Minor League Games - May 15th, 2025

[Squire]

AAA: Lehigh Valley (RHP Andrew Painter) at Syracuse - 6:35PM
AA: New Hampshire at Reading (RHP Jean Cabrera) - 6:45PM
High A: Jersey Shore (RHP Alex McFarlane) at Wilmington - 5:00PM
High A: Jersey Shore (LHP Mavis Graves) at Wilmington - Game 2
Low A: Lakeland at Clearwater (TBD) - 6:30PM
FCL: FCL Yankees at FCL Phillies (LHP Angel Liranzo) - 12 Noon

Rolling Scores Here - https://www.milb.com/scores/2025-05-15/all/all/phillies

Rolling Boxes Here - https://www.mlb.com/prospects/stats/affiliates?teamId=143&date=05/15/2025

[Squire]

The Phillies should apologize to the trees that were cut down to make bats for the FCL Phillies

[owaistabish]

lol how can it be that none of these young hitters cant hit.

[julio]

If you look at the FCL statistics... well, first, very small sample sizes.

But that said, several of these kids are hitting. Garcia, Loreto, Pouaka-Grego - all 2B, 3B, SS types - have OPS in excess of .800. Three outfielders )Jimenez, Julio, Mathison) have OPS in excess of .700. There doesn't look to be a lot of depth, but you can see the makings of a lineup here.

Now, the "other" guys on the roster are getting lots of playing time, too. (De Leon and Familia, in particular, lead in games and BA, but trail in production.) This may just be that management is giving everybody a chance in the early going - but at some point, I would think the starting nods have to go to the kids who are actually getting it done.

[allentown]

This is down to scouting and DSL academy development. It seems a lot of the position players we sign in LA are signed primarily for speed and/or defense, with inadequate focus on strength and hit tool. This has been a problem for a looong time. Yhoswar 'the drone' got over $2 mill after lying about age, based on his CF D and speed. Never could hit. Our scouts were in love with him; they didn't even ding his promised bonus based on lying about his age saying they were very impressed by his ability, despite being older than they thought. Released prior to 2024 season, now in Brewers system. Can't put up a .700 OPS in A-ball at age 23.

[andyb]

but at some point, I would think the starting nods have to go to the kids who are actually getting it done.

I think the starting time goes to the better prospects. So guys like Familia and Mujica will probably play and do poorly because of their age. The goal is really development over winning. Ferrebus is probably the best bat on the team and beyond that a bunch of question marks unfortunately.

[Matt_Winkelman]

I think they don't have a ton of good prospects on the team, and the big bonus guys (Mujica and Familia) are both more defenders than bats, also Familia won't turn 18 until August. Also the tight rosters on the domestic side mean they are really thin with injuries up and down the system. So like Nolan Beltran and Jaeden Calderon probably help, and Yhoan Escalona is getting shipped around as depth. They had a poor international year last year too, Jalvin Arias is a bust, Anderson Navas looks like he will take time, and Nathanael Cijintje was hurt all year then you have Mujica and Familia who are stateside. The 2023 class had 2/3 of the money go to Caba and Pan, which leaves very little next tier.

Also offense is just down, even in small 8 game sample size, 9 of 15 teams in the FCL have a team OPS under .700. This is much closer to the pre-pandemic FCL/GCL where no one could hit.

[owaistabish]

Do the Phillies have a "type" of player they prefer in every international signing period?

[fish]

Do the Phillies have a "type" of player they prefer in every international signing period?

Not really- and it’s only been the last few years that they’ve picked up more guys that look physically projectable to have impact kind of strength. They like cheap pitchers that can spin, and like the draft they don’t haven’t put much effort into left handed pitching.

[Matt_Winkelman]

• Lots of catchers
• Small-ish up the middle hit, speed
• Hit first corner guys without plus bat speed
• Corner outfield plus bat speed and power guys who can't hit

They do decent on the catchers, are solid when they add glove to the up the middle guys, and are terrible at the other two.

Something they haven't done, and it makes the exception stand out, is sign tall projectable hitters. Romeli Espinosa really stands out on the field, and there is interesting upside there. Some of the catchers are on the tall side (a bunch at 6'2"), but the only 6'3" plus signings on the hitting side are Espinosa, Felix Reyes, Leonardo Carpio, and Winifer Castillo. It isn't to say that little guys can't be good, just not a lot of betting on projection and upside.

[Austinfan]

The FCL is a development league, a lot of the players right now are DSL graduates who they're throwing in to see if they can swim. Come July, the college kids arrive. I don't take FCL performance that seriously. It's really glorified practice, and I suspect many spend as much time on the practice field working on swing mechanics, etc. as in games.

It's A ball that tells you who's a prospect and who's a suspect.

[zambonir]

Pigs game is free on MLB.TV tonight if you don't subscribe.

[andyb]

Pigs game is free on MLB.TV tonight if you don't subscribe.

They often highlight prospects with their free games and of course it is Andrew Painter night.

[zambonir]

Yah. I had trouble finding it on the Roku MLB app until I saw him highlighted in the scroll. Then I got to watch the young Syracuse Mets announcer do his airchecks.

Probably possible to sync it with the Pigs radio (manually, I mean).

[owaistabish]

Wish they went after guys who made contact.

[fish]

Painter’s velo was stronger tonight- more 97s and 98s than he’d had before- but I counted only one swing and miss on a fastball- and that’s with really good feel for his changeup while mixing in plenty of breaking balls. Seems like there is a little hop missing still that used to be there.

[bigegypt0417]

he hasn't thrown 20 innings after missing well over a year...

[phillychuck]

he hasn't thrown 20 innings after missing well over a year...

He’s actually thrown a lot more than 20 innings--he pitched in the AFL last year, and in spring training this year, plus he’s been throwing at the complex. But, if your point is he’s probably not 100% yet, you are completely correct.

[bigegypt0417]

I forgot about the AFL.

So he's thrown 35 innings of competitive baseball since 2022.

It's way too early to think about anything from an evaluation prospective unless he was out there throwing in the low 90's. Then...we'd have to be a bit worried.

[zambonir]

He didn't actually throw in any spring training games though.

Of course there is no reason to worry. And also no reason to count on him this season if they don't have to. They already have six starters (even if Nola is current concern). Either way they've got nine more weeks to decide if Painter gives them the luxury of trading or moving Suarez to bullpen (or trading Walker). Or maybe Painter is a reliever himself.