Logan Moore, image- Jay Floyd
Last week prior to his promotion to Triple-A Lehigh Valley to fill the void left by J.P. Arencibia, I spoke with minor league backstop Logan Moore, who began the season with the Double-A Reading Fightins.
The 25-year-old was a 9th round draft selection by the Phillies in 2011 out of Northeastern Junior College. Serving mainly as a backup to catching prospects Jorge Alfaro and Andrew Knapp, Moore has posted a .239 average with a home run and seven RBI in 23 games overall this season.
Moore shared thoughts on filling the void during Alfaro’s injury this season, playing off-season ball and some of the Figthins’ top starting pitchers. Read ahead for that interview.
-During Jorge Alfaro’s recent time on the shelf with an oblique strain, you served as the team’s only true catcher, with Jake Fox, who has caught in the pros before, serving as the emergency option, for some time. What was that stretch like?
I mean, I knew coming in I wasn’t going to play everyday and when something happens like that– I don’t want anybody to be hurt every, but I got a chance to play– and I’ll never say I don’t want to play in the game and I didn’t mind it at all. If I’m gonna be there, I may as well be out there playing. So, it sucks that he got hurt and all that but I didn’t feel tired or anything by any means. I played all off-season, so it was pretty normal for me I was ready to go everyday and gotta figure out a way to help the team win.
-You mentioned playing over the winter for the Tigres. What can you tell me about the time down in the Dominican Winter League?
It was good. It was a good experience. A little different. I mean Dominican’s a different country for sure. But, we had a good team. It was a good time. A great experience. I enjoyed it.
-Do you sharpen up your Espanol while you were there?
Yeah, I learned some stuff. I can work my way around it now.
–Ben Lively‘s been amazing for you guys so far this year, catching a lot of eyes. Are there any differences you see in him this year versus when you would have caught him last year?
When me and him are working together, we go out and we try to get strike one with the fastball. You can really do whatever you want 0-1, and if you’re throwing your fastball to get there, you can throw whatever you want really. So, that’s been a big emphasis and he’s done a real good job getting strike one as a whole in every game and I think that’s got something to say about his success and his numbers and all that. And then he’s obviously been able to throw his off-speed stuff for strikes too. He’s just been pounding the zone and saying, “Here it is. Come and hit it!” And that’s the only big difference I see.
He’s also– his attitude’s a lot better too. He’s kind of got that bulldog mentality, for lack of a better term. He’s just out there and he’s trying to give us six, seven, eight innings and competing.
–Nick Pivetta has been a great contributor out of the rotation for Reading also. What areas is he making improvements in most?
What I’ve seen are just his starts here. He’s getting consistently better. I mean, he’s learning a lot and he’s gotta continue to get better. He’s got the arm. He’s got the stuff. He just needs to continue to think, have a plan and work that way.
-And then during this series in Trenton, Ricardo Pinto had a nice win, took a no-hitter into the 7th inning. What do you see from him that was working most in that game?
I mean I noticed that he had a breaking ball he could get over for strikes and that’s kind of been the struggle is that he’s been typically fastball-change up and he didn’t have a whole lot as far as breaking away from righties or down, something in the dirt, other than a change up. And he’s been working on a curve ball. So, saw tonight that he was able to flip some of those over for strikes and it’s just another pitch that he can show, not necessarily have to use it to strike people out, but if you can show that you can spin something over the dish then you’re going to have more success. It’s just something more to worry about as a hitter.
Latest Comments