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.
Monday, May 2, 2016
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Spring Training Review
The Phillies will head north in a few days. All in all they managed a winning record and played really good baseball. Franco led the league in bombs and seems poised to pick up where he left off before his 2015 injury.
Vincent Velasquez looks legit. His stuff is the real deal and maybe he is not an Ace today but he definitely has the potential to grow into that. After all look what happened to Jake Arrietta once he left Baltimore.
Herrea is just a really nice player and no doubt now that he is a solid everyday MLB player.
The rest of the team to start is just meh but wait that leaves out Nola and Eickhoff. I think both will be good pitchers but neither appear to have the upside that VV has. That's not a bad thing as I think Nola fits very well as an above average 3 and probably will have some years where he flirts with 15 wins. Same for Eickhoff.
The real funs begin at whichever point in the season JP comes up and Nick Williams comes up and Jake Thompson. Those guys along with Franco have the real potential to be stars and make everyone around them look better. They seem likely to be the next core of getting to the top of the NL East.
Most importantly this team despite the record will be much more enjoyable to watch. I suspect the changes and new faces mean an additional 5-8 wins this year. I like that they extended Pete Mckanin I think he has a good way with players and a sharp baseball mind.
I expect the minor league system to produce value in the next few years and a #1 overall pick shouldn't hurt either.
Vincent Velasquez looks legit. His stuff is the real deal and maybe he is not an Ace today but he definitely has the potential to grow into that. After all look what happened to Jake Arrietta once he left Baltimore.
Herrea is just a really nice player and no doubt now that he is a solid everyday MLB player.
The rest of the team to start is just meh but wait that leaves out Nola and Eickhoff. I think both will be good pitchers but neither appear to have the upside that VV has. That's not a bad thing as I think Nola fits very well as an above average 3 and probably will have some years where he flirts with 15 wins. Same for Eickhoff.
The real funs begin at whichever point in the season JP comes up and Nick Williams comes up and Jake Thompson. Those guys along with Franco have the real potential to be stars and make everyone around them look better. They seem likely to be the next core of getting to the top of the NL East.
Most importantly this team despite the record will be much more enjoyable to watch. I suspect the changes and new faces mean an additional 5-8 wins this year. I like that they extended Pete Mckanin I think he has a good way with players and a sharp baseball mind.
I expect the minor league system to produce value in the next few years and a #1 overall pick shouldn't hurt either.
Friday, February 19, 2016
Draft Watch 2016
Pitchers and Catchers are doing their thing at the Carpenter complex. Jumping Jacks and PFPs daily. Word is just about everybody is present in camp already which is always a good sign. That said one can't ignore where we are today and where we might be a year from now. 2016 is all about the youth and which of those prospects returned to us in the Hamels and Giles deals are ready to emerge.
Secondly we have drafted very well in the past 3 years J.P Crawford, Aaron Nola and Cornelius Randolph but this year will be the highest we've drafted in forever. 1st pick in the draft overall. Let's take a look at some of those names we'll have to choose from
Pitching seems to be the depth of this years draft so we can start there
A.J Puk College Pitcher at Florida
Jason Groome HS Pitcher Jackson NJ
Alec Hanson College Pitcher Oklahoma
Riley Pint HS Pitcher Kansas
These guys pretty much make up the tier you would consider as a 1st overall pick
Position Player strength for a 1:1 is not as deep. There is no Bryce Harper or Carlos Correa this year but we do have:
Kyle Lewis OF Mercer College in GA
Blake Rutherford OF HS Chaminade Prep
Delvin Perez SS out of the International Baseball Academy
These guys are easily top 10 picks but the 1st overall is pretty special and you need to make sure the player's talent is commensurate with that spot.
