Minor League Games - May 2nd, 2023

[Squire]

AAA: Lehigh Valley (TBD) at Syracuse - 6:35PM
AA: Reading (RHP Nick Nelson) at Hartford - 7:10PM
High A: Jersey Shore (LHP Gabriel Cotto) at Hickory - 6:00PM
Low A: Lakeland at Clearwater (TBD) - 6:30PM

Rolling Scores Here - https://www.milb.com/scores/2023-05-02/all/all/phillies

Rolling Boxes Here - https://www.mlb.com/prospects/stats/affiliates?teamId=143&date=05/02/2023

[andyb]

Apparently the DSL teams play "Spring Training" games too. Starlyn Caba with 4 hits yesterday. Not 100% sure when the league starts this year, but it might be before early June which was the start last year.

5/1/23 : Minor League Roundup

[Squire]

Leandro Pineda starting his Minor League Player of the month campaign for May

[phillychuck]

Ricketts is scalding. Up to .388 at CLW, 3/3 tonight.

[andyb]

Winning all 4 games. Lots of good things including rehabs from Suarez and Nelson (5 innings!). Kerkering gave up a hit though, the bum.

[allentown]

Ricketts is scalding. Up to .388 at CLW, 3/3 tonight.

He needs to be promoted. He's repeating low-A at age 23. I'm guessing he's viewed as raw as a catcher, but for his bat, he needs to be promoted. Only about 80 AB last season, but he hit well for OBP and had 3 HRs. I know nothing about his defensive skill, but needing improvement as a catcher seems the only plausible reason he's still at CLW at his age.

[phillychuck]

Ricketts scouting report:

Ricketts played for California high school powerhouse Orange Lutheran, a team that won back-to-back National High School Invitational titles in his junior and senior seasons. He went from OLU to San Diego and got regular playing time almost immediately, but it wasn’t until his fourth season in 2022 that things clicked. Ricketts hit .373/.423/.658 and opened enough eyes for the Phillies to take him in the seventh round of the Draft. He signed and made his summer pro debut with Single-A Clearwater.

A 6-foot-4 backstop, Ricketts is what many teams covet: a left-handed-hitting catcher. He has some feel for hitting, though he has to clean up some swing-and-miss in his setup at the plate. He has the chance to reach average power -- his pop showed up for the first time at San Diego in 2022 when he hit 16 homers -- though he struck out a bit more than expected during his brief pro debut. While speed won’t be a part of his game, Ricketts has shown enough athleticism to have played the outfield and first base quite a bit in college.

That also means his receiving is a bit behind developmentally. He’s a fringy receiver with an arm that can approach average, but that part of his game is behind his offensive potential. Perhaps his defensive versatility will come into play in the future, but for now, he’ll get the chance to work on becoming a big league backup catcher.

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A 6'4" catcher...developing defensively could be pretty difficult at that size, especially since he wasn't a full-time catcher in college. Move him to 1B? He plays some OF, too, don't know how good he is there defensively.

[Austinfan]

You want to keep him at catcher as long as possible, even if he's never good enough to start, being able to catch is a plus for the 5th guy on the bench b/c you can use one of your catchers as a PH if you have someone who could step in as needed. So it gives you more flexibility on the bench.

[phillychuck]

AF, we agree. But we don't want to slow his progress through the minors in order to keep him at catcher. Let him catch, but move him up. He was drafted as a college senior, he's already 2 years too old for Jersey Shore.

[andyb]

I think he was always in a category of Rincones of college players without ideal experience and a few things to work on in a lower pressure environment. Assume the plan for both was always a month or two in Clearwater then a pretty quick promotion if they played well.

Those two plus Kerkering are there for development and will move on shortly.

[Matt_Winkelman]

I don't know if it is a good strategy, but it is certainly a strategy. But the Phillies kept the entire 2022 draft class back in Clearwater other than Troy Schreffler (Jersey Shore needed another outfielder) so that they could play together and go through whatever culture, training, or other things the team is doing together. I do expect them to start pushing guys at some point, but it was intentional to have that group together.

With he short draft of 2020 (and missed college and minor league seasons) and college players getting an extra year of eligibility you do have to be a bit spongier with opinions on correct age for level (also minor league contraction messed with all of this).

[Austinfan]

Since they've upgraded the complex (and continue to do so) in terms of facilities and coaching personnel, it makes sense to hold back players there to work on things they think need fixing, then promote them when deemed ready - then move them up quickly once they hit Jersey Shore if their play is good enough to justify a fast track.

[phillychuck]

At Jersey Shore for position players, hitting .230 with a .650 OPS is accomplishing a great deal!

[andyb]

I don't think the upgraded complex has much to do with promotion decisions. Clearwater was always their best complex. Maybe they have more people in various extended Spring programs, but that is all.

The 180-player organizational limit has more to do with promotion decisions than anything else. These are just college players who did not play as much at high levels in college as other players. They are also decent prospects so the organization will find them their proper level. There is just not much to read into this. It is a little like Ryan Howard going to Low A instead of High A decades ago because he had stuff to work on. That is all.

[Austinfan]

They have better facilities at Clearwater than the other minor league stops, from coaching staff to video, etc.
Spring training and development camp and FIL means you'll concentrate your resources there.
So it makes sense to do intensive coaching at Clearwater to "fix" prospects before aggressively promoting them.

[andyb]

They have always had better facilities in Clearwater than anywhere else though. That has not changed and change is what you implied.

[zambonir]

Well, the change is that there's no more Williamsport and Lakewood/Clearwater flipped levels. That decision does make for a more natural progression (if not necessarily a better coaching staff, at least for the actual team) and more time in Clearwater overall. But it was also a decision made by bigger forces than just the Phillies.