Minor League Games - Saturday, June 2, 2018

[kikutaro]

Toledo Mud Hens (35-19) @ Lehigh Valley IronPigs (29-25) 6:35 pm | Gameday
Drew VerHagen (2-0, 1.32) vs. Tom Eshelman (1-5, 7.06)

Final
Toledo 8, Lehigh Valley 7

Notable

Collin Cowgill 1-3, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2B
Danny Ortiz 1-4, R, 2 RBI, 2B, BB, K
Joey Meneses 2-5, K
Trevor Plouffe 2-4, 2 RBI
Damek Tomscha 2-5, 2 K
Adron Chambers 1-4, R, 2 K
Matt McBride 1-3, 2 R, RBI, HR, BB, K

Tom Eshelman (L, 1-5), 0.1 IP, 7H, 7R, 7ER, 0BB, 0K, game score: 1
Brandon Leibrandt 2.2 IP, 0H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 2K
Tom Windle 2.0 IP, 2H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 3K
Austin Davis 2.0 IP, 0H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 2K

Richmond Flying Squirrels (27-24) @ Reading Fightin Phils (23-30) 6:45 pm | Gameday
Chase Johnson (0-1, 2.84) vs. Ranger Suárez (2-2, 3.75)

Final
Reading 5, Richmond 4

Notable

Malquin Canelo 2-4, RBI
Zach Green 1-4, 2 R
Jan Hernandez 2-4, R, RBI, 2B, K
Austin Bossart 2-4, R, 2 RBI, HR

Ranger Suarez 7.0 IP, 5H, 1R, 1ER, 1BB, 2K, game score: 69
Edgar Garcia (BS, 1)(W, 4-1), 2.0 IP, 3H, 3R, 3ER, 2BB, 0K

Florida Fire Frogs (22-28) @ Clearwater Threshers (22-30) 6:15 pm | Gameday
Ian Anderson (0-3, 3.68) vs. Nick Fanti (1-2, 6.46)

Final
Clearwater 10, Florida 6

Notable

J.P. Crawford 2-5, 2 R, RBI, K
Adam Haseley 2-5, 2 R, K, SB
Austin Listi 3-3, 3 R, 4 RBI, 2B, HR, 2 BB
Henri Lartigue 1-4, R, 2 RBI, 2B, K
Mickey Moniak 2-4, RBI, K
Arquimedes Gamboa 2-5, RBI, K
Jose Pujols 1-3, RBI, 2 BB
Jose Gomez 0-3, R, BB, SB
Raul Rivas 2-5, R, K

Nick Fanti (W, 1-2), 6.0 IP, 1H, 1R, 1ER, 2BB, 4K, game score: 65

Hickory Crawdads (20-30) @ Lakewood BlueClaws (32-23) 7:05 pm | Gameday
Tyler Phillips (2-5, 3.54) vs. Damon Jones (4-2, 1.88)

Final
Lakewood 7, Hickory 0

Notable

Jake Scheiner 1-4, R, BB, K
Jhailyn Ortiz 4-4, RBI
Jesus Alastre 2-4, R
Daniel Brito 1-3, R, BB, K
Rodolfo Duran 1-4, R, 2 RBI, K
Josh Stephen 2-3, R, 2 RBI, 2B, BB
Kevin Markham 1-4, R, SB

Damon Jones (W, 4-2), 7.0 IP, 3H, 0R, 0ER, 3BB, 8K, game score: 78

DSL Nationals (1-0) @ DSL Phillies Red (0-1) 10:30 am | Gameday
N/A vs. N/A

Game Over
DSL Nationals 8, DSL Phillies Red 2

Notable

Giuseppe Peguero 1-4, BB, K
Johan Rojas 0-4, 2 K
Victor Alfonso 1-3, 2B, BB, K
Wilson Valdez 1-3, R, BB, SB
Juan Carlos Smith 1-3, RBI, 3B, 2 K, CS

Jose Perez 4.0 IP, 5H, 1R, 1ER, 2BB, 2K, game score: 49
Hernando Mejia (L, 0-1), 1.0 IP, 2H, 2R, 2ER, 2BB, 1K
Jose Palacio 2.0 IP, 3H, 2R, 1ER, 0BB, 3K
Ruben Aponte 2.0 IP, 1H, 3R, 3ER, 3BB, 1K

