Minor League Games - September 13-15, 2024

[julio]

September 13:

AAA: Lehigh Valley (RHP Tyler Phillips) @ Scranton/Wilkes-Barre - 6:35 pm
AA: Reading (RHP Christian McGowan) @ Harrisburg - 7:00 pm

Rolling Scores Here - https://www.milb.com/scores/2024-09-13/all/all/phillies

Rolling Boxes Here - https://www.mlb.com/prospects/stats/affiliates?teamId=143&date=09/13/2024

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September 14:

AAA: Lehigh Valley (RHP Seth Johnson) @ Scranton/Wilkes-Barre - 4:05 pm
AA: Reading (RHP Nick Skirrow) @ Harrisburg - 1:00 pm

Rolling Scores Here - https://www.milb.com/scores/2024-09-14/all/all/phillies

Rolling Boxes Here - https://www.mlb.com/prospects/stats/affiliates?teamId=143&date=09/14/2024

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September 15:

AAA: Lehigh Valley (RHP Kyle Tyler) @ Scranton/Wilkes-Barre - 1:05 pm
AA: Reading (RHP Zach Arnold) @ Harrisburg - 1:00 pm

Rolling Scores Here - https://www.milb.com/scores/2024-09-15/all/all/phillies

Rolling Boxes Here - https://www.mlb.com/prospects/stats/affiliates?teamId=143&date=09/15/2024

[kmc1019]

Apologies if I missed the answer to this, has Aidan Miller not played since last weekend? Injury?

[julio]

Apologies if I missed the answer to this, has Aidan Miller not played since last weekend? Injury?

Miller has not appeared for the Fightins since Sunday (did not play in the last four games). No idea why. He's not listed as injured, nor on the Development List. The AA season ends tomorrow; it's possible that the organization just decided to shut Miller down a week early - pending some winter ball assignment?

[zambonir]

If so that was probably the plan all along, communicated to him in advance. . "We're gonna promote and give you a taste of AA for a week." Probably useful for the coaching staff for next year too, assuming they remain (and useful to have another set of coaches getting eyes on him).

[andyb]

Miller has to be a candidate for Arizona too. They might be getting him back to FL for a couple of weeks to prepare for that. Crawford not in the lineup today though he did play yesterday. Another Arizona possible.

[zambonir]

I guess I was already reading julio's "winter ball assignment" as Arizona Fall League. Doubt they are sending young American kids out of the country.

And "winter ball" is already a misnomer in most cases anyway. Except in Australia which is even more confusing.

[julio]

I guess I was already reading julio's "winter ball assignment" as Arizona Fall League. Doubt they are sending young American kids out of the country.

And "winter ball" is already a misnomer in most cases anyway. Except in Australia which is even more confusing.

They routinely send young American kids to Australia.

[zambonir]

Right I mean it's confusing because it's not actually winter there (but also I believe they are the only league that plays in actual American calendar winter).

[phillychuck]

Wow, the trip to Philly clearly broke Seth Johnson.

23 year old 2B/SS Trent Farquhar, an undrafted FA signing out of Michigan State, has moved all the way from CLW to Reading this season and he's off to a hot start in Berks County. Could be an under-the-radar top 30 prospect...

[andyb]

Wow, the trip to Philly clearly broke Seth Johnson.

There is a legit argument that the Phillies broke him too because they suddenly imposed their work regime on him. The Orioles develop pitchers differently. Johnson never broke 70 pitches with Baltimore and it was not solely because he was working his way back from TJ surgery. Baltimore uses tandem starters until they get very close to the majors. They did this with Chace also.

Once Johnson was traded the Phillies got him up into the 80-90 pitch range and more than 5 innings very quickly. Even in some good outings he struggled with pitch efficiency sometimes throwing 80+ pitches in 4 innings. The Phillies might have a better approach for Johnson long term (and frankly they need to know next year whether he is a major league starter because of options), but it is easy to see how he could lose command and experience fatigue with this workload.

IMO time to shut him down, get him to Clearwater for a few weeks of some performance camp and give him an offseason plan focused on a starter's workload next year in AAA.

[Austinfan]

I don't think they "broke" Johnson, they pushed him but that's part of development, Kemp got pushed to AAA too fast, but the experience probably will help him next season.

There's a difference between throwing a player over their head to start a season, and giving him a taste of adversity at the end of a season to prepare him for the off season. The first can crush confidence, the later, motivate off season workouts and study.

Johnson wasn't ready for the majors and probably is fatigued, but he now understands he can't just throw hard to get ML hitters out and that he needs to be in better shape to handle starting for a full season.

[andyb]

Broke does not mean permanent. Broke means they ruined his performance the rest of the season by changing his development. There is a difference there. Johnson is having trouble getting anyone out now.

I am not sure anyone is sure the reason here, but clearly Johnson is not pitching as well as a few weeks ago and the big difference in his life is the Phillies trade. Good 3-inning appearances could have been useful with the Phillies even if it did not advance his long term development which can happen next year.

[andyb]

Meanwhile, Justin Crawford closing out the season with some defense:

How about the speed, range, and impressive catch from #Phillies No. 3 Prospect Justin Crawford! pic.twitter.com/ISKczQfMa5

— Reading Fightin Phils ( @ReadingFightins ) September 15, 2024

[zambonir]

clearly Johnson is not pitching as well as a few weeks ago and the big difference in his life is the Phillies trade

Well, the bigger difference is they promoted him to AAA after just two weeks and then to the majors after just three more. That was probably at least an equal factor to the workload (and maybe made the workload more ill-advised). But I don't think it's a big deal. And I doubt they were thinking of him putting him on the 40 when they acquired and made their plan for him (just like they didn't even expect to need Allard back sooner than 15 days, which is also what led to Johnson coming up after Phillips failed). So, no real harm, get ready for next year. If they really need more arms in middle relief to play out the string they still have Covey and maybe even Turnbull, plus Tyler.