Minor League Games - Friday, September 7, 2018

[kikutaro]

Scranton/WB RailRiders (2-0) @ Lehigh Valley IronPigs (0-2) 7:05 pm | Gameday
Ryan Bollinger (0-0, 1.59) vs. Drew Anderson (0-0, 3.18)

Game Over (Bottom 13)
Lehigh Valley 3, Scranton/WB 2

Notable

Dean Anna 1-5, BB
Collin Cowgill 2-6, R, 2 RBI, HR
Danny Ortiz 1-6, R, 2B, K
Joey Meneses 0-4, 2 BB, K
Nick Rickles 1-5, RBI, BB, 2 K
Mitch Walding 0-4, BB, 2 K
Zach Green 0-4, R, BB, 4 K
Jesmuel Valentin 0-3, 2 BB, SB

Drew Anderson 5.2 IP, 8H, 2R, 2ER, 2BB, 3K, game score: 45
Pedro Beato 2.0 IP, 1H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 2K
Ranfi Casimiro (W, 1-0), 1.2 IP, 1H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 1K

Clearwater Threshers - Season over

Kannapolis Intimidators (0-2) @ Lakewood BlueClaws (2-0) 7:05 pm | Gameday
Parker Rigler (0-1, 1.59) vs. Spencer Howard (1-0, 0.00)

Final
Lakewood 1, Kannapolis 0

Notable

Jhailyn Ortiz 0-2, BB, 2 K
Madison Stokes 1-3, 2B
Jose Antequera 2-3, R

Spencer Howard (W, 1-0), 9.0 IP, 0H, 0R, 0ER, 1BB, 9K, game score: 101

(click on the start time for box scores)

[bigegypt0417]

Jay Floyd on Twitter

[bigegypt0417]

Since i dont believe in a jinx...Spencer howard has thrown 7 no hit innings.

Lakewood up 1-0

[bigegypt0417]

Now through 8 innings.

[bigegypt0417]

There it is...Spencer Howard throws a no hitter!

[arpax]

9 innings no hits. Nice

[baseballoldie]

Awesome! 1-0 win to send them to the championship is an incredible performance.

[schillingfan]

Iron Pigs win in bottom of 13th.

[DurhamBull]

Iron Pigs get outhit by a huge margin but still manage to win 3-2 in 13 innings.

[schillingfan]

Everybody wins by one run today.

[Austinfan]

So I guess maybe Howard wasn't a reach?

[phillychuck]

Based on 103 pitches last night he looks like the best draft pick by any team in the last 10 years.

That's right, Howard pitched a 9-inning no-hitter, walked 1, K'd 9, hit one, threw a WP, Claws committed 2 errors behind him, and he still only threw 103 pitches, 73 of them strikes. Sometimes in the minors you get an ump who really has a generous zone, and that might have been the case Friday night. The pitcher has to take advantage of the conditions, and Howard did.

[bigegypt0417]

LOL.

Yeah...the umps willed him to a no hitter!

[phillychuck]

You're reading way too much into my comment. It is common in the minors to have umps who have not mastered their command of the strike zone, especially at low-A and below. If you look at the strike/ball stats for EVERY pitcher from both teams, there were an inordinately high number of strikes versus balls for all of them. It COULD be that the ump had a generous zone. That does nothing to diminish Howard's game. You have to take advantage of the conditions you play under, and he did a great job of doing that. Great, great job by him. And encouraging to Phils minor league followers. However, AF was a bit over-the-top in his "obviously not a reach" post. One game doesn't prove much. Joe Cowley and Bud Smith both threw major league no-no's.

I'll always been a Howard supporter. I think you're confusing me with another poster and (sarcastically) attacking a position I don't hold.

[teabag259]

Just to refresh my memory...Howard was the one named as the top RHP the draft last year by our brass... correct?

[phillychuck]

Yes. And the brass also noted he wasn't as developed as other college pitchers and he might move a bit more slowly through the system as they refined his mechanics and his consistency. So there has been discussion of him being a reach since he's still at low-A ball when lots of other college pitchers taken around where he was are more advanced.

So either he's not as good as the Phils hoped (thus he's in low-A) or he's exactly what they said, a high-ceiling pitcher who needs work.

[bigegypt0417]

I wasn't attacking...i was laughing.

Eager umpires are one thing...throwing a no hitter is another. For 9 innings he didn't really have that many strikeouts. I'm just happy with the progress.

[andyb]

The discussion about Howard being a reach was also about his pre-draft rankings that had him not as high as he was selected. Like Dylan Cozens years ago for instance. The Phillies' bonus was a little below slot so the Phillies probably had him ranked a little below the choice but liked his tools enough to select him there. He clearly has velocity. We just don't know too much though about how his tools would play against better and older competition until he actually is promoted and plays against that competition.

Whether Howard develops is independent of whether he was a reach. The risk (that lack of experience compared to other college arms) in his profile is a big part of the reason that many draft boards had him much lower. I actually prefer guys like Howard with a high ceiling to guys like Eshelman and Seabold who profile as 5th starter types. One wonders whether he would have been available a round later however or if other pitchers with similar stuff but less risk might have been selected at that spot.

Regardless of all that, congrats to Howard on a big night.

[Austinfan]

The assumption on draft day was he was drafted as a reach to be an underslot guy, don't remember what they actually paid him, but he's been throwing mid-90s and touching 99 or so.
He was a RP in college who became a starter his last season so he's probably a year or two behind his peers who started for three years.

Eshelman is a long shot because he's never developed a FB in the low 90s, and a RHP with only a high 80s FB has to be perfect, that is, have great command plus at least two plus secondary pitches.

Seabold is more the normal "innings eater", 91-93 who just needs good command and one plus secondary pitch (and one other that's at least average).

[nycphils]

With a 100 mph fastball and very mediocre breaking stuff, Howard seemed a candidate for learning the Neris/Garcia split finger. If he can develop that he’d be a very good reliever.