DSL Phillies White (1-0) @ DSL Tigers1 (0-1) 10:30 am | Gameday
N/A vs. N/A

Final
DSL Phillies White 6, DSL Tigers1 2

Notable

Carlos Mendoza 1-5, R, 2 RBI, 3B
Luiggi Mujica 2-5, RBI, K
Jose Cedeno 1-5, R, RBI, K, 3 SB
Jevi Hernandez 0-4, BB, SB
Juan Herrera 1-4, R, RBI, BB, K
Raymond Mora 1-4, R, 2 K
Ellian Rondon 1-2, 2 R, 2 BB, K, SB

Engel Estevez (W, 1-0), 5.0 IP, 2H, 0R, 0ER, 1BB, 4K, game score: 68
Efrain Morales (H, 1), 2.0 IP, 1H, 1R, 1ER, 1BB, 0K
Luis Pacheco 2.0 IP, 3H, 1R, 0ER, 0BB, 4K

(click on the start time for box scores)

[andyb]

DSL opening day!

[allentown]

A good day for much of the Allentown team, but a truly exceptional day for Eshelman, and not in a good way. I think he must be hurt. He's been absolutely terrible this year, but today, but today is a step down to unbelievably awful. I wonder why the manager left him in so long, as he was only able to get a single out.

[bigegypt0417]

2 hits for haseley and moniak.

4 hits for ortiz.

[phillychuck]

I believe Austin Listi is now leading the FSL in OBP and second in BA and OPS. He was 3/3 with 2 BB and HR.

Bump him to Lehigh Valley--there's no one there I would care about missing ABs.

Looks like Ortiz really figured things out (or got heathy) while he was on the DL in CLW.

[phillychuck]

A good day for much of the Allentown team, but a truly exceptional day for Eshelman, and not in a good way. I think he must be hurt. He's been absolutely terrible this year, but today, but today is a step down to unbelievably awful. I wonder why the manager left him in so long, as he was only able to get a single out.

This is one of those mysteries that sometimes happens in the minors--someone who used to dominate at a lower level gets promoted and then can't even get guys out 2 or 3 levels below where he was once a star. I don't get that kind of stuff--maybe a pitcher is hurt or loses the feel for an important pitch or gets his mechanics irreparably broken. It's a really frustrating mystery sometimes. I'll bet right now Eschelman would get hammered in Lakewood, he's just lost something completely. This sort of happened with Thompson, too.

[schooldoc]

After retiring the first batter, Eshelman allowed 7 straight hits--all in under 30 pitches, the last straw being a 3-run HR. It's kind of hard to get somebody warmed up to come in that fast, especially when you'd really rather not pull a guy in the 1st inning.

Nice to see the other 3 starters tonight--all the lefties--perform well.

There are a number of promotion candidates among the starting pitchers, especially at Lakewood and Clearwater. The numbers game over the next 2-3 weeks could be interesting.

[Austinfan]

Eshelman has to be hurt, it's not that much harder pitching in Lehigh than Reading.
Loss of command usually occurs before loss of velocity as a pitcher overthrows trying to maintain his velocity.

Pujols had 2 BB, 0 K, long way to go, but it looks like he's starting to figure it out.

Listi needs to get promoted, he's overage and dominating, is he for real? Broke out his senior year two years after taking a season off to try and become a Seal - so he does have extenuating circumstances.
BB is was only 3.3% at Lakewood last year, but 15.3% as a college senior, now it's back up to 10.9% and climbing - which looks like a guy who realizes he belongs and isn't trying to hit his way up the ladder anymore.
He isn't hitting for as much power as he did in college or the wood bat leagues right now, but that may change.

[Philsmania]

Moniak, Haseley and Ortiz a combined 9 for 13 tonight, ALL SINGLES. Useless.

[andyb]

Moniak, Haseley and Ortiz a combined 9 for 13 tonight, ALL SINGLES. Useless.

While strikeouts are not awful, at bats that don't end in Ks are still good things, especially for a power hitter like Ortiz where managing his K rate will be important. Yes this is just balancing out bad luck from earlier in the year, but singles are not completely useless.

[phillychuck]

9/13 is never useless.

I'm sure some of those hits were barreled up. I think with minor leaguers BABIP luck is over-emphasized, maybe over-emphasized in general. A higher percentage of barrel contact results in singles as opposed to jam shots, pop ups, and topped grounders.