Other names to watch are Cal Quantrill (father Paul pitched 14 years in the big leagues) and Matt Krook. Both are in various stages of TJ Rehab but both easily would have been strong candidates in the top 10.
http://www.fueledbysports.com/2016-mlb-mock-draft/
Secondly we have drafted very well in the past 3 years J.P Crawford, Aaron Nola and Cornelius Randolph but this year will be the highest we've drafted in forever. 1st pick in the draft overall. Let's take a look at some of those names we'll have to choose from
Pitching seems to be the depth of this years draft so we can start there
A.J Puk College Pitcher at Florida
Jason Groome HS Pitcher Jackson NJ
Alec Hanson College Pitcher Oklahoma
Riley Pint HS Pitcher Kansas
These guys pretty much make up the tier you would consider as a 1st overall pick
Position Player strength for a 1:1 is not as deep. There is no Bryce Harper or Carlos Correa this year but we do have:
Kyle Lewis OF Mercer College in GA
Blake Rutherford OF HS Chaminade Prep
Delvin Perez SS out of the International Baseball Academy
These guys are easily top 10 picks but the 1st overall is pretty special and you need to make sure the player's talent is commensurate with that spot.
Other names to watch are Cal Quantrill (father Paul pitched 14 years in the big leagues) and Matt Krook. Both are in various stages of TJ Rehab but both easily would have been strong candidates in the top 10.
http://www.fueledbysports.com/2016-mlb-mock-draft/
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
Coming Up Pitchers and Catchers Feb 18
Almost 2 weeks from today Pitchers and Catchers will report to Clearwater. Mac has pretty much said how the starting rotation will look Nola, Eickhoff, Hellickson and Morton. Up for grabs will be the 5th spot and the front runner on talent would be Vincent Velasquez but that doesn't mean he breaks camp with the big club.
Vincent has amazing stuff but in the fold will be Brett Oberholzer as he has 0 options remaining. Adam Morgan will be in the convo seeing how he fared pretty well in 15 starts. He pitched to a 1.245 WHIP but his K/9 numbers are really low. It will be tough for Adam to sustain success in the big leagues with a K/9 of just 5.2.
Others who will be barking for a spot in the rotation at some point will be Mark Appel and Jake Thompson. Spring will be huge for Mark and I'm not sure he can do anything to break camp with the big club without first handling 8-10 Starts in LHV. Thompson is young at just 22. He is, in many circles our #2-#3 prospect so they may not want to start his service time until late this year.
Klentak has announced his approach to a rebuild with authority and it will weight heavily on pitching. In the lower levels names to watch will be Kilome, Pinto, Arano and Tirado all of whom are 21. Kilome and Tirado are flame throwers while Pinto and Arano are command and control guys.
There are other names too as in Eflin Asher, Pivetta, Lively and Eshelman
In terms of catchers the Phillies have Chooch and Rupp and most would say Rupp is going to see the majority of starts behind the plate with Carlos being a huge factor in support and teaching. Knapp will present the most interesting name in camp as far as I am concerned. He has the best hit tool of all the catchers in the system. His defense and game calling need a lot more polish however. Second to him is Alfaro. I have him rated as our #11 prospect Callis and Mayo have him higher and in the MLB top 50.
He's intriguing for sure. Plenty of raw power. The only question will be can he tame his aggressive approach to tap into that power all the while finishing his defensive skills behind the dish. Pitchers frankly don't care about their catchers offensive games. They want to know he can handle whatever they throw in the dirt and grasp the concepts of what they like to throw in different counts and such. The nuances of being a MLB catcher have much to do about pitch framing and communication skills as anything else.
Vincent has amazing stuff but in the fold will be Brett Oberholzer as he has 0 options remaining. Adam Morgan will be in the convo seeing how he fared pretty well in 15 starts. He pitched to a 1.245 WHIP but his K/9 numbers are really low. It will be tough for Adam to sustain success in the big leagues with a K/9 of just 5.2.
Others who will be barking for a spot in the rotation at some point will be Mark Appel and Jake Thompson. Spring will be huge for Mark and I'm not sure he can do anything to break camp with the big club without first handling 8-10 Starts in LHV. Thompson is young at just 22. He is, in many circles our #2-#3 prospect so they may not want to start his service time until late this year.
Klentak has announced his approach to a rebuild with authority and it will weight heavily on pitching. In the lower levels names to watch will be Kilome, Pinto, Arano and Tirado all of whom are 21. Kilome and Tirado are flame throwers while Pinto and Arano are command and control guys.
