Minor League Games, September 16-21, 2025

[Austinfan]

Kind of a tough assignment, pitching one game in AAA with the ML baseball (for some reason they use a different ball at levels below AAA).

There are two different types of baseballs at the professional baseball level, Minor League and Major League baseballs. All Minor League Levels from Rookie Ball to AA use Minor League baseballs, while AAA and the Majors use Major League baseballs. Minor League baseballs are known to be a little softer, and have different seams as well, compared to Major League baseballs. In 2019, AAA teams started to use baseballs that are held to the same standard as Major League baseballs to aid in the transition from the Minor Leagues to the MLB.

Many players can tell the difference between the two baseballs used in professional baseball instantly. Major League baseballs are slicker and harder to get a grip with compared to Minor League baseballs. Another difference is that Major League baseballs are harder and wound tighter, thus aiding in higher exit velocities and further distances upon making contact with the ball. Many pitchers claim that once they get used to the seams on Major League baseballs, their pitches are sharper and move more than with Minor League baseballs.

Types of Baseballs: Differences by League and Age Group

[zambonir]

Well, it's not like it's his first time (between major league ST and his three years of previous AAA work, however badly/briefly). I'm sure they just want to give him a look and the game is basically meaningless.

[andyb]

Aidan Miller and Felix Reyes both with AAA HRs last night.

[andyb]

Also, Matt is back from vacation:

Phillies Minor League Recap (Week 22-25 8/22-9/16)

[Austinfan]

Don't know what to make of Reyes, yes, he totally lacks plate discipline, but he rakes.
That might make him a dangerous pinch hitter, we'll see.
A Rincones/Reyes platoon might be interesting down the road.

[julio]

Don't know what to make of Reyes, yes, he totally lacks plate discipline, but he rakes.

Steve Potter did an extensive writeup on Reyes last week:

9/11/25 : Updated - Minor League Spotlight - Felix Reyes

[phillychuck]

As a companion to the spin component of pitching, we have the plate discipline of hitters. Is it teachable? Can anyone who is interested learn it? The wildest swingers I remember from years ago were Roberto Clemente and Manny Sanguillen, who both were excellent hitters (Clemente much better, of course) despite lacking plate discipline. Clemente improved his discipline late in his career with a couple of 9.5% BB% seasons (among many seasons around 5%); Sanguilllen was routinely below 4%. I think 5% would be high for Reyes...he’s been at about 4.5% for his last two minor league seasons. Reyes is a fascinating prospect to have in the system. Is he going to try to be selective at all? Or can he advance to AAA and keep raking while swinging at almost everything?

One of the encouraging properties of Aiden Miller is he is already a disciplined hitter. 15.5% BB% is probably unsustainably high.

[phillychuck]

Just thinking about LV next year. If no one gets promoted to MLB, they could have an outfield with Crawford, Rincones, and maybe Rojas, Miller at SS, Castro at 2B, Reyes at 1B, a free agent or Kemp at 3B, FA catcher...might be4 an interesting team with a lot more prospect-types than usual in AAA. DeMartini might play there, too, if he has a good month in Arizona.

[Austinfan]

Manny Sanguillen was sui generis.
I saw him hit balls inches off the ground or over his head.

[zambonir]

Castro at 2B

Castro was outrighted and re-signed with the Phillies last year, would he do so again? I would think being passed over for a 40-man spot twice in the past week doesn't feel good.

One might also wonder if Stubbs will be non-tendered. Or tendered with the understanding that he probably gets DFAed and clears (good pay if you can get it). But the point being, does he want to a better shot at getting back to MLB or is he ready to transition to minor league vet/future coach?

[andyb]

I saw him hit balls inches off the ground or over his head.

So? Just because something is possible does not mean you automatically say any prospect can do it. The whole point of these threads is to discuss minor leaguers and rank them on their chances of success at the next level. It is not about hoping and wishing. It is about analysis based upon the statistical, analytical, and scouting data that we have.

On that data Reyes has significant holes in his games. He also has tools which of course you discount when it is a prospect you do not like. Also a bit old for the level and defensively challenged. There is room for a nuanced discussion about the chances of success for a prospect at higher levels. But there is a non-zero possibility that Reyes' swing issues will negate much chance of big league success.

[Austinfan]

What are you talking about? When i say Sanguillen was sui generis, that means he was one of a kind.

Reyes may always have a low walk rate, but if he's a wild swinger ML pitchers will never throw a strike to him.

