Minor League Games - July 6, 2021

[Squire]

Rookie Complex: FCL Phillies (LHP Tyler McKay) at FCL Yankees - 10:00AM
Low A: Clearwater (TBD) at Bradenton - 6:05PM
High A: Wilmington at Jersey Shore (RHP Kevin Gowdy) - 11:05AM
AA: Harrisburg at Reading (TBD) - 7:05PM
AAA: Worcester at Lehigh Valley (TBD) - 7:05PM

Rolling Scores Here - https://www.milb.com/scores/philadelphia-phillies/2021-07-06

Rolling Boxes Here - https://www.mlb.com/prospects/stats/affiliates?teamId=143&date=07/06/2021

[schooldoc]

Pretty much no chance Clearwater or Complex ball plays tonight or tomorrow in light of Elsa. I'm supposed to head down tomorrow morning for a few days although I probably won't get to any games.

[Taudawg]

Gowdy pitching tonight...I've been looking forward to his starts. Bad last time out, but trending up this year.

[bigegypt0417]

Gowdy is a hard kid not to root for...he's been positive even with everything he's been through...here's to hoping he starts to make some real progress to help salvage a little of the disaster the 2016 draft looks like it will be.

[andyb]

At least FCL plays in the morning. And they snuck in one yesterday when we did not have a thread.

Today, Dylan Castandeda is doing well after his demotion. Low A was always a pretty aggressive promotion for him. Abel was ready, he was really not. Still only 19 though so next year he'll be better prepared for Clearwater and full season ball.

[Squire]

Gowdy's day is done and it was a good one:

6.0IP, 3H, 0R, 1BB, 6K ERA is now down to 3.47

Andy, of course, jinxed Castaneda into giving up a 3 run homer.

Decent offense for Jersey Shore - Casey Martin snapped a long slump with a double. Homers by O'Hoppe and DJ Stewart. Multi hit games for Jhailyn Stewart and Keaton Greenwalt

[Taudawg]

Would love to see Gowdy in Reading before long.

[Squire]

Late win for FCL as they edge the FCL Yankees 4-3. Scored 4 runs on only 4 hits but 10 walks. Jamari Baylor 1-3, 2BB, 2 runs scored

[andyb]

Late win for FCL as they edge the FCL Yankees 4-3

Maybe not unfortunately. Looks like they lost 5-4. Those rolling boxes are hard to tell when they are complete. Of course Dylan Castaneda blew up in his 3rd inning after I jinxed him.

[andyb]

Here is our Mexican reliever Erubiel Armenta a couple of days ago. Looks like his fastball is in the 95 range but most of his swing and miss is on a high-70s changeup. Might be a reliever mix for a pitcher to move quickly.

[andyb]

The Rays who play indoors are already cancelled tonight, so assume the Clearwater night game is off. These things move pretty quickly, so as long as the field is not drenched they could easily play two one of the days later in the week if not tomorrow.

[Squire]

Jhailyn Ortiz now has an OPS over .800 (for the moment at least). O'Hoppe and DJ Stewart around .760ish.

[andyb]

The question around whether Ortiz should get a promotion to Reading at some point is interesting. O'Hoppe and Stewart should stay for most if not all the year because they lack experience. Do we want to be more aggressive with Ortiz though? Should he see sustained success before getting a promotion? Do they see him as a candidate to get picked in the rule 5 draft next offseason?

I am not sure what I would do. The fan in me would want to see him at Reading and thinks the small parks will help enough balls go out to make up for a likely higher swing and miss rate. But it also would not be the worst thing for him to finish strongly and master a level.

[Squire]

I definitely support advancement to Reading for Ortiz. Its an odd point of view but I feel like it "locks in" his success in High A.

[Squire]

Seriously……what has gotten into Daniel Brito??

[phillychuck]

Seriously……what has gotten into Daniel Brito??

From what I can see from the stats, he's hitting the ball on the ground more and his BABIP is pretty high, though not so high it accounts for everything (.356).

He's hitting about 100 points better on the road (which is good news for a Reading prospect) , and June/July have been amazing, posting an OPS of nearly .900 since May 31. He's almost exactly balanced vs. L/R. he's killing it late and close (1.100 OPS) and hitting very well behind in the count.

Could be the "Terry Jones" effect where any batter can get hot for 200 ABs....but maybe he's hitting it harder--they don't have minor league Line Drive stats I can find anymore...OK, found them .. his LD% is 20% overall this year which is above average but not out of the world. I don't have his LD% from previous years.

The only numbers that stand out for him are his GB% which leads the team by a decent margin, and his contact percentage, which is also very high. BB% only around 7, could be a bit higher...

[mdougherty12]

Here’s Daniel Brito’s page at Fangraphs:

https://www.fangraphs.com/players/daniel-brito/sa872732/stats?position=2B

He’s also hitting the ball to the opposite field more often than he has in the past.

[andyb]

Brito is definitely stronger now. Here is the HR last night:
https://twitter.com/Mitch_Rupert/status/1412581630208888833

It is in Reading but not to the short part of the park. It is hard to know whether anyone has suddenly become a prospect. It is possible we downgraded him too much after 2019 where he definitely had a bad year at Clearwater. The year before (2018) was probably better than the stats suggested because a 649 OPS from a 20-year-old infielder in Lakewood is not bad and might have been 700+ anywhere else.

This year there is some BABIP luck, but there is also more power. The walk rate is up a small amount and the K rate is down by a fair amount in a year where most K rates are up. I think Brito is better. The year off and the opportunity to play winter ball helped him get stronger and get more at bats than some other players. Still not sure how good a prospect he is, but he is at least back on the radar.

[phillychuck]

I hope he can keep it up for a another couple of months; an all-star season in Reading will really help his confidence, I'd think.