Minor League Report

The Phillies will try for elusive win number two tonight as Adam Eaton takes the mound for the good guys looking for his first win as a member of the team that drafted him. He'll be opposed by the erratic, but talented lefthander Oliver Perez. I'd say more, but I've got tickets to see Felix Hernandez vs. Daisuke Matsuzaka tonight at Fenway. Since you're probably jealous, I offer up a hearty dose of Phillies minor league action to read all about - fair trade, no? Boy, oh boy, can't wait to see how the Lynx did last night! Suckers.

Ottawa 4/10

Chris Roberson (CF): 0-4, 2 K, E (3)
Chris Coste (1B): 0-3, 2 BB
Brennan King (3B): 1-4
Danny Sandoval (SS): 0-4
Jason Jaramillo (C): 0-3, BB

J.A. Happ: 5 IP 0 H 0 ER 3 BB 6 K
Joe Bisenius: 0.2 IP 2 H 3 ER 1 BB 0 K
Eude Brito: 1 IP 3 H 2 ER 1 BB 1 K
Yoel Hernandez: 1.1 IP 1 H 0 ER 0 BB 0 K

Happ impressed with five innings of no hit ball, only to see Bisenius and Brito find ways to blow the lead against Buffalo. J.A. kept up his crazy flyball tendencies by getting eight of his nine non-strikeout outs on balls hit in the air. Terrible night by the Lynx position players, especially Roberson (3 errors already?).

Reading 4/10

Javon Moran (CF): 2-5, 2B, RBI, K
Mike Costanzo (3B): 0-4, K, 3 E (5)

Nate Johnson: 1 IP 3 H 1 ER 0 BB 0 K wild pitch
Nick Evangelista: 1 IP 4 H 3 ER 0 BB 2 K
Anderson Garcia: 1 IP 3 H 1 ER 0 BB 2 K wild pitch

Wow, at least Ottawa had good performances out of Happ and Hernandez; Reading was terrible last night. Johnson, Evangelista, and Garcia all got hit hard, and Mike Costanzo had an epically bad night – his 3 errors (2 fielding, 1 throwing) give him 5 on the year and his strikeout gives him 10 in 20 at bats. At least Javon Moran keeps up his hot hitting; another double tonight gives him 5 in 21 at bats, a pretty impressive feat considering he only had 13 in 293 last year (I know I mentioned this previously, but it boggles my mind for some reason).

Lakewood 4/10

Quintin Berry (LF): 1-5, R, K, E (1)
Jason Donald (SS): 3-5, 2B, 2 R, K
Adrian Cardenas (2B): 1-3, R, BB, 2 K
Tuffy Gosewisch (C): 0-2, R, 3 BB, K
Jay Miller (DH): 0-2, RBI, 2 R, BB, HBP
Gus Milner (RF): 3-5, 2 2B, 5 RBI, R, K, OF assist (1)
C.J. Henry (3B): 1-4, 2B, RBI, BB, 2 K
Doug Morales (1B): 1-4, BB
Julian Williams (CF): 1-4, RBI, R, BB

Kyle Drabek: 6 IP 5 H 1 ER 2 BB 4 K
Alex Concepcion: 2 IP 1 H 0 ER 1 BB 2 K
Justin Blaine: 1 IP 2 H 0 ER 0 BB 1 K

Lakewood drilled West Virginia last night behind big hits from Jason Donald and Gus Milner, and a strong starting turn by last year’s first rounder Kyle Drabek. Speaking of Drabek, from the April 1 edition of Future Shock from Baseball Prospectus:

2006 first-round pick Kyle Drabek had a tough pro debut with the Phillies, and one scout in Florida was unpleasantly surprised by the righthander when he saw him pitch for the first time. "I just expected much more out of him," he said. "There's no way, no how he's six feet tall. He's maybe 5-foot-10, and stocky and muscly, and there's just nothing to project on." And the stuff? "The curveball is good, but he was like 88-92 mph and I was not impressed--I don't see him as much more than a reliever."

This more or less directly contradicts reports from spring training published by Baseball America, so take it with a grain of salt. I’m still certain that no player in the Phillies system has more star potential than Drabek, though admittedly his skill set makes him a bit of a boom-or-bust kind of prospect. For what it’s worth, unsubstantiated reports from last night game had Drabek hitting the mid-90s with his fastball while trying to work in his newly refined changeup (in the low 70s), a “show me” slider (mid 80s), and his best pitch, the spike curve (76 mph – 82 mph).