Minor League Games - Monday, September 3, 2018

[kikutaro]

Lehigh Valley IronPigs (84-56) @ Rochester Red Wings (64-76) 1:05 pm | Gameday
Ranger Suárez (2-0, 2.74) vs. Chase De Jong (2-3, 3.20)

Final
Lehigh Valley 4, Rochester 2

Notable

Ryan Goins 1-4, RBI, SB
Matt McBride 0-5, 3 K
J.P. Crawford 2-5, RBI, 2 K
Joey Meneses 0-5, 3 K
Andrew Knapp 1-3, BB, 2 K
Mitch Walding 2-4, 2B, K
Danny Ortiz 0-4, R, 2 K
Zach Green 1-3, 2 R, RBI, 2B, 2 K
Nick Rickles 3-4, R, RBI, 2 2B

Ranger Suarez 6.0 IP, 4H, 1R, 1ER, 2BB, 3K, game score: 64
Ranfi Casimiro (W, 4-1), 3.0 IP, 1H, 1R, 0ER, 1BB, 2K

Reading Fightin Phils (64-73) @ Trenton Thunder (79-61) 1:00 pm | Gameday
Josh Tols (1-1, 3.27) vs. N/A

Final
Trenton 2, Reading 1

Notable

Austin Listi 0-2, 2 BB, K
Darick Hall 1-4, R, RBI, HR, K
Jose Pujols 1-3, BB, K, SB
Jan Hernandez 0-4, 2 K

Josh Tols 4.0 IP, 1H, 1R, 1ER, 1BB, 5K, game score: 56
Aaron Brown 2.0 IP, 1H, 0R, 0ER, 1BB, 2K
Seth McGarry 2.0 IP, 2H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 0K
Kyle Dohy (L, 2-5), 0.2 IP, 2H, 1R, 0ER, 0BB, 1K

Clearwater Threshers - Off

Delmarva Shorebirds (68-66) @ Lakewood BlueClaws (87-51) 1:05 pm | Gameday
N/A vs. Kyle Young (3-3, 3.10)

Final
Delmarva 9, Lakewood 5

Notable

Simon Muzziotti 2-5, RBI
Jake Scheiner 1-4, 2 RBI, BB, K
Nick Maton 0-6, 3 K
Jhailyn Ortiz 1-4, 2 BB, K
Colby Fitch 1-6, R, 4 K
Madison Stokes 3-6, 2 R
Gregori Rivero 3-6, R, K

Kyle Young 4.0 IP, 5H, 2R, 2ER, 0BB, 1K, game score: 49
Luis Ramirez 3.1 IP, 0H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 3K
Luis Carrasco 3.0 IP, 3H, 1R, 0ER, 2BB, 1K
Tyler Fallwell (L, 1-1), 1.1 IP, 4H, 6R, 3ER, 1BB, 4K

State College Spikes (36-40) @ Williamsport Crosscutters (32-44) 1:05 pm | Gameday
Winston Nicacio (3-2, 3.24) vs. Manuel Silva (2-5, 2.60)

Final
State College 1, Williamsport 0

Notable

Ben Aklinski 0-3, BB, 2 K
Ben Pelletier 2-3, BB
Alec Bohm 1-2, 2 BB, K
Nerluis Martinez 0-3, BB, 2 K

Manuel Silva 4.0 IP, 2H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 3K, game score: 63
Randy Alcantara 2.0 IP, 1H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 2K
Blake Bennett (L, 0-1), 2.0 IP, 2H, 1R, 0ER, 3BB, 0K

(click on the start time for box scores)

[phillychuck]

LV, Reading, and Lakewood all have one more regular season game left on Labor Day. Threshers begin playoffs hosting Daytona Tuesday. I misread the schedule yesterday...sorry to those who read my post!

WMPT ends tomorrow, too.

Lakewood and LV begin playoffs on Wednesday.

[Clawsgirl22]

As per a Lakewood pitcher ... Kyle Young is starting

[fish]

per a Lakewood pitcher ... Kyle Young is starting

While still throwing plenty from 87-89 mph, Young is throwing more 90-92 mph than I’ve seen him do in the past. He’s already mastered the deadfish change up on the outside corner to righties. Breaking ball is still a slurvy “meh”.

[andyb]

Would it be asking to much for Alec Bohm to hit at least one HR this year? 154 plate appearances at 2 levels that were not aggressive postings and 0 HRs. Power was not supposed to be a projection for him. I know he has been injured part of the time, but at some point it would be nice to show a little bit of why he got drafted so high.

[schooldoc]

The Phillies' offense, from the top on down, is hitting today as though they're ready for the season to end.
Actually, Reading has been that way pretty much ever since Haseley left.

[Squire]

Yup. I was thinking the same thing. Very disappointing debut. And I'm tired of giving a pass to this organization. There is something flawed (or decidedly below average) in either the Philllies (1) evaluation of amateur hitting tools; or (2) their minor league hitting instruction. It is not possible for this many high picks to randomly be disappointments compared to slot picked. Just my opinion. So I don't know for sure whether its Almaraz or Tracey but somebody better figure it out. A real opportunity (5-6 years of high picks) has been wasted or at least devalued.

