10/27/22 :  Minor League Update

Arizona Fall League :

The Surprise Saguaro's defeated the Mesa Solar Sox last night 5 to 4 bringing their league leading record to 13-7.  Jhailyn Ortiz was 1 for 4 with a home run and two RBI’s.  Ortiz is 7 for his last 17 ( .412 ) with 3 home runs and 8 RBI’s.  He played left field last evening instead of his customary right field post.

Francisco Morales picked up the win by pitching a perfect  inning of relief ( 1 K - 11 pitches - 7 strikes ).  Francisco has a 0.00 ERA in 6 appearances ( 7 1/3 IP allowing just 2 hits and posting 11 K’s - a 0.95 WHIP ).

All four of the Phillies pitchers in the league have performed well - RH Cristian Hernandez has a 1.29 ERA in 6 games ( 7 1/3 IP ) with a 1.14 WHIP, RH Brett Schulze has a 1.42 ERA in 6 games ( 6 1/3 IP ) with a 0.95 WHIP and LH Taylor Lehman had one bad outing which skewed his ERA however in 4 of his 5 appearances he posted a 1.50 ERA in 6 IP.

Johan Rojas is tied for the league lead with 13 stolen bases and has a .423 OBP in 52 plate appearances - he’s drawn 8 walks which is nearly double the walk rate he posted this summer, he’s also hitting at a .310 clip.  Johan left his last game early with a  tweak but assured me he’s fine - just a little bothered is all and should be back in the lineup soon - he’s amassed over 600 plate appearances this year 😳.

Carlos De La Cruz has posted a .357 OBP in 42 PA’s with a triple, 2 home runs and 8 RBI’s. He continues to learn how to play first base.  Carlos finished the minor league season strong by hitting 14 of his 17 overall home runs in the months of July, August and September.  He will likely return to Reading to begin the 2023 campaign.

High Performance Camp :

The primarily strength and conditioning camp that’s been running since October 10th at Carpenter Complex is slated to conclude on Friday.   A similar camp just began this past Monday at the Phillies Dominican Academy for selected Dominican Summer League players.  Both of the camps focus on building strength, power and speed.  Baseball training is a year round commitment - those who fall behind in their off-season regiment usually have a steeper climb in Spring Training for roster spots.

Friday will also mark the conclusion of live bullpen sessions by pitchers on rehab assignments.  There are quite a few pitchers and position players who will stay in the Clearwater area and continue their individual rehab efforts at the complex but the focus will be on continuing to build back strength from their injuries.  In essence the complex will effectively be closed to on field baseball activities until January when “early birds” for 2023 Spring Training return.  That doesn’t preclude an occasional meeting of the baseball operations brain trust though for next year’s planning 🧐.  It does preclude any knowledge of such I might be able to observe and share as that’s non existent 🤓.

Mexican Winter League : Opened 10/11/22

Phillies on rosters :

RHP Fernando Lozano - Aguilas de Mexicali

RHP Manuel Urias - Caneros de los Mochis

RHP Pedro Reyes - Tomateros de Culiacan

Former Phillies on rosters :

OF Chris Roberson - Aguilas de Mexicali

LHP Tyler Alexander - Charros de Jalisco

RHP Fernando Salas - Naranjeros de Hermosillo

C Sebastian Valle - Yaquis de Obregon

LHP Jeff Singer - Sultanes de Monterrey

Dominican Winter League : opened 10/15/22

Infielder Wendell Rijo has gotten off to a good start for the Toros del Este team posting a .500 OBP in his first 10 plate appearances, the 26 year old pending minor league free agent had a solid year for Reading this past summer both on the field and in the clubhouse as a respected voice.

