Phillies Minor League Report: A 6’10” lefty is heating up

Let’s run through the minor leagues, skipping the rookie teams once again.

LEHIGH VALLEY

Highlights:

J.P. Crawford: .227/.340/.391, 30 XBH, 74 K, 61 BB, 361 AB
Rhys Hoskins: .282/.385/.574, 54 XBH, 72 K, 62 BB, 383 AB
Brandon Leibrandt: 37 IP, 1.95 ERA, 31 K, 16 BB
Yacksel Rios: 9.2 IP, 1.86 ERA, 10 K, 1 BB

Tough week for the IronPigs, who are not going to win 100 games, after all. Crawford hit his 12th home run, and Hoskins his 27th, on Saturday night, but the Pigs gave up four late runs in a 6-4 loss to Buffalo. Liebrandt gave up three runs in his last two starts, but his ERA remains below 2.00. Andrew Pullin has struggled since his promotion (.224/.270/.385, 29 K, 7 BB).

READING

Highlights:

Drew Stankiewicz: .307/.388/.413, 4 XBH, 13 K, 10 BB
Carlos Tocci: .315/.371/.413, 27 XBH, 58 K, 27 BB, 390 AB
Zachary Coppola: .271/.360/.305, 6 XBH, 37 K, 30 BB
Austin Davis: 39 IP, 3.00 ERA, 39 K, 16 BB

Reading hasn’t had the best stretch since losing Scott Kingery, Andrew Pullin, Tom Eshelman and others. The team is a bit more heavy on disciplined hitters, while the power is coming from players with low averages (Mitch Walding and his 23 home runs but .232 average). The pitching has been up and down. But Tocci looks like he could earn a 40-man roster spot.

CLEARWATER

Highlights:

Emmanuel Marrero: .263/.316/.384, 23 XBH, 69 K, 16 BB
Franklyn Kilome: 97.1 IP, 2.59 ERA, 83 K, 37 BB
Jacob Waguespack: 68.1 IP, 3.29 ERA, 73 K, 24 BB
Seth McGarry: 42.1 IP, 1.91 ERA, 43 K, 16 BB
Sixto Sanchez: 6 IP, 7.50 ERA, 3 K, 0 BB
McKenzie Mills: 5 IP, 1.80 ERA, 1 K, 0 BB
J.D. Hammer: 3 IP, 0.00 ERA, 1 K, 0 BB

A big pitching update with Clearwater. Waguespack and Kilome were promoted to Reading this week. Sanchez is now with the Threshers, and his first start wasn’t his best – just three strikeouts and five earned over six innings. But while he gave up 10 hits, only one was for extra bases (a double). McGarry, Mills and Hammer were all part of deadline trades.

LAKEWOOD

Highlights:

Raul Rivas: .284/.318/.322, 7 XBH, 40 K, 10 BB
Adonis Medina: 94.1 IP, 3.24 ERA, 107 K, 31 BB

4-2 for the BlueClaws this week. This is a team in transition, as much of its opening day rotation has moved on. Medina may be next.

WILLIAMSPORT

Highlights:

Adam Haseley: 281/.366/.395, 9 XBH, 24 K, 13 BB
Rodolfo Duran: .258/.327/.366, 8 XBH, 22 K, 7 BB
Will Stewart: 40 IP, 3.15 ERA, 32 K, 14 BB
Kyle Young: 39.1 IP, 1.60 ERA, 47 K, 11 BB
Luis Carrasco: 31 IP, 2.61 ERA, 20 K, 14 BB

Haseley is steadied himself after a small swoon. Young may not be long for Williamsport, but he’s … well … long. He’s 6’10”, apparently the focus of many wide eyes in public. He’s a lefty who has good strikeout stuff, and he’s 19. The 22nd-round selection in the 2016 draft, he has a fastball that can get into the 90s, plus a changeup and slider-like finisher. He’s raw but already dominating the New York-Penn League (second in ERA, tied for fourth in strikeouts).

Tim Malcolm

Tim first found the Phillies as a little infant at Veteran’s Stadium, cheering on a Juan Samuel game-winning home run in his very first game. With the pinstripes in his blood, he witnessed Terry Mulholland’s 1990 no-hitter, “Steve Carlton Night” at the Vet, game three of the 1993 World Series, countless games during the charmed 2008 championship season and various road excursions. Since November 2007 Tim’s been writing about them daily at Phillies Nation, becoming one of the world’s most popular Phillies scribes. You can catch him on Twitter and Facebook, as well. When he’s not talking about the Phils he’s relaxing with a St. Bernardus ABT 12 or one of his many favored brews.