Minor League Games - Thursday, May 4, 2017

[kikutaro]

Scranton/WB RailRiders (13-12) @ Lehigh Valley IronPigs (14-12) 10:35 am | Gameday
Brady Lail (1-1, 6.04) vs. Ben Lively (3-1, 2.25)

Notable

Roman Quinn 1-4, R, 2 K, SB
J.P. Crawford 1-2, 2 R, RBI, 2 BB, K
Dylan Cozens 1-3, RBI, BB, K
Rhys Hoskins 1-2, RBI, 2B, BB
Nick Williams 1-4, RBI, 2 K, CS
Logan Moore 1-4, R, RBI, HR, 2 K

Ben Lively 5.0 IP, 7H, 3R, 3ER, 1BB, 5K, game score: 50
Pat Venditte (W, 1-0), 2.0 IP, 0H, 0R, 0ER, 2BB, 3K
Michael Mariot (H, 3), 1.0 IP, 0H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 2K
Pedro Beato (S, 5), 1.0 IP, 0H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 0K

Reading Fightin Phils (13-10) @ Portland Sea Dogs (14-8) 6:00 pm | Gameday
N/A vs. Teddy Stankiewicz (0-0, 3.24)

Notable

Scott Kingery 2-5, 2B, K
Osmel Aguila 2-3, 2 BB
Mitch Walding 0-3, RBI, 2 BB, 2 K
Aaron Brown 1-3, R, RBI, 2B, K
Malquin Canelo 2-4, R, RBI, K

Tyler Viza (L, 1-3), 4.2 IP, 7H, 5R, 5ER, 2BB, 5K, game score: 40

Jupiter Hammerheads (13-15) @ Clearwater Threshers (18-10) 7:00 pm | Gameday
Scott Squier (0-4, 6.95) vs. Cole Irvin (3-1, 1.04)

Notable

Herlis Rodriguez 1-3, 2B, BB, SB
Damek Tomscha 0-2, R, 2 BB
Jan Hernandez 1-4, R, RBI, HR, 2 K
Drew Stankiewicz 2-4, 2B
Emmanuel Marrero 2-4, K

Cole Irvin (L, 3-2), 6.0 IP, 8H, 3R, 3ER, 0BB, 4K, game score: 55
Edgar Garcia 2.0 IP, 0H, 0R, 0ER, 1BB, 3K

Lakewood BlueClaws (16-12) @ Charleston RiverDogs (13-15) 7:05 pm | Gameday
Ranger Suarez (1-0, 0.81) vs. Brian Keller (2-1, 3.18)

Notable

Henri Lartigue 0-3, 3 K
Darick Hall 1-2, 2 R, RBI, HR
Edgar Cabral 2-3, 2 RBI, 2B, K

Ranger Suarez (W, 2-0), 6.2 IP, 9H, 2R, 1ER, 0BB, 7K, game score: 63
Trevor Bettencourt (S, 1), 0.1 IP, 0H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 0K

(click on the start time for box scores)

[bigegypt0417]

Phillies' faith in J.P. Crawford unwavering amid prospect's first big slump

Nice read...hope he's figuring it out.

[Austinfan]

Despite a slow start, the 4 teams are 59-42, with few "ringers", professional AAA players or overage players at lower levels (like Tomscha).
Which may explain the "slow" start, lots of young players making the jump to a higher level.

[phillychuck]

Nice 5-3 win for LV today. Hoskins with a double, walk, and RBI. Crawford with an RBI single in the first.

[bigegypt0417]

Nice 5-3 win for LV today. Hoskins with a double, walk, and RBI. Crawford with an RBI single in the first.

Crawford also K'ed once and walked twice. He now is walking more and whiffing less.

Sounds like he's making adjustments...

[bkeich]

Crawford will force the teams hand this year. There is just too much talent and he has consistently started fairly slow (not this bad).

He doesn't have to hit much to be a positive player.

He is not the first guy to get close to his dream and falter a little in front of crossing that line. It will get straightened out.

Williams and Appel are another story.

[Philsmania]

Every day, I check the Pigs' boxscore longing to see a three or four hit "get the monkey off his back" kind of game.

