AAA: Rochester at Lehigh Valley (RHP Hans Crouse) - 7:05PMAA: Harrisburg at Reading (RHP Noah Skirrow) - 6:45PMHigh A: Asheville at Jersey Shore (RHP Griff McGarry) - 6:35PMLow A: Tampa at Clearwater (TBD) - 6:30PM
Rolling Scores Here - https://www.milb.com/scores/philadelphia-phillies/2022-04-20
Rolling Boxes Here - https://www.mlb.com/prospects/stats/affiliates?teamId=143&date=04/20/2022
Coming off of the first winning day of the year on a full minor league schedule, I believe. 3-1 with Reading the only loser.
It's far too early in the MLB season to be hanging hopes on a distant future in the minors, but the big club is doing its best to squash MLB playoff aspirations this year. And McGarry, Abel and Painter are 3 arms to dream on.
I apologize yet again for ever doubting the selection of Griff McGarry. 2 perfect innings tonight and by that I mean, 6 batters faced, 6 strikeouts
95-98, wipeout slider. When he missed he wasn’t near the hitting zone. I suspect after he’s been built up to 4 innings he’ll move up to Reading.
Morales had a strange outing with 2 scoreless innings but with 4 BBs and 4 Ks. I guess he is missing bats.
Jorge Bonifacio with 2 HRs for LV tonight. 28-year-old career AAAA player who has been a bit above league average in the minors most years. Has a couple of season's worth of MLB ABs.
Pretty good start down in Clearwater also for Oswald Medina. 4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K. He'll need to add some velocity, but all that spin and movement he generates is certainly interesting.
Movement is more important than velocity, although the two certainly work together to amplify each. The weight room and refining his motion can increase velo for a young LA player. It's a lot harder to coach great movement.
Some video on McGarry. Note the Jersey Shore gun is historically slow. Pitch tracking had him 96-98. The breaking ball is plus too. Some crazy movement here. He started late so the short outings are planned pitch counts.
Six up, six down. @Phillies ' No. 9 prospect Griff McGarry struck out every batter he faced for the @BlueClaws . pic.twitter.com/5CodaJmWuR— Minor League Baseball ( @MiLB ) April 21, 2022
Six up, six down. @Phillies ' No. 9 prospect Griff McGarry struck out every batter he faced for the @BlueClaws . pic.twitter.com/5CodaJmWuR
At least from that angle his mechanics look pretty similar to DeGrom.
He has clearly toned down the mechanics since college too in order to increase his command.
We still need to see him in longer outings and in Reading to get a good read of where he is. But we might now have 3 pitchers who will make most top 100 prospect lists next offseason. I think he belongs in the conversation with Abel and Painter about our top pitching prospects.
His combination of stuff is better than Abel or Painter at the moment- Painter is on par with his fastball but McGarry's breaking ball is better. Painter and Abel have age going for them.
McGarry has having survived healthy to this point, while developing all of the necessary stuff going for him.
The age thing means McGarry has a higher floor, and Abel and Painter have higher ceilings, but are less likely to reach them.
Seems like McGarry's ceiling has changed considerably too though, no? What I remember at the time of the draft is talk of a guy with great uncontrollable stuff who was maybe going to top out as a reliever - except he'd shown a few promising signs at the end of his career?
Don't think Reading is getting a win today, either...
