Phillies April Minor League Report

Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs
Triple-A, 12-11

Like normal, there's not much to get excited about on the Lil' Piggies roster offensively. Catcher Erik Kratz, who should have been called up instead of Dane Sardinha, is batting .323/1.165, but only in 12 games. Everywhere man Kevin Frandsen is making a case to supplant Mike Martinez, batting .315/.795. The only other bat worth mentioning is Jeff Larish who has clocked 6 homeruns and owns a .904 OPS.

On the pitching side of things are Micheal Stutes and Vance Worley, who should be familiar names, seeing as though they're currently on the Phillies 25-man roster. Other than that, it's mostly some retread relievers that are posting good numbers, with Juan Perez, Jason Grilli, Brian Gordan, and Drew Carpenter posting ERA's under 3. One name to keep in mind is Chance Chapman, the 2007 8th round pick was recently promoted to AAA, and aside from a hiccup at Reading last year, has had nothing but success at every stop along his minor league journey (2.56 ERA, 1.19 WHIP in 356 IP).

Reading Phillies
Double-A, 15-7

Matt Rizzotti continues to mash at the plate- .333/.929. Manning the hot corner in Baseball Town, USA is Polanco's eventual replacement Cody Overbeck and he's batting .321/.945, including 6 HR and 20 RBI and also hasn't committed an error yet (big improvement!). Catcher Tuffy Gosewisch is doing well too, .277/.908.

The little Phillies pitching is what has been impressive, lead by JC Ramirez who has won all 4 of his starts while sporting a 1.03 ERA and 0.84 WHIP. Austin Hyatt is doing well too, going 2-1, with a 3.00 ERA and 1.24 WHIP. Relievers Michael Cisco, Phillippe Aumont, BJ Rosenberg, and Tyson Brummett all have good ERA's and strikeout rates. Name to watch- Jordan Ellis, the 2008 28th round pick has pitched well at every stop, aside from a disastrous 2009 and was just recently promoted to AA (167.2 IP with 203 K).

Clearwater Threshers
Advanced-A, 14-9

Former pitcher, as in at Lehigh Valley just last season, Joe Savery is killing the ball- .450/1.077, and makes good contact striking out only 6 times in 80 at bats. His main partners in crime down on the farm are outfielders Jonathan Singleton (.304/.831) and Leandro Castro (.296/.831).

Pitching well for the Threshers are starters Jonathan Pettibone (1.55 ERA), Tyler Cloyd (2.74 ERA), and Julio Rodriguez (2.89 ERA). Closer Justin Friend (0.93 ERA, 7 SV) and lefty Derrick Loop (0.00 ERA) have been nearly untouchable. In fact, Loop has been almost perfect since joining the Phillies organization last season. In 37 innings, he's surrendered only 1 earned run, that makes for an amazing 0.24 ERA. Bring him up!

Lakewood BlueClaws
Single-A, 10-12

The only losing branch of the Phillies tree resides in New Jersey (go figure). Anyway, the BlueClaws were the pride of minor league baseball last year, but most of that roster has graduated. Now they're left with unproductive bats, with the lone exception being thirdbaseman Geancarlo Mendez (love that name!)- .321/.843. The rest of the squad owns Padres-esque sub .700 OPS. Ugh.

Hurling the pill for the Crabs is one of my favorite prospects Eric Pettis who was drafted in the 35th round last year. An 8-1 record, 1.26 ERA, 0.85 WHIP, and impressive 74:11 K:BB has me excited. Joining Pettis in the bullpen are Chase Johnson (0.00 ERA) and Bryan Morgado (2.08 ERA). In the rotation David Buchanan (1.82 ERA), Mario Hollands (2.45 ERA), and Garett Claypool (2.00 ERA) are doing well for themselves.

Source: http://pabaseball.blogspot.com/2011/05/phillies-april-minor-league-report.html

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