9/23/25 : This and That

Internal Player Development Awards :

The 2025 Paul Owens Award winners were announced yesterday - the player of the year winner this year is Otto Kemp who becomes just the second draft eligible un-drafted free agent signee to ever win the award and first since catcher Jeff Grotewold won it in 1990 (Ron Jones won the initial award in 1986 and while he was a free agent signing by the Phillies he had previously been drafted by both Toronto and Montreal). There have been three international Paul Owens Player of the Year amateur free agent signing award winners (Freddy Galvis - 2011, Maikel Franco - 2013 and Johan Rojas - 2023). Otto has had a tremendous season - he’s been called up twice to the major leagues and has a combined season .280 batting average in 471 at bats with 35 doubles, 22 home runs, 91 RBIs, 47 walks and 15 stolen bases in 550 plate appearances with a .372 OBP.  At Lehigh Valley he posted a .310/.417/.570 slash line and .987 OPS in 343 plate appearances with 16 home runs and 67 RBIs. I’ve been touting his abilities since first meeting him the summer he signed - just sayin 🤓.

Griff McGarry won the Paul Owens Pitcher of the Year award with a strong comeback season. Griff converted back to a starting pitcher after serving as a reliever in 2024 and got of to an excellent start to his season with Reading in April with three scoreless starts (12 IP, 2 H, 7 BB, 16 K’s) but then suffered elbow discomfort and was placed on the IL on 4/21/25. He then trained with the rehab team at the Complex in Clearwater and returned to game action with Clearwater on 5/29, the first of three rehab appearances with the Threshers. Griff returned to Reading on 6/19 and had a mix of both good and rough outings before finishing the year strong posting a 3.00 ERA in six August starts (27 IP) which earned him the system Pitcher of the Month Award and a 1.17 ERA in three September starts (including one with Lehigh Valley) which capped off an overall successful year!  He posted the best ERA of his career in a full season (3.44) and threw the second most seasonal innings of his career (83.2 IP) - his 21 starts were a career high. He’s eligible for the Rule 5 Draft this off-season (drafted in 2021 in the 5th round) for the second time unless added to the 40 man roster. In my humble opinion he’s established himself as a starter and is most comfortable in that role/routine and should remain as such - big league quality stuff.

Recap of the 2025 Minor League Internal Award Winners :

Paul Owens :

Otto Kemp and Griff McGarry

2025 Monthly Award Winners :

April :

Hitters - Otto Kemp (LHV) & Aroon Escobar (CW)

Pitcher - Mick Abel (LHV)

May :

Hitter - Keaton Anthony (REA)

Pitcher - Saul Teran (CW)

June :

Hitter - Felix Reyes (REA)

Pitcher - Ramon Marquez (FCL)

July :

Hitter - Dante Nori (CW) & Anderson Araujo (DSL Phillies Red)

Pitcher - Alex McFarlane (JS)

August  :

Hitter - Aidan Miller (REA)

Pitcher - Griff McGarry (REA)

Batting Titles :

Justin Crawford (Lehigh Valley) won the International League Batting Title by hitting .334 in 440 AB’s and Felix Reyes (Reading) won the Eastern League Batting Title by hitting .335 in 367 AB’s. In the IronPigs/Fightins/BlueClaws/Threshers era of Phillies full season minor league affiliation it’s the first time two Phillies minor league players won batting titles in the same season. Crawford is the first IronPig player to ever win a batting title. Reyes is just the fifth Reading (as a Phillies affiliate) player to win the Eastern League batting title (Tagg Bozied - 2010 - hit .315, Jim Olander - 1986 - hit .325, Greg Luzinski - 1970 - hit .324 and Bob Kelly - 1969 - hit .323). The last Phillies minor leaguer to win a batting title was Willians Astudillo with Clearwater in 2015 when he hit .314. Mike Spidale won the South Atlantic League batting title for Lakewood in 2006 when he hit .345 (thanks to Greg Giombarrese for that information).

Both Crawford and Reyes finished in the top five overall in the minors for those who qualified in batting average with Crawford being third and Reyes fifth (he played the last week of the season with LHV and finished with a .331 overall batting average.) Crawford was named by Baseball America as the Phillies minor league player of the year. From my view Reyes should be the Eastern League MVP as he led the loop in multiple categories!

Stealing the Record (most players with 30 or more and 40 or more steals in a season) :

This year’s Phillies minor league group had six players with 40 or more stolen bases and nine with 30 or more. The six with 40 or more stolen bases sets the franchise minor league system record (based on my research dating back to 1960) and the nine with 30 or more stolen bases also sets the record for most players doing so. The high mark for players with 50 or more in a season was set in 1980 at three and matched in 1981, 1982 and 1983.

Kudos to the fellas and coaches for setting two new high water marks!

2025 Stolen Bases :

Aidan Miller - LHV/REA - 59 - (52 with REA led the Eastern League)

Dante Nori - REA/JS/CW - 52

Justin Crawford - LHV - 46

Carson DeMartini - REA/JS - 45

Bryan Rincon - JS - 40

Oscar Mercado - LHV - 40

Dylan Campbell - REA/JS - 33

Avery Owusu-Asiedu - JS/CW - 33

John Spikerman - JS/CW - 30

Here are the prior numbers : Phillies minor league players with 20 or more stolen bases per season - 1960 forward - the four level format began in 1960.

