Phillies Pharm Report

All five of the Phillies principal minor league affiliates are in action, and the state of the overall farm system has certainly improved over recent years, when the talent sank to abysmal levels during the Gillick/Amaro regime.

Just a couple of days ago here at TBOH, our Ethan Witte presented an interview with Phils prospect expert Matt Winkelman of the “Phillies Minor Thoughts” website. It’s a great resource for anyone wanting to get a more detailed look at the development of specific prospects in the farm system.

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As in the past, this column is more about catching you up with those minor league affiliates themselves: their record and standings, some recent performances, and some of the more highly regarded prospect performances to date in the 2015 season.

As to those prospects, the biggest stories are the players who are performing well enough to earn promotion to a higher level. For instance, the club’s top prospect, righthanded starting pitcher Aaron Nola, has been promoted from AA Reading to AAA Lehigh Valley, where he has continued to excel.

The team name links below will take you directly to the official websites of those organizations. So if you have particular interest in any of the teams and/or players between our rundowns, book mark and visit them or just come on back to this article. You can always access our “Minors” coverage by clicking that link in the toolbar at our TBOH website home page.

The Lehigh Valley IronPigs are struggling along in 5th place with a 31-48 record in the AAA International League’s North Division. In addition to it being the 2nd worst record in the division, it is also the 2nd worst in the entire 14-team league, with only division rival Syracuse behind them. The club’s performance has been a bit better of late, having accumulated a 5-5 record over their last 10 games, including wins in their last two contests.

One of the key factors has been the addition of the organization’s top pitching prospect Nola. The righty is 3-0, having won all 3 of his starts since being promoted from Reading. Nola has allowed just 15 hits in 17.2 innings, with an 18-5 K:BB ratio. He has a 1.53 ERA and a 1.13 WHIP.

Chad Billingsley is rehabbing at Lehigh Valley, and is rumored to be ready to come back to the Phils as early as Thursday. In his most recent outing, Billingsley went 5 innings, allowing 1 earned run on 5 hits, with 4 K’s and a walk in a no-decision vs Louisville last Friday. He threw 79 pitches, 56 of them for strikes.

Offensively, 24-year old centerfielder Aaron Altherr was promoted to the IronPigs from Reading on June 20th, and he has started fast. Altherr is hitting to a .320/.379/.640 slash line in the SSS of 25 at-bats across his first 7 games. He has 2 homers, 6 RBI, and has scored 6 runs in that short time.

31-year old veteran outfielder Brian Bogusevic is hitting .302 with a .363 on-base percentage, leads the IronPigs with 6 homers 36 Runs, and 33 RBI, and is a candidate for promotion should the Phillies need some help at any point in the season due to injuries or trades.

The Reading Fightin’ Phils are easily the most intriguing of the Phillies minor league affiliates, because of their solid performance on the field, but also because of the presence of a number of the organizations top prospects all together in one place. This was the home of both Nola and Altherr before their respective promotions in the last few weeks, so the club was even stronger at one point.

The team is currently sitting in 3rd place in the AA Eastern League’s Eastern Division with a record of 40-36, but they are just one game behind both Trenton and New Britain for the divisional lead. They have gone 6-4 over their last 10 games, and have played equally as well on the road as at home, the only club in the division and one of just two in the entire 12-team league with winning records both home and away.

The star here is the organization’s top position prospect, and one of the top prospects in all of baseball, shortstop J.P. Crawford. Since being promoted from High-A Clearwater on May 6th, Crawford is hitting to a .279/.389/.426 slash line. He has 2 homers, 12 RBI, and 19 Runs scored in 122 at-bats across 29 games.

Roman Quinn has emerged this season as a force, and put himself squarely in the organization’s future plans as a possible centerfielder-of-the-future in Philly. Quinn is hitting .306 with a .356 OBP, has 29 steals, and has scored 44 runs while showing solid defense. 25-year old 1st baseman Brock Stassi is hitting .308 with a .378 OBP, has 7 homers, and is far and away the team leader with 51 RBI.

