15 AND 10

Our Phillies finished the month of April above .500.  Andres Blanco is hitting .323 with a .400 OBP.  Hererra has a .449 OBP with 23 walks over 18 K's.  Franco leads the team in HR's and RBI's.

The pitching is equally impressive Velasquez is 4-1 with .89 WHIP, a 1.44 ERA and 39 K's in only 31.1 IP.  Nola carries a .88 WHIP and Eickhoff a 1.12 WHIP.  The BP has seen some unlikely hero's in Jeanmar Gomez with 8 Saves in a 8 Save Opportunities.  Hector Neris is equally impressive with 24Ks in only 15.1 IP.  I hope his arm doesn't fall off.

That's the good.  The bad is Howard and Ruf have combined to form the worst 4 hole stats in MLB with a .658 and .481 OPS between them.  Bourjos is hitting .171 with a .195 OBP.  Galvis has a knack for timely hits but again his overall consistency is not that of an everyday SS in the bigs.  Tyler Goeddel our Rule 5 pick-up this season has only 25 AB's through 25 games that to me is absurd.  If you thought enough of the kid to keep him on the 25 man roster after a very mediocre spring training then they should have committed to play him everyday.  If not send him back to Tampa or see if they will let you keep him down on the farm where he can play everyday.

Speaking of the Farm and our prospects. JP is still in AA probably bored and looking for a new challenge.  he's hitting .278 but has an incredible .418 OBP, contrast that with what Galvis is doing and you can see how that would be a huge improvement on the big club.  Still he is only 21 so more minor league seasoning is a good thing but c'mon let's bump him up a level.

Jake Thompson is struggling at AAA and hopefully that is because he is working on something specific.  Appel is seemingly putting some really good starts together and finally Nick Williams is showing signs of life at 22 in AAA.  He is hitting .299 with a .742 OPS.

Andrew Knapp is a pure hitter and could easily be on the big club right now but not as a catcher.  touch decision there.  He could be a call up to play 1B everyday but then he loses any chance of developing behind the dish.  I would start to wonder "can this kid play left field a la Kyle Schwarber?"

One surprise is Tommy Joseph, remember him?  The supposed prize of the Pence to the Giants trade.  No longer viewed as a catching prospect because of concussions he is now getting his AB's at 1B.  He's OPSing 1.074 in AAA at just 24 he should be in the mix as a call-up given Howard and Ruf's putrid starts.

Staying on the catching theme Jorge Alfaro was tearing it up in Reading hitting .500 and OPSing 1.274 through 38 PA's but got hurt...again.  I hope this isn't a sign of things to come.  Current Injury is right oblique strain.

Draft is getting near as you know we hold the 1st overall pick.  Pitching is still Groome in my eyes.  he is as polished as they come out of HS and low innings on that arm as opposed at the pitching prospects in college.  As for Position players still no clear cut guy you would say is a 1:1 but Kyle Lewis is killing the ball at Mercer College.  I love his profile 6'4" 215 pounds, raw power and athletic enough to play some CF, enough arm to move to RF if necessary.