Minor League Games - Friday, May 25, 2018

[kikutaro]

Lehigh Valley IronPigs (26-19) @ Pawtucket Red Sox (19-25) 7:05 pm | Gameday
Cole Irvin (5-1, 3.17) vs. Marcus Walden (0-2, 7.50)

Final
Lehigh Valley 6, Pawtucket 4

Notable

Dean Anna 1-3, R, 2 BB
Mitch Walding 0-4, BB, 2 K
Joey Meneses 3-4, R, 2 RBI, HR
Dylan Cozens 1-4, R, RBI, BB, 2 K
Trevor Plouffe 0-4, BB, 2 K
Andrew Pullin 2-5, R, K
Logan Moore 2-4, R, 3 RBI, HR, 2 K
Alexi Amarista 0-2, R, 2 BB, K

Cole Irvin (W, 5-1), 6.0 IP, 6H, 4R, 4ER, 2BB, 6K, game score: 48
Hoby Milner (H, 6), 0.2 IP, 0H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 1K
Jake Thompson (H, 1), 1.1 IP, 1H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 1K
Yacksel Rios (S, 1), 1.0 IP, 0H, 0R, 0ER, 1BB, 1K

Reading Fightin Phils (17-27) @ Portland Sea Dogs (16-29) 6:00 pm | Gameday
JoJo Romero (2-4, 5.55) vs. Mike Shawaryn (2-5, 3.75)

Final
Reading 12, Portland 5

Notable

Kyle Martin 0-3, 2 R, 2 BB, K
Damek Tomscha 3-6, R, 2 RBI, 2B, HR, K
Zach Green 1-5, R, RBI, HR, K
Deivi Grullon 2-5, 2 R, 2 RBI, HR, K
Jan Hernandez 4-4, 3 R, 3 RBI, 3B, HR, BB, SB
Emmanuel Marrero 3-4, 2 R, 3 RBI, 2 HR, BB, K

JoJo Romero (W, 2-4), 6.0 IP, 6H, 4R, 3ER, 0BB, 4K, game score: 38
Luke Leftwich 2.0 IP, 4H, 1R, 1ER, 1BB, 1K

Clearwater Threshers (19-27) @ Palm Beach Cardinals (26-19) 6:30 pm | Gameday
Sixto Sanchez (3-3, 2.95) vs. Jake Walsh (0-1, 5.40)

Game Over
Clearwater 8, Palm Beach 1

Notable

Adam Haseley 0-3, 2 R, BB
Henri Lartigue 3-5, R, RBI, 2 3B
Darick Hall 2-4, R, 2 RBI, 2B, K
Mickey Moniak 2-4, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2B, BB, 2 K
Edgar Cabral 2-5, 2 RBI, 2B, 3 K
Jose Pujols 1-5, 3 K

Sixto Sanchez (W, 3-3), 6.0 IP, 3H, 1R, 1ER, 0BB, 10K, game score: 71
Aaron Brown (H, 2), 2.0 IP, 1H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 2K

Lakewood BlueClaws (25-21) @ Delmarva Shorebirds (29-17) 7:05 pm | Gameday
Kyle Young (1-1, 1.64) vs. Matthias Dietz (5-1, 2.74)

Final
Delmarva 3, Lakewood 0

Notable

Jake Scheiner 2-4
Daniel Brito 1-4, K, SB
Jhailyn Ortiz 0-4, 2 K
Josh Stephen 0-3, 2 K

Kyle Young (L, 1-1), 6.0 IP, 3H, 2R, 2ER, 2BB, 6K, game score: 66
Jonathan Hennigan 2.0 IP, 1H, 1R, 1ER, 2BB, 2K

(click on the start time for box scores)

[Squire]

Nice lineup of pitchers going for us today.

[phillychuck]

All on the road where they should be challenged. Only Walden appears to be a below-average opponent. I'm very curious to see how these games turn out.

[andyb]

A note on Spencer Howard from Fangraphs. Seems the reason he is in low A rather than High A is lack of a consistent breaking pitch (beyond fastball, change).

