2022-2023 Winter Ball - AFL Instructional, Latin America, Australia

andyb 2022-10-17 18:06:41 UTC #21

This week's update from Arizona:
De La Cruz 5-15, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 0 BB, 6 K
Rojas 8-26, 2 2B, 3 RBI, 4 BB, 2 K, 5 SB
Ortiz 0-13, 6 BB, 4 K

Morales 3.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K
Lehman 4 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K
Schulze 3.1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K
Hernandez 3 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K

Still a pretty good set of pitching lines. Rojas has tailed off a bit but CDLC hit a HR this week.

Mexico
Lozano 4 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 HP, 0 BB, 2 K
Singer 2.2 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K
Urias 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K

Dominican
?

Austinfan 2022-10-18 15:40:54 UTC #22

Lehman has a shot at the ML roster next spring, big, older pitcher who has had a velo jump, good slider.
With Knebel, Robertson, maybe Hand gone (and $20+M saved) there are spots in the back of the pen.
SD, Alvarado, Bellatti, Brogdon, Nelson and ???.

andyb 2022-10-18 15:41:43 UTC #23

Jordan Fowler and Starlyn Castillo headed to Australia. Wingrove and NPG are the locals. 3 more hitters to be named.

https://adelaidegiants.com.au/news/philliespitchers/

Lousy camera work but Jhailyn Ortiz went deep yesterday:

110 mph exit velocity for @Phillies No. 17 prospect Jhailyn Ortiz on this monster AFL homer pic.twitter.com/TDp4ErR9jS
— MLB Pipeline ( @MLBPipeline ) October 18, 2022

And some more here from Steve Potter. Not much going on in the Dominican this winter it looks like.

andyb 2022-10-20 18:51:51 UTC #24

MLB Pipeline article here, mostly on Rojas.

Quirion, De Frietas and Carr round out the Aussie contingent.
https://adelaidegiants.com.au/news/phillies2022/

phillychuck 2022-10-20 21:50:37 UTC #25

https://twitter.com/MLBazFallLeague/status/1583200561679151104

andyb 2022-10-20 21:59:56 UTC #26

So is he throwing it at the on deck guy? Or is this dodgeball?

Austinfan 2022-10-20 22:21:18 UTC #27

Man, this kid is going to be fun to watch with the new rules about throwing over to 1st.

bkeich 2022-10-21 13:49:04 UTC #28

I suspect that rule (about throwing to first) will not last in its current state when Rojas gets to the majors. That rule is just too restrictive, it is basically giving away bases.

I don't know what it will become, but the upcoming version will be the most likely to be changed once the impact is made clear.

Lucky_Beagle 2022-10-21 16:40:57 UTC #29

i could see additional pick off attempts resulting in a ball to the batter instead of a"balk"

zambonir 2022-10-21 16:55:58 UTC #30

I dunno, if it leads to shorter games, more runs, more steals, more contact and more scoring, why would they roll back any of those things? Pitchers might hate it, managers might grumble, but it would be the same for all teams. I mean yeah, it's "giving away bases" but they've given away home runs in all kinds of ways too.

andyb 2022-10-21 18:42:55 UTC #31

I think it just means we will rarely see more than 1 throw over. No more "that's not his best move" moves.

SBs will go up, but only like 20%. The point is you rarely get to that second throw over because the runner really can only take advantage when they are sitting on 2 throws already. It has been said that runners will take large 1-way leads to try to entice pitchers to throw over. But those runners are not necessarily stealing.

I like this rule. Did we complain when all the parks got smaller and the balls got livelier? Sometimes it is OK to give the runner an advantage. Pitchers will learn to work quickly. Good catchers will still throw out runners. Maybe only 25% of the time instead of 30% of the time but they still will do it.

andyb 2022-10-21 19:50:53 UTC #32

De La Cruz with his 2nd HR last night. Of course he was 1-5 with 4 Ks so still a work in progress. Ortiz 2-3 is starting to hit.

Schulze and Morales with scoreless innings. Morales is pitching really well. Looks like he is taking another step towards being big league ready. He clearly was not this year and he probably needs a couple of more months in AAA next season, but pretty confident he'll be a part of the bullpen next year at some point and probably in at least medium leverage situations.

Austinfan 2022-10-21 22:05:06 UTC #33

If Morales and Lehman can give them depth out of AAA, they won't need to stock up on used RPs like the last couple years.
McGarry is probably going to end up in the pen as well, unless he improves his control.

andyb 2022-10-21 22:19:51 UTC #34

They'll still need to sign a few relievers this year. Look at the current bullpen and tell me who is coming back. Robertson is gone. Eflin is gone. Hand is gone. Knebel is gone. Dominguez and Alvarado are good though their history is short. Bellatti too. Brogdon is inconsistent.

Still a bullpen full of holes and neither Morales nor Lehman is ready to help. Lehman also should not be mentioned in the same sentence as Morales. He is definitely a longer shot.

It is nice to have a few relievers in the pipeline. It is just that pipeline is not especially deep at the moment. The hard throwing arms are more down in AA and High A so a real pipeline is a couple of years away. We'll need to spend $10-$15 million on relievers this winter minimum absent trades.

Austinfan 2022-10-21 22:40:10 UTC #35

Hand and Eflin might return. If Eflin's knee precludes pitching 100+ innings or going 6 innings at a time, then he may well accept a move to the bullpen, $5-10M a year and extending his career might be more attractive than trying to convince teams he can start more than 15 games without breaking down.

andyb 2022-10-21 22:46:54 UTC #36

Well that is $10 to $15 million alone if those 2 return (though if Eflin returns it is probably a starter). You just implied we would not need to add "RPs like the last couple years".

We probably don't need anyone as expensive as Knebel at least. Seranthony and Alvarado can be most of the back end. Need one more high leverage arm though.

fish 2022-10-22 13:31:20 UTC #37

I just noticed Toby Rumsfeld’s numbers- caught by surprise how close he is to the majors

andyb 2022-10-24 22:09:31 UTC #38

More roster info here. Chris Burke also had a good World U23 tournament.

And now that Auckland is back playing in the ABL, native son Kyle Glogoski is back too. I think NPG has been playing in Australia the last 5 years through youth ball which is why he is a better fit for Adelaide with all the Phillies coaches.

https://tuatarabaseball.com/news/glogoski-back-with-tuatara-in-22-23/

andyb 2022-10-27 13:31:50 UTC #39

Ortiz with his 3rd HR in Arizona last night. He has been on fire. 7-30, 3 HR, 8 BB, only 7 K. OPS of 958 now. Rojas is hitting .310 with an 875 OPS and 13 SB. De La Cruz down to .250 and 2 HRs with an 829 OPS.

De La Cruz has a huge K rate which is understandable because he has had so few upper level at bats. Ortiz is the oldest and most experienced so he SHOULD do better than the others. Rojas is still the most significant prospect here but at least it is nice the other 2 are holding their own.

More detail here:

andyb 2022-11-02 21:22:26 UTC #40

Ortiz in the home run derby Saturday night.