Typically this time of year I’m deep in the midst of writing and organizing my annual Phillies Minor League Digest. I have published it in paperback copy for the past six years. This year I’ve decided to discontinue publishing the hard copy digest however that doesn’t mean that I won’t write much of the content that would have been placed in it.
Instead I’ll use the website forum my son Nolan graciously set up for me a few years ago and produce a series of articles that would have been in the composition of chapters if I had produced the digest this year. The major chapter of last year’s digest was an alphabetical listing of each of the players I saw in action during the season ( from pre-camp to fall instructs ). I believe that other than actual Phillies Player Development employees and a select few others that I’ve seen more Phillies minor leaguers in action over the course of the season than perhaps anyone. That qualifies me for something at the least to produce what I will now entitle my “Annual Minor League Player Notes.”
While my notes will not be built upon seasonal or short term stats I will reference them but note that I rely more upon my observations, coaches/scouts feedback and positive values I saw develop as the year progressed. I can attest that I actually watch games each evening, attend practices and interact with a vast amount of players, coaches, scouts and front office folks.
I will organize the player notes alphabetically and perhaps by position - will focus on those who spent the majority of their season in the minor leagues, there won’t be a lot of chatter on the fellas who graduated to the major leagues during the season although there will be some.
Basically I’ll produce what would have been the book instead with multiple articles which will hopefully entice more folks to actually read ( shorter spurts - less to take in each time 😎 ) - my entire purpose in these writing exercises that I do is to highlight the minor league players and let fans know about them, hopefully that will be accomplished more this way.
Over the course of the off-season I will intersperse other articles as well, of course the “Hot Stove” is active now so we will do updates in that regard along with coverage of Phillies playing winter league baseball and listing transactions as they occur, etc.
Hopefully it will be of interest to you all but at the least it keeps me busy over the next couple of months while there’s not a lot of baseball watching options available 😎.
So … I will get to work on the off-season effort and hopefully will be able to post a section of the initial “Annual Minor League Player Notes” sometime soon.
Happy Day, Happy Baseball ⚾️
Note : I've just partnered with Fanatics on Phillies Merchandise - if you would like to help support my website and articles here's a link to order merchandise - I get a small commission on any sales - thanks for the support.
