5/16/22 : Did Ya Know 🧐

Some tidbits on the Phillies Minor League system this season and a pending promotion that perhaps ya didn’t know.

The Minor League season is now six weeks old and the Phillies have had players win Position Player of the Week four different times - Darick Hall - twice ( International League - 4/18-4/24 & 4/25-5/1 ), Jhailyn Ortiz ( Eastern League - 5/9 - 5/15 ) and Hao Yu Lee ( Florida State League - 5/9-5/15 ). That ties them with the Padres for the second most thus far this season. The Rockies have won an astounding seven position player of the week awards this year - by seven different players 😳 ( Lopes, Veen, Bernard, Tovar, Diaz, Amador & Goodman - 2 at AAA, 1 -AA, 1 High A, 3 Low A ). Along with Darick Hallthe Cardinals Moises Gomez ( AA level - Texas League ) has won the award twice. The Pirates Jacob Gonzalez ( twice at Low A Bradenton & once at High A Greensboro ) is the only three time winner to date.

AAA level Lehigh Valley Darick Hall’s 38 RBIs leads all of professional baseball. The nearest to him is Adrelin Rodriquez ( Padres ) and David Villar ( Giants ) with 36 each in the AAA level Pacific Coast League. Jose Ramirez of the Cleveland Guardians leads the major leagues with 33. Some discount the importance of RBIs but in my opinion those that do have never been in the batters box at a high level of play with runners in scoring position - just sayin 😁.

Five minor league players have 20 or more stolen bases - the Phillies have two of them - the leaders are :

Max Ferguson - 26 ( Padres - Low A Elsinore )

Shane Sasaki- 24 ( Rays- Low A Charleston )

Yhoswar Garcia - 23 ( Phillies - Low A Clearwater )

Eustery Ruiz - 23 ( Padres - Double A San Antonio )

Johan Rojas - 20 ( Phillies - High A Jersey Shore )

Only Rojas and Sasaki have yet to be caught.

The Phillies minor leaguers have stolen 195 bases to date - that’s third to only the Yankees ( 206 ) and Rays ( 200 ) - only three organizations ( Dodgers, A’s & Giants ) have less than 100 steals thus far - I’d say the new pickoff rule and larger bases have re-introduced the stolen base back into minor league baseball in a very large way 👀.

Speaking of new minor league rules - the shift bans in the Low A to AA levels are quite unnoticeable to me thus far. In yesterday’s Threshers/Tortugas game quite of few ground balls in the 3-4 hole were gobbled up by the second baseman regardless even with him being positioned on the infield dirt rather than in short right field. Nothing prohibits the second baseman from being positioned in “Pull Mode” for lefty hitters - what the new rule has done is reward balls that bounce in front of the outfielders on the grass as hits - to me that’s the way it should be … and by the way games aren’t any more lengthy, especially with the pitch clocks in play - just sayin 🤓.

Lehigh Valley is first in the International League in OBP ( On Base Percentage ) at .360 and walks ( 183 ) - only the Oklahoma City Dodgers ( AAA Pacific Coast League ) have drawn more free passes and by just one at 184.

Reading leads the Eastern League in Triples ( 10 ). Jersey Shore is second in the South Atlantic League in stolen bases ( 67 ). Clearwater is second in the Florida State League in Slugging Percentage ( .379 ), OBP ( .334 ), Avg. ( .245 ), triples ( 9 ), hits ( 253 ) and runs ( 152 ) and first in stolen bases ( 74 ) and RBIs ( 134 ).

On the Pitching side of the equation Clearwater is second in WHIP - 1.22 and ERA - 3.09 in the Florida State League. Andrew Painter is second in the league in strikeouts ( 47 ) and fourth in ERA ( 1.14 ) amongst pitchers with 20 or more IP. Reading is third in the Eastern League in pitching strikeouts with 341.

Scott Kingery will play this week for the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs in their series in Rochester. He’s worked very hard in Extended Spring Training to rehab after incurring shoulder surgery. The bat looks quick and the wheels are still Jet Packs ! Best wishes to Scotty for a continued successful path back to the show.

Happy Day, Happy Baseball ⚾️

Jhailyn Ortiz, Darick Hall & Hao Yu Lee - photos by George Youngs Jr, Cheryl Pursell & Mark Wylie