Phillies - A Fan’s View

Today is opening day for the Dominican Summer League (DSL) which was founded in 1985. Since the 2016 season the Phillies have fielded two teams (Phillies Red & Phillies White) in the league, this year they will consolidate into one club. The move is designed to allow for a more concentrated focus on individual player development at the team’s Dominican Academy. The league plays games to mid August with 72 games per team scheduled. The DSL Phillies team (entitled Phillies) wil

The Phillies have historically issued “Player of the Month” awards in two categories - Hitter and Pitcher. Below are a few possibilities for the May awards 🤔🤓. Hitters of the Month : C/1B - Alirio Ferrebus - Clearwater - 20 years old - signed as an international free agent 1/15/23 - Venezuela - .371/.408/.584 with a .992 OPS in 23 games (98 PA’s) with 33 hits (10 doubles, 3 HR’s) and 19 RBIs, 4 walks, 16 K’s, 2 stolen bases, 13 runs scored. 52 Total Bases. OF Griffin Burkh

Compiled and written by Steve Potter This week’s Spotlight Player : Robert Phelps - Clearwater - 22 years old - drafted in 19th round of the 2025 draft from Reinhardt University, Georgia A big week for the Clearwater infielder (has played 2B, SS and 3B this season) as he went 10 for 27 (.407) with two doubles, two home runs and seven RBIs. Included in those numbers was a walk off game winning double on 5/28 along with other clutch hits in the series against Dunedin. It’s bee

Compiled and written by Steve Potter International League (AAA) - Lehigh Valley 8 (27-30) Buffalo 5 (27-30) Buffalo, NY - Sahlen Field How they scored : A double and three singles scored three runs for Buffalo in the third inning. Liover Peguero reached on a fielding error to lead off the fifth, Christian Cairo walked. Bryan De La Cruz doubled to score them both. Caleb Ricketts hit a sacrifice fly to score De La Cruz. A walk, two singles and a sacrifice fly scored two runs fo

On March 11th of 2025 I wrote an initial spotlight article on Griffin Burkholder - at the time he was in Winter High Performance Camp working with the rehab team addressing hamstring discomfort. It became a lingering injury and bothered him throughout the 2025 season limiting him to just 34 games as he spent a significant amount of time working with the rehab team at the Player Development Center in Clearwater to both alleviate the recurring issue while also strengthen his le

Compiled and written by Steve Potter International League (AAA) - Buffalo 6 (27-29) Lehigh Valley 5 (26-30) Buffalo, NY - Sahlen Field How they scored : Buffalo scored a run in the third inning on two walks and a single. They scored two in the fifth and one in the sixth in a home run by former Phillies minor leaguer William Simoneit. The IronPigs scored five runs in the eighth inning - Robert Moore and Dylan Carlson singled. Gabriel Rincones Jr walked. Liover Peguero doubled

Compiled and written by Steve Potter International League (AAA) - Lehigh Valley 5 (26-29) Buffalo 4 (26-29) - 11 innings - Buffalo, NY - Sahlen Field How they scored : Buffalo scored a run in the first inning on a walk, throwing error, hit batter and sacrifice fly. Paul McIntosh doubled in the third inning and scored on a home run by Felix Reyes. A walk and double scored a run for Buffalo in the sixth. Dylan Moore singled in the seventh, Paul McIntosh doubled. Caleb Ricketts

Compiled and written by Steve Potter International League (AAA) - Lehigh Valley 9 (25-29) Buffalo 4 (26-28) - 11 AM start - Buffalo, NY - Sahlen Field How they scored : The IronPigs scored six runs in the second inning - Christian Cairo reached on an error and went to third on an error when Dylan Moore reached base on a fielders choice. Paul McIntosh singled to score a run. Robert Moore doubled to score a run, Dylan Carlson singled to score another. Felix Reyes doubled to pl

Jonathan Hogart was signed by the Phillies as an un-drafted free agent on 7/22/25 from Murray State University. He played two seasons for the Racers after spending 2023 as a member of the Louisiana Tech squad and the prior two years at the junior college level for Wabash Valley College. He graduated from Madisonville-North Hopkins High School in Madisonville, Kentucky. Jonathan was part of the amazing 2025 season for Murray State, in fact he set an NCAA record for most lead o

Compiled and written by Steve Potter International League (AAA) - Lehigh Valley 7 (24-29) Buffalo 6 (26-27) Buffalo, NY - Sahlen Field How they scored : Buffalo scored three runs in the second inning - two on a home run by former Phillies minor leaguer William Simoneit. A single and double scored another run. Steward Berroa doubled in the third inning, he scored on a double by Felix Reyes. Gabriel Rincones Jr singled to score Reyes. Buffalo scored twice in the bottom of the t

