Philadelphia Phillies: Spring Training Grades for Every Top Prospect

In a bit of a spring training twist, the Philadelphia Phillies‘ minor league system has become a major story.

No, their low organizational ranking isn’t the talking point this time.

Instead, their Triple-A affiliate, the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, have introduced an interesting concept to sell tickets.

Meanwhile down in Florida, some of those IronPigs, future IronPigs and one day Phillies are about to complete a full spring training regimen in full sight of Ruben Amaro and Charlie Manuel.

Here are spring training grades for the top Philly prospects.

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Full Update of Surprises, Busts and Injuries at Phillies Camp

Spring training is all but history with less than a week remaining, but nary a fan will mourn its passing as Opening Day and a brand new season of Major League Baseball is right around the bend. 

For the Philadelphia Phillies, Opening Day could not come sooner. After enjoying a modest run atop the National League East, the rival Washington Nationals and Atlanta Braves made sure that the Phillies would not see the postseason for the first time since 2006. 

“Redemption” is a word that I would use to describe the atmosphere surrounding this club heading into the regular season. With a roster full of veteran players, it’s World Series or bust once again for the squad from Philadelphia, and the fans wouldn’t have it any other way. 

But before we get too far ahead of ourselves, it’s time once again to take stock of the Phillies as spring training rounds to a close. Who is in good shape with Opening Day on the horizon and who has drawn concern? Are there any injuries? 

Here is the list of Phillies surprises, busts and injuries with less than a week of spring training to go. 

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Grading Every Phillie’s Spring Training

Phillies baseball is wrapping up in Clearwater, and while there is still one very significant starting pitching assignment to come (per the Delaware County Daily Times), final grades for everyone else can be issued.

As with every classroom setting, within the Phillies we find teacher’s pets and class clowns, valedictorians and delinquents.

All statistics, per philadelphia.phillies.mlb.com, through games played March 24, 2013.

Domonic Brown: It is too bad A+ is the highest grade possible. If these grades were given on a 1-100 scale, Brown’s spring training performance would merit him a 110. He led the team in hits and runs scored, hit .368 and tied with Ryan Howard for the team lead in home runs. That’ll do. A+.

Ryan Howard: If not for Brown’s spring, the main story in Phillies’ camp would be Howard’s resurgence at training camp. Howard hit .329 with seven home runs and 16 runs batted in. He will not hit .329 this year, but the power numbers suggest that reports of the Big Piece’s demise are premature. A+.

Ben Revere: Everyone loves the long ball, and that is not Revere’s specialty. But he hit .324 with six stolen bases, and his defense has been as excellent as advertised. Shane who? A.

Chase Utley: Following a slow start, Utley’s movement and bat speed have improved as camp wore on. He hit .291 with four home runs and drove in 14. Even 130 games at that clip would put Utley back in the discussion of the elite second basemen in the National League. Here’s hoping. A-.

Jimmy Rollins: It is tempting to give JRoll an incomplete since he spent most of camp with Team USA at the World Baseball Classic. But Rollins hit .321 for the national team and .286 for the Phillies. He looks like a very good shortstop again. A-.

Erik Kratz: Even if Carlos Ruiz was eligible to come north before the end of April, Kratz was going to make the team. Kratz‘s .273 average in 12 games is not a headline-grabbing statistic, though it does ease fears that the eighth spot in the lineup could be a black hole until Ruiz returns. B.

Michael Young: The new third baseman does not have to do much to be an improvement over last season’s Placido Polanco/Ty Wigginton/Kevin Frandsen platoon. Young’s one home run, .273 average and .683 OPS over 22 games suggests that better than those other three is all he’ll be. B-.

Kevin Frandsen: Speaking of Frandsen, he will stick because of his defense, and because he hits from the right side. His .269 spring training average was right there with his career .267 in the major leagues. Frandsen‘s relief on seeing Yuniesky Betancourt’s release was likely palpable. B-.

