Minor League Spring Training 2018: 3/14-->Games have begun

[julio]

Why you have to look at splits for Reading, to me only the away games count for hitters.
Which makes Pullin puzzling, he hit really well on the road when he was in AA, but not in Lehigh.

Is Pullin's case an outlier? Have you looked systematically at players who hit well on the road at Reading, and determined that, as a rule, they hit well at Lehigh Valley? Or is this simply a case of comparing Pullin to a couple of counter-examples?

You have a reasonable hypothesis here - that Reading's park skews at least some offensive categories, so you need to look at hitters' road performance, which will indicate future success. But... it's a hypothesis. Hypotheses exist to be disproven, and are assumed to be suspect (e.g., wrong) unless efforts to disprove them consistently fail.

Does Pullin's case constitute a failure of the hypothesis? Is he an outlier, compared to a large sample of players who have done as well in road games for Reading, and then continued to do well in AAA? Or is he an indication that the hypothesis won't stand up to repeated testing? I don't know, at this point.

[allentown]

Pullin's AA stats, both end of 2016 and beginning of 2017 were WAAAY beyond what he has achieved anywhere else in his career. In particular, his ISO really shot up (to .248 in 2017), but OBP is also up substantially. It is not unusual for players OPS to spike at Reading. Some sustain at Allentown; most do not, many need an adjustment period at Allentown. AAA pitching, especially off-speed stuff and consistency, is just a lot better and Reading may create some bad habits. It is not unusual to see a guy who did very well at Reading look totally frustrated at Allentown and just swinging wildly at just about anything. We saw this with Williams.

[phillychuck]

We saw this with Williams.

And also with Kingery to some extent.

[Austinfan]

Some Reading road heroes:
Donald 2008: home .911; away .867
Marson 2008: home .938; away .764
Rizzotti 2010: away 1.051 2011: away 1.023
Ruf 2012: home 1.134; away .934
Hernandez 2012: home .757; away .804
Asche 2012: home .904; away .828
Franco 2013: home .984; away .871
Dugan 2014: home .848; away .773
Dugan 2015: home .859; away .554
Knapp 2015: home 1.131; away .982
Stassi 2015: home .739; away .938
Altherr 2015: home .853; away .863
Perkins 2015: home .772; away .673
Quinn 2015: home .833; away .759
Crawford 2015: home .747; away .779
Pullin 2016: home .911; away .988 - 2017: home .765; away 1.077
Hoskins 2016: home 1.032; away .853
Cozens 2016: home 1.118; away .766
Valentin 2016: home .791; away .705
Kingery 2017: home .995; away .979
Tromp 2017: home .849; away .778

[andyb]

What does that list even mean? We all agree there is a home advantage. We also know that this is not true for all players (as even your list shows). This is likely because it is all small sample size. Sometimes players are better in 40-50 games in one place or the other. Is there an average advantage? Sure. But that does not mean one does not count home games in the analysis. They all count. They just need to be interpreted correctly.

[zambonir]

The plural of anecdote is lots of anecdotes

[tom81]

We saw this with Williams.

And also with Kingery to some extent.

But not with Hoskins. Both OBA and SLG improved in AAA.

[phillychuck]

Tuesday's games v Blue Jays, thanks again to. Blueclaws Backstage:

AAA game (6–4 loss)
Zach Eflin started and gave up four runs in 4.2 innings. Tyler Viza followed and threw 1.1 scoreless innings in relief.
SS Heiker Meneses had two hits and drove in two runs to lead the offense, while 1B Mitch Walding had a single and two RBIs.

AA game (4–2 win)
2017 BlueClaw JoJo Romero started and gave up two runs on three hits over five innings of work. Luke Leftwich followed with two scoreless innings.
1B Kyle Martin led the offense with a home run, single, and two RBIs.

Hi-A game (7–5 win)
2017 BlueClaw Alejandro Requena started and gave up two runs over five innings with three strikeouts and one walk. Jonathan Hennigan threw 1.2 scoreless innings in relief.
SS Luke Williams led the offense, going 2–4 with a home run and three RBIs. 1B Darick Hall, C Henri Lartigue, and LF Ben Pelletier had two hits apiece with Lartigue driving in two runs.

Lo-A game (5–1 loss)
Connor Brogdon, a 10th rd pick last year from Lewis & Clark State, gave up one run over four innings of work while striking out four without a walk. He was a reliever last year but might be getting stretched out to pitch in the BlueClaws rotation this year.
SS Dalton Guthrie went 2–3 with a double and 2B Nick Maton went 2–3 with a pair of singles.

[Squire]

Starting to wonder whether Luke Williams is for real. Also apparently he played SS.

[phillychuck]

If he can play SS passably and CF (which he played earlier this week) the offensive level he has to reach drops a bit.

