Phillies 2018 Minor League Placement/Rosters Speculation

[julio]

Blueclaws preliminary roster announced here:

BlueClaws Announce 2018 Preliminary Opening Day Roster

[Squire]

Lakewood_BlueClaws_2018_Preliminary_Roster.pdf

Lakewood Roster looks good from a lineup perspective. All the guys I wanted there. Pitching is very bizarre however, if only from the absence of Kyle Young and Connor Seabold and Andrew Brown. Rotation maybe is Spencer Howard, Julian Garcia, David Parkinson, Ramon Rosso and maybe Will Stewart

[baseballoldie]

or on DL/rehab

[Austinfan]

They may be more focused on XST this year, with a logjam at Clearwater, they can work on some pitchers' mechanics, teafch a new pitch and give them plenty of reps while other pitchers hopefully force promotions and open spots.

[phillychuck]

With Sixto still not stretched out, I'm wondering if Young and Seabold are both at CLW....

BigEd's guesses for CLW from BSG:
IF = Darick Hall, Greg Pickett, Campbell, Stankiewicz, Jose Antequera, Raul Rivas, Jose Gomez, Gamboa, Luke Williams
OF = Moniak, Haseley, Cord Sandberg, Mark Laird, Jose Pujols, Austin Listi, David Martinelli
C = Edgar Cabral, Henri Lartigue
P = Sixto, Medina, Kyle Young, JD Hammer, McKenzie Mills, Elniery Garcia, Seabold, Tirado, DeNato, Bergjans, Blake Quinn, Alex Garcia, Grant Dyer, Bailey Falter, Nick Fanti, Tyler Hallead, Will Hibbs, Jake Kelzer, Mauricio Llovera, Alex Kline, Tyler Viza

Note: Sixto pitched a few innings vs. a college team in extended spring yesterday.

[allentown]

That's a lot of IF.

[schooldoc]

I would think Bergjans, Lino, Sanchez, Sandberg, and Viza have a pretty fair chance to be released.

[Squire]

Dang.... just realized that Pickett is not on Lakewood. That seems stupid to me. Guy was the second best hitter on Williamsport last year after Ortiz

[baseballoldie]

That’s a lot of guesses - roster at Clearwater is 25 players vs 39 players so at least 14 of these names won’t be on the initial roster

[phillychuck]

That's Ed's guess for the entire field for CLW, not a guess at the final roster. It's 39 players, and I think CLW's limit is 25 active and 35 total.

[phillychuck]

Always fun pre-season to guess the records (best team --> worst team) in the 4 full-season leagues.

I'd say CLW > LV > Lakewood > Reading , although LV will depend on how much they have to move people up and down to cover MLB injuries.

[andyb]

Pitching is very bizarre however, if only from the absence of Kyle Young and Connor Seabold and Andrew Brown

I was noticing that too. Seabold could easily be Clearwater. Young should be there though and that is worrying.

[Squire]

Figure the Reading Rotation is: Kilome, Suarez, Romero, Waguespack, Edgar Garcia and maybe Arauz/Gilbert?

Maybe Clearwater rotation is: Medina, Seabold, Arequena, Falter, Mills, Fanti? Still don't get the Kyle Young situation. has he been pitching in games this spring?

Clearwater IF is going to be Hall at 1B. Gomez/Rivas probably playing 2B, Luke Williams and Gomez playing 3B with Gamboa at SS. 2 of the Clearwater OFs are Moniak and Haseley with 2 more from Pujols, Sandberg and Martinelli. I'm pretty certain that Laird retired and Campbell was released before camp.

Clearwater catchers will be Cabral and Lartigue

In related news,..I actually think Reading is going to hit. 20 homer power from each of Martin, Green, Tromp and Hernandez. Randolph might add 15 too.

Lehigh Valley clearly the least interesting team to me because we are back to signing journeyman guys like Dean Anna and Alexi Amarista instead of promoting our own guys like Malquin Canelo, Drew Stankiewicz

[andyb]

We should remember that the team stated publicly that they would have 6-man rotations up through Clearwater but would remain at 5 in AA and AAA. Maybe things have changed organizationally with Kapler and others on board, but I would not count on us having 6-man rotations at the upper levels until we see it.

There is a use to prepare our upper minors pitchers for their expected major league usage, Of course that latter concept is changing by the day.

[Squire]

Clearwater announced "preliminary" roster but also oddly says there will be transactions prior to April 5th opener:

Rotation:
Adonis Media
Connor Seabold
Mauricio Llovera
Bailey Falter
McKenzie Mills
Alejandro Requena

Bullpen:
Aaron Brown
Ismael Cabrera
Jakob Hernandez
Felix Paulino
Alexis Rivero
Blake Quinn
Jeff Singer

Catchers:
Edgar Cabral
Henri Lartigue
Gabriel Lino

Infield
Darick Hall
Raul Rivas
Jose Antequera
Arquimedes Gamboa
Austin Listi
Luke Williams
Jose Gomez
Wilson Garcia

Outfield
Mickey Moniak
Adam Haseley
Jose Pujols
Kevin Markham

Still MIA: Kyle Young, Nick Fanti, Cord Sandberg

[phillychuck]

28 names on the CLW roster. I think Kyle Young was ruled ineligible due to height limitations, Nick Fanti reached the no-hitter limit, and Cord Sandberg has a name too similar to that Phils' manager who quit mid-season.

Or something.

Actually, I think they will all show up on DLs.

[SerAdonisKingery]

Some dude named Sixto also not on any roster. We at least know he's still getting stretched out and they're going to limit is his innings. Kyle Young is the one I'm most worried/disappointed about because I was really excited to see how he did at Lakewood.

[julio]

Cord Sandberg has been assigned to the Williamsport roster, per the milb.com transactions.

Among the names I'm not finding on any roster:
Elniery Garcia
Sixto Sanchez
Alberto Tirado
Nick Fanti
J.D. Hammer
Grenny Cumana
Drew Stankiewicz

(bunch of others...)

[Dirk41]

Not an expert in the minors, but with Moniak seemingly progressing a step per year and still with lots of work to do, any chance he gets caught in Clearwater for two seasons? Can't imagine him in Reading.

[julio]

Not an expert in the minors, but with Moniak seemingly progressing a step per year and still with lots of work to do, any chance he gets caught in Clearwater for two seasons? Can't imagine him in Reading.

That depends a great deal on what he actually does this season in Clearwater. It's not uncommon for young players to make rapid (sudden) gains in performance. This is very rare for more mature players (e.g., late 20s), but Moniak won't turn 20 until May.