2023 Phils Spring Training News and Discussion

[zambonir]

Per Phillies, Rhys Hoskins had a right knee
meniscectomy in December, performed by Dr. ElAttrache. He’s been fully functional in ST so far, but hasn't played in games yet. He'll be back the first game after Fort Myers trip. Thomson said it was just "wear and tear" from last year

— Alex Coffey ( @byalexcoffey ) February 26, 2023

I've had this, I could have been on the ski slope within 8-10 weeks of the surgery I think (I chose not to go that fast but I'm not a pro athlete, and I did get on them eventually that same season).

[andyb]

We sure did not see much of this last year from Ethan Wilson. Hopefully a good sign.

GRAND SLAM for @ewils5 pic.twitter.com/jy3Ubzlin9

— Phillies Player Development ( @PhilsPlayerDev ) February 26, 2023

[jmlamb]

The way our TV broadcast is handling this is simply NOT satisfactory. Get this covrage better now before the season starts.

It's spring training game two. I think they'll iron out the kinks before the season begins in earnest.

Personally I'd rather not see the clock until it gets down to 5 seconds. I prefer a clean score bug. But that's just me.

[zambonir]

Ideally, we won't even want to see it after a month or two. Also, aren't there two different clocks?

[andyb]

I would love to see the clock for the whole at bat. Perhaps with some color coding to note the batter deadline in the middle.

It does seem pretty arbitrary as to when the clock starts. There is really no excuse for a batter not being in the box for the first pitch since they have the 30-second clock in addition to the 15/30 second one. Imagine those instances of the batter being called late on the first pitch are likely instances where the batter did not realize the clock had started.

[Austinfan]

Shouldn't be hard, the shot clock has been used by the NBA for decades.

[donaldorc]

Phillies had their hittin' boots on today, defeating Pittsburgh in their park. Sosa with a 3-run homerun and Bohm with a 2-run dinger. Until the last two innings it looked like a laugher, but our pitchers gave up 5 runs in those innings to make it a close score: 9-7. Alvarado was sharp while Dominguez gave up 2 runs in one inning.

[LoneStarPhan]

Dominguez gave up a double and home run before retiring the next three in his one inning of work. Phillies had 8-0 lead and won 9-7. I think (not sure) the final 5 runs in the 8th and 9th innings were given up by pitchers not in the ML camp.

[andyb]

Bohm's measured at 469. Maybe the stories of him putting on some muscle over the winter are true. All the scenarios that have him as a marginal WAR contributor at 3B are scenarios with him hitting 15-20 HRs. Hopefully there is more power there.

Alec Bohm crushes a two-run home run to put the #Phillies ahead!

2-0 PHI
Top 2pic.twitter.com/flRku79UR5

— NL East Updates ( @NLEastUpdates ) February 27, 2023

[Austinfan]

Bohm just needs incremental improvement, he was a top college hitter, I think it's just a matter of Long helping him rediscover his mojo.
4.9% BB / 17.4% K, ISO .118.
He was too eager at the plate, and didn't make strong contact for a guy his size.
So getting him to look for his pitch and drive it with less than two strikes could make a significant difference.

If he raises his walk rate to say 7% and his ISO to .150, you're now .765 OPS, combine that with continued improvement as a fielder to "average," and you probably have a 3+ WAR player.

[allentown]

I think Bohm is the position player most likely to significantly increase WAR this season.

[phillychuck]

Bohm won't gain a lot of WAR by increasing his power, it will have to come from OBP, which means being patient. I hope that's in his plans...

[andyb]

It is not really patience with Bohm. Aggressive hitting is fine as we see with Bryce Harper. His walks will increase if his threat at the plate increases and that is largely his power. His problem is not necessarily swinging too much early in the count. It is not doing enough damage with his contact when he does that. A 280/325/475 slash line might be the 90th percentile version of Bohm and power is a very important part of that.