[bigegypt0417]

Kind if looking for the negative in everything, eh?

[allentown]

I thought that Philsmania was clearly being facetious. Of course this result is good. To me, it raises a far larger point -- the Phillies scouts are drafting players for high OBP skills and the development staff are trying to convert them to very different hitters with more loft in their swing for more power. Moniak should never have been picked 1.1 if the organization intended to substantially bulk him up and change him into a different type of hitter. The 1.1 pick should not be used for such drastic experiments. It is far too valuable. If they didn't like Moniak as he was, Senzel was the obvious choice. This is a problem with the top management: GM and up the line. It is their job to get the scouting and development staffs on the same page. If I were Almaraz, I'd be very upset now. We have a very primo 1.3 pick tomorrow. Whomever we take, please please be consistent in approach. Intend to refine the guy's skills. Don't remake him. That often ends very poorly and a primo draft pick is not the opportunity to test your pet theory.

[phillychuck]

Amen. I think our problem right now is in development, not scouting. BTW, Moniak was reportedly a very good defensive CF and had useful speed when he was drafted. He didn't just have a hit tool.

[flyers19rw]

IIRC, Moniak had the hit tool for a H.S. prospect but not the power. Was projected as a .280 + hitter with a good eye but around twelve HR power. Right now that would look decent in the Phillies line up. Atown is right, IMO, if you don't like what you see, then don't draft them. My fear right now is that this launch angle, power stuff that is taking over the game is going to affect the draft along with ruining a lot of young players. HRs are nice but all of the Ks that are coming with it are a problem. Get them on, move them over, knock them in still scores a run. The old Maury Wills home run. Walk, SB or two, add in a SAC, it was a run or the start of a rally

[miker]

Moniak, Haseley and Ortiz a combined 9 for 13 tonight, ALL SINGLES. Useless.

Worked well for Rod Carew and Tony Gwynn.

[Austinfan]

I disagree, when you draft a HS player, it's all about projection, you're drafting athleticism, eye to hand coordination, reflexes, etc. Rarely is a HS player so physically developed that you know what the final product will look like, whereas a 21 year old college player has filled out for the most part and is usually playing against good enough competition (especially in top summer wood bat leagues) to judge his ML potential.

Moniak may fail, or the light may go on and he'll become the pure hitter they thought they were drafting, but with 20 lbs of muscle added, and a swing that gives him Utley like gap power. Randolph wouldn't be worth drafting if you didn't think you could teach him to hit for power, a singles hitter who's limited to LF and lacks great speed has limited upside.

Haseley is much closer to a finished product, and we're seeing him adjust to A+ ball, he could easily shoot up the system over the next year and a half.

[zambonir]

I just don't think we really know anything about this stuff. There's no way that Klentak, Almaraz and Jordan wouldn't all be on the same page about the plan for a #1 pick. My recollection is they always expected Moniak to add power and weight, before anyone was talking about launch angles.

But if things are still changing in development, even if they contradict Almaraz in any way, that's to be expected (since he's a holdover), and it's what we've always wanted - a new front office to overhaul "The Phillies Way" from top to bottom. After all these years following a team with absolutely no analytics I'm not about to say the Phillies should ignore those analytics when developing players.

That's not to say they may have failed on Moniak, but it really is early. The main development mistake may be that they are trying to remake him and challenge him (level-wise) at the same time.

[allentown]

With a slight H.S. draftee, it is natural to expect him to fill out his frame a bit and to gain increase power up to about age 22-23. It seems less normal to make a concerted effort off-season to add significant weight, since he wasn't Galvis-level slight. It makes even less sense to me to change the high-contact swing the scouts love to more of a loft swing, which will reduce contact and OBP. More power is a plus. A confused hitter who sacrifices OBP for what is never going to be plus power and who loses speed to increased bulk seems a bad thing. When drafted Moniak profiled as a lead-off hitter. He is a purer CF than Haseley and less a candidate to bat 3rd in the line-up.

Randolph? Yes, with the slow running speed and limited defense he needed power. He just seems like a very poor pick.

[julio]

Kind if looking for the negative in everything, eh?

Actually, my guess is it was intended as humor, but he neglected to use an emoji.

The "beating a dead horse" emoji might have been appropriate...