Minor League Games - Wednesday, July 12, 2017

kikutaro 2017-07-12 04:01:05 UTC #1

Lehigh Valley IronPigs - Off

Reading Fightin Phils - Off

Bradenton Marauders (48-37) @ Clearwater Threshers (48-40) 10:30 am | Gameday
Cam Vieaux (2-0, 1.42) vs. Jacob Waguespack (5-3, 2.53)

Notable

Emmanuel Marrero 2-4, R, 3 RBI, HR
Wilson Garcia 2-4, R, RBI, 2B
Cornelius Randolph 3-4, RBI, K
Jan Hernandez 2-4, R, RBI, HR
Jose Pujols 1-3, R, RBI, HR, BB, K

Jacob Waguespack (W, 6-3), 6.0 IP, 6H, 4R, 4ER, 1BB, 3K, game score: 53
Blake Quinn (H, 1), 2.0 IP, 1H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 2K
Tyler Gilbert (S, 3), 1.0 IP, 0H, 0R, 0ER, 1BB, 0K

Rome Braves (45-42) @ Lakewood BlueClaws (49-41) 7:05 pm | Gameday
Tucker Davidson (2-3, 2.05) vs. Sixto Sanchez (3-3, 3.04)

Notable

Daniel Brito 1-3, R, BB, K
Arquimedes Gamboa 3-4, 2 R
Henri Lartigue 2-3, 2 R, 3 RBI, 2B, HR, BB, K
David Martinelli 0-4, 2 K
Luke Williams 2-4, R, K, SB
Juan Luis 2-4, 2 RBI, K, SB

Sixto Sanchez (W, 4-3), 6.0 IP, 3H, 1R, 1ER, 1BB, 4K, game score: 69
Jonathan Hennigan 2.0 IP, 0H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 3K

Williamsport Crosscutters (11-9) @ Connecticut Tigers (9-10) 5:05 pm | Gameday
Luis Carrasco (1-0, 1.93) vs. Brad Bass (0-2, 4.76)

Notable

Nick Maton 0-1, R, BB, SB
Greg Pickett 0-2, 2 K

Julian Garcia 3.0 IP, 2H, 0R, 0ER, 2BB, 6K, game score: 56

Williamsport Crosscutters (11-9) @ Connecticut Tigers (9-10) 3:33 am | Gameday
N/A vs. N/A

GCL Phillies (8-6) @ GCL Yankees West (7-7) 12:00 pm | Gameday
N/A vs. N/A

Notable

Quincy Nieporte 3-4, R, RBI, 2 2B, HR
Kevin Markham 0-4, R, 2 RBI
Yahir Gurrola 0-4, R, 2 K
Gunnar Buhner 1-3, K, SB
Keudy Bocio 0-4, 2 K

Francisco Morales (L, 1-1), 2.2 IP, 3H, 4R, 0ER, 4BB, 4K, game score: 34
Denny Martinez 2.0 IP, 0H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 3K
Oscar Marcelino 2.0 IP, 0H, 0R, 0ER, 1BB, 1K

DSL Phillies White (20-13) @ DSL Brewers (13-20) 10:30 am | Gameday
N/A vs. N/A

Notable

Yerwin Trejo 1-2, R, BB, SB
Alexito Feliz 0-2, R, BB, 2 K
Jose Tortolero 1-1, 2 RBI, BB, CS
Rusbel Vasquez 2-3, RBI

Bryan Alcala 4.0 IP, 5H, 2R, 0ER, 3BB, 5K, game score: 47

DSL Phillies Red (12-21) @ DSL Mets1 (23-11) 10:30 am | Gameday
N/A vs. N/A

Notable

Edgar Made 2-4, R, SB
Christian Valerio 0-3, BB, 2 K, CS
Ronald Torrealba 0-4, 3 K
Enny Rondon 2-3, BB
Frailin Serra 1-4, R, 2B, K
Luis Matos 1-4, RBI, 2B, 2 K

Antonio Canizales (L, 3-3), 4.2 IP, 4H, 4R, 3ER, 3BB, 6K, game score: 48
Moises Nolasco 3.1 IP, 3H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 3K

(click on the start time for box scores)

phillychuck 2017-07-12 13:27:26 UTC #2

The DH for WMPT almost makes up for the lack of AA and AAA games today...

...almost.

Squire 2017-07-12 15:59:23 UTC #3

Hasn't shown much power recently but Cornelius Randolph's AVG and OBP are skyrocketing. Is 3-3 for today so far.

andyb 2017-07-12 16:18:23 UTC #4

Cesar Hernandez sighting - suppose he could potentially be back Friday if he feels good after today.

Austinfan 2017-07-12 18:42:20 UTC #5

Think they'll give Cesar a week or so if he doesn't have a relapse, a few days in Clearwater, then Reading or Lehigh this weekend.

Philsmania 2017-07-12 18:43:54 UTC #6

And the Marauders, whom the Threshers played this morning/afternoon, had Starling Marte playing for them on a rehab assignment. A rare treat for Clearwater fans to see two MLers in an FSL game.

schooldoc 2017-07-12 23:05:53 UTC #7

Cutters in a delay, leading 1-0 mid 4th in game 1 behind Julian Garcia. Cutters run scored in 1st on RBI sac fly by Haseley. They only have 1 hit (single by Scheiner) off top Tigers RHP prospect Matt Manning, a 2016 1st rounder.

Radar looks nasty around the area, it would surprise me if they are able to resume.

