Today was SOS-Same Old Situation, more of the same PFPs (pitcher fielding practice), catcher drills, bunting practice for the pitchers and batting practice for the catchers.
There was a fairly sizable crowd today. They still haven’t opened up Spectrum Field to the public to watch batting practice for the position players. Baseball Ross is such a dedicated blogger, he had his camera up against the gates to get a few shots.
So I stayed at the Carpenter Complex to get a few shots of my own:
It was a great day for baseball and the Phillies young guns made it even better with a win.
Baseball Ross and I were impressed with the play of Dylan Cozens, Roman Quinn and Jorge Alfaro. We put together a video of pictures and clips along with our thoughts on the game. You can watch the video HERE.
Yesterday, Spring Training was shortened by an afternoon golf outing that the Phillies were holding. Today, it has been raining off and on all day. So what to do? A preview of tomorrow’s game against the University of Tampa!
Baseball Ross and I put together a video of photos and commentary on the line up for tomorrow’s game. Â You can see the video HERE.
It was another day of drills and batting practice. It was also a day of a little bit of levity.
During the pop-up drill, Freddy Galvis came from third base all the way in to the first base line, just in front of the plate…but when he got there, he missed the ball. Not to let him off easy, Luis Garcia who had “pitched” and was backing up Galvis, threw his glove to the ground before throwing his hands in the air and kicking his glove across the grass. He did it with the over-dramatic flair, all the while, he was pretending to be angry. It was hilarious! (There’s photos of this in the vlog for today.)
There’s a ton of pictures including Odubel Hererra, Mickey Moniak, Aaron Brown, Andres Blanco, Nick Pavetta, Alberto Tirado, Elniery Garcia, Cole Stobbe, Jorge Alfaro, Roman Quinn, Ben Lively, Jeremy Hellickson and Dylan Cozens. You can see the video HERE.
It started as a chilly day and warmed up as the players took the field. The first day of full team practice added the position players to the mix as well as some additional minor leaguers.
You can watch our video below to see players such as Mark Lieter, Jr, Aaron Altherr, Michael Mariot, Elniery Garcia, Freddy Galvis, Odubel Hererra, Brock Stassi, Tyler Viza, Caleb Eldridge, Roman Quinn, Miguel Nunez, Rhys Hoskins, Â Alberto Tirado and Jeff Singer. To watch the video, click HERE.
The clouds started rolling in this morning but we were able to get a full day of spring training in before the rain came.
It was an eventful day. We saw the pitchers warming up then went to the stadium to watch batting practice. Then we returned to the Carpenter Complex in time to catch the catchers take BP then do pop-up drills.
Baseball Ross and I put together a rather extensive video of today’s activities, you can watch it HERE.
The best picture of the day is when Logan Moore ran into the fence right in front of me during pop-up practice. You can see it in the video above and of course, I keep shooting when he did. This is what I got:
Below you will find some more stills from the day:
Again this year, I was privileged to be asked by Reading Eagle Sports Writer Mike Drago to be part of the “Rank the Phillies Prospects” survey. He asked us to “rank the top players in the Phillies organization from No. 1 to No. 25, based on their present value to the organization and their major league ceiling/potential. (A weighted ballot will be used, with first-place votes earning 25 points, second place 24 points, etc.)”
This is one of my favorite things to take part in as it’s so cool to be included with so many other reporters and bloggers whose work I enjoy reading.
So I talked through my list with Baseball Ross and we realized that we have seen so many of the prospects as they have progressed, save for a few that were acquired via trades or the draft. Â So here’s “our” list:
1. Jake Thompson
2. Dylan Cozens
3. Rhys Hoskins
4. Jorge Alfaro
5. J P Crawford
6. Roman Quinn
7. Mickey Moniak
8. Franklyn Kilome
9. Elniery Garcia
10. Nick Williams
11. Jose Taveras
12. Scott Kingery
13. Ben Lively
14. Tyler Viza
15. Jose Pujols
16. Cornelius Randolph
17. Jhailyn Ortiz
18. Andrew Pullin
19. Andrew Knapp
20. Jiandido Tromp
21. Alberto Tirado
22. Jimmy Cordero
23. Sixto Sanchez
24. Nick Fanti
25. Adonis Medina
As you can see, I have been able to take pictures of all but two, and I have seen all 25 but sadly the two I missed were on days where I didn’t have my camera with me or the battery was dead by the end of the day during spring training. So Ross and I really put a lot of thought into our list.
