Phillies 2023 Arizona Fall League/International Winter Leagues

[phillychuck]

Carlos Tocci and Aaron Altherr both mentioned in the recap. I didn't know either was still playing. Tocci is 28 and Altherr is 32.

[zambonir]

I guess once you're playing in Mexico, Korea or indy ball a little more time playing in winter doesn't hurt. Whether you're still chasing the dream or just playing to play.

[bkox]

This spring, the best prospects from every MLB team are going to play a game against another team's top minor leaguers at a big league spring training stadium, sources tell ESPN

The event is called Spring Breakout. And the details on it are free at ESPN: https://t.co/xbSj9XJDfc

— Jeff Passan ( @JeffPassan ) December 13, 2023

[andyb]

Nick Ward has quite a day. 6-6, HR, BB, 4 RBI.

And we can conclude that Adelaide is very good, while Canberra is not.

https://theabl.com.au/game/759060

[andyb]

Leagues are winding down now. Andrick Nava is having a really good year in Australia. Not sure where his defense these days but he was only 21 in High A last year and he missed almost 2 full years because of the pandemic and some injuries.

12/28/23 : Phillies Winter League Roundup

[andyb]

Wells with 6 shutout innings and 14 Ks.

1/11/24 : Phillies Winter League Roundup

[andyb]

Cade Fergus can throw.

CADE FERGUS TAKE A BOW 🤯

One of the most ridiculous throws you will ever see courtesy of the Phillies prospect pic.twitter.com/Es03wflOMB

— Adelaide Giants Baseball Club ( @AdelaideGiants ) January 13, 2024

[julio]

Yeah. It remains to be seen whether Cade Fergus will hit enough to have a career, but in the field...he's just a pleasure to watch.

It hasn't been mentioned much anywhere, but Kendall Simmons is apparently injured (again). He came out of the second game of the Canberra series (round 8) after one four innings - January 5th. No immediate sign of any injury (didn't come up lame running, or have any kind of contact or issue in the field - when the Giants came out in the field in the fifth inning, he'd simply been replaced. He hasn't appeared in a game since, and Adelaide now lists him as "in the minors" on the roster. I haven't watched every inning of every game, so it's possible the announcers said something, but nothing during the game he came out, nor in the early innings of the following day's game (the times you might expect some comment). A mystery.

[Austinfan]

SImmons just seems to be one of those prospects who'll never pan out b/c he's just too fragile. Has great raw talent, and has flashed at times the last couple years, but at some point you realize he's never going to stay on the field long enough to develop before he ages out.

[julio]

Kendall Simmons was back on the field for the final series of the season, against Brisbane. The Brisbane announcers reported that he'd been having some kind of back problem.

Final regular-season stats for the Phils' prospects in Adelaide:

Player	Age	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	BB	SO	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
Rixon Wingrove	23	138	41	11	0	4	15	27	2	0	.297	.369	.464	.833
Andrick Nava	21	110	32	5	0	5	8	22	0	1	.297	.339	.473	.812
Cade Fergus	22	115	30	5	1	5	14	31	13	1	.261	.346	.461	.807
Kendall Simmons	23	87	24	7	0	3	3	18	1	0	.276	.315	.461	.775
Anthony Quirion	25	106	22	4	1	2	6	30	1	0	.208	.271	.321	.592

In my opinion, the guys to watch here are Nava and Fergus - because they both play premium defensive positions, and play them pretty well (or better than pretty well, in Fergus' case). Wingrove is a first baseman, and it's hard to know whether his ability with the bat will carry him at higher levels. Simmons is OK, but older than the other two, and less able to stay on the field. Quirion...he looked better in Adelaide last year; as of now, given his age, I have my doubts.

[andyb]

Some photos of Eduardo Tait here. And I learned how to pronounce his name correctly.

1/26/24 : High Performance Camp - Day Fifteen

[Austinfan]

When did the Phillies start running development camp on a full off season basis?
Used to be FIL for a couple months then nothing until ST.

[zambonir]

Last year I think? It's not full off-season, it's about a month. This would also be the first year anyone gets paid to do it.

[Austinfan]

Did they build dormitories in Clearwater as well?

[zambonir]

Seems doubtful but I think housing was already provided for these. Pay is $625//week, up from zero (as it also is in spring training). Likely wouldn't apply to foreign players not covered by the CBA who will have to continue to just be thankful for room/board/stipend.

I would think a great deal of the annual increase in salaries (especially at the lowest levels) is merely because the players get paid for most of the off-season now (if they are not at a team facility the rate is $250 a week).

[andyb]

Athletic dropped this article over the weekend on age fraud. At least the Phillies were not mentioned. I really think this will lead to a draft eventually if they can figure out the details. Bigger problem is still the early handshake deals and a draft would definitely solve that. I just hope they do not use that as an excuse to lower the pool/draft slot amounts. The previous proposal did some of that.

Age fraud on the rise in Dominican Republic, sowing chaos for MLB teams, young...

[Austinfan]

Even better reason to avoid big money LA players, there is less likely to be fraud with kids who aren't going to get a lot of money - the effort an agent might make (bribes, etc.) for a $1.5M contract he won't make for a $50K contract.

[andyb]

It is not a reason to avoid big money players. It is a reason to do the requisite homework and spend money on the players that deserve it. Teams can sign players for large bonuses and get good results. They just need to sign the right players.

[Austinfan]

Hard to do the requisite homework in countries where everyone is corrupt.
Just pay a clerk to falsify a birth certificate, etc.
And I wouldn't put it past some of these creeps to give growth hormones to 14 year olds.

[allentown]

Hard to do the requisite homework in countries where everyone is corrupt

But much of this seems to be corruption by the MLB teams. They are not supposed to be doing advanced deals with younger players, but some teams are. MLB still operates its age-checking operation, but as the article says, MLB does not check players who are more than a year away from being eligible for the draft. Much of the fraud is with players more than a year from eligibility. That is American MLB club fraud, not everyone in DR is dishonest.

If the Phillies didn't give a bonus larger than $50K, even if they gave every LA signee the full $50K, we would have to sign 93 prospects to spend their full allocation. I don't think they can handle that many new signees.