Minor League Weekend Update

AAA Scranton-WB

• Josh Kroeger: DL
• Danny Sandoval: 2-17, HR, 2 RBI, R, 2 BB, K, E (9)
• Brennan King: 0-3, BB, 2 K, E (8)
• Chris Roberson: 1-4, BB, 2 K
• Carlos Ruiz: 3-16, 2B, 3 R, 2 BB, HBP, 3 K

Danny Sandoval had a rather unfortunate 0 for 7 day on Sunday...overall, a pretty lackluster weekend for the Red Barons hitters although Carlos Ruiz should stay near a phone considering the Phillies lack of a legit second catcher (Lieberthal on the DL, Coste...nice guy I'm sure, but just not a real big leaguer)...

• Shawn Wooten (Twins): 2-14, R, SB (1), BB, K
• Scott Baker (Twins): 7 IP 5 H 1 ER 4 BB 5 K
  

Wooten is a former Phillie (and one I never liked though I honestly can't remember the source for my negativity towards him) while Baker is a fine young righthanded starter who is back in AAA after beginning the year with the Twins (he had a rocky start).

• Ryan Cameron (BS, 2) (L, 2-2): 2.1 IP 4 H 3 ER 3 BB 1 K
• Travis Minix: 1 IP 3 H 3 ER 0 BB 1 K
• Gavin Floyd: 7 IP 9 H 2 ER 1 BB 8 K
• Seung Lee: 3 IP 1 H 1 BB 2 K

Cameron, Minix, Lee...whatever. Those three AAA vets take a backseat to former Phillie Gavin Floyd in this update. I still think Floyd should get all the time he needs in AAA before the Phils even consider calling him back up - I'll stick with the arbitrary five start minimum I threw out there last time Floyd was discussed for the time being. Floyd's K/BB ratio is at 17/2 in 16 innings pitched so far...

AA Reading

• Michael Bourn: 4-14, 2 R, 2 BB, 2 SB (21), 5 K, 2 E (4)
• Jason Jaramillo: 5-12, HR, 3 RBI, 2B, 2 R, BB, K, E (4)
• Tim Moss: 0-10, HBP, 6 K
• Angel Chavez: 4-16, HR, 3 RBI, 3 R, 2 K, 2 E (2)

Jaramillo's recent hot streak is extremely encouraging...Tim Moss' terrible weekend brings to mind his early season struggles - like back when he was going 0 for 20something with strikeouts in half his at bats...

• Eric Duncan (Yankees): 5-14, 2 HR, 2 2B, 5 RBI, 3 R, K

Duncan is the Yankees third base prospect that uninformed writers love to claim would be a perfect fit for the Phillies whenever a Pat Burrell/Bobby Abreu rumor to New York crops up...this lovely idea is a whole lot of fun, but only when you completely ignore the fact that Duncan hasn't played third all year (his defense in the past at third was...to put it nicely...lacking)...

• Gio Gonzalez (L, 2-6): 5 IP 4 H 4 ER 6 BB 4 K
• Nick Evangelista: 3.2 IP 4 H 2 R 1 ER 1 BB 3 K
• Zack Segovia (L, 3-2): 7 IP 7 H 4 R 3 ER 0 BB 7 K
• Scott Mathieson: 5 IP 5 H 2 ER 6 BB 3 K

Gonzalez lost the much hyped top prospect matchup against Mike Pelfrey of the Mets...Evangelista had his first rocky outing of the year, but has maintained his reputation as a groundball machine...Segovia lost his second game at AA, but proved the relative insignificance of W/L records with his pretty peripherals (7 K/0 BB, WHIP: 1.00)...Mathieson will have nights like that, his control has been spotty in the past...

• Mike Pelfrey - Mets - (W, 1-1): 7 IP 2 H 0 ER 1 BB 7 K
• Tyler Clippard - Yankees -(L, 2-8): 1 IP 5 H 8 ER 3 BB 0 K
• Matt DeSalvo - Yankees - (W, 1-0): 5.1 IP 4 H 2 R 1 ER 4 BB 1 K (7/8 GO/FO)

Pelfrey is the Mets top minor leaguer these days (now that Lastings Milledge is in the bigs), Clippard is a decent arm in the Yanks system, and DeSalvo is the owner of some of the better GO/FO ratios in the minors (though he didn't really show it on this night...)

