Minor League Games - August 20, 2024

[Squire]

AAA: Rochester at Lehigh Valley (RHP Tyler Phillips) - 7:05PM
AA: Reading (RHP Noah Skirrow) at Binghamton - 6:35PM
High A: Jersey Shore (TBD) at Brooklyn - 7:00PM
Low A: Dunedin at Clearwater (TBD) - 6:30PM
Rookie: Season Concluded
DSL: DSL Giants Orange at DSL Phillies Red (TBD) - 11:00AM
DSL: DSL Phillies White (TBD) at DSL Arizona Black - 11:00AM

Rolling Scores Here - https://www.milb.com/scores/2024-08-20/all/all/phillies

Rolling Boxes Here - https://www.mlb.com/prospects/stats/affiliates?teamId=143&date=08/20/2024

[owaistabish]

Last games for the DSL teams.

[andyb]

Phillies a combined 46-62 going into today in the DSL, so no playoffs later this week like last year.

[Austinfan]

DSL was a disappointment, on the other hand, they were aggressive promoting players, which may simply reflect better signings (i.e. more players who are NA ready like Tait at 17).

[andyb]

The Phillies were not that aggressive in promotions. None of their signings the last couple of years have gone directly to the U.S. and only a handful of second year players (Caba, Tait, a couple of others) were in FCL. Our DSL teams this year are about average in age (hitters a few tenths of a year younger than average, pitchers a few tenths older).

It is OK to say our 2024 international class is a bit less good than in 2023. Especially when the top guy Arias got hurt. We started with a below average pool so it is not unexpected that the results are a bit below average.

[phillychuck]

It's been a better year than I had feared in the DSL. We had a couple of stateside promotions mid-season, and later in the year another handful of projects looked to be ready to come stateside next season. Most of those prospects were 17, or just turned 18, too.

[andyb]

We only had 3 young players including Ferrebus that made the promotion from DSL to FCL after one season (Caba and Tait were the others). It is just not a lot of promotions. There were a couple pitchers who got promoted after 1 DSL season but all are at least 19. Promoting players after 2 DSL seasons may be more par for the course these days with new organizational roster limits, but we are not doing more of the early promotions than anyone else.

The Braves got hammered in FCL this year, but had 14 players (9 hitters, 5 pitchers) that played one DSL season last year and went straight to FCL. Their DSL team was horrible also, but was actually much younger than ours.

The Phillies ARE playing a bunch of 17-year-olds at DSL, but so are most organizations. It is just a below average year for us down there. It happens. But it is not a result of promoting players too aggressively.

[owaistabish]

Were the DSL teams for the Phillies in prior years older than the current year on average?

[andyb]

Maybe 10 years ago we used to be older than average but the last 5 years I think we have been close to average. With most clubs having 2 teams down there now the playing field is more equal. Sometimes the Phillies would fill out their second squad with older players, though I think the new roster rules mean that teams adopt similar strategies. There is a DSL roster limit too this year so you can't stash players there for 3-4 years easily.

The main point is that we really have not aggressively promoted 18-year-olds this year. What is unique about this FCL team is that we promoted 3 or 4 guys in the same year that were pretty good. Caba and Tait are both potential top 100 prospects in a year or two if not already. And Ferrebus and Aroon Escobar both look like decent prospects. Escobar's promotion was after 2 years, though he lost much of last season to injury.

The organization should be proud of the steps that have achieved in Latin America. But at the same time it is hard to say the Phillies are above average in that respect, especially when the current classes of prospects were all hampered by signing pool penalties.

[owaistabish]

I agree with your insight - I have been browsing on instagram on the Dominican/Venezuelan academy pages and see already a few commitments in place with various players. So they are definitely active in trying to find positional players there as there is a higher chance of a greater return than with pitchers.

[gmwannabe]

commitments for next year's class?

[owaistabish]

Yes and 2026 and beyond. I shared one in the international signing page.

[Austinfan]

Anthony is making a strong case to take him seriously as a prospect.
.349 in JS is pretty impressive.

[andyb]

Week in review from Matt:

Phillies Minor League Recap (Week 21 8/13-8/20)

I've been noticing Kehden Hettiger has been picking it up lately as well. A little bad luck. Decent walk rate. Supposed to have more power than he has shown so far. He kind of gets lost in the young catcher shuffle with Tait, Ferrebus, and Rosario all competing for playing time but his tools are still interesting.

[fish]

Segura with a nice start on Wednesday. He seems to have better command of his slider than he does of his fastball. Something about the short late action on his slider seems to give lefties more trouble than righties.

DiMartini’s approach at the plate has been impressive- he seems to be looking to go the other way unless he’s geared up for something inside or over the plate to turn on when he’s frequently put a charge in the ball. Probably needs 10-15 lbs more muscle to make him into something special.

[kmc1019]

Aidan Miller adjusting to High-A. .921 OPS in August.