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We're more than a week into the minor league season and there are some players performing at a level that is what one may expect based on a guy's previous performance and reputation.  There are also players widening eyes and tilting heads...some in a good way...others not in a good way.   Here's a list of names doing well, as should be expected...we'll call this list an excited "OH, FOR REAL?!" Left-hander Damon Jones is doing Damon Jones things with Triple-A Lehigh Valley.  Two appearances, 3 1/3 innings, one hit allowed, zero runs, one walk surrendered, five strike outs.  The Phils' 18th round pick from 2017 has a 3.29 career ERA, a .218 batting average against and an 11.1 K/9 mark in his professional career to date. Matt Vierling is off to a great start.  In eight games with Double-A Reading, the righty hitting outfielder sports a .310 average with two homers and two stolen bases.  He was a 5th round draft selection by the Phillies in 2018. ...

I invite you to visit Patreon.com/PhoulBallz in order to support my work and get access to material like this before anyone else and get access to interviews as well as other exclusive content you can't get anywhere else. Building on a breakout initial full season that saw him honored as the Class A South Atlantic League's Most Valuable Player, first baseman Darick Hall continued to prove himself worthy of regard as one of the Phillies' most promising minor league power hitters. A 14th round draft selection in 2016, the Dallas Baptist product made his professional debut with the short-season Class A Williamsport Crosscutters that same year. In 57 games, Hall would notch a .282 batting average with nine home runs and 29 RBI.  His .890 OPS led the New York-Penn League. Hall, a left-handed hitter, moved up to full-season Class A in 2017 and with Lakewood, sporting a .272 average with 28 doubles, a triple, 27 home runs (team record) and 96 RBI (another team re...

I've got a quick rundown here of how some Phillies players are performing in the off-season/Winter leagues that are underway so far.  Keep in mind that, down under, the Australian Baseball League kicks off later this month and that league is jam packed with Phils.  The Puerto Rico League is set to start action this week. Darick Hall, image- Jay Floyd In Mexico, first baseman Darick Hall is ripping up the opposition.  In 10 games, he's posted a .324/.409/.595 slash line.  The 25-year-old lefty slugger has a double, three homers and 16 RBI to date for Los Mochis.  Hall, a 14th round pick in 2016 out of Dallas Baptist, has reportedly been playing some left field in Mexico. In the Dominican Republic, for Licey, RHP Adonis Medina has appeared in two games.  In three innings of work, the 23-year-old has allowed four hits and two earned runs while striking out three and walking two.  Also with Licey, Enyel De Los Santos has also appeared in a pair of game...

I invite you to visit Patreon.com/PhoulBallz in order to support my work and get access to exclusive material like this as well as early access to all my other content. Darick Hall, image- Jay Floyd This week I talked with Phillies first base prospect Darick Hall about his down time due to the cancelled minor league season.   In 132 games with Double-A Reading last year, the lefty batting slugger notched a .235 average with an Eastern League leading 38 doubles, a triple, 20 home runs (2nd in the league) and 67 RBI.  This year, the 25-year-old spent time with the big league club in spring training where he saw action in 14 Grapefruit League games. Hall, who was the Phillies' 14th round draft selection 2016, offered his thoughts on being left off of the team's player pool roster, how he's staying in shape, what he's doing with his free time and more.  Read ahead for a sample of that interview. - I'd have to feel like the team would have had to give some considerati...

Darick Hall, image- Jay Floyd I invite you to visit Patreon.com/PhoulBallz in order to support my work and get access to material like this before anyone else and get access to interviews as well as other exclusive content you can't get anywhere else. Building on a breakout initial full season that saw him honored as the Class A South Atlantic League's Most Valuable Player, first baseman Darick Hall continued to prove himself worthy of regard as one of the Phillies' most promising young power hitters. A 14th round draft selection in 2016, the Dallas Baptist product made his professional debut with the short-season Class A Williamsport Crosscutters that same year. In 57 games there, Hall tallied a .282 batting average with nine home runs and 29 RBI.  His .890 OPS led the New York-Penn League. Hall, a left-handed hitter, moved up to full-season Class A in 2017 and with Lakewood, sporting a .272 average with 28 doubles, a triple, 27 home runs (team recor...

Darick Hall, image- Jay Floyd HELP SUPPORT CONTENT LIKE THIS AND KEEP IT COMING ALL SEASON LONG BY BECOMING A PATRON!  Get early access to my posts and EXCLUSIVE interviews- https://www.patreon.com/phoulballz Normally, I post the audio of these types of out-of-the-ordinary interviews.  Many of those appear exclusively over on my Patreon page .  In this instance, the recording is poor and truly doesn't sound good enough to release the recording, so I have transcribed a fun interview with Double-A Reading slugger Darick Hall below. The 24-year-old lefty hitting first baseman has been a key contributor in the middle of the Reading lineup all season long.  In 97 games, Hall sports a .249 batting average with 18 home runs and a league leading 62 RBI. Hall was the Phillies' 14th round pick out of Dallas Baptist in 2016. In the interview below, Hall chats about organizational rivalry with the Yankees throughout the minors, who may be his coolest teammate, mu...

For the second straight year a Reading Fightin Phils slugger has won the Double-A Eastern League All-Star Home Run Derby.  Slugging first baseman Darick Hall locked down the walk-off victory in Richmond, VA on Tuesday night. Hall, a lefty batting prospect, tallied 175 points (25 points per homer with distance bonuses) in a 90 second round to cement the title.  He sent a deep fly out to right-center field to clinch the victory. The 23-year-old will be among four players slated to represent Reading in Wednesday's EL All-Star Game. Hall, the Phillies' 14th round draft selection from 2016, leads the league in RBI with 55 and sports a .240 average with 14 home runs in 83 games thus far this season. Congrats to @ReadingFightins ' Darick Hall, the 2019 Eastern League Home Run Derby overall champion! pic.twitter.com/GX8IcuMF0n — Richmond Flying Squirrels (@GoSquirrels) July 10, 2019 Last year, catcher Deivy Grullon was victorious in the EL Home Run Derby in Trenton...

