PHILADELPHIA - OCTOBER 23: Roy Oswalt #44 of the Philadelphia Phillies pitches against the San Francisco Giants in Game Six of the NLCS during the 2010 MLB Playoffs at Citizens Bank Park on October 23, 2010 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA – OCTOBER 23: Roy Oswalt #44 of the Philadelphia Phillies pitches against the San Francisco Giants in Game Six of the NLCS during the 2010 MLB Playoffs at Citizens Bank Park on October 23, 2010 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images) /
With the trade deadline behind us, it’s time to think about Phillies prospects that might get the call in September. Joey Meneses is definitely one of them.
Barring another Phillies trade prior to the waiver trade deadline at the end of August, all of the prospects are safe and secure for the rest of this year. Here are a few hot and cold prospects as we approach the stretch run of the season.
Josh Tols, the lefty from down under has excelled in his first season with the organization. In 18 games, he is 1-1 with a 1.98 ERA.
Tols is undersized at five feet seven inches, but opponents are hitting just .082 against him. Out of his 18 appearances, 17 have been in relief. However, he is able to throw multiple innings when needed. He’s pitched more than one inning in nine of his 17 relief appearances. On top of that, he has only given up runs in four of his 18 appearances.
Tol has shown swing-and-miss stuff in his time on the mound this year, striking out 38 batters in 27.1 innings. He’s only made two appearances in which he did not strike out an opposing hitter. He’s on the older side at twenty-eight, but if he continues to pitch this well, he’ll have a shot at the majors eventually.
Joey Meneses, 1B, Lehigh Valley
Since a lot of the team’s best prospects were promoted to the Phillies, the farm system has been dominated by the big-name pitchers. All the while, Joey Meneses has been sensational in Lehigh Valley this year.
In 101 games this year, he’s hitting .311 with 20 home runs and 66 RBI. On top of that, he has 23 doubles and 36 walks.
Since July 4th, Meneses has been held without a hit only twice. That’s at least one hit in twenty-three out of his last twenty-five games. In that stretch, he had six four-plus hit games, including three straight from July 30th to August 1st.
In his last ten games, he’s 11 for 38 with three home runs and eight RBI.
It doesn’t look like Meneses is going to slow down during the last few months. Don’t be surprised if he is one of the Phillies’ September call-ups. If he does get the call, he can be a dangerous weapon off the bench during the race for the NL East.
Harold Arauz, RHP, Reading
Arauz has a pretty good record this year at 8-6, but his performance doesn’t completely reflect that. He has a 5.06 ERA in 21 starts this year. His last few starts haven’t been great. In his last three outings, he hasn’t pitched past the fifth inning.
Arauz has been getting hit around lately. He has allowed six or more hits in eight of his last ten starts. In the last three starts, he has surrendered five, eight and ten hits. Opponents are hitting .281 against Arauz in 2018.
On July 19th, Arauz pitched 4.1 innings against Altoona, giving up six runs on ten hits. It hasn’t been easy for Arauz lately, but besides a few bad starts, he has been able to eat innings for Reading. He has thrown 115.2 innings so far this year. He’s gone at least five innings in all but three of his starts. The issue has been that he hasn’t gone more than that lately.
It doesn’t matter how many innings he throws if he continues to allow opponents to hit in the high .200s against him. He’ll have to figure that out before he can advance up in the organization.
Arquimedes Gamboa, SS, Clearwater
There were some talks about Gamboa being a trade chip for the Phillies, but he had a poor last month or two. On June 12th, he was batting .274. Since June 12th, his average has dropped 57 percentage points down to .217
In his last five games, Gamboa is 1-19 with five strikeouts. To go along with the low average, his on base percentage is just .307. He only has 43 walks and has 90 strikeouts this year.
In today’s game, a shortstop needs to be able to contribute offensively. It doesn’t necessarily have to be in the power department, but Gamboa hasn’t brought much to the table offensively this year.
Next. Phillies Wall of Fame: 5 candidates for 2019. dark
Gamboa is just twenty, so his bat still has plenty of time to develop. We’ve seen it this year with other prospects like Cornelius Randolph. It takes awhile for the bat to mature and time is something that Gamboa definitely has.
