Skip to main content

Minor League Notes: the Hot, the Cold, the Injured and the Departed

In the latest rundown of developmental notes, we'll take a glance at some top performers, several guys who aren't doing too well, a couple sidelined prospects and a group of former Phillies minor leaguers...

The Hot List- 

Lakewood pitcher Nic Hanson
Lakewood righty Nic Hanson has not been scored upon in two outings (11 total innings) since moving from the BlueClaws' bullpen to their starting rotation. A 16th round pick in last year's draft out of Golden West College, Hanson, 21, has a 1-0 record with a save and a 3.38 ERA in eight games.

Class A Advanced Clearwater outfielder Cameron Perkins has been performing extremely well this month.  In 10 games, the 22-year-old has posted a .385 average with six doubles, a triple, a homer and six RBI.  Perkins was selected in the 6th round of the 2012 draft out of Purdue University.

Dominican hurler Gabriel Arias has looked great for the Clearwater Threshers, going 4-1 with a 1.25 ERA through nine outings (four starts).  The 23-year-old has regularly had his fastball clocked at 95 MPH over the past year.

Double-A Reading catcher Cameron Rupp, whose batting average had been as low as .211 this past week, decided to shave his goatee for a change of luck.  Since going bald faced, the 24-year-old has gone 5-for-12 with three home runs and five RBI in three contests.  Rupp was drafted out of the University of Texas in the 3rd round in 2010.

With the Triple-A Lehigh Valley IronPigs, righty reliever Michael Stutes has produced six straight scoreless outings, a stretch of 9 2/3 innings during which he has allowed four hits and two walks while striking out nine.  Overall, the 26-year-old has a 1-2 record with a save and a 3.80 ERA in 15 games.


The Cold List-

Lakewood third baseman Mitch Walding, who had been one of the team's best offensive performers through the opening month of the season, has cooled off quite a bit recently.  In his past nine games, the 20-year-old has gone 5-for-35 (.143 avg).  Prior to the slump, the Phils' 5th round pick from 2011 was sporting a .277 average.

Top 2012 draft pick Shane Watson
In three starts since he tossed five shut out innings against Savannah on April 21st, last year's 1st round pick Shane Watson has gone 0-2 with an 11.70 ERA for Lakewood.  Watson, a 19-year-old, has had his fastball clocked steadily at 93 MPH this season.

Clearwater designated hitter and occasional corner infielder Harold Martinez is batting .154 over his last 10 games.  The 23-year-old prospect was the Phils' 2nd round draft choice out of the University of Miami in 2011.  Overall in 23 games, Martinez is batting .191 with a home run and five RBI.

Triple-A Lehigh Valley infielder/outfielder Michael Martinez is batting .118 over his past nine games.  Overall in 25 games, the 30-year-old has tallied a .224 average along with three doubles and 10 RBI.


The Injured-

Reading left-hander Austin Wright, sidelined with a strained throwing shoulder, has been rehabbing the ailment in Florida.  The 23-year-old threw two innings with the Phillies' extended spring training team this past week and has his next start scheduled with them on Tuesday. Wright was drafted in the 8th round in 2011 out of the University of Mississippi.

Clearwater reliever Kenny Giles, who began the season with a strained oblique on his right side returned in late April to appear in two games, but has returned to the disabled list with an oblique strain on the opposite side.  A source with the Phillies jokingly describes Giles, whose fastball reached triple digits with Clearwater last year, as a bad patient.  The 7th round draft pick from 2011 is said to be anxious to return to the mound and doesn't like missing game action.


The Departed-

Domingo Santana
Outfielder Domingo Santana, who was traded as the player to be named later in the 2011 Hunter Pence deal, had the first three-homer game of his career on Friday for Double-A Corpus Christi. Through 24 contests this year, the 20-year-old Dominican was batting .264 with seven home runs and 17 RBI.

Righty hurler Trevor May, who was dealt last off-season in the Ben Revere trade, threw his second seven-inning complete game shutout of the season for Double-A New Britain on Friday. In seven starts, the 23-year-old is 2-1 with a 3.20 ERA. The Washington state native has had two tough outings against Harrisburg this season, including a four-inning outing on April 29th during which he allowed eight earned runs. In his five starts not against Harrisburg this year, May has a 1.15 ERA.

With Triple-A Oklahoma City, right-hander Jarred Cosart is 4-0 with a 2.18 ERA along with 39 strike outs and 14 walks through 33 innings pitched. The Texas native who turns 23 later this month seems to have dominated the tough-on-pitchers Pacific Coast League, but he has not thrown six innings or greater in any of his seven appearances this season.  Cosart was also part of the package sent to Houston for Pence.

Righty pitcher Lisalverto Bonilla, who was traded to Texas in the deal to acquire Michael Young, has a 2-1 record along with a 7.50 ERA in 12 relief outings for the Triple-A Round Rock Express.  The 22-year-old has struck out 26 and walked 11 in 18 innings.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

PhoulBallz Interview: Reading second baseman Jesmuel Valentin

Jesmuel Valentin, image- Jay Floyd Switch-hitting infielder Jesmuel Valentin has been a bit of an underrated contributor with the Double-A Reading Fightins. Heading into action on Friday, Valentin was batting .339 over his last 14 games. Overall this season, the 22-year-old is batting .282 with four home runs and 35 RBI in 64 games. Valentin, who plays mostly second base, but dabbles at shortstop a bit also, is the son of former big leaguer Jose Valentin . The Puerto Rico native was a supplementary round pick (51st overall) of the Dodgers in 2012. He was acquired by the Phils as part of the Roberto Hernandez trade in 2014. Recently, I spoke with Jesmuel about his team's success, growing up around the game and more. Read ahead for that full interview. -The Reading team has been great and you've contributed very nicely to the club's success. What are your thoughts on competition in the Eastern League this year? I just came here with the mindset that...

Q&A with Justin De Fratus

Justin De Fratus is a 21 year old right handed relief pitcher with the Lakewood BlueClaws. An 11th round draft choice in 2007, Justin had been a starter in his first two seasons in the Phillies organization. Informed this spring that he'd be switched from the rotation to the bullpen, Justin has excelled and become one of the most reliable pitchers on the Lakewood staff. In 19 games this season, Justin is 2-0, with a 1.83 ERA and 0.89 WHIP over 39 1/3 innings pitched. PhoulBallz.com spoke with Justin De Fratus just last night. Here's how that went down... Justin, South Atlantic League all star selections were announced this week, and you were named to the team. Can I get your reaction to that? How excited were you? Very excited about it. Well, especially this year because I just got moved to the bullpen, so this is a new role for me. So, if anything, it's reassuring that I'm doing my job. It's the first time in my pro career that I've been selected as an all star...

Catching prospect O'Hoppe tabbed to join Phillies

Logan O'Hoppe, image- Jay Floyd Please consider supporting my work and via my Patreon page .  For a small monthly fee, your patronage will get you exclusive interviews and other prospect related material as well as early access to all of my other content such as this feature.  Thank you.   On Friday, the Phillies added a pair of catchers to their 2020 player pool.  Minor leaguers Logan O'Hoppe (pronounced Oh-HOP-ee) and Henri Lartigue arrived in Philadelphia to help catch bullpen sessions for the team's collection of approximately 30 pitchers. The call to O'Hoppe was extremely welcome as the 20-year-old had been staying as active as he possibly could, working out with other players that have been been waiting out quarantine due to the current pandemic at his home on Long Island.  However, he had been very eager to step back onto an actual baseball field. "I just hope I can play soon.  Where ever that is or whatever form that is, that'd be aw...