Phillies Farm System Report: Reading Fightin’ Phils Hot to End April

Here is a quick recap of the week in the minor league affiliates of the Philadelphia Phillies as they climb the ladder to the big leagues.

Lehigh Valley IronPigs

Week Record (4-2)

Year Record to Date (12-10)

Recap and Standouts

Looks like Lehigh Valley may be starting to get their groove back offensively. Many of the Iron Pigs had a nice week offensively. Jorge Alfaro posted two more three-hit games and two more homers, which put him at three for the season. Meanwhile, Rhys Hoskins continues to make a push for Tommy Joseph’s job. He hit his fifth and sixth homers of the season.

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While Dylan Cozens hit an important home run in the first half of doubleheader on Saturday, the powerful lefty was 0-5 in part two…with five strikeouts. J.P. Crawford is slowly, but surely showing signs of life in Lehigh Valley. In that same doubleheader, the shortstop went 3-8, which boosted his season mark to .138 and it seems as though he is putting together better at-bats each game.

Jake Thompson has also begun to pull himself back together.The right-hander went seven strong last Sunday and allowed no runs while striking out seven. Of his 93 pitches, 63 were thrown for strikes, which is a positive sign moving forward.

Mark Appel battled his way to his first win of 2017 on Thursday. Then, Ben Lively made his first start since his brief stint up in Philadelphia. He put together seven very strong innings of work. He struck out only one hitter, but only allowed one run.

Reading Fightins’

Week Record (5-0)

Year Record to Date (11-7)

Recap and Standouts

A perfect week in Reading can be headlined by the top three in the Fightins’ order. Reading scored more than five runs in every game, except one, this week. In that one? They scored four. Scott Kingery, Andrew Pullin, and Carlos Tocci all had very good weeks.

Kingery put together multiple games with two or more hits. Pullin continued his red-hot start ending the week hitting a robust .360, which leads the team by a nice gap. Tocci continues to be Mr. Consistency, adding two three-hit games, and continuing to play nearly flawless centerfield.

And in addition to his six innings of two earned runs, Thomas Eshelman hit a three run homerun to account for 75% of his teams runs in Harrisburg. The righty’s start was much needed as he has had some early season struggles.

Brandon Liebrandt and Cole Irvin put together the best starts for Reading this week. Both lefties worked six innings of one-run ball. Liebrandt struck out seven and Irvin put down three on strikes. Both starters pulled their ERAs down below 2.00 through the month. Liebrandt sits at 1.69 and Irvin finds himself at 1.04, while Reading finds themselves unable to lose.

Clearwater Threshers

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Week Record (5-1)

Year Record to Date (16-7)

Recap and Standouts

Clearwater currently boasts the system’s best record and is doing so with some of the lesser known names in the organization. One of the offensive standouts early on this season is Domek Tomscha, who after three multi-hit games this week has his average up to .329 through the first month. There were contributions sprinkled in from Zach Coppola, Herlis Rodriguez, Wilson Garcia, and Deivi Grullon that helped Clearwater to a five-win week.

On the mound, the Threshers were given a couple of really good starts from Seranthony Dominguez and Franklyn Kilome. In the 5-1 Tuesday night victory, the Dominguez carried the Threshers through six innings of four hit, one run ball. He did so with two walks and adding five Ks. Another name to keep your eyes on helped bridge that game to a close with a scoreless frame that lowered his ERA to 0.75 on the season. Davis is a hard-thrower who has a bullpen type repertoire.

Kilome, a top prospect, dominated only two days later. He threw 7 innings, allowing 7 hits, one earned run, and striking out five. He brought his ERA down to a solid 2.28 for the month. More encouraging is the fact that you do not see any walks listed above since the Phils want him to lower his walk total.