1960 - 7 (two with 40 or more, three with 30 or more)

1961 - 5  (one with 40 or more, two with 30 or more)

1962 - 6  (two with 40 or more)

1963 - 6  (one with 50 or more, three with 30 or more) - James Perkins - 51

1964 - 2  (none with 30 or more)

1965 - 4  (one with 40 or more, two with 30 or more)

1966 - 5  (two with 30 or more)

1967 - 7  (three with 30 or more)

1968 - 2  (one with 30 or more)

1969 - 5  (one with 60 or more, two with 30 or more) - Larry Bowa - 62

1970 - 4  (one with 30 or more)

1971 - 2  (one with 30 or more)

1972 - 6  (one with 30 or more)

1973 - 5  (none with 30 or more)

1974 - 2  (one with 30 or more)

1975 - 11  (one with 50 or more, two with 40 or more) - Lonnie Smith - 56

1976 - 5  (two with 40 or more, three with 30 or more)

1977 - 6  (one with 50 or more, two with 40 or more, four with 30 or more) - Bobby Brown - 55

1978 - 10  (one with 60 or more, two with 50 or more, four with 30 or more) - Lonnie Smith - 66, Jay Loviglio - 50

1979 - 13  (one with 70 or more, two with 50 or more, six with 30 or more) - Bob Dernier - 77, Jay Loviglio - 55

1980 - 14 (one with 70 or more, three with 50 or more, four with 40 or more, three with 30 or more) - Bob Dernier - 71, Keith Washington - 55, Joe Bruno - 53

1981 - 13 (one with 120 or more, two with 70 or more, three with 50 and 40 or more, eight with 30 or more) - Jeff Stone - 123, Bob Dernier - 72, Juan Samuel - 53

1982 - 10 (one with 90 or more, three with 60 or more, four with 40 or more, seven with 30 or more) - Jeff Stone - 94, C.L. Penigar - 65, Juan Samuel - 64

1983 - 14 (one with 90 or more, two with 70 or more, three with 50 or more, four with 40 or more, seven with 30 or more) - Jeff Stone - 90, Jose Leiva - 78, Juan Samuel - 52

1984 - 8 (one with 50 or more, two with 30 or more) - Ramon Sambo - 57

1985 - 12 (one with 50 or more, two with 40 or more, three with 30 or more) - Jose Leiva - 58

1986 - 12 (three with 30 or more)

1987 - 10 (two with 50 or more, four with 30 or more) - Vince Holyfield - 56, Jose Leiva - 50

1988 - 9  (one with 40 or more, four with 30 or more)

1989 - 6 (two with 40 or more)

1990 - 3 (one with 40 or more, two with 30 or more)

1991 - 13 (five with 30 or more)

1992 - 4 (two with 30 or more)

1993 - 8 (two with 30 or more)

1994 - 9 (one with 60 or more, two with 30 or more) - Jeremy Kendall - 62

1995 - 6 (one with 30 or more)

1996 - 7 (two with 40 or more, four with 30 or more)

1997 - 8 (three with 40 or more)

1998 - 11 (three with 30 or more)

1999 - 12 (one with 40 or more, three with 30 or more)

2000 - 16 (one with 50 or more, three with 40 or more, five with 30 or more) - Jay Sitzman - 53

2001 - 12 (six with 30 or more)

2002 - 6 (two with 40 or more, three with 30 or more)

2003 - 5 (one with 50 or more, two with 40 or more) - Chris Roberson - 59

2004 - 4 (one with 50 or more, two with 40 or more, three with 30 or more) - Michael Bourn - 58

2005 - 5 (two with 30 or more)

2006 - 9 (one with 40 or more, three with 30 or more)

2007 - 9 (one with 50 or more, three with 30 or more) - Quintin Berry - 55

2008 - 9 (one with 50 or more, two with 30 or more) - Quintin Berry - 51

2009 - 12 (one with 70 or more, three with 40 or more, four with 30 or more) - Anthony Gose - 76

2010 - 13 (one with 40 or more, six with 30 or more)

2011 - 11 (one with 40 or more, five with 30 or more)

2012 - 7 (one with 30 or more)

2013 - 10 (two with 30 or more)

2014 - 4 (one with 30 or more)

2015 - 7 (none with 30 or more)

2016 - 5 (two with 30 or more)

2017 - 6 (one with 30 or more)

2018 - 4 (one with 30 or more)

2019 - 9 (three with 30 or more)

2020 - no season

2021 - 3 (one with 30 or more)

2022 - 8 (one with 60 or more, two with 30 or more) - Johan Rojas - 62

2023 - 18 (one with 50 or more, two with 40 or more, five with 30 or more) - Emaarion Boyd - 56

2024 - 12 (one with 50 or more, two with 40 or more) - Starlyn Caba - 50

Andrew will once again be Painting :

Some folks have suffered broken limbs jumping off the Andrew Painter bandwagon after an un-Painter like season. I’m certainly not one of them. It’s almost expected that a pitcher returning from TJ surgery in their first year of play will struggle with command and location and Andrew certainly did. However if ya look at the stuff from when we first saw him in action at full season levels in 2022 as compared to how he finished this season it’s pretty much all the way back. Andrew is a diligent worker who spends his off-seasons at Cressy Sports in Florida - I have no doubt that he will get his mechanics and precision pitching back in order and that we will see that next spring. For those that jumped off the wagon of support don’t worry there are stairs to climb back on 🤓.

Off-Season Efforts :

I will commence on writing player profiles for every Phillies minor leaguer that finished the season with the organization inclusive of input from those players who gave me feedback on how they felt the year went for them - won’t publish those till after the Phillies win the World Series. I’ll also provide my weekly Winter League Roundups - along with those participating in the Arizona Fall League I know of a few players already who are planning on playing winter ball in Australia, Puerto Rico and the Dominican. Till then we sit back and enjoy Red October!

Happy Day, Happy Baseball ⚾️

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