Cole Irvin has put together a dominant season at Triple-A Lehigh Valley. (Cheryl Pursell/Lehigh Valley IronPigs)
As we enter the final month of the minor league regular season, here’s a look at progress down on the Philadelphia Phillies farm.
Records
- Lehigh Valley IronPigs: 70-43
- Reading Fightin’ Phils: 52-60
- Clearwater Threshers: 57-52
- Lakewood Blueclaws: 70-42
- Williamsport Crosscutters: 21-27
Notable Performances
- No. 10 prospect Cole Irvin was masterful in his start this week for the IronPigs. He went seven scoreless innings, allowing five hits and three walks, while striking out four.
- Jose Pujols, an unranked prospect, was promoted to Double-A Reading over the weekend and it didn’t take long for him to make an impression. Pujols went 2-4 with a home run and three RBIs on Saturday. He backed that up with a 3-5 day on Sunday in which he homered again and drove in four.
- No. 20 prospect David Parkinson made his first appearance in Clearwater this week, and it was a good one. Parkinson did not start as the rehabbing Jerad Eickhoff went the first two innings, but Parkinson pitched the next seven. He allowed no runs on only two hits and a couple walks. He struck out seven.
- No. 6 prospect Mickey Moniak went 3-5 with three doubles and a run scored on Tuesday, hopefully a sign of things to come for him.
- Matt Vierling went 3-4 with a double and an RBI for Lakewood on Sunday.
The Good
- No. 4 prospect Adam Haseley continues his torrid start in Reading. He’s hitting .338 with three home runs in 23 games with Reading. For the season, he’s slashing .307/.362./432 with eight home runs, 17 doubles and 47 RBIs.
- Welcome to the good list, Mickey Moniak. The No. 6 prospect is starting to pick things up. In his last 10 games, Moniak is hitting .289 with five doubles, to give him 21 on the year. He still needs to work on his strikeout to walk ratio, but this is definitely encouraging.
- No. 8 prospect Ranger Suarez continues to be solid with a 2.85 ERA in the minors this year. He’s only allowed three home runs in 101 innings of work.
- No. 9 prospect Enyel De Los Santos continues to shine. The big righty has a 2.51 ERA with Lehigh Valley. Opponents are hitting .224 against him.
- Cole Irvin has also been great for Lehigh Valley. He’s 10-3 with an ERA of 2.77 in 21 starts with a WHIP of 1.08.
- Youngster Luis Garcia continues his hot start. The 17-year-old is hitting .377 with 11 extra base hits in 26 games for the GCL Phillies.
- No. 18 prospect Kyle Young is on the shelf, but while his 2.98 ERA for Lakewood is impressive, his WHIP of .99 is the most notable.
- No. 20 prospect David Parkinson has been unreal between Low-A and High-A, as he’s 9-1 with a 1.41 ERA and WHIP of 1.02. Opponents are hitting just .203 against him.
- Reliever Kyle Dohy, the Phillies No. 22 prospect, has been good across three levels this year with an ERA of 1.65. He has struggled a bit in Reading with an ERA of 4.50 in 10 innings of work. Dohy has been over-powering though, with 94 strikeouts in 54.2 innings.
- No. 25 prospect Dominic Pipkin has been good with the GCL Phillies, posting a 2.61 ERA in seven appearances, six of which have been starts. He has a WHIP of 1.02.
- No. 30 prospect Nick Maton continues to be an extra base machine. In 94 games with Lakewood, he’s hitting .270 with 25 doubles, five triples and six home runs.
- How about some love for Devi Grullon? The Reading catcher has been awesome this year. He’s hitting .290 with 17 home runs and 50 RBIs. I was very surprised he didn’t make an appearance on the updated prospect list from MLB Pipeline.
- The same goes for Pujols, who I touched on earlier. He’s hitting .308 between Clearwater and Reading with 20 home runs and 65 RBIs. His biggest problem has always been strikeouts, he’s done it 130 times this year compared to only 34 walks in 98 games. If he can reduce the strikeouts, the 23-year-old can become a legitimate offensive threat.
The Bad
- No. 28 prospect Tom Eshelman is on here because of his 5.48 ERA and the fact opponents are hitting .324 against him. However, he’s been better lately. In his last 10 starts, Eshelman has an ERA of 3.43 and he’s averaging 1.7 walks per game.
- The same can be said for Cornelius Randolph. The 2015 first-rounder is hitting only .235 with two home runs for Reading, but he hit .352 in July and he’s hitting .286 so far in August. Those numbers are big improvement from his .152 April average.
- No. 13 prospect Francisco Morales has not fared well this year. He has an ERA of 7.11 in eight starts for Williamsport.
- No. 7 prospect Jhailyn Ortiz has been having a great year in the power department with 14 doubles and 11 home runs in 86 games as a 19-year-old. Unfortunately, he’s hitting just .217 with 114 strikeouts.