[zambonir]

My question about Bohm is still his splits. Whatever he's doing wrong in most of his ABs he did well with the platoon advantage (.394 OBP, .935 OPS) but his K rate was even worse (33%) and his BABIP was .400 (thus driving that OBP more than walks). And most of his home runs still came against RHP (10 of 13) even as his overall OPS was .629 so I kind of view those as lucking into a few while hitting badly overall.

I'm still in the skeptic camp. His fielding passes the eye test now but it isn't actually good, and his hitting is still not DH/1B caliber. Will be real curious to see how often Harrison and Sosa play 3B (or if Bohm plays 1B).

[Austinfan]

It'll be interesting to see the "Long" impact on hitters this year, I'm watching Bohm, Castellanos, Marsh and Kingery.
I don't think Bohm suddenly became a mediocre hitter, He was rushed through the minors (only 756 PA).
2019: RC+ 165 at A+, 146 at AA. 2020: 180 ML PA RC+ 138
Last two seasons, 75, 98.
Did he forget how to hit?

[zambonir]

Well, he would hardly be the first Phillies prospect - or third baseman - to do that (or just not adjust)).

Maybe the peripherals tell a different story but I'm skeptical that he was really on an upwards trajectory at the plate last year. He had that one insane 20 game stretch in July but was not good in August or September. It's just that he had become seemingly adequate at 3B, and also beloved (thanks to the "f'in hate this place incident) so nobody really focused on it (even as Hoskins, a much better player, still got booed).

For sure, his limited minor league career and the pandemic means he's still not a finished product. But he's also already going to be 27 this year. That's how old Brown was when his career ended. Franco was 23-24 when he couldn't live up to his rookie season promise (and still didn't). We shall see. He's an important player as a potential replacement for Hoskins and because he's still affordable. At the same time, I think a Harrison/Sosa 3B tandem would probably give you the same WAR as Bohm (and even Sosa alone might, just for defense, and the Phillies line-up once Harper is back should be loaded enough to do that, especially if Castellanos bounces back and Marsh and Stott hit a little).

[Austinfan]

He's cheap enough, and they have enough hitting, to give Bohm a chance to show he deserved his draft position.
But after this season, if he isn't a plus hitter and an average fielder, I think they move on, if he's a 1-2 WAR player you can replace him with Sosa instead of paying him and probably get a good prospect in a trade.

Right now, I think some moves are about buying time for the farm system to fill out, they're pretty thin in position players from Lakewood up, other than some OFs. Hard to think of any IF who is a potential starter, and Marchan's ceiling is probably backup C. Lee might start at Lakewood, other than that, you have Perez C, Sevilla SS, Bergolla SS, Rincon SS, Soto IF at GCL/Clearwater, NPG out with the ACL, and Caba probably in the DSL at 17.

So unless someone like Simmons "shocks the nation," we're talking 3-4 years before most of these kids sniff the majors.

I expect a trade of a young OF for a young IF at some point this season just to stock up depth at AAA in case of injuries.
Clemons helps a little, a Kingery rebound could really help for a couple years,

[xogfog]

I don't think they will let him walk, I think he might be moved to replace Hoskins at 1B after they let Hoskins walk.

[andyb]

Bohm is cheap through his first arbitration year. After that he'll have to produce to keep his job and he just does not hit well enough to be the first base solution (which could easily be Schwarber next year anyway).

Hao Yu Lee could very well be in the mix by the end of 2024. He is the one guy that looks like a pretty fast mover though he has questions on defense and power too like most young players.

[andyb]

Looks like Song threw his second bullpen this morning. First one was private as I am sure nobody had a clue of the stuff he would show. We should start hearing some reports about where he is this week. Some pictures of today's bullpen from Steve Potter buried in the link.

Song actually threw a secret one a few days ago. Phillies moved the one he did today at the last moment to a different location than scheduled. Yes, this has become my favorite thing this spring. https://t.co/yjRZyWm5Ww

— Matt Gelb ( @MattGelb ) February 28, 2023