Minor League Games - Thursday, June 1, 2017

[bigegypt0417]

He'll have to beat out Coppola as well, who is putting up ridiculous numbers.

No...not even on the radar. Coppola is the epitome of a slap hitter who has 22 XBH in almost 700 AB's.

He's carlos Tocci lite.

Coppola has a BA and nothing else.

[flyers19rw]

What about that .413 OBP?

[bigegypt0417]

It's fine but we're still talking about a guy devoid of power and essentially a singles hitter.

[andyb]

It is more that Coppola is relatively old for the level and his combination of tools really do not translate at higher levels. He is fast but really not that fast. Not sure his defense is seen as anything special. He does not have an especially high walk rate either for an older player. No power as mentioned.

There are reasons the Phillies have promoted him slowly. Could he be the rare older player that develops into a major league bench piece? Sure. But the way the Phillies have handled him means they don't really believe in the tools. Probably see him as a Ben Revere who is not as fast or as good defensively.

[Squire]

Speak of the devil....Zach Coppola just promoted to AA Reading (along with RHP Ranfi Casimiro)

[phillychuck]

Guess we'll figure out if he has any power now...does the Reading effect help slap hitters too?

[Austinfan]

He doesn't have power but he does walk. Jordan: “I like the guy a lot. It was very good pick by our guys to get a player that’s a plus runner, plus arm and plus on the bases."

BlueClaws Spring Notes: Is Coppola, the heir to Tocci's throne?

Coppola played at SD State, not exactly a mecca for college players, so he's probably not as experienced as someone from a Southern college.

[andyb]

That is not a non-partisan scheduling evaluation. It is Jordan saying something nice about a player to a reporter which is his job. For someone who gets on base a lot Coppola does not steal lots of bases. That is a sign he is fast, but not THAT fast. The Phillies have treated his promotions like those of a non-prospect filling in so far. Obviously if Coppola continues to do well then evaluations might change, but so far he looks like a speed player whose speed is nothing special and does not quite do enough other things to be considered a real prospect. There is nothing wrong with being an above average organizational player. It is just to date he has not shown enough on the field to be considered anything more than that. His walk rate is about what Ben Revere's was when Revere was 2 years younger relative to the level. Without power we saw what happened to Revere's walk rate in AAA and the majors.

[Austinfan]

Ben Revere's highest BB% was 7.9 in AA ball. 7.7% in A+ ball. 4-6% at every other stop.
Coppola - 11.1% in Lakewood, 9.3% in Clearwater.
Nor has his promotion rate been usually slow, high rookie out of a nonbaseballl college at 21, Lakewood/Clearwater at 22, Clearwater/Reading at 23.
Kingery is ten days older than Coppola. Pullin is 8 months older.

[andyb]

2 years younger per level. Basic analysis stuff. There is a reason where you seem to be the only one that thinks an older player doing well is a prospect and you do this all the time.

Kingery has lots of tools which sets him apart from Coppola. And Pullin is fighting some of the same stuff as Coppola being an older prospect without great tools. But Pullin also has generally been 1 year younger per level as Coppola.

Basically being Ben Revere but not as fast (Revere was stealing twice as many bases at a higher percentage success rate and getting lots of triples) is just not a good toolset to start with.

[bigegypt0417]

2 years younger per level. Basic analysis stuff. There is a reason where you seem to be the only one that thinks an older player doing well is a prospect and you do this all the time.

Kingery has lots of tools which sets him apart from Coppola. And Pullin is fighting some of the same stuff as Coppola being an older prospect without great tools. But Pullin also has generally been 1 year younger per level as Coppola.

Basically being Ben Revere but not as fast (Revere was stealing twice as many bases at a higher percentage success rate and getting lots of triples) is just not a good toolset to start with.

Ben Revere Stats | Baseball-Reference.com

Ben Revere was a far better MILB player at a younger age. It's not even a real comparison.

[allentown]

I'm not sure the lack of steals is on Coppola. Up and down the organization, since Lopes wasn't paid enough to keep him, our guys seem to make very poor use of their speed and get picked off a lot. Tocci doesn't have blazing speed, but he is certainly above average and behaves like a catcher or 1B on the base paths. Kingery does very well. When healthy, Quinn does quite well, but still does not seem to maximize his plus plus speed.