Freddy Galvis Is Teaching Me Spanish

I really am fascinated by Twitter. I mean, really, can you imagine how much fun baseball would have been to follow in the 1950s if Mickey Mantle and Jackie Robinson were tweeting 24 hours a day, seven days a week?

@TheMick – “Just saw M Monroe at the Kitty Kat Club. Drunk as a skunk. But boy, she sure does have a shape to her!”

@Jackie42 – “Goin’ to see South Pacific with Pee Wee later. Then, gonna help his son work on his boxcar racer.”

@SayHeyKid – “Say Hey! Willie’s drinking a banana-strawberry smoothie!”

See, wouldn’t that be the bee’s knees? As it is, we’re blessed to have many of today’s fine ballplayers present on Twitter, including many from the local 40 (that’s 40-man roster, to the lay person). Of course, some of the more entertaining Twitter encounters are from the kids down on the farm, which we’ll get to in just a moment.

But first, let’s see how the youngsters have been faring in Grapefruit League action so far.

Shortstop phenom Freddy Galvis certainly seems to have picked up where he left off in AAA last year. As of games through Monday, in 19 at-bats, Galvis led all Phils’ prospects with a .316 average. He’s gotten on base at a .348 clip, and is slugging .421 for an OPS of .769. He’s also seen some action at second base in the hopes he can break camp with the team and head north to Philadelphia as a utility player. And while there is absolutely NO chance of that happening (he still probably needs a full season in AAA to refine his hitting) his progress at the plate thus far and his willingness to learn a new position makes him that much harder to trade in the future. Freddy still needs work on his plate discipline (only one walk in those 19 at-bats) but has only struck out twice, and has two doubles to go along with three runs and 5 RBIs, which is tied for 2nd on the team. Overall, it’s a great start for Galvis so far this spring.

The only other position player to see as much time as Galvis so far is outfield speed demon Tyson Gillies, a.k.a. “The Mongoose.” However, Gillies has had a little bit harder of a time finding success at the plate, although he’s still just expected to start the season in Reading. The only thing that really matters for him right now is to gain plate appearances and experience. Through Monday, Gillies was hitting .158/.238/.211 in 19 at-bats, with one extra base hit (a double). Still, he has shown a tremendous amount of speed in the outfield, and a strong arm as well. His bat definitely needs to improve, though, before he’s considered a big-time prospect. But all the tools are there.

Sebastian Valle, Jiwan James and Cesar Hernandez are all hitless in very limited action.

On the pitching side, the one guy who has impressed the most so far is reliever Phillippe Aumont, who has shown a terrific fastball at 96 mph and a devastating curveball that is Major League ready. In three games, Aumont has pitched three innings, with a 3.00 ERA, striking out three and walking two, giving up only one earned run so far. His control is still a bit questionable, which is what may ultimately keep him from starting the year with the Phillies. However, if he doesn’t make the team, expect him to be with the big club at some point early in the season.

Michael Schwimmer, another one of the strong-armed kids in LeHigh Valley, has also pitched three innings, and picked up the save in Monday’s 4-1 win over the Pirates. He’s given up no earned runs so far with four strikeouts. He was a little iffy in his cup of coffee with the Phils last September, but hopefully learned a lot from his time with the team. Jake Diekman, JC Ramirez and Joe Savery have all pitched two innings each, and none have given up an earned run. Diekman, in particular, has looked sharp, with the side-winding lefty striking out four in those two innings of work.

Now, you would think that with all the time Freddy Galvis has been spending on the field honing his craft, he wouldn’t have time to teach Spanish as a second language to me. Yet, he is…

Now, to people like me who don’t habla the Spanish too well, what the internet tells me Galvis said was… “With smoke in the air and comets…flying through the skies but treading on planet.” I mean, seriously, that’s some deep stuff, right? Not only that, I’m learning a whole other culture at the same time. Anyone who thinks Twitter is a useless medium needs to go pound sand.

My man Trevor May, who is now following me on Twitter (which means of course, you should too @FelskeFiles) is man who loves himself a nice Italian pie…

I only pray he didn’t get that excited about a Domino’s pie. Because, as we all know, a Domino’s pie ain’t REAL pizza.

Trevor is also contemplating making some big life changes…

I say, dye it gray. Just mess with people.

As we mentioned earlier, Tyson Gillies hasn’t gotten many balls to find the holes just yet, but he feels really good about where he’s at up at the dish…

Gillies also had some mad props for teammate Vance Worley after his four inning, no-hit, eight strikeout performance against the Pittsburgh Canaries, uh, Pirates on Monday…

Whoa, Tyson! Easy on the hashtags! #OverHashTagger #LikesHashTags #HashTagDestroyer

Justin De Fratus, who had to step back after feeling soreness in his elbow last week, still isn’t throwing off a mound, but says he’s doing better and taking his time…

Now I’ll bet you didn’t know this, but in his spare time, De Fratus is an avid soda enthusiast…

So what, pray tell, is a “suicide?”…

Ah yes, nothing like a tall 32-ounce cup of Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, Dr. Pepper, Orange Fanta, Fruit Punch Hi-C and Mountain Dew to quench a serious thirst.

In fact, that sounds so yummy, I think I’ll head out to my nearest Taco Bell, order a Nachos Bellegrande, suck down a couple huge suicides, then vomit for two and a half hours. Sounds like a party!

You can follow John’s Phillies thoughts on Twitter @FelskeFiles and on Facebook.  He can also be emailed at jstolnis@gmail.com.