2024 Phillies Minor League (Spring/Season) Discussion

andyb 2024-01-04 18:15:29 UTC #1

Never too early to start guessing. One note in this article that was news to me is that Alex MacFarlane might have had TJ surgery. He pitched as late as 8/25 last year. That would be a shame if true.

Squire 2024-01-04 22:06:41 UTC #2

That would not surprise me at all about McFarlane Something was clearly wrong the last month.

phillychuck 2024-01-04 22:47:14 UTC #3

The TJ surgery was confirmed later today by a second source. So your suspicions are correct. It's probably better for his prospect status that he was injured rather than just pitching badly.

andyb 2024-01-07 14:34:39 UTC #4

Jersey Shore:

andyb 2024-01-07 14:39:34 UTC #5

Back in December on the winter thread I speculated about this. Former Twins prospect who is still pretty young that had TJ surgery back in 2019 then got caught in the post-pandemic numbers game in his comeback. Absolutely dominating this winter. Still only 26.

julio 2024-01-07 14:59:15 UTC #6

You can see Wells' most recent outing for Adelaide here. You'll probably need to set up an account with the provider, but it's free... and you can watch most ABL games there.

andyb 2024-01-10 19:50:33 UTC #7

More small signings and roster changes. Phillies now sticking to the 175 player offseason limit but this post does confirm that they have moved a half dozen DSL prospects (including Tait) to the domestic roster.

andyb 2024-01-14 20:00:33 UTC #8

Squire 2024-01-15 20:15:07 UTC #9

I'm glad the Phillies decided to have a High Performance Camp. A Low Performance Camp would not have made any sense.

fish 2024-01-15 20:52:30 UTC #10

No dad jokes on international signing day.

Squire 2024-02-05 15:59:05 UTC #11

Phillies Minor League Development Field Staff for 2024

allentown 2024-02-05 16:26:21 UTC #12

Looks like they need another DR hitting coach.

zambonir 2024-02-05 16:50:14 UTC #13

Could be, or it might be that all those coaches actually work for both teams except during games. The red team doesn't have a position coach or a physical therapist either, and the white team doesn't have a bench coach. Maybe there is a combined staff limit?

Matt_Winkelman 2024-02-05 16:53:19 UTC #14

Samuel Hiciano was the hitting coach last year for White? I suspect that he got a title promotion but is still doing a bunch of the hitting coaching. They also do have a lot of combined activities and share the complex, so there is always a coach split that isn't quite even between the two.

allentown 2024-02-05 17:19:15 UTC #15

Matt's explanation is likelier the correct one. With most of our international bonus $ going to hitters, one hitting coach and two pitching coaches between the two teams seems unbalanced. Actually, considering how much coaching these kids need, 2 and 2 seems inadequate, but league rules likely limit the number of in-season instructors.

zambonir 2024-02-05 17:38:22 UTC #16

There is a hitting coach on each team, one of them just has the "development" title. There are also three pitching coaches total. Just one position coach between the two teams. One assumes that either Hiciano or the manager also handles that for Red.

But shared staff/combined workouts seems like the most obvious thing. In-game coaching doesn't seem like a big necessity.

andyb 2024-02-05 18:50:07 UTC #17

Bigger story here is all the coaching staffs are larger. 2 pitching coaches and bench coaches at most levels with an even larger training staff. I wonder if there are still some organizations with half the number of coaches at each level.

The DSL designations are probably pretty fluid. There are also some developmental staff and video coordinators on the next page. Curious to see if the DSL splits into regular and advanced levels next year.

Squire 2024-02-05 18:55:16 UTC #18

Roster limits on players in the system but none on coaching staffs.

andyb 2024-02-12 19:15:43 UTC #19

Last in the series, AAA preview here:

Austinfan 2024-02-14 16:19:50 UTC #20

I'd be curious what the staff sizes were 5-10 years ago.