Compiled and written by Steve Potter International League (AAA) - Buffalo 5 (26-26) Lehigh Valley 4 (23-29) - 10 innings Buffalo, NY - Sahlen Field How they scored : Felix Reyes walked in the fourth inning, stole second, went to third on a ground out and scored on a sacrifice fly by Liover Peguero. A walk, triple and single scored two runs for Buffalo in the sixth inning. Three singles scored a run in the seventh. Dylan Moore homered in the eighth inning. Carter Kieboom homer

Compiled by Steve Potter Thanks to tips and research from a couple friends we found former Phillies minor league first baseman Rixon Wingrove playing in a Japan Independent League (listed below) and former Phillies RHP Edgar Garcia now pitching in the Canadian League. Also former Phillies minor league LHP Jaylen Smith told me he is now participating in “entertainment” baseball as an outfielder as part of the “Cosmic Takeover Tour”. Transactions since the 5/1/26 update : C Gab

Compiled and written by Steve Potter Florida Complex League - Tigers 8 (6-11) Phillies 1 (5-12) - seven innings Lakeland, FL -Tigertown Complex - 10 AM start How they scored : TJayy Walton singled in the second inning, Logan Dawson walked and Victor Cardoza singled. Jalvin Arias hit a sacrifice fly to score a run. The Tigers scored three runs in the third inning on two walks, a single and double. They scored two more in the fifth on four singles and three more in the sixth in

Plate Appearances : Christian Cairo - LHV - 217 - 50 games Bryan De La Cruz - LHV - 210 - 49 games Aroon Escobar - REA - 190 - 44 games Dante Nori - REA - 188 - 41 games Raylin Heredia - REA - 178 - 44 games Devin Saltiban - JS - 178 - 40 games Hits : Alirio Ferrebus - CW - 48 Christian Cairo - LHV - 47 Carter Kieboom - LHV - 46 Raylin Heredia - REA - 45 Dante Nori - REA - 43 Runs : Christian Cairo - LHV - 38 Raylin Heredia - REA - 28 Bryan De La Cruz - LHV - 28 Bryan Rincon

Compiled and written by Steve Potter This week’s Spotlight Player : RHP Sam Highfill - 25 years old - signed as non drafted free agent 7/29/25 - NC State University Sam had an outstanding outing this week for Jersey Shore going five scoreless innings on Friday night allowing just three hits and one walk while striking out four batters. He’s now riding an eight inning scoreless streak. He has been a reliable innings eater in his brief two year pro career to date - features a f

Compiled and written by Steve Potter International League (AAA) - SWB 5 (26-23) Lehigh Valley 4 (23-28) Allentown, PA - Coca-Cola Park How they scored : Carter Kieboom walked in the second inning, Christian Cairo doubled and Dylan Carlson walked. Kieboom scored when Dylan Moore reached on a fielding error (third baseman). A wild pitch scored a run. Steward Berroa grounded out to score a run. Three singles and a wild pitch scored two runs for SWB in the third inning. A fieldin

Compiled and written by Steve Potter International League (AAA) - Lehigh Valley 5 (23-27) SWB 4 (25-23) Allentown, PA - Coca-Cola Park How they scored : A walk, two stolen bases and fielders choice ground ball scored a run for SWB in the third inning. Two doubles scored a run for them in the fourth inning. Liover Peguero and Carter Kieboom each singled in the bottom of the fourth, Christian Cairo walked. Dylan Carlson and Dylan Moore each walked to score a run. Paul McIntosh

Professional baseball is a business first and foremost. The goal of every organization is to build a cohesive unit at the major league level that can and ultimately does produce championships. Player development as part of that equation is to provision pieces to the puzzle that can either impact the big league team directly else be used as trade chips to acquire other puzzle parts that can be molded into the equation. Like every large corporation it’s difficult to get to know

Compiled and written by Steve Potter International League (AAA) - Lehigh Valley 6 (22-27) SWB 5 (25-22) - 10 innings Allentown, PA - Coca-Cola Park How they scored : SWB scored two runs in the third inning on a walk, double, ground out and wild pitch. Steward Berroa and Felix Reyes singled in the third inning, they scored on a home run by Bryan De La Cruz. Four singles scored two runs for SWB in the fourth inning. Felix Reyes and Bryan De La Cruz singled in the fifth inning.

Compiled and written by Steve Potter International League (AAA) - Scranton/WB 8 (25-21) Lehigh Valley 7 (21-27) Allentown, PA - Coca-Cola Park How they scored : Steward Berroa singled in the first inning, he went to third on a single by Felix Reyes. Carter Kieboom walked, Dylan Carlson walked to force in a run. A walk, single, fielders choice, single, two errors and double play ground out scored three runs for SWB in the third inning. Ernesto Martinez Jr then hit a two run ho