five games while the org stretches him out, he has been very good putting up 2 walks (both were in his first appearance) to 18 strikeouts with a 2.04 ERA over 17.2 innings. On Saturday he was 89-91 touching 92 with some movement, he matched that with a changeup and curveball that show some positive signs, but need some further work. As you would expect from a 6th round college arm his ceiling is not huge, but he already looks better than the pre-draft reports. Last year the Phillies took FSU LHP Brandon Leibrandt in the same round and I already like Gilbert more than Leibrandt at the same level. Leibrandt had a better changuep and command, but Gilbert has the fastball and three pitch mix that he could be a decent starting pitcher down the line. There is also less mileage on his arm than similar pitchers so it will be interesting to see how he develops going forward.
Does Kingery have a MLB comp?
way to keep it classy Big Donger , hilarious
@ Matt
that was short and sweet but well done as always and much appreciated
Glad to hear Kingery could be in Reading next yr. I was thinking that too after Ultey and Valentin before the Draft there wasn’t much at 2nd base . The phillies put Tobias at 2nd too .