There are other names too as in Eflin Asher, Pivetta, Lively and Eshelman
In terms of catchers the Phillies have Chooch and Rupp and most would say Rupp is going to see the majority of starts behind the plate with Carlos being a huge factor in support and teaching. Knapp will present the most interesting name in camp as far as I am concerned. He has the best hit tool of all the catchers in the system. His defense and game calling need a lot more polish however. Second to him is Alfaro. I have him rated as our #11 prospect Callis and Mayo have him higher and in the MLB top 50.
He's intriguing for sure. Plenty of raw power. The only question will be can he tame his aggressive approach to tap into that power all the while finishing his defensive skills behind the dish. Pitchers frankly don't care about their catchers offensive games. They want to know he can handle whatever they throw in the dirt and grasp the concepts of what they like to throw in different counts and such. The nuances of being a MLB catcher have much to do about pitch framing and communication skills as anything else.
Thursday, January 14, 2016
Prospect Review and Profiles 1-5
J.P. Crawford-In 2012 the Phillies finished their season 81-81 and ended up with the 16th pick in the 2013 Amateur draft. They selected J.P. the cousin of Carl Crawford with that pick. JP has been everything they had hoped he would be since he entered the system.
As a hitter JP has incredible hand eye coordination and pitch recognition skills. Rarely will you see JP fooled on a pitch and rarely will you see him strike out. He can grind out an AB and will take walks but that is not the end of his bat talent. When JP sees the pitch he wants it comes off his bat with authority and crack.
Defensively Crawford is really smooth and he may not possess the same kind of range and arm as Jimmy Rollins but he will get the job done and possibly improve that area of his game significantly after he gets to the majors.
Floor-Everyday SS in the MLB that plays above average defense
Ceiling Perenial All Star candidate; Prototypical lead off skills and run scorer. I could see him having a Jeter-Esque career in Philly
Jake Thompson-Came over in the Hamels to TX trade. I love the way this kid competes. Nothing about him is flashy. He doesn't sit 96-97. What he does do is get hitters out with a good FB, good curve ball mix.
Floor-Brett Myers
Celing-Brett Myers/Peavy
Nick Williams-Another blue chip piece in the Hamels to TX trade. Nick has great tools. He generates great bat speed, runs well, throws well. The questions are can he hit lefties enough to be an everyday player and can he minimize his K's. What type of in game power will he develop. The swing is short and quick tremendous bat speed so its not like he can't put balls out of the yard now. He can hit them a long way when he squares them up.
Floor-Michael Bourn with not quite the same speed and base stealing ability but more pop
Ceiling-.275 25+ HR guy I think possibly an Alex Gordon type.
Andrew Knapp-53rd overall pick in 2013 out of Cal Berkley. The Phillies thought enough of him to pay him a six figure signing bonus. Injuries hampered his first 2 seasons but Andrew got it together in 2015 hitting a combined .308 with an .876 OPS at 2 Levels Hi-A and AA. A switch hitting catcher has tons of value.
Floor-Jarrod Saltalamachia
Ceiling-Something just short of Posada
Cornelius Randolph-The 10th pick overall in the 2015 Amateur Draft Randolph simply put is the LF version of Tony Gwynn in stature and profile. He is kind of a throw back to a Wade Boggs in my opinion. I think defensively we are looking at an average player that hits near .300 with 20-30 doubles and maybe 10-15 HR's a season.
Floor-Daniel Murphy
Ceiling-Tony Gwynn
As a hitter JP has incredible hand eye coordination and pitch recognition skills. Rarely will you see JP fooled on a pitch and rarely will you see him strike out. He can grind out an AB and will take walks but that is not the end of his bat talent. When JP sees the pitch he wants it comes off his bat with authority and crack.
Defensively Crawford is really smooth and he may not possess the same kind of range and arm as Jimmy Rollins but he will get the job done and possibly improve that area of his game significantly after he gets to the majors.