The list from Drago as complied by all my fellow reporters and bloggers:
Reading Eagle Phillies minor league prospect ranks
(with position, current club)
1. J.P. Crawford, SS, Lehigh Valley
2. Jorge Alfaro, C, Reading
3. Nick Williams, OF, Lehigh Valley
4. Jake Thompson, P, Philadelphia
5. Mickey Moniak, OF, Gulf Coast
6. Dylan Cozens, OF, Reading
7. Roman Quinn, OF, Reading
8. Cornelius Randolph, OF, Lakewood
9. Franklyn Kilome, P, Lakewood
10. Rhys Hoskins, 1B, Reading
11. Scott Kingery, 2B, Reading
12. Andrew Knapp, C, Lehigh Valley
13. Adonis Medina, P, Williamsport
14. Nick Pivetta, P, Lehigh Valley
15. Jhailyn Ortiz, OF, Gulf Coast
16. Ricardo Pinto, P, Reading
17. Elniery Garcia, P, Clearwater
18. Ben Lively, P, Lehigh Valley
19. Kevin Gowdy, P, Gulf Coast
20. Carlos Tocci, OF, Clearwater
Others receiving multiple votes( in order of vote total):
Mark Appel, P, Lehigh Valley
Sixto Sanchez, P, Gulf Coast
Jimmy Cordeo, P, Reading
Cole Stobbe, SS, Gulf Coast
Jose Pujols, OF, Lakewood
Alberto Tirado, P, Lakewood
Alec Asher, P, Lehigh Valley
Thomas Eshelman, P, Reading
Drew Anderson, P, Clearwater
Andrew Pullin, OF, Reading
Cole Irvin, P, Williamsport
Arquimedes Gamboa, Williamsport
JoJo Romero, P, Williamsport
Malquin Canelo, SS, Clearwater
Tyler Viza, P, Reading
It’s enlightening to see where all they players fall per the weighted vote. Of the list, Ross and I could see almost any of them on the list though may be in a different position (as was evidenced by our differences on our list). I will find it interesting to see how this pans out in the future.
The minor league roster was released today and I have a copy. The copy is at the top of the page. For ease of reading the tiny print, I have transcribed it here (Note Disabled List is at the end):
Today was one of those days where there was so much going on on three of the four fields at the Carpenter Complex that I could have used a twin or even a triplet to help me try to cover all the action. I’m still stuck using my knee scooter, which has actually turned out to be a help, I can zip around faster than I can walk and when I pick a spot to set up, I can sit on the cushioned seat right against the fence without obstructing anyone’s view.
There was a bit of a kerfuffle trying to get into the parking lot so we were delayed a bit, but as I walked up to Roberts Field in the back, I was pleased to see Cody Asche back at the plate. I was even more pleased to see him smack the ball so hard that it landed at the base of the hill to US 19! It was definitely one of the longest hits I’ve ever seen on that field. You can see pictures of the hit HERE.
Mitch Walding also had a great day, with two home runs, one that I have a picture of and one that Baseball Ross has on video. You can see it HERE.
Dylan Cozens also hit two home runs, I managed to get a picture of one of them.
Here’s some pictures from the rest of the day, my only regret is that I got to Schmidt field in time to see David Buchanan’s last pitch and didn’t have time to get my camera up to get a shot.
The most unique thing I saw today was a true submariner, Ben Rowen of the Jays. I think he has the lowest release point of any submariner I’ve ever seen.
It was a great day for baseball and I can’t wait to do it again tomorrow.