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Much is being made of the Phillies' upcoming seven-game series at Miami.  A potentially season-defining weekend that will feature two separate double-headers pit the Phils (21-18) against their pesky division rival, the germ sharing Marlins (19-19). The teams will meet for a lengthy series due to both clubs missing considerable time after the Marlins dealt with a coronavirus outbreak when the season got underway in July and the Phillies were the last team they faced.   If the Phillies can't secure a series win against a Marlins team that is in the midst of a rebuild, media types and baseball fans alike have been critical in stating that the big-budget Phils (2020 team salary was slated to be 6th highest in the big leagues while Miami was set to be fourth lowest) likely won't have a place in the postseason.   Read ahead for a rundown of the pitching match ups as well as some key statistics from this series.  Thursday, 6:40pm.  Jake Arrieta (3-4, ...

Leibrandt w/ Reading in 2017, image-Jay Floyd Please consider supporting my work and subscribe to  my Patreon page .  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 post.  Thank you. On Monday I learned that roughly two dozen Phillies minor leaguers were released over the weekend as the organization prepares for this year's amateur draft. Via sources, I quickly confirmed a few of the individuals, namely righty hitting outfielder Ben Aklinski along with lefty pitcher Brandon Leibrandt .  I also communicated with lefty reliever Aaron Brown , who confirmed to be that he had been released by the organization. Aklinski, 23, with the Phils' 32nd round draft pick in 2018.  He notched a .560 OPS last year with Class A Advanced Clearwater.   Leibrandt had been out of action since July of 2018 after undergoing Tommy John surgery.  The 27-...

Joe Jordan, image- Jay Floyd On Sunday, Phillies director of player development Joe Jordan took some time to talk with me about plenty of prospects throughout the Phils developmental levels. Topics discussed include injury updates for several hurlers including Jose Taveras , Nick Fanti , Bailey Falter and a critical note on Triple-A reliever Brandon Leibrandt .  Also mentioned are outfielders Jhailyn Ortiz and Jose Pujols , catcher Deivi Grullon , Lakewood starters Will Stewart and David Parkinson as well as impressive Double-A reliever Kyle Dohy along with Triple-A reliever Tyler Gilbert. Read onward for much of my interview with Joe and check back in the coming days for his thoughts on some other names that are worthy of interest.  -Kyle Dohy's graduated out of Lakewood and Clearwater, landing in Reading.  He's started to get some attention, after he was a 16th round draft pick and pitched in short-season Class A last year.  Can you talk...

Last week I spoke with Triple-A Lehigh Valley pitching coach Dave Lundquist.  Among the topics of discussion were promising pitching prospects Enyel De Los Santos, Cole Irvin, Brandon Leibrandy, Drew Anderson, Tyler Gilbert and plenty others. Lundquist pitched in the major leagues with the White Sox and the Padres prior to joining the coaching ranks.  He has been with the Phillies developmental staff since 2008. Read ahead for the full interview... -You've got a couple International League All-Stars on your pitching staff.  Can you comment on those guys and the honor? Yeah, we got De Los Santos, who's been selected to be the starter for that game.  You know, that's a huge honor.  It goes back to his work ethic and what he's done, what he's accomplished all year.  The guy's had, you know, a tremendous first half.  Let him go enjoy that game and pick up the second half where he left off.   Cole Irvin, image- Jay Floyd With Irvin...

We're beyond the mid-season point for both full-season Class A teams and now would be as good a time as any to run down some of the top performers throughout the Phillies' minor league levels.  Class A Short-Season Williamsport Crosscutters-  Through four games, lefty hitting first baseman Edwin Rodriguez is batting .462 with two doubles and two RBI.  The 21-year-old Dominican spent the last two seasons playing in the Gulf Coast League. Outfielder Matt Vierling, who was the Phillies' 5th round draft selection out of Notre Dame this year, sports a .450 average with a triple, two RBI and two stolen bases through five contests.  The 21-year-old righty batter is a native of St. Louis.   Venezuelan born hurler Gustavo Armas had an outstanding start in his first appearance of the young season for the Cutters.  In seven innings of work he allowed no runs while striking out seven and walking none.  The righty, Armas, is 22-years-old. Class A ...

