Minor League Games - September 3, 2024

[Matt_Winkelman]

I would say the opposite, AA right now looks more like hi-A than AAA. With roster expansion causing some promotions, teams shedding pending milb FAs to fit draftees, and the AA and AAA seasons going later, there are a lot more promotions to AA (such as the Phillies with Aidan Miller) with AAA looking more like 2025 AAA.

The Phillies internally love Crawford, they love him more than any other team in baseball is my understanding. I would take anything said by those with or around the team with a giant grain of salt. It may inform their actions, but know that everyone views them as having rose colored glasses about it.

[zambonir]

Ruben Amaro Jr., that noted expert in drafting and developing young Phillies players?

I'm just not sure why you think Crawford's numbers in AA are that great, and in a small sample to boot. He's not even close to where Rojas was last year, and you still have to subtract 100 OPS points in the jump probably. And the ground ball stats cited above are particularly damning.

(Matt would also be a more interesting color analyst on any Phillies broadcast, incidentally! I enjoy Ruben's attitude, and Kruk's humor, but I wish there was actually one person on the broadcast with serious insight into both development and analytics, including in-game moves, instead of just falling back on what they knew about baseball in 1995 or 2010. The team obviously doesn't want them talking about internal metrics but there's more than enough public stuff.)

[Austinfan]

There's no reason to rush Crawford, they have two years left on Castellanos' deal, and having Crawford spend a year in AAA, then platoon with Castellanos/Rojas in 2026 would be a fine flght path for a 22 year old rookie.

Same way it won't hurt Miller to spend 2025 in Reading and 2026 in Lehigh, as a potential call-up if needed.

Or Tait and Cabat to spend 2025 in Clearwater, 2026 in JS, and Reading/Lehigh in 2027.

Let players dictate their promotions - it's not like the Phillies have a lot of starter spots open, and top prospects shouldn't be sitting on the bench, playing once a week.

[dicemen99]

I think what is being misunderstood is how these ground balls play out in MLB as compared to the minors. There have been a couple of comments to the effect of "who cares how he hits as long as he keeps getting hits." Well, that is exactly what will change in MLB, his average is unsustainable at this level with the type of contact he was making.

Fielding is a dismissed skilled by many, but the defensive ability of major leaguers is far superior than the minors. The best athletes rise to this level and they are the fastest and quickest, covering the most ground. It's not easy to get a hit on a ground ball in the majors unless it's absolutely scalded.

I got the MLB package this year to watch the minors. There are hits happening multiple times in a game, sometimes multiple times in an inning that would not be hits at the major league level. Crawford has a small sample above high-A and Reading is a hitters park that he has played in for a month and a half of the best hitting weather he could play in. Let's pump the brakes.

I remember reading Bobby Richardsons book as a young kid and I still remember how he described his struggles early in the majors. He had to learn to use the whole field because the balls he was used to hitting up the middle just got gobbled up by the SSs and 2Bs he was facing because of their range. It's a different game now, but what hasn't changed is that the best of the best are playing in the Show.