Minor League Weekend Update

The big news of the day comes by way of the Phillies announcement that LHP Cole Hamels will join the red hot AAA Scranton Wilkes-Barre Red Barons by mid-week. Joining Hamels in AAA will be RP Chris Booker, a possible Phillies bullpen candidate after posting decent numbers (his strikeout numbers were out of this world, though he struggled in other areas - par for the course for Booker) in Clearwater. As a Rule 5 pick on a rehab stint they have until May 11th to decide on Booker's future with the organization. Booker's promotion is one thing, but clearly the big news of the day is the rapid acceleration of Cole Hamels through the Phillies farm system. The jump to AAA was not entirely unexpected though some followers of the Phillies farm (myself included) thought the Phils would promote Hamels to AA Reading as his last stop before eventually seeing the bigs while never throwing a pro pitch on the artificial turf in Scranton. More to come on this story as it unfolds plus a whole bunch of videos of Cole Hamels pitching and warming up - now there's something to look forward to, right? Full weekend wrap (though not entirely full due to the rainy weather that seemed to follow all Phillies affiliates this weekend) of the minors is ahead...

AAA Scranton-WB

• Carlos Ruiz: 4-10, RBI, R, SB
• Chris Roberson: 4-10, 3B, 2 R, 3 BB, K, 2 SB, CS
• Josh Kroeger: 2-7, RBI, K
• Danny Sandoval: DL
• Brennan King: 2-11, 2 2B, K
• Angel Chavez: 5-13, 3B, 2 2B, 3 RBI, 2 R, 4 K, SB
• Chris Coste: 0-6, R, RBI, 3 K
• Bobby Scales: 1-5, 3B, 2 RBI, 2 BB, R, K

• Brian Sanches (S. 1): 2 IP 0 H 0 ER 0 BB 3 K
• Ryan Cameron: 0.1 IP 1 H 0 ER 1 BB 0 K
• Yoel Hernandez (S, 6): 1 IP 3 H 2 R 1 ER 2 BB 2 K

The three players on this list closest to a big league job at this point (Ruiz, Roberson, and Hernandez) all played well this weekend. Ruiz and Roberson contintue to swing hot bats while Hernandez started the weekend off with his sixth save, but wound up struggling out of the pen by Sunday's doubleheader action. Angel Chavez, the waiver wire pickup from the Giants system, keeps up his hot hitting with a five hit weekend (3 for extra bases).

AA Reading

• Michael Bourn: 0-4, 2 K
• Tim Moss: 0-2, 2 BB, SB, K
• Jason Jaramillo: 1-3, 2B, BB, K
• Bryan Hansen: N/A

Rain washed the Saturday and Sunday games...there's really not much to say about the R-Phils this weekend...

High A Clearwater

• Mike Costanzo: 5-10, 2 HR, 2B, 3 RBI, 5 R, 3 BB, K
• Brad Harman: 5-11, 2 2B, 2 RBI, 3 R, 2 BB, 3 K, SB, E (7)

• Julio De La Cruz: 3.2 IP 4 H 3 ER 4 BB 2 K
• Chris Booker: 3 IP 1 H 2 ER 1 BB 9 K
• Cole Hamels: 4.2 IP 4 H 4 R 1 ER 5 BB 5 K
• Zach Segovia (W, 3-1): 5.2 IP 5 H 4 ER 3 BB 6 K
  

Cole Hamels started his fifth inning of work by walking the bases loaded. Then he whiffed the next two batters and appeared to be out of the jam after he induced an easy groundball out to second...unfortunately a Peeter Ramos error allowed two runs to score as the wheels came off for the young team. A man advanced to third on an interference call, Hamels was lifted from the game, and Threshers RP Joe Bisensius came on to allow an RBI single (counting as the last run on Hamels' pitching line). 1 ER in 4.2 IP isn't all bad, of course, but the 5 walks are no good...this start will hopefully be remembered someday as Hamels' last ever appearance below the AAA level.

Chris Booker's line for the weekend was crazy - he finished with an ERA of 6.00 spanning the three game series, but managed to get everyone one of his 9 outs by the K. Isn't that Chris Booker in a nutshell?

Lost in all the Hamels/Booker business is the excellent performances by Mike Costanzo and Brad Harman...could they be turning the corner? Costanzo has been very hot as of late and Harman is just now beginning to get comfortable playing in High A. The future looks bright for the left side of the infield at Clearwater...

Low A Lakewood

• Greg Golson: 2-9, R, 3 K
• Welinson Baez: 1-9, RBI, 5 K
• Lou Marson: 2-6, RBI, 2 BB, 2 R, 3 K

• Josh Outman (W, 1-1): 6 IP 1 H 0 ER 2 BB 6 K
• Scott Mitchinson: 2 IP 2 H 0 ER 0 BB 5 K
• Maximino De La Cruz: 7.2 IP 4 H 2 ER 0 BB 7 K

Great pitching, subpar hitting...what else is new?