[zambonir]

Appel's never done anything, would be hard to keep him on the 40 next year unless it's a lot more spacious than it is now. Williams may have peaked at AA. If so, he wouldn't be the first. That could still be true of Crawford too, but given his age, position and ability, he's still got two years of rope and will almost certainly be a major leaguer of some kind.

[bkeich]

I honestly think that even if he can't hit much better than .650 OPS Crawford is still a MLB starting SS since he is a quality fielder. With his eye he really can't get much lower than .650 OPS unless he completely loses his hit tool.

It us going to be an interesting summer, but I still think Crawford will be in Philly after the AS breaks

[allentown]

Williams and Appel are another story.

Appel, yes. WIlliams has his OPS at .750, so he isn't off to nearly as poor a start as Crawford and most definitely not in a class with Appel. Williams' defense hs been good.

[bkeich]

I am not nearly as optimistic about Williams. He is repeating AAA (at 23 that isnt awful) but he still does not walk and still strikes out way too much for a guy with moderate power. (4 awalks, 24 K in 82 ABs). He has an aberration this year of 3 HBP which makes his OBP look much better than really it would be. It is still a small sample size, but take away the extra HBP and he is just repeating what he did last year. That isnt atrocious, but for a corner OF his numbers are unimpressive. He is looking awfully AAAA like

[phillychuck]

Close games at Reading, CLW, and Lakewood. Reading has closed to 5-4 after trailing 5-0. Cole Irvin with his first so-so start at CLW. Derrick Hall with a Lakewood HR.

[zambonir]

There is certainly still time on Williams, he could end up being a solid everyday major league player, but is that enough? If (as things currently look) Altherr and Herrera are your other guys and Quinn is on the bench and your 1B and 3B aren't stars, LF is your upgrade spot (unless 1B is). Either way, don't you want to see him back at .850 in the minors this season?

[tom81]

and your 1B and 3B aren't stars

Your AAA 1B is leading the International league in OPS by 0.090 or so after leading the Eastern league in OPS last year. Why assume he can't be a star?

[EDmuch]

Why assume your 3b who hit 25 home runs last year cannot be a star? That kind of reasoning seems incredibly foolish to me.

On the other hand, I do not see how people can say Crawford is possibly MLB ready this year without a solid hit tool. We already have a very solid, defensive shortstop. True. Galvis was not a first round pick. But at least he hits for some power. I do not think his status as a first round pick "entitles" Crawford to an MLB job without a solid hit tool.

[zambonir]

I'm talking about Joseph not Hoskins.

Why assume your 3b who hit 25 home runs last year cannot be a star? That kind of reasoning seems incredibly foolish to me.

25 home runs, but his OBP and OPS still made him the 10th-best 3B in the NL out of 11 (in WAR too). It is foolish to not recognize that.

I think Franco is and will continue to be a good major-league player who was probably underappreciated last year, but he is nowhere near a star (in part because he's not defensively elite). He is never going to be one of the three best 3B in the NL, which seems a fair criteria to me (i.e. that puts you in the mix for multiple All-Star considerations). Let alone an MVP candidate.

Hope he proves me wrong, hope one of Hoskins or Herrera (i.e. he becomes an MVP candidate) or Williams or Cozens proves me wrong, but all I am saying is right now LF looks like the only area of need where you can bring in a guy like that, unless you're getting Trout or Machado and displacing Herrera or Franco.

[Austinfan]

Let's wait until June or later, for one thing, outside of Clearwater, really brutal weather this spring, some players don't play well in the April chill, which is why you see guys with awful OPS to start the year turn it around in June and July.

It'll also be interesting to see the impact of Stairs in the organization, he's already made a big difference at the ML level, and if the FO likes his approach, they may reinforce that philosophy in the minors.

It's easy to overreact to the first month, but look at Kilome last year, or Thompson this year, bad start followed by a strong turnaround.

[zambonir]

It'll also be interesting to see the impact of Stairs in the organization, he's already made a big difference at the ML level, and if the FO likes his approach, they may reinforce that philosophy in the minors.

I realize there are larger signs of improved pitch recognition, approach and deeper counts, but brass tacks, of the six returning starters, in a small sample obviously, half are better and half are worse. And you could say the same about the two free agents, while adding Altherr to the plus column (but he looked pretty good, when healthy, under the previous hitting coach too).

But I certainly hope that Jordan's staff is on the same page as the major league staff, regardless of which direction the ideas flow.