On the mound, the foursome of Zach Eflin, Ben Lively, Jesse Biddle and Tom Windle are leading the way, now joined by Mark Leiter Jr. in the wake of the Nola promotion. Elfin is 5-4 with a 2.88 ERA and 1.10 WHIP, allowing 77 hits in 84.1 innings. Lively is 5-6 with a 3.72 ERA. Biddle has gone 7-1 with a 3.81 ERA. Windle is 2-5 with a 5.35 ERA. All of them now have made 14 starts on the season. The 23-year old Lively may have the best chance to pitch in Philly this season. In 3 starts since his promotion, Leiter has gone 1-2 with a 2.18 ERA and 1.11 WHIP, allowing 19 hits in 20.2 innings.

The Clearwater Threshers won the High-A Florida State League North Division first half championship last week, finishing with a 37-33 record. The Threshers closed with a rush, going 7-3 over the final 10, including winning their last 5 straight games to catch Daytona, which collapsed at 2-8 over its final 10. Clearwater has now bolted out to a fast 2nd half start, winning 4 of their first 5 games. This is a dramatic turnaround for a club that finished 40 games below the .500 mark a year ago.

Crawford played his first 29 games here following his recovery from a preseason injury, but he is long gone to Reading. The big bats have been outfielder Andrew Pullin, who leads the club with 6 homers and 41 RBI, outfielder Dylan Cozens with 33 RBI, 33 Runs and a dozen steals, and catchers Willians Astudillo (.313 AVG/25 RBI) and Andrew Knapp (38 Runs/28 RBI).

On the mound, Leiter was excelling here before his promotion, and now 24-year old Colin Kleven has also just earned a promotion to Reading. He was 5-3 with a 2.89 ERA across 13 starts, allowing 66 hits in 71.2 innings with a 57/21 K:BB ratio. 22-year old Brandon Leibrandt has been outstanding, going 5-2 with a 3.13 ERA and 1.00 WHIP, allowing just 56 hits in 69 innings with a 58/13 K:BB ratio.

The Lakewood BlueClaws of the Low-A South Atlantic League North Division finished tied for 5th place in the 7-team division. But it was a tight finish, with the New Jersey club finishing just 2 games below the .500 mark at 33-35, which left them 3.5 games out of 2nd place. They have started out the 2nd half with a 3-2 mark.

In the last couple of weeks, Lakewood has lost their top two hitters, 1st baseman Rhys Hoskins and outfielder Carlos Tocci, to promotions, with both moving on to Clearwater. 20-year old Dominican shortstop Malquin Canelo remains, with a slash line of .311/.364/.466, 5 homers, 10 steals, and a team-high 48 runs on his season. 21-year old Venezuelan centerfielder Herlis Rodriguez has a .313/.352/.498 line with 6 homers and 26 RBI, highest among the holdovers, as well as 10 steals.

On the mound in Lakewood, 21-year old Venezuelan Ricardo Pinto has excelled with a 6-2 record and 3.09 ERA. In 11 starts, Pinto has yielded just 65 hits in 67 innings with a 60/18 K:BB ratio. Matt Hockenberry and Alexis Rivero have each recorded 7 Saves, and have joined with Joey DeNato to form a strong back-end bullpen combo.

The short-season Williamsport Crosscutters of the New-York Penn League are off to an incredible 10-0 start, and sit atop the league’s Pinckney Division by 5 games already here in the early going. The Cutters star player is rightfielder Jose Pujols, one of the organization’s top power prospects. While he has yet to go deep, he does have a .439/.457/.634 slash line, with a team-high 6 doubles as well as 8 RBI and 8 Runs. Recent draftee and nepotism guy Andrew Amaro (name sound familiar?) is 0-5 with 4 walks and a stolen base in the early weeks of his pro career.

On the mound in Williamsport, Franklyn Kilome has emerged as one of the most intriguing, and possibly one of the most talented, pitching prospects in the entire organization. With a major bump in speed over the last calendar year, the 20-year old Dominican is 1-0 after his first two starts, allowing just 1 earned run and 5 hits in 11.2 innings with a 10/4 K:BB ratio. The bet here is that both Kilome and Pujols are short-timers in the short-season league.