Floor-Everyday SS in the MLB that plays above average defense
Ceiling Perenial All Star candidate; Prototypical lead off skills and run scorer. I could see him having a Jeter-Esque career in Philly
Jake Thompson-Came over in the Hamels to TX trade. I love the way this kid competes. Nothing about him is flashy. He doesn't sit 96-97. What he does do is get hitters out with a good FB, good curve ball mix.
Floor-Brett Myers
Celing-Brett Myers/Peavy
Nick Williams-Another blue chip piece in the Hamels to TX trade. Nick has great tools. He generates great bat speed, runs well, throws well. The questions are can he hit lefties enough to be an everyday player and can he minimize his K's. What type of in game power will he develop. The swing is short and quick tremendous bat speed so its not like he can't put balls out of the yard now. He can hit them a long way when he squares them up.
Floor-Michael Bourn with not quite the same speed and base stealing ability but more pop
Ceiling-.275 25+ HR guy I think possibly an Alex Gordon type.
Andrew Knapp-53rd overall pick in 2013 out of Cal Berkley. The Phillies thought enough of him to pay him a six figure signing bonus. Injuries hampered his first 2 seasons but Andrew got it together in 2015 hitting a combined .308 with an .876 OPS at 2 Levels Hi-A and AA. A switch hitting catcher has tons of value.
Floor-Jarrod Saltalamachia
Ceiling-Something just short of Posada
Cornelius Randolph-The 10th pick overall in the 2015 Amateur Draft Randolph simply put is the LF version of Tony Gwynn in stature and profile. He is kind of a throw back to a Wade Boggs in my opinion. I think defensively we are looking at an average player that hits near .300 with 20-30 doubles and maybe 10-15 HR's a season.
Floor-Daniel Murphy
Ceiling-Tony Gwynn
Wednesday, January 13, 2016
Prospect Profiles 6-10
Mark Appel-Came over in the Ken Giles trade. Former 1/1 pick 2013 of Stanford. He actually was drafted in round 1 8th overall the year before by the Pirates and once before that in 2009 by the Tigers 15th round.
Quite simply Mark has what you like to see from a front-line starter. A plus Fastball and an above average slider. He'll need a pitch to keep lefties off his FB and so the Change will need incremental improvement in 2016 in order to do that. Pro results have been lackluster to this point. Mark has logged 253 IP but only managed a WHIP of 1.439 over a K/9 of 7.9. That speaks to command issues. If he somehow puts it together for the Philles he could be in mainstay of the rotation for years to come.
Floor-Wade Davis
Ceiling-Jake Arrieta
Ricardo Pinto-The Phillies signed him out of Venezuela as an 18 y/o. He is now 22 any many would debate rating him before Kilome. Pinto has a smaller stature so many question (reasonably so) whether or not he can maintain his stuff through a line-up more then 2X. I like his ability to maintain a WHIP of 1.06 over 13 starts in CLW this season past as a 21 y/o.
Floor-a BP arm 6/7 inning type
Ceiling-Anibal Sanchez
Roman Quinn-A second round pick in 2011 who received a $750,000 signing bonus to keep him away from a Florida State commitment. First thought to be a SS that experiment fizzled out with the addition of Crawford. Roman has elite speed when healthy. A switch hitter Quinn has some pop which is not to say he would hit 20+ HR's ever in a season. When we look at Roman's 257 PA's at Reading we see glimpses of a star a .306 average over a .356 OBP. With his speed he is an explosive run producer with the potential to play a GG center field.
Floor-The injuries remind me of Jose Reyes
Ceiling-If Healthy he reminds me of the healthy Jose Reyes possibly Victorino
Rhys Hoskins-In scouting circles few see a right handed hitting first baseman as a true prospect unless he somehow manages to mash 30-40 HR's. Rhys is a 5th round pick out of Cal State Sacremento. In my opinion he deserves to be ranked in the top 10 because as a 22 y/o between two levels of A ball (Low and HI) he hit a combined .319 avg over a .913 OPS. Rhys has power pole to pole and does a real good job of keeping the swing short and compact. He seems to recognize the off speed well enough to not be out on his front foot more than you would like to see.