But AAA pitchers are good about that, lots of veterans who know how to throw "junk" off the plate. We'll see next season if he has the discipline to wait for a pitch he can hit - but give his BA and high average exit velocity he's pretty good at making contact, which means he's probably not chasing too many obvious balls.

[andyb]

Sometimes it is hard to know what your point is. You constantly post about prospects who "could be outliers" in the hope that they might make it. You seem to downgrade tools and scouting reports. You have posted about Reyes probably dozens of times saying he is an interesting prospect ignoring most of the negatives. Now are we supposed to believe that you think Reyes is not really a prospect? It is just hard to know your point when you post. We don't really need to know about your philosophy. We just want to discuss how good these prospects are.

[Austinfan]

Reyes is an unusual prospect.
He obviously can hit, though you'd like to see him repeat next year against AAA pitching.
He's always had a high exit velocity, but struggled in 2023, but also missed a year of development due to COVID.
Like Kemp, doesn't have a position, but athletic enough to play a number of positions, but whether his defense is good enough to start at any of them remains to be seen.

I'd like to see him walk more, but given his power, he can probably get away with a 5% BB rate if he keeps his K rate under 20%, because he should have a high BABIP at every level.
It's an unusual approach, but he may be able to make sufficient contact to make it work.

He's not Miller, Crawford or Escobar, but has positioned himself as a solid 2nd tier prospect, possible utility player and/or RH platoon. If he could master a position he might push to start full-time.

[harrisburghusker]

I'd be watching Crawford, Miller, Rincones and Painter. That's a real prospect heavy team.

Rincones could really develop into something with his power, speed and he draws a lot of walks.

Crawford and Miller should be franchise cornerstones and I'd look for Painter to take a jump as he wears the 2 year post surgery recovery

[andyb]

Reyes is an unusual prospect.
He obviously can hit,

It is actually NOT obvious that he can hit. He obviously has some power. He also has shown he can hit younger and less experienced pitchers with an approach that historically has not succeeded at higher levels.

You are twisting yourself into pretzel logic loops over your Reyes posts. He is an interesting but very flawed prospect at the moment. We all want him to advance levels and show more plate discipline. That is hope though, not evaluation.

[andyb]

Rincones could really develop into something with his power, speed and he draws a lot of walks.

I agree that Rincones has an interesting collection of tools and skills that could help this team. One note though is the speed is generally below average. He appears to be a good baserunner that can take advantage of situations, but I think the speed is more of a 40 tool. The power is real but the swing and miss is very real too. Remember that AAA is easier these days than in the past. An 800 OPS is really not an indication of major league ability any more especially from a slightly older player.

That being said, I do see a path to being a platoon player on the strong side of a platoon (i.e. against RHP). He has an 878 OPS against RHP so that IS almost major league quality. Downside is that he is unplayable against LHP. Not Marsh or Kepler style of 600-ish OPS unplayable. More unplayable at any level. He has a 328 OPS against LHP which is really hard to do. Can he hold down a major league roster spot as an automatic out when the opposing team switches pitchers? Short bench really means no pinch hitting until the 8th or 9th in most cases.

I really think Rincones needs to be passable against LHP to be a major leaguer. Send him to winter ball somewhere with explicit instructions to play him against all pitching (and not just RHP). That is hard to do in the Dominican but maybe in a lesser league somewhere.

[harrisburghusker]

Thanks for the additional info on Rincones...He's had some decent SB numbers in the past, so I thought that was a passable tool.

[phillychuck]

I think I am more optimistic about Reyes as a prospect than I am about Rincones. I guess I think it is easier to teach patience and selectivity than it is to teach bat-to-ball skill, even though neither is especially easy to learn. Rincones has the edge defensively, being at least a passable outfielder, though some think he’s more like Castellanos than Kepler in the field.

[Matt_Winkelman]

Rincones (vs RHP) doesn’t have particularly poor bat to ball skills, though he does struggle to elevate the ball for someone with his power (with is 97th percentile for 90th EV and 100th for max). His zone contact and swing and miss vs offspeed are 50th percentile for 90th for AAA hitters and his chase rates are well above average. He is not aggressive in the zone and doesn’t pull the ball. For comparison, Otto Kemp is 29th percentile in zone contact and 17th in whiffs while being below average in chase. That is a long way of saying selectivity (really aggression) is Rincones problem over contact.