Winter Leagues under way with Tocci, Lino and more

Carlos Tocci, image- Jay Floyd

Just as the big league postseason is heating up, minor league players have gotten action rolling in the international off-season leagues, with top outfield prospect Carlos Tocci and promising backstop Gabriel Lino leading the way in the Venezuelan Winter League.

With Aragua on Wednesday, the 20-year-old Tocci went 3-for-6 with a stolen base. All of his hits were singles. Tocci, widely ranked among the Phillies' top 10 prospects, posted a .287/.339/.363 combined slash line in 127 games with Class A Lakewood and Class A Advanced Clearwater in 2015.

Also for Aragua in the VWL, outfielder Herlis Rodriguez went 1-for-1 with two RBI as a pinch hitter and later played right field. The 21-year-old lefty batter tallied a .284 average with 10 home runs, 61 RBI and 16 steals in 120 games for Lakewood this season.

Lino, who was acquired from Baltimore in 2012 for Jim Thome, went 1-for-3 with a walk and a strike out for Lara in the VWL on Wednesday. The 22-year-old sported a .234 batting average with three homers and 30RBI in 85 combined games for Double-A Reading and Triple-A Lehigh Valley this year.

Multi-positional standout Willians Astudillo went 1-for-4 as the first baseman for Anzoategui on Wednesday. Astudillo was the Class A Advanced Florida State League batting champion this year with his .314 mark, also hitting three homers and driving in 49 runs.

Additionally, infielder Edgar Duran was 1-for-4 with Margarita as their shortstop on opening night. Duran missed a majority of the season with a pair of injuries as a member of the Lehigh Valley IronPigs this year.

Opening days for other off-season leagues are coming soon enough with action starting in Mexico on Friday, October 9th, Arizona Fall League is under way on October 13th while the Dominican league starts October 15th and the Australian Baseball League begins on October 23rd.

Comments

IronPigs Quotables: JD Hammer interview excerpts

JD Hammer, image- Cheryl Pursell HELP SUPPORT CONTENT LIKE THIS AND KEEP IT COMING ALL YEAR LONG BY BECOMING A PATRON! Get early access to my posts plus EXCLUSIVE interviews & other content- https://www.patreon.com/phoulballz Recently I published a feature on reliever J.D. Hammer , who spent some time with the big league Phillies before returning to the minors with Triple-A Lehigh Valley. In the piece, Hammer and the IronPigs' coaching staff speak about the righty pitcher's current path and what he's focused on to return to the majors. During my time chatting with the talented prospect he spoke on some topics that didn't make the cut in the feature. Topics included the variance in the baseball at the upper levels, the IronPigs' catchers and more. Read ahead for those interview excerpts. I asked Hammer about the difference in the baseball from the lower levels of the minors to Triple-A and the majors. The variance in the balls is said to take

2019 Phillies Prospects Countdown: #7 LHP JoJo Romero

JoJo Romero, image- Jay Floyd With a growing crop of very talented pitching prospects in the Phillies organization, left-hander JoJo Romero is certainly among the standouts. The five-foot-11 200-pounder was the Phils’ 4th round draft selection in 2016. That year he helped Yavapai College, the same school that the Phillies drafted Kenny Giles from in 2011, clinch the JuCo World Series, leading the way with an 11-5 record, a 3.64 ERA and a 10.2 K/9 mark. He also tossed a complete game gem to earn the win in their title game. After signing with the Phillies, Romero made his professional debut as a member of the short-season Class A Williamsport Crosscutters. There, he notched a 2-2 record with a 2.56 ERA while striking out 31 and walking 11 in 45 2/3 innings. In 2017, he got off to a terrific start with the Class A Lakewood BlueClaws. In 13 starts, Romero tallied a 5-1 record with a 2.11 ERA and a 9.3 K/9 mark and was honored as a South Atlantic League mid-season All-Star. R

Bubby Rossman's long awaited MLB debut

Eight years after he initially signed a professional contract with the Dodgers and a five-year stretch playing away from affiliated ball, Bubby Rossman became a major leaguer on Wednesday. Added as a substitute for pitcher Kyle Gibson, who is restricted from travel to Canada for the Phillies' series in Toronto, due to his medical inability to be vaccinated from COVID-19, Rossman took the mound for the first time in the majors. Rossman, who was a 22nd round draft selection in 2014 had pitched in 200 professional games before his one-inning outing in the Phillies' 8-2 loss to the Blue Jays. In 27 appearances with Double-A Reading this year, the 30-year-old right-hander has performed well, tallying a 2-2 record with a save, a 3.32 ERA and a .200 batting average against. The embedded video below features a media session with Rossman from prior to opening day this year, in which the California native discusses his journey through independent baseball and back to affiliated ball wi

PhoulBallz.com

Search This Blog