Floor-Darin Ruf
Ceiling-Billy Butler
Franklyn Kilome-Franklyn is everyone's darling prospect this season it seems and rightly so. Signed out of the DR for a supposed $40 Grand. The tools are loud and the FB is big, the frame is big and sturdy as well. The only thing missing is a more dominant body of work. Kilome pitched in WPT this past season as a 20 y/o. He started 11 Games and logged 49.1 IP. His WHIP was a respectable 1.257 but his K/9 was paltry 6.6 by standards of other true aces at that level. That in and of itself is no reason NOT to be excited about this young man. By June we could easily see him improve 5-7 spots.
Floor-High Leverage Reliever
Ceiling-DeGrom
Quite simply Mark has what you like to see from a front-line starter. A plus Fastball and an above average slider. He'll need a pitch to keep lefties off his FB and so the Change will need incremental improvement in 2016 in order to do that. Pro results have been lackluster to this point. Mark has logged 253 IP but only managed a WHIP of 1.439 over a K/9 of 7.9. That speaks to command issues. If he somehow puts it together for the Philles he could be in mainstay of the rotation for years to come.
Floor-Wade Davis
Ceiling-Jake Arrieta
Ricardo Pinto-The Phillies signed him out of Venezuela as an 18 y/o. He is now 22 any many would debate rating him before Kilome. Pinto has a smaller stature so many question (reasonably so) whether or not he can maintain his stuff through a line-up more then 2X. I like his ability to maintain a WHIP of 1.06 over 13 starts in CLW this season past as a 21 y/o.
Floor-a BP arm 6/7 inning type
Ceiling-Anibal Sanchez
Roman Quinn-A second round pick in 2011 who received a $750,000 signing bonus to keep him away from a Florida State commitment. First thought to be a SS that experiment fizzled out with the addition of Crawford. Roman has elite speed when healthy. A switch hitter Quinn has some pop which is not to say he would hit 20+ HR's ever in a season. When we look at Roman's 257 PA's at Reading we see glimpses of a star a .306 average over a .356 OBP. With his speed he is an explosive run producer with the potential to play a GG center field.
Floor-The injuries remind me of Jose Reyes
Ceiling-If Healthy he reminds me of the healthy Jose Reyes possibly Victorino
Rhys Hoskins-In scouting circles few see a right handed hitting first baseman as a true prospect unless he somehow manages to mash 30-40 HR's. Rhys is a 5th round pick out of Cal State Sacremento. In my opinion he deserves to be ranked in the top 10 because as a 22 y/o between two levels of A ball (Low and HI) he hit a combined .319 avg over a .913 OPS. Rhys has power pole to pole and does a real good job of keeping the swing short and compact. He seems to recognize the off speed well enough to not be out on his front foot more than you would like to see.
Floor-Darin Ruf
Ceiling-Billy Butler
Franklyn Kilome-Franklyn is everyone's darling prospect this season it seems and rightly so. Signed out of the DR for a supposed $40 Grand. The tools are loud and the FB is big, the frame is big and sturdy as well. The only thing missing is a more dominant body of work. Kilome pitched in WPT this past season as a 20 y/o. He started 11 Games and logged 49.1 IP. His WHIP was a respectable 1.257 but his K/9 was paltry 6.6 by standards of other true aces at that level. That in and of itself is no reason NOT to be excited about this young man. By June we could easily see him improve 5-7 spots.
Floor-High Leverage Reliever
Ceiling-DeGrom
Tuesday, January 12, 2016
Prospect Profiles 11-15
Jorge Alfaro-After Kilome things start to get dicey as to whether or not this next round of guys will play in the MLB let alone play at an everyday level. Alfaro fits your classic boom or bust type prospect. He has the tools that make you go "Ah and Oooh" big power big arm athleticism etc...
Jorge also has a ton of swing and miss in his game so he'll have to clean that up and show an ability to not chase pitches out of the zone. If he doesn't big league pitching is never going to give him anything to hit. He is here at 11 because he is only 23 and made AA with decent results.