[phillychuck]

Wednesday's Games vs. Tigers below. Rosters are usually announced for minor league teams this coming weekend (according to Greg Giombarresse, our source for these reports):

AAA game (5–2 win)
Drew Anderson started and gave up two runs in three innings before Yacksel Rios took over and allowed one hit over two scoreless innings.
DH Andrew Pullin homered in the win while 2B Jesmuel Valentin and LF Danny Ortiz had two hits each.
RF Dylan Cozens had a double and two RBIs while CF Roman Quinn had a double and a walk.

AA game (4–3 win)
Tyler Gilbert threw two scoreless innings and Trevor Bettencourt threw three in relief of starter Franklyn Kilome, who gave up two runs, one earned in his two innings.
3B Zack Green led the offense, going 3–3 with three doubles and two RBIs.
C Gabriel Lino was 2–4 while LF Cornelius Randolph had a double and an RBI.Nice day for Green who was considered a fast riser in 2013 but has struggled since a 2014/15 hip injury which has reportedly been corrected by orthotics.

Hi-A game (2–1 win)
Adonis Medina started and gave up one run on four hits over five innings with five strikeouts against two walks.
Jakob Hernandez (two), Blake Quinn, and Ismael Cabrera combined for four scoreless innings in relief.
CF Mickey Moniak, SS Arquimees Gamboa, LF Austin Listi, 2B Raul Rivas and DH Yahir Gurrola all had hits. Nice to see top flight prospect Medina with a strong outing. Also good to hear Moniak had a couple of hits this week.Sorry to not see Haseley make an appearance Tuesday or Wednesday.

Lo-A game (4–1 win)
Francisco Morales started and gave up one run in two innings. David Parkinson followed with four scoreless innings and Kyle Dohy added two scoreless frames.
1B Quincy Nieporte was 2–4 with two RBIs while DH Daniel Brito, 2B Danny Mayer, 3B Jack Zoellner, and SS Jonathan Guzman had hits. Nieporte has appeared in almost every report this spring. At 23 he has to move up quickly to be a prospect.

[Squire]

Just a minor point but Danny Mayer is 6'5, 245 so if he played 2B yesterday....that's something

[andyb]

Just a minor point but Danny Mayer is 6'5, 245 so if he played 2B yesterday....that's something

I guess they are building in flexibility at all levels. Or a random spring game when not enough middle infielders were available.

[Squire]

I think its the former since Brito was the DH in the same game or a typo at blueclaws.com

[phillychuck]

Friday's games vs. Blue Jays (again, thanks to Blueclaws Backstage!). Groups are now relatively in line with final placements. Looks like Connor Seabold and Aaron Brown are both headed to CLW.

AAA game (5–0 loss)
Cole Irvinstarted and gave up four runs in four innings. Ranfi Casimiro threw a scoreless inning behind him.
SS Dean Anna went 3–3 with a double while 3B Jesmuel Valentin had a double and LF Danny Ortiz had a single.

AA game (8–3 loss)
McKenzie Mills, acquired from the Nationals last year for Howie Kendrick, gave up two runs in five innings with six strikeouts and no walks. Luke Leftwich struck out two in a scoreless inning.
Offensively, Zach Coppola went 2–3 with two doubles. 1B Kyle Martin and RF Jan Hernandez each homered.

Hi-A game (2–1 win)
Connor Seabold (who was not on the BlueClaws Opening Day roster so presumably will open with Clearwater) gave up one run in five innings on three hits with no walks and five strikeouts. Aaron Brown, Tyler Hallead, Ismael Cabrera, and Blake Quinn all threw scoreless innings.
C Edgar Cabral had two hits while 2B Raul Rivas, LF Luke Williams (who has played all over the field this spring), DH Adam Haseley, DH Wilson Garcia, 3B Jose Gomez, and CF Kevin Markham all had one.

Lo-A game (4–3 win)
Spencer Howard (who is on the BlueClaws roster and could start Opening Day) threw five scoreless innings on one hit, one walk and nine strikeouts.
Jonathan Hennigan threw a scoreless inning while Zach Warren gave up one run but added three strikeouts in his one inning.
Offensively, C Rodolfo Duran went 2–3 and 3B Dalton Guthrie went 3–3 with three doubles. RF Jhailyn Ortiz homered while hitting in the clean-up spot.

[Freemzy]

Is LHP Elniery Garcia still with organization? After his 80-game PED suspension last year, he pitched 25 2/3 innings with Double A Reading and 5 IP with the rookie level Gulf Coast League Phils. I didn’t see him listed this season with Lehigh Valley or Reading, so will he be with high Class A Clearwater or will he be in extended spring training until he rounds into form, since he basically missed last season?

[zambonir]

He was removed from the 40 in November, don't recall what happened after that.

[Squire]

Tyler Viza not released. He has been added to the IronPigs roster since Rios was removed to replace Neshek