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Mickey Moniak with Lakewood in 2017 Almost daily I am engaged via Twitter or email or text messages or in person about Phillies prospects. It comes with the gig.  The player that scores the most inquiries is, as should be expected, 2016 top overall draft selection Mickey Moniak . Questions from fans that don't want to seem overly judgmental will ask, “Should we be concerned?” Others, living up to the more stereotypical Philadelphia sports fan reputation, will assert the notion, “He’s a bust!  Somebody didn't do his job right!” For the most part I have responded in defense of Moniak and others, letting people know that the youngster’s skills are real and his coaches stand by them. I’d caution fans that he was young, still a teenager, among the five youngest position players in the Class A Advanced Florida State League (per his team the Clearwater Threshers, as of the end of April), and he just needed time to catch up to the older, more mature pitching at that level....

Plenty of things going on around Baseball Land that are worth mentioning. Take a look, and catch yourself up. The Rookie Career Development Program is an annual MLB event, held every January, where top prospect are brought together to learn about life in the big leagues. It is designed to allow the young players to prepare for what lies ahead of them off the field...dealing with the media and finances, as well as any pressures that may arise at home or in the clubhouse. The symposium was held last week, and Phillies prospect right handed pitcher Phillippe Aumont, who was acquired in the Cliff Lee trade, was there. In an interview posted on Phillies.com ( here ), the Canadian born Aumont was asked about his language barrier coming from a background where French was his first language, and learning English on his own. He stated that, "It took me a while. It took me a few years to get over my stage where I was shy to speak and make mistakes and everything. And now I feel more c...

Plenty of news worthy items popped up over the weekend. Here are some nuggets you shouldn't miss. Carlos Ruiz officially signed a multi-year contract with the Phillies, avoiding arbitration. The deal is for 3 years/$8.85 million with a team option for a fifth year at $5 million. More on Ruiz's deal can be found here . The Phillies also signed former White Sox and Rockies pitcher Jose Contreras to a 1 year contract. Info about the signing can be found here . Contreras projects to fill a vacancy out of the bullpen that the absences of Clay Condrey and Chan Ho Park will leave. The addition of Contreras adds to the list of 2005 World Champion White Sox that have gone on to sign with or play in the Philadelphia Phillies organization...Aaron Rowand, Tadahito Iguchi, Freddy Garcia, Ross Gload & Pablo Ozuna are others. Former Phillies #1 draft pick Greg Golson was designated for assignment by the Rangers last week. This move was made necessary as Texas signed Khalil Greene to ...

After an awful home stand where the Phillies went 1-8, the defending champs bounced back on Tuesday night with a 10-1 victory against the Rays. The win for the Phillies improves their road record to a Major League best 24-9 (.727 winning percentage), while their home record is second worst in the majors (13-22). I'm pretty sure most phans would be in favor of the Phillies relocating some of their home games, going forward. Despite Jimmy Rollins' 0-5 effort out of the lead off spot, in game 1 of the series in Tampa, he scored a run. Since the Phillies won the game, that improves the team's record to 28-7 (.800 winning percentage) in games that Rollins plays and scores at least one run. In games that Rollins plays and does not score a run, the Phillies are 8-23 (.258 winning percentage). That's surely proof that Rollins is key for the Phillies as a table setter and a leader. J-Roll's struggles reflect the Phillies' issues at home. His batting average is 44 points...

Here's a collection of Phillies related notes for you and all of your loved ones on this glorious drinking holiday- Ryan Howard in St. Louis is a serious beast! In the city where he was born, Howard is 23-for-60 in his career (.383 avg.), with 7 homers and 28 RBI. Howard has played just 16 games in St. Louis. Howard's grand slam in the 5th inning of Monday night's game was the 7th of his career. That ties him for the all time Phillies franchise lead in grand slams with Mike Schmidt. Each slugger has 7. Shane Victorino has a 13 game hitting streak. Shane has walked or hit safely in all but 3 of the Phillies' 23 games this season. Raul Ibanez went 0-for-4 in Monday's game at St. Louis. This was just the third game in which he did not walk or hit safely this season for our Phils. Lefty reliever Mike Zagurski continues his journey back to the major leagues. Zagurski, or Zagz if you will, completed his third scoreless appearance for double-A Reading on Monday. So far, i...

I have some statistics for you all to ponder. Who remembers that old left fielder for our Phillies named Pat Burrell? It's been a while, but if you still have some memories of him, these numbers could be of interest to you. I just thought we'd take a look at Pat's numbers in Phillies' wins against Pat's numbers in Phillies' losses. In Phillies wins... Batting avg-.296 HR- 159 RBI- 580 Slg %- .570 In Phillies losses... Batting avg- .215 HR- 92 RBI- 247 Slg %- .391 Take from this comparison what you will, but I'd assert that this displays Pat's inconsistencies. An argument could be made that this shows how integral Pat was for our Phillies in wins, but if that's the point of view one chooses, there's no ignoring what type of credit he'd deserve in the losses. Blame. ***** And here is another quick look at the spring performances of John Mayberry Jr. and Greg Golson. Golson was traded for Mayberry in the offseason, as Texas and Philadelphia swap...

A few big news stories in World Championsville today. The first is that Chase Utley will undergo surgery next week on his injured hip. This surgery could take as long as 6 months to recover from. The right hip had troubled "ChUtley" for a good portion of the 2008 season. If Utley misses the start of the 2009 season, this could be a window of opportunity for Jason Donald, or this could fully seal the deal on a return to Philadelphia for Tadahito Iguchi. The second story is phormer phirst round drapht pick Greg Golson was traded to Texas for another first round pick John Mayberry. Mayberry, a 24 year old righty slugger, has already been assigned to triple-A Lehigh Valley, and was added to the Phillies' 40 man roster. The loss of Golson should not be a subject to worry about. Last offseason I was stunned to learn that another top draft pick named Mike Costanzo was sent away, and look how that turned out (Eh-hem, BRAD LIDGE). The Phillies were simply at a point where ...

It's a week later and the Phillies have a 1.5 games lead in the NL eastern division. The Fightin' Phillies control their own fate. It's not 2007, where the good guys were trailing. It's 2008 and the bad guys have fallen behind. According to the TBS web site, the first two days of the playoffs will include both National League games. Wednesday October 1st and Thursday October 2nd would be the first two games of the Phillies' post season. The NL wild card winner and the NL east division champ will determine who plays when and where. Should the Phillies win the east, and the Mets win the wild card, the Phillies would play the 2nd of three scheduled TV times for TBS's national broadcasts, against the west division winner. The game times would be 5pm or 6:30pm both days. If the Brewers win the wild card, the Cubs would not be able to play them in the first round, due to the rule of "wild card winners do not face the champ of their own division in the first round...