Floor-Sebastian Valle
Ceiling-Yadier Molina
Adonis Medina-signed in May 2014 out of the DR Medina excelled in the DSL. In 2015 they brought him stateside to pitch in the GCL where he didn't disappoint. Adonis put up a 1.191 WHIP and a 6.9 K/9. Most nights his FB sat 92-93 with a decent amount of arm side run to it. The secondary pitches (his Curve Ball) seems to need some work. At times it looks like he gets around the pitch but the mechanics are clean and easy. There is much to like about this young arm.
Floor-David Buchannon
Ceiling-TBD
Zach Eflin-Came via the Rollins trade. Many have him ranked much higher than this and they certainly have a case. I have seen him pitch live twice. I liked everything I saw with one exception he struggled to put AA hitters away. His game appears to be a low 90's FB with plenty of movement/sink and good command to both sides of the plate. He induces a decent amount of weak contact and ground balls. But you can definitely see there is something missing in either a curve ball slider or change up. For him to make it through a line-up more than once or twice those pitches have to come.
Floor-5th starter Kyle Kendrick type of player
Ceiling-Something a little better than a 5th starter
Dylan Cozens-Drafted in the 2nd round of 2012 after the Phillies won over 100 games in 2011. Cozens is a big boy and could have went on to play defensive end for Arizona but the Phillies ponied up the cash to buy him out of that commitment just to see if the athleticism could translate over to pro baseball. Dylan has been remarkably consistent at ever stop and got a late season call up to AA at age 21. Cozens is an incredible athlete for a young man of his size 6'6" 235 LBS. Think Chris Davis if he can tap into that potential and get a better feel for the strike zone.
Floor-Org Filler
Ceiling-Chris Davis
Jimmy Cordero-Came over from Toronto in the Ben Revere trade. Big Arm that really projects as a late inning BP arm. 8th inning or closer. Cordero has wicked arm action and can fire across his body with plenty of deception. Word on the street is that he can get it up close to 100 MPH.
Jorge also has a ton of swing and miss in his game so he'll have to clean that up and show an ability to not chase pitches out of the zone. If he doesn't big league pitching is never going to give him anything to hit. He is here at 11 because he is only 23 and made AA with decent results.
Floor-Sebastian Valle
Ceiling-Yadier Molina
Adonis Medina-signed in May 2014 out of the DR Medina excelled in the DSL. In 2015 they brought him stateside to pitch in the GCL where he didn't disappoint. Adonis put up a 1.191 WHIP and a 6.9 K/9. Most nights his FB sat 92-93 with a decent amount of arm side run to it. The secondary pitches (his Curve Ball) seems to need some work. At times it looks like he gets around the pitch but the mechanics are clean and easy. There is much to like about this young arm.
Floor-David Buchannon
Ceiling-TBD
Zach Eflin-Came via the Rollins trade. Many have him ranked much higher than this and they certainly have a case. I have seen him pitch live twice. I liked everything I saw with one exception he struggled to put AA hitters away. His game appears to be a low 90's FB with plenty of movement/sink and good command to both sides of the plate. He induces a decent amount of weak contact and ground balls. But you can definitely see there is something missing in either a curve ball slider or change up. For him to make it through a line-up more than once or twice those pitches have to come.
Floor-5th starter Kyle Kendrick type of player
Ceiling-Something a little better than a 5th starter
Dylan Cozens-Drafted in the 2nd round of 2012 after the Phillies won over 100 games in 2011. Cozens is a big boy and could have went on to play defensive end for Arizona but the Phillies ponied up the cash to buy him out of that commitment just to see if the athleticism could translate over to pro baseball. Dylan has been remarkably consistent at ever stop and got a late season call up to AA at age 21. Cozens is an incredible athlete for a young man of his size 6'6" 235 LBS. Think Chris Davis if he can tap into that potential and get a better feel for the strike zone.
Floor-Org Filler
Ceiling-Chris Davis
Jimmy Cordero-Came over from Toronto in the Ben Revere trade. Big Arm that really projects as a late inning BP arm. 8th inning or closer. Cordero has wicked arm action and can fire across his body with plenty of deception. Word on the street is that he can get it up close to 100 MPH.
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