[Squire]

....and just like that the Phillies announce that Joe Jordan is leaving the organization.

[phillychuck]

I liked Jordan's positive approach to dealing with prospects, both in person (from what a couple of players have told me) and in the press. It was a refreshing change from the previous administration which seemed to delight in running players down. But the lack of development of our top draft picks is sort of obvious, and I guess Jordan is taking the fall. It seems from reading the Athletic article that he had already been asked to take a step back by Bryan Minitti, who has been more active with the development staff and minor league decision-making. The Athletic article also mentions a rift between Jordan and Klentak's own guys.

Regardless, Jordan oversaw the progress of the farm system from one of the worst in baseball to one of the best, so he deserves our thanks.

[gmwannabe]

oh boy. i don't know about this analytic stuff. i give klentak 2-3 more years and see what happens. i know all teams are going to/ or have this but i'd rather have a team hit the ball then look for walks. hits bring runs. walks put men on base but you don't have too many walks brings in runs. just a thought. old school i know. i thought jordan did a nice job.
gm

[gmwannabe]

also, Kiku, looks like you'll be able to take a rest now. can't believe the minors season is near the end. fast, fast summer. gonna miss it. nice job again this year.
gm

[andyb]

Certainly an interesting development. I am guessing it does not relate specifically to individual prospects (especially Bohm who just got here). More likely a clash in philosophies. Maybe Jordan does not buy into some of the analytical approaches like teaching players to take too many pitches or play multiple positions? Who knows?

All in all his track record is not that bad. We certainly have developed at least our fair sure of mid-round picks and low dollar Latin American signings. We are missing at the top of late. I just think decisions like this are more about organizational philosophy rather than high profile player results.

[Philsmania]

As I said on another thread, we've been developing plenty of future Major League players but, aside from Nola, a painful paucity of top-shelf star players. The question is whether the scouting or development is off. I guess they decided the problem is on the development end.

[bigegypt0417]

As I said on another thread, we've been developing plenty of future Major League players but, aside from Nola, a painful paucity of top-shelf star players. The question is whether the scouting or development is off. I guess they decided the problem is on the development end.

So aside from one of the best pitchers in baseball they haven't developed top-shelf players?

How do you develop top shelf players?

[zambonir]

It never made sense to me that Klentak and MacPhail retained all of the top guys they inherited, and it will honestly be kind of frustrating if more changes are coming that could have just been made sooner (not saying Jordan has done a bad job but obviously nobody's too thrilled with Almaraz right now. I agree that this has almost nothing to do with the disappointing performance of our first-rounders and if it did it would be scapegoating).

If you look at the organization chart, Almaraz and Jordan never had the titles of "Assistant GM," whereas Wolever and Chuck Lamar did. So it also makes sense that somebody with that title (Minnitti) has more power now. The Athletic article kind of implies that the newer hires in the development department already answered to him, not Jordan.

[Philsmania]

As I said on another thread, we've been developing plenty of future Major League players but, aside from Nola, a painful paucity of top-shelf star players. The question is whether the scouting or development is off. I guess they decided the problem is on the development end.

So aside from one of the best pitchers in baseball they haven't developed top-shelf players?

How do you develop top shelf players?

Well, I did mention Nola as a top shelf player. When I say top-shelf player, I am talking about a star, a guy who becomes a household name around baseball, not a run-of-the-mill ML player.

[allentown]

So aside from one of the best pitchers in baseball they haven't developed top-shelf players?
How do you develop top shelf players?

Well, I did mention Nola as a top shelf player. When I say top-shelf player, I am talking about a star, a guy who becomes a household name around baseball, not a run-of-the-mill ML player.

Yes, Nola has developed into a star. That's the only first rounder we clearly hit on (talent evaluation plus proper development) in the past decade. That's not good enough. We do seem to do a better job developing pitchers than position players. Over the years, we've done an awful job developing OFs, with our later round picks as good or better than the earlier rounders, excepting Burrell, who was a super primo pick. A shame we spent 3 top picks in a row on OFs who look like they can aspire to be average major leaguers.

[zambonir]

Nola also arrived almost fully-formed and developed mostly in the majors.

[Philsmania]

Nola also arrived almost fully-formed and developed mostly in the majors.

True. But still, he's looking like the best player taken in 2014, or at least it's very close between him and Schwarber. If they redrafted knowing what they know now, he would be taken no worse than #2. If anything, as I recall correctly, McClure almost wrecked him by tinkering with his mechanics at the ML level in 2016.

Wolever's first first round pick for the Phillies was Hamels and his last first round pick for them was Nola. Extremely impressive bookends but, unfortunately, precious little in between, at least in terms of first rounders.

[zambonir]

If anything, as I recall correctly, McClure almost wrecked him by tinkering with his mechanics at the ML level in 2016.

That's a thing that everyone said when he was struggling early last year but in the end I believe McLure played a direct role in Nola becoming the pitcher he was and finished as. Plus our current pitching coach was also here already. If memory serves the rehab program from his injury also was important.