Dave Lundquist, image- Jay Floyd Recently, I talked with the pitching coach of the Triple-A Lehigh Valley IronPigs Dave Lundquist.  Among the topics of discussion were well-regarded Phillies pitching prospects Mark Appel, Jake Thompson, Tom Eshelman, Edubray Ramos and much more. Lundquist pitched in the major leagues with the White Sox and the Padres prior to joining the coaching ranks.  He has been with the Phillies developmental staff since 2008. Read ahead for my full interview... -Mark Appel has gotten back on track of late (posting a 2.20 ERA over his last seven games, after two weak starts in May).  What have you seen from him to help him improve? He started out-- he had some good games early and he hit a rough patch.  For me really, he was just trying to do too much.  But he's made some good adjustments in his delivery, calmed himself down a bit and is throwing a lot more strikes.  He has gotten his secondary pitches a lot sharper, able...

On Friday, Phillies director of player development Joe Jordan took time to chat with Phillies Nation's Jay Floyd about an array of topics out of minor league camp. Jordan, who is entering his fifth season in his role, spoke about recently reassigned prospects, top names and what to expect from them, some injuries and much more. Read ahead for the full interview. Carlos Tocci, image- Jay Floyd -I noticed that Carlos Tocci is playing with group 2, the team that will become the Double-A Fightins. It's common for players to play up a level during spring. Is there anyone that might take a notable jump to open the regular season ?   Well, I mean it's too early to read anything too much into the work groups. I mean, normally, you know, this spring training's no different than any other. You've got guys playing up a level. As we start getting guys back from big league camp you have guys start getting pushed. Really it won't be till that last week till y...

Tug and Jay are back with the latest edition on the PhoulBallz Minor League Podcast. On the 77th edition of the show, the guys talk about Jake Fox 's transition to Korea, Mark Leiter Jr.'s, Brandon Leibrandt 's and J.P. Crawford 's excellent efforts for Clearwater as well as Carlos Tocci posting terrific numbers in the Sally League. Reading slugger Art Charles joins the show for the segment Nine Silly-ass Questions, plus Marlins pitching prospect Ben Holmes (AKA Ben Wetzler) takes time to answer questions about the Phillies reporting him to the NCAA for having an agent represent him at the negotiation table in 2013. Use the media player below to stream the full episode, or simply download it by clicking HERE . You can also check out previous episodes and subscribe on iTunes . Thanks so much to the thousands of you that listen to each episode. We appreciate you.

It's your weekly rundown of top performers from the Phillies' developmental ranks with some not-so-good performers mixed in as well. Triple-A Lehigh Valley IronPigs (9-23 record, last in International League North Division- worst record in the league)... Hot: Maikel Franco, image- Jay Floyd 3B Maikel Franco has continued to shine on offense, as the 22-year-old has gone 12-for-25 (.480 avg) with three homers and eight RBI in his last six games. Overall, the Dominican native has notched a .341 average with four home runs and 18 RBI in 30 games this season. RHP Phillippe Aumont sports a 1-1 record and a 1.93 ERA in three starts since joining the Pigs' rotation. In seven appearances this year, the 26-year-old has a 1.73 ERA and a .188 batting average against. Cold: Catcher Tommy Joseph is 2-for-32 (.063 avg) in his last 10 games. Overall, in 20 games this season, the 23-year-old sports a .123 average with four doubles and six RBI. Double-A Reading Fightins ...

We're back at it with another rundown of all the top performers from the Phillies' developmental ranks. Triple-A Lehigh Valley- OF Brian Bogusevic currently sports a seven-game hitting streak and is batting .346 during that stretch. The 31-year-old is hitting .310 with a home runs and five RBI through 21 games this season. Bogusevic batted .306 in 22 spring games with the Phillies this year. Infielder Chase d'Arnaud is batting .324 and has four multi-hit games in nine games played this year. The righty batting 28-year-old is the older brother of former Phils prospect Travis d'Arnaud . Double-A Reading Fightins- Righty starter Ben Lively has a 2-0 record with a 2.16 ERA while striking out 24 and walking seven in 25 innings over four starts thus far this season. The 23-year-old struck out nine while allowing three earned runs in six innings when he notched his second win of the season on Sunday. Lively was acquired last off-season from the Reds in the tr...