9/18/25 : Just Sayin

This is the last week of Phillies minor league action with now only four games remaining in the season. Eleven years ago upon retiring from thirty-two years of work in corporate America I began a hobby of writing about the Phillies player development process and minor league action. My wife and I had relocated to Clearwater from the Philly suburbs to the hub of player development and it seemed to me that there was a void in coverage of the PD process. So I began writing about it, built a small following on my newly formed webpage ( I think it’s still mostly the families and friends of the players) and intertwined my notes via emails to various Phillies folks and reporters (the ones who do this for a living). My mission was/is to spotlight the players in the development process, to introduce a forum where every player is treated in like kind for their accomplishments - no whittling down to subjective “prospect lists” - just coverage of the process.

I don’t often utilize the “deep dive” stats on players that predict whether they will succeed or fail at the highest level. I am certainly not opposed to analytics, in fact have always endorsed the use of data and technology (that was my job in corporate America to lead and oversee global governance of core data and structure along with security and protocol). It was a much needed improvement to the Phillies PD process when they built out an Analytics department and incorporated it in decision making, technology and data analysis isn’t an enemy to the process but rather a necessary part to a successful program. It’s also not a stand alone all encompassing endeavor, it’s a very important support piece that when coupled with actual hands on observations and opinions can help the decision makers reach more thorough conclusions. It took awhile for the Phillies to couple the two into a cohesive process with proper structure and governance of interaction but it’s in place now and in my view is working quite well.

For baseball and the development of players my approach in writing and reviewing players is heavily reliant on what I see, hear, understand as a former amateur level player and believe is within the player’s heart and will to succeed. Getting to know the players a bit is a vital element in my opinion else it’s just uninformed conjecture. It’s not my way to focus on what a person can’t do but rather on what they can based on skills, mindset, heart and desire to succeed. Positivity is how I approach what I write about and when I offer opinion, it doesn’t mean I don’t see the areas of needed work (which I will also mention in a constructive manner) but I have always believed in people getting opportunities to show their talent and in highlighting the upside of those efforts. That’s just my style.

Acknowledgement of what I do has never been of great importance to me, my efforts are a small part of the village of support needed to  succeed. I’ve written similar versions of this article in years past as each minor league season concludes - I always doubt there’s any wide spread impact made by what I do. Yet on occasion there are notes from appreciative players, their friends and families and fellow fans (which is primarily what I am albeit unique perhaps in what I do). I reconcile that as a success and remember my initial premise in doing this hobby of mine - to highlight the daily grind of the Phillies PD process to those out there who want to know about it regardless of how many or few that may be. To that end I believe I’ve served my intent.

So as the minor league season concludes on Sunday I hope for those of you who’ve taken some time to read my efforts this season that it’s been informative and helpful. It’s now time to sit back and watch the big club forge into Red October. And by the way - I have no doubts that the Phillies are going to win the 2025 World Series and that the PD process had huge import to that end. Maybe next summer a non-rostered, unpaid, unofficial part of the Phillies family that reports on the PD process daily might garner a ring as well 🤓🧐😂.  Just sayin.

Happy Day, Happy Baseball ⚾️

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