Phillies Farm System Report: Lehigh Valley Getting Hot in May

Phillies minor league teams had a fantastic week, which included one slugger earning the International League Batter of the Week.

It seems as though every week that we are looking at a new group of kids or one in particular who is heating up in the Phillies system. This week, there was no doubt who that player was.

While each level had its highlights, there may not have been any as exciting and hopeful as what was happening in one of the corner outfield spots out in Allentown.

Lehigh Valley IronPigs (21-13)

The team of the week is on a complete roll, going undefeated in seven games. It could be because J.P. Crawford is starting to come around, and the duo of Rhys Hoskins and Jorge Alfaro continue to hit. It could also be due to their bullpen has been relatively stable. However, the news out of Allentown is the powerful right fielder, Dylan Cozens.

The lefty began the week hitting .161 with four homers. After Friday night, a game I was in the stands for, he had improved to eight dingers and going 12-29 (.414) over the last seven games boosted him to .221/.294/.465 overall. I was impressed with Cozens for multiple reasons Friday.

First of all, he seemed incredibly calm in the box in some key spots. In the ninth, with two outs, he laid off a couple of two-strike pitches before driving a liner past the second baseman to tie the game. Then, in the bottom of the 12^th, he drilled a first-pitch fastball over the right field wall for a no doubt about it walk-off home run.

Secondly, the sound that comes off his bat is just different. While he will strike out (six this week), the power is unlike most I have seen/heard in person.

Outside of Cozens, the Pigs had some solid pitching performances this week. Thomas Eshelman made his first AAA appearance and started off on the right foot. He went eight scoreless innings, walking only one and striking out six. I have said since the Ken Giles deal was completed that the righty could be the steal of that trade.

On Friday night, I was excited to see Mark Appel really settle in after a difficult second inning. He would have avoided allowing any runs if Alfaro had not dropped a fastball allowing the runner on first to advance.

The play is not something that will show up in the box score but was a major piece to that inning. It would have resulted in a double play, had Alfaro caught it, but instead, Appel allowed three runs.

His total line ended up seven innings, four hits, three earned runs, four walks, and two strikeouts.

Reading Fightins’ (18-13)

Reading had undoubtedly the most impressive win of the entire week for the Phillies system. Last Sunday afternoon, Reading fell into a 8-0 deficit early in the game. In the last four frames, the Fightins’ scored 13 unanswered runs to pick up the improbable win.

As per the usual, Scott Kingery was in the mix of it all, hitting a homer and adding another hit, a walk, and two more runs. Not too far behind him was Andrew Pullin who also hit a homer in the comeback. Jiandido Tromp was 3-5 with two runs and two RBI in the effort.

Pullin would add hits in four out the remaining five games last week, including two games with multiple knocks. The 23-year-old lefty is making a case to move up the ranks. He has been a solid offensive player at every level so far. Keep an eye on him moving forward this season, especially if Nick Williams’ inconsistencies continue.

Carlos Tocci, who has been very good this season, added a solid week as well. He had two multi-hit games and a game in which he walked three times. The batting trio ended the week looking pretty solid in the middle of the order:

Kingery: .288 with a .968 OPS

Tocci: .324 with a slightly lower, but still impressive .811 OPS

Pullin: .315 with a .985 OPS

On the pitching side of things, there was only one starter who deserves attention this week. Drew Anderson had easily his most effective start. He was utterly dominant, carrying a no-hitter into the seventh inning. His final line culminated with three hits, one earned run, and ten strikeouts.

Clearwater Threshers (22-15)

Clearwater remains a winning team, but this week seemed to be tough from time to time, especially on the pitching end winning only three of seven.

If we were to build a rollercoaster of pitching stats, the Clearwater staff would be the perfect prototype from which to build it. They had a couple of solid starts throughout the last week, a few middle of the road starts, and a few really bad outings.

Seranthony Dominguez was one of the bright spots of the week’s show. He had two starts in which he combined to toss 10.2 innings, allowed eight hits, five runs (four earned), five walks, and 14 strikeouts. The 22-year-old’s ERA now sits at an excellent 2.02 through his six starts.

Alberto Tirado turned in a pretty decent start after last week’s struggle. He allowed no runs over his five innings. His five walks are a bit concerning, especially paired with four hits. Nine baserunners in five innings is a bit much. It is a positive, however, that he was able to keep those runners away from scoring.

Cole Irvin had one of the more interesting starts this week. He, too, went five innings. He allowed nine hits and a walk, so the base runners were a problem for him as well. And he did pay for it when his shortstop, Emmanuel Marrero, had an error in the fourth costing Irvin three runs. His ERA remains below 1.50 though.

The most concerning start this week came on the right arm of Frankly Kilome. It is important to note that Kilome is on a 40-pitch count. He reached that number with only two outs in the first inning. He allowed only the two hits, but managed to walk four hitters.

It also did not help he struck out his only two outs, which probably required deep counts. I am not too concerned with this outing because Kilome had been really controlling pitches up until this start.

The Threshers are not much to write home about offensively. They have former first round pick Cornelius Randolph stuck in the middle of the order, but he is really struggling. The outfielder is currently only hitting .195, and the Phils hope he steps it up soon.

While Zach Coppola and Damek Tomscha are both hitting well over .300 right now, they are both playing right at or above the average age of high-A. Keep an eye on the pitching here because there are many intriguing names.