HELP SUPPORT CONTENT LIKE THIS AND KEEP IT COMING ALL SEASON LONG BY BECOMING A PATRON!  Get early access to my posts and EXCLUSIVE interviews- https://www.patreon.com/phoulballz Mickey Moniak, image- Jay Floyd The Double-A Eastern League All-Star rosters were announced on Monday and four Reading Fightin Phils have been honored and will represent the Eastern division. Righty pitchers Adonis Medina and Addison Russ will be joined by slugging first baseman Darick Hall and outfielder Mickey Moniak when the game takes place on Wednesday, July 10th in Richmond, VA. Medina, 22, has been on a roll of late and closed out the first half of the season with five straight wins, notching a 1.24 ERA over that stretch.  In 12 starts for Reading, the Domincan Republic native sports a 5-3 record with a 4.05 ERA and a .235 batting average against. Russ, 24, has been consistent as the team's closer this year, tallying a 1-3 record with 10 saves, a 1.57 ERA and a 12.9 K/9 mark...

Last month I sat down with Reading skipper Shawn Williams to talk about several of his players.  Some of the quotes from that interview remained unpublished since that time.  Among the topics of discussion for the Double-A Fightin Phils were slugging first baseman Darick Hall, infielder Arquimedes Gamboa, starting pitcher Adonis Medina and more. Read ahead for those exclusive interview excerpts... -You've got a power hitting prospect on this team in Darick Hall .  I know he had a battle in spring training with Dylan Cozens going head to head.  What was that like?  Was it fun for everyone? It was fun watching both of them  They squared off in a home run derby.  That's two guys that have big time power.  They do it in the game and they can really do it in (batting practice).  But, to see both of them squaring off, it was fun to watch.  And even (Deivi) Grullon was part of that too and Grullon put on a show.  So, it was just...

Darick Hall, image- Jay Floyd Building on a breakout initial full season that saw him honored as the Class A South Atlantic League's Most Valuable Player, first baseman Darick Hall continued to prove himself worthy of regard as one of the Phillies' most promising young power hitters. A 14th round draft selection in 2016, the Dallas Baptist product made his professional debut with the short-season Class A Williamsport Crosscutters that same year. In 57 games there, Hall tallied a .282 batting average with nine home runs and 29 RBI.  His .890 OPS led the New York-Penn League. Hall, a left-handed hitter, moved up to full-season Class A in 2017 and with Lakewood, sporting a .272 average with 28 doubles, a triple, 27 home runs (team record) and 96 RBI (another team record) in 114 games. He would close out his 2017 campaign with a week in the Class A Advanced Florida State League playing for Clearwater. In seven games with the Threshers, the six-foot-four 242-pounder po...

Season's greetings!  Everybody loves the holidays and, of course, baseball players are no exception. Every year at Christmas time, I survey a group of Phillies prospects about what they get excited for during the holiday season. Players taking part in this year's ninth annual player survey include the 2018 Paul Owens Award winner OF Austin Listi , slugging first base  prospect Darick Hall , Class A All-Stars (CI/OF) Jake Scheiner and (SP) Will Stewart , Triple-A reliever Tyler Gilbert and short-season rookie level backstop Logan O'Hoppe .  Additionally, taking part is Double-A Reading Fightin Phils broadcaster Mike Ventola. Questions and answers listing each individual’s holly jolly holiday favorites are listed below… -What is your favorite Xmas movie or TV special? Austin Listi: For the longest time my favorite Christmas movie has been The Santa Claus 2. However, I love just snuggling up on the couch with my wife and crushing Hallmark's Countd...

Darick Hall (left) & Tyler Fallwell, photo courtesy of Darick Hall Darick Hall continued his ascent toward the big leagues in 2018, flashing plenty of power and achieving success at two levels in the process.  The 23-year-old lefty-handed batter tore through the Class A Advanced Florida State League before earning a promotion to the Double-A Reading Fightin Phils. In 128 combined games this year, the Phillies 14th round draft selection from 2016 tallied a .244 batting average with 26 home runs and 87 RBI.   Following the regular season, Hall participated in the prestigious Arizona Fall League.  In 18 games there with the Scorpions, the six-foot-four 234-pounder sported a .238 average with four home runs and 12 RBI.   This week I talked with the slugging first baseman about his successful year, the time spent in the AFL, his workout routine and more.  Read ahead for that full interview. -What did you take out of your 2018 campaig...

Throughout the off-season, I'll offer a roundup of how some Phillies prospects and players are performing around the world in fall/winter leagues. Here are the latest noteworthy details. Colombian League- Jorge Alfaro, image- Jay Floyd Catcher Jorge Alfaro is batting .271 with a pair of home runs in 13 games for the Toros.  Alfaro, 25, posted a .262 average with 10 home runs and 37 RBI in 108 games with the Phillies this year.  Arizona Fall League- With the AFL wrapping up play last week, the following stats are final for the month-long campaign with each of the players having competed for the Scottsdale Scorpions. First baseman Darick Hall batted .238 with four homers and 12 RBI in 18 games.  Hall, 23, was the 14th round pick of the Phillies in 2016 out of Dallas Baptist.  Hall blasted 26 homers and drove in 87 runs in 128 combined games with Clearwater and Reading this year. Outfielder/first baseman Austin Listi batted .250 and OPS'd .6...