Prospect Stock Watch: Fairchild, Howard, Dunand, Abbott | FanGraphs Fantasy...

[SerAdonisKingery]

With Sixto pitching tonight I decided to look up Pedro's minor league numbers for fun. Good lord, 19 year old Pedro threw 177 innings across 3 levels. Times have changed. Hopefully, Sixto has a rubber arm too.

[fish]

A note on Spencer Howard from Fangraphs. Seems the reason he is in low A rather than High A is lack of a consistent breaking pitch (beyond fastball, change).

I've seen a few of his games on milb.tv. His change up was surprisingly good. His slider surprisingly bad. My memory of his draft reports was the opposite. His shoulder seems to open up and on the starts when he's bad, he's really bad missing with his pitches. But the fastball, change, an body are legit.

[phillychuck]

Here's The GoodPhight on Howard:

Howard’s 2 primary pitches are a 93-94 MPH Fastball and a low 80’s Slider. The Slider could be a Plus pitch and the Fastball is Above Average. He also throws an upper 80’s Cutter and a Changeup that shows Average potential. I’ll admit Spencer was off my radar, but the stats are promising as he simply does not walk many guys. He may be Eshelman with better stuff. The profile might be a #3 Starter if the Cutter and Change develop. If they don't, the Slider/Fastball combo has dominant potential in the Bullpen with his command.

Phillies Minor Thoughts:
On the surface Howard looks like an overdraft. The highest site on him was MLB Pipeline at #99. Howard is a red shirt sophomore who turns 21 in July. He has a solid pitcher’s frame, that might have room for a bit more. His fastball sits in 92-94 range and he has shown up to 96 with good movement. His slider is his best secondary pitch, and he also has a cutter and changeup. As a reliever it looks like he could move quickly, but he may have the pitches to be a back end starter.

Fansided:
Spencer Howard’s fastball as been consistently clocked at 93-94 MPH with his secondary pitch being an above average slider which he brings to the plate at around 80-84 MPH. Howard also uses a cutter as well as a change-up to round out the 4 pitches he utilizes.

It does look like he had a solid slider when he was picked. He needs to get it back if he's going to start.

[Squire]

Jan Hernandez having a night

[allentown]

Sort of a decent start for Romero: 3 ER on 6 hits and 0 BB with 4 Ks in 6 IP.... but 3 HR.
Very nice start for Sixto: 1 run, 6 IP, 3 hits (1 HR), 0 BB, 10K -- I'll take that. 2 hits, including a 2B and a walk for Moniak -- now 28 points above Mendoza line.
good outing for Young, but Lakewood just can't hit: 4 singles, no walks, 7Ks in 7 innings

[Austinfan]

I think Howard was RP in college who started late, so he's probably behind in terms of IP.
Given his relative youth, his frame and inexperience, they probably want him in a pitcher's park where he can work on his secondary stuff without paying for every mistake.

Hernandez is a revelation, he's even starting to take walks, maybe the light went on.

Grullon up to 8 HRs, yes, there's a Reading effect, but when you're a plus defensive catcher, and you hit for power, you don't have to rake to be valuable, .240/.300/.440/.740 would work nicely.

[bigegypt0417]

Grullon up to 8 HRs, yes, there's a Reading effect, but when you're a plus defensive catcher, and you hit for power, you don't have to rake to be valuable, .240/.300/.440/.740 would work nicely.

Glad you see it my way...lol.

[andyb]

I think the recent reports confirm that he was probably a bit of an overdraft. He has the body and raw velocity you want from a high pick (and some projection left) but really does not have the mix of pitches yet to quite justify the draft position. Now we did get him a bit underslot (we had to because Haseley was over), so I am not complaining about the pick. Just pretty clear that he has not proven he has the variety needed to be a starter yet (though could be a high 90s reliever so that is not awful).

It is odd that many of those initial reports liked his slider, though part of me wonders if there were a couple reports from people that did not really know what a good slider is and then those reports just got amplified from people that had not seen him.