Austinfan 2017-07-12 23:24:25 UTC #8

Garcia is the stealth pitcher, 10 rd pick out of college in 2016.
6'3 185, 22 years old so he's a little old for this league.
Lefty, 91-93 with a good 12-6 curve.
Body looks like there might be some projection left.
Struggled last year but has really been sharp this year, maybe they fixed something in XST?
Looks like he's headed for Lakewood in the near future.

baseballoldie 2017-07-12 23:28:33 UTC #9

Sixto just hit 103 on the gun - nice.

teabag259 2017-07-12 23:34:59 UTC #10

Wow! Fast gun?

baseballoldie 2017-07-12 23:38:48 UTC #11

Maybe a mile or two - but still awfully impressive.

Austinfan 2017-07-12 23:41:41 UTC #12

I'm not sure it's a good thing for Sixto to be throwing that hard.
There's a study that shows the injury rate goes up very quickly as pitchers throw near their maximum velocity.
Both effectiveness and longevity can be improved by throwing at less than max on most pitches.
So for example, a pitcher like Halladay would throw 92-93 all game, and save max effort for a half dozen pitches where he'd hit 95-96.
And because the hitters had timed off his 92 MPH FB, when he turned it up a notch it became an "out" pitch.
If they can teach Sixto that, well, 95-97 for most of a game, touching 100 a half dozen times would still be highly effective.

baseballoldie 2017-07-13 00:06:34 UTC #13

Sixto into the 5th with no hits and 1 walk. Retired 11 in a row

schooldoc 2017-07-13 00:08:04 UTC #14

A couple tweets, including one from Keith Law, reported that Sixto was 101 mph on that called third strike to end the 2nd; Greg G on the radio said it was 103 mph on the stadium gun. So, the stadium gun is perhaps 2-3 mph hot.

I live close to the park in Lakewood and have seen Sixto pitch two or three times. He doesn't throw 100 mph fastballs every other pitch. He tends to work at 95-98 mph and top out at 100 or 101. Also, Joe Jordan said in his Q&A with Mitch Rupert the other day that they are working on having him use his offspeed more. In addition to developing the offspeed stuff, I'm sure it's to make sure he doesn't max effort every pitch also.

While I'm no scout or sport science type expert on deliveries, Sixto looks very free and easy out there.
It's an athletic, smooth delivery. When he's on, he can buzz through lineups with very low pitch counts, because of his command and because guys look for the heat and swing early. Case in point tonight, he's under 40 pitches in 4 innings of work.

He's special and it sure seems like the Phils are doing all they can to keep him healthy.

Austinfan 2017-07-13 13:27:47 UTC #15

Yeah, it looks like they're being careful, the Mets are exhibit A on how to ruin great young arms.
Hopefully the Phillies are monitoring the sports science on pitchers.

Philsmania 2017-07-13 15:37:11 UTC #16

Interesting blurb on CSN about Crawford yesterday in which Salisbury spoke with BA's editor John Manuel regarding Crawford's tumble in the rankings. Some on BA's staff wanted to drop Crawford altogether while he thought Crawford would be an average everyday ML shortstop but not an impact player or a foundation player. Crawford is saying it is "motivation". If it is true that Crawford read his ratings too much (as some scouts have suggested) and got complacent, that might be a good thing if the wakeup call gets him focused on working to improve his game.

Austinfan 2017-07-13 17:56:49 UTC #17

"Theo Epstein told me 10 years ago, 'The higher in the minor leagues you go, the more performance matters.' And the higher he's gone, the worse his performance has gotten," Manuel said.

Yep. Keep telling you guys that, scouting reports become irrelevant once there's a body of work at higher levels. Potential just becomes a dirty word.
Darrick Hall may be a 14th rd pick, but if he hits in Reading (adjusted for ballpark effects) like he is in Lakewood, he's more like a 4th rd pick.
Appel was the #1 pick, how's that excite you these days?

bigegypt0417 2017-07-13 18:10:44 UTC #18

who ever said you were wrong?

it seems that isn't really groundbreaking information...

andyb 2017-07-13 18:17:14 UTC #19

If Hall is doing this next year in Reading he'll look like a good prospect. If it takes him 2 years then he'll be a bit old for the level and (like Hoskins) will still need to prove himself to be considered a good prospect. He was a college junior draftee and normally the good college prospects get to Clearwater in their first full season.

Appel is like any pitcher whose stuff is suddenly 80% of what it was in college. It happens. Some of that has also happened to Thompson this year. It does not mean that both were not good prospects at one time. It just means they are not any more.

On Crawford the opinions on him are very divided so he'll have to prove one side wrong. I will say that even the Manuel statement of high floor/average regular might be better than Galvis though.

Austinfan 2017-07-13 18:26:01 UTC #20

A lot of people. "He's a high draft pick, he's got great scouting reports, he's young for this level and so on."

Now some of that has value, even at higher levels, but only in context of actual performance.
I'm not writing Crawford off because he's young enough to turn it around, heck, maybe Walding at 24 has turned it around (though I won't believe it until he repeats it in Lehigh). But at this point he needs to show progress, and he's better off in AAA until he figures out a swing that will make him a decent hitter.

Once a player gets to A ball, I want to see performance (rookie leagues are getting your feet wet). Moniak is young for Lakewood, but I'd like him better if he was hitting .300 with a .370 OBP, he'll grow into power, but the contact and plate discipline should be there now.

Tocci has improved, he's hitting well in AA, just don't expect even average gap power from him, but his walk rate has risen so he may be able to put up a decent OBP at the top of the order. He's an example why being young matters, not because it made him a better prospect per se, but because it gave him time to develop into a better prospect, he could have flatlined just as easily.

Conversely if an older player is slugging it out in AAA over an extended period (i.e. they've seen him enough to adjust) he's worth a look, it may be he's just taking advantage of lower velocity FBs, but it also may mean he's made adjustments and figured out how to hit (that's why you pay scouts, to verify the stasticis, it's not enough to use numbers, you need to investigate the causality behind the numbers).