Phillies on rosters :

SS Jonathan Guzman - Leones del Escogido

OF Jorge Bonifacio - Tigres del Licey

IF Wendell Rijo - Toros del Este

LHP Jakob Hernandez - Estrellas de Oriente

Former Phillies on rosters :

C Deivi Grullon - Aguilas Cibaenas

C Rodolfo Duran - Estrellas de Oriente

OF Luke Williams - Estrellas de Oriente

IF Michael Martinez - Estrellas de Oriente

RHP Michael Ynoa - Gigantes del Cibao

RHP Tyler Cyr - Gigantes del Cibao

RHP Ivan Nova - Leones del Escogido

RHP Jimmy Cordero - Leones del Escogido

INF Jimmy Paredes - Leones del Escogido

LHP Fernando Abad - Toros del Este

RHP Alfredo Simon - Toros del Este

OF Emilio Bonifacio - Tigres del Licey

RHP Victor Santos - Leones del Escogido

RHP Anuerys Zabala - Leones del Escogido

INF Pedro Florimon - Toros del Este

Venezuelan Winter League : opened 10/25

The league just began it’s season with each of the 8 teams having played two games to date.  Nineteen year old Phillies RHP Giussepe Velasquez is one of the youngest players in the league and is pitching for Aguilas del Zulia.

If you missed my last update here is a list of current and former Phillies on rosters in the league.

RHP Giuseppe Velasquez - Aguilas de Zulia

RHP Carlos Betancourt - Aguilas de Zulia

RHP Luis Gomez - Bravos de Margarita

IF Kevin Vicuña - Caribes de Anzoategui

RHP Jonathan Petit - Tiburones de La Guaira

Former Phillies on rosters :

RHP Luis Gomez - Aguilas de Zulia

LHP Elvis Araujo - Aguilas de Zulia

LHP McKenzie Mills - Bravos de Margarita

2B Heiker Meneses - Bravos de Margarita

RHP James Dykstra - Cardenales de Lara

OF Odubel Herrera - Cardenales de Lara

C Gabriel Lino - Caribes de Anzoategui

IF Willians Astudillo - Caribes de Anzoategui

IF Asdrubel Cabrera - Caribes de Anzoategui

OF Herlis Rodriquez - Caribes de Anzoategui

RHP Henderson Alvarez - Navegantes del Magallanes

IF Arquimedes Gamboa - Navegantes del Magallanes

RHP Gregory Infante - Tiburones de La Guaira

RHP Edubray Ramos - Tiburones de La Guaira

C/1B Wilson Garcia - Tiburones de La Guaira

OF Carlos Tocci - Tigres de Aragua

Puerto Rico Winter League : slated to start 11/4 - rosters not announced yet

Australian Baseball League : slated to open 11/10

The following current and former Phillies are on rosters

Adelaide Giants :

C Anthony Quirion

C Arturo DeFreitas

OF Jared Carr

1B Rixon Wingrove

2B Nikau Pouaka-Grego

LHP Jordan Fowler

RHP Starlyn Castillo

RHP Kyle Glogoski ( pitched this summer for Jersey Shore ) will play for the Auckland Tautara. Outfielder Chris Burke will play for the Melbourne Aces.

Former Phillies :

LHP Josh Tolls - Adelaide Giants

3B Curtis Mead -Adelaide Giants

SS Nick Ward from West Chester University and Unionville High School will also play this season for Adelaide.

A personal note :

I’ve decided to discontinue publishing my annual Phillies Minor League Digest - we did it for six years albeit one was a special edition co written with Larry Shenk in 2020 which detailed the Phillies minor league history - it is the best one of the series - that’s what having a hall of famer’s inclusion in the writing will do 🤓.

The Phillies publish an annual media digest which includes profiles of every player in the organization - while my minor league digest included my personal opinions and projections of every player I was able to watch ( which was most everyone 😳 ) last season it didn’t get much traction in readership interest.  I will defer to the media guide.

Publishing the digest has also become a financial burden which is another reason for me to discontinue it.  For now I’ll continue to write my almost daily blog of Phillies news, observations and opinions with the minor leagues and player development as my focus - will include articles this off season that would have perhaps been isolated to the published digest - including interspersing my versions of each Phillies minor league player profile with 2023 projections.

All tolled I was able to write and publish seven books on the Phillies over the years - I take that as an accomplishment even if sales weren’t plentiful 😂.  It’s time to move on from the book writing part of my hobby - no worries and no regrets.

Happy Day, Happy Baseball ⚾️