High A Clearwater

• Mike Costanzo: 7-16, 2B, R, 3 BB, 2 K
• Brad Harman: 2-9, 2B, R, HBP, K
• Bryan Hansen: 4-15, 2 2B, 5 RBI, R, 2 BB, 3 K, 3 E (4)
• Tuffy Gosewisch: 3-13, HR, 2B, 2 RBI, R, 4 K

5-hit day for Costanzo on Saturday (20 hits overall for Threshers)...

• Kevin Slowey - Twins - (W, 4-1): 6 IP 3 H 0 ER 2 BB 5 K (1.10 ERA)

Slowey is a controversial player when it comes to those who discuss prospects...his stuff is nothing special and he is old for his league (he is 22), but his numbers are eye popping (1.10 ERA, 92/7 K/BB ratio in 81.2 IP)...those numbers make the 2 walks drawn by the Threshers in his last start seem rather impressive...

• Randy Wolf: 3 IP 2 H 1 R 0 ER 3 BB 2 K 0 HR 1 WP (3/3 GO/AO ratio)
  
• Julio De La Cruz: 7 IP 4 H 1 ER 1 BB 8 K
• Andrew Baldwin (W, 3-5): 9 IP 5 H 1 ER 0 BB 8 K
• Kyle Kendrick (W, 2-3): 7 IP 3 H 0 ER 3 BB 3 K
• J.A. Happ (L, 3-7): 5 IP 7 H 4 R 3 ER 0 BB 3 K

Wolf's debut was solid, he pitches again tomorrow night - maybe I was wrong about Wolf not pitching at all for the Phillies in 2006...fantastic outings out of De La Cruz, Baldwin, and Kendrick - Baldwin's performance ranks right up there with the best of any pitcher in the system this year...

Low A Lakewood

• Greg Golson: 3-12, 3B, RBI, 3 R, SB (10), BB, 2 K
• Welinson Baez: 0-4, R, HBP, 3 BB, K
  
• Lou Marson: 3-9, R, BB, 2 K, PB (4)
• Jeremy Slayden: 6-14, 2 2B, RBI, 2 R, BB, 2 K
• Clay Harris: 6-15, 2 HR, 2B, 7 RBI, 3 R, HBP, 2 BB, 4 K

Clay Harris started at third base on Friday and Saturday - he was a second baseman at the collegiate level (LSU) and is by all accounts very athletic for being such a large man (6'4", 220)...he's no real prospect (he'll be 24 in August and is still in low-A), but a potentially intriguing organizational guy as he progresses through the chain...

• Scott Mitchinson: 4 IP 5 H 3 ER 3 BB 4 K
• Matt Maloney (W, 6-4): 7.2 IP 1 H 0 ER 2 BB 5 K
• Andy Barb (S, 7): 1.1 IP 0 H 0 ER 0 BB 1 K
• Carlos Carrasco (L, 4-4): 5.2 IP 3 H 3 ER 2 BB 10 K (2.23 ERA)
• Brett Harker: 2.1 IP 0 H 0 ER 2 BB 1 K
• Josh Outman (W, 3-4): 6 IP 3 H 1 R 0 ER 4 BB 8 K
• Pat Overholt: 2 IP 1 H 0 ER 1 BB 1 K
• Maximino De La Cruz: 1 IP 1 H 0 ER 1 BB 1 K

Look at all those arms throwing at Lakewood these days...it's time to tell Harker and Maloney to pack their bags and move on up to (or down speaking geographically) to Clearwater...Carlos Carrasco and Maloney may be the only pitchers in Lakewood who honestly have long-term futures as starting pitchers, but the rest make for a fun collection of live arms that could thrive coming out of the pen (Harker, Overholt, and Barb are all full-time relievers already with Mitchinson and De La Cruz having both dabbled as starters and relievers thus far - Outman is a SP for now, but a conversion could really speed up his big league timetable...)