Ender Inciarte: From Rule 5 pickup to overachieving Grapefruit Leaguer, Inciarte appears to have an inside track on making the team. He can thank Darin Ruf and Ruf‘s inability to catch a fly ball for that. C.

Freddy Galvis: Like Inciarte, Galvis came to camp and earned a job. Galvis still strikes out far too much for an infielder that should be a contact hitter, but his infield defense could be invaluable in late-inning situations where Charlie Manuel is concerned about the range of Young or Utley. C.

Carlos Ruiz: Everyone seems to love Carlos Ruiz. It’s easy to cheer him in spring training when he’s hitting .227. We’ll see how much they love him when he’s hitting .240 in July. Nothing Ruiz did in Clearwater did anything to dispel doubts that last season’s breakout campaign was anything but (perhaps) Adderall-aided. C-.

Laynce Nix and John Mayberry, Jr.: These two are graded together because throughout spring training they were mentioned in the same breath all the time, i.e., “there is a competition for outfield jobs and Laynce Nix and John Mayberry, Jr. are in it.” Either one of them could have nailed down a starting job with a good spring, but at press time it is hard to say which one of them wanted it less with Nix hitting .212 and Mayberry, Jr. hitting .206. What a mess. D-.

Darin Ruf: Every Phillies fan hoped Ruf would go to Clearwater, play left field adequately, hit very well and grab the left field job. Ruf did exactly the opposite: He couldn’t catch the ball, he hit .246 and he got optioned to Triple-A. Sigh. F.

Cole Hamels: Your new consensus staff ace and Opening Day starter posted 16 innings with a 1.13 earned run average and a WHIP of 0.81. Hamels is right where he needs to be. A+.

Cliff Lee: It is unwise to read too much into spring training statistics where a pitcher like Lee is concerned. Opponents are not going to hit .324 against him in the regular season, and he is still posting better than a strikeout per inning. The 5.94 ERA is alarming, but Lee has earned the right to call it an anomaly. B.

Kyle Kendrick: Conversely, when Kendrick’s spring ERA is over five, that is disconcerting. But the opponents’ batting average of .259 suggests a bit of bad luck, and he only walked two batters in 14 innings. B-.

John Lannan: The probable fifth starter was clipping along quietly and effectively until posting this line against the Toronto Blue Jays: 4 innings pitched, 14 hits and 12 runs (all earned). Mercy. C.

Roy Halladay: Thousands and thousands of words have been written about Halladay’s spring (both links per ESPN.com). Many of them were mine, so if you have read any of those columns this grade is going to come as no surprise. D-.

Jonathan Papelbon: Honestly, it never appeared like Papelbon was particularly paying attention this spring. He has (sort of) earned that right. Still, an ERA over 11? He had better wake up when the show comes back to Philadelphia. D.

Mike Adams: As it was with Revere, Adams performed in spring training consistent with or even above expectations. Adams gave up one lonely earned run in six innings, and opponents only hit .182 against him. Very promising stuff. A-.

Aaron Cook: Like Lannan, Cook has been around awhile. Like Lannan, Cook is in competition for the fifth starter position. Unlike Lannan, Cook’s performance has been consistently solid (3.38 ERA, 1.23 WHIP.) Cook will either beat Lannan for the contested rotation slot or step in for Halladay if (when?) he is pulled from the rotation due to injury or the inability to get anyone out. B.

Antonio Bastardo, Chad Durbin, Jeremy Horst, Raul Valdes: Meh. C as in “collective,” or “could be worse.”

Read more Philadelphia Phillies news on BleacherReport.com

7 Predictions for Domonic Brown’s 2013 Phillies Season

After he performed drastically below his level of potential and expectations in the first few, brief stints of his major league career, there was a general feeling that the Philadelphia Phillies had nearly given up on Domonic Brown. 

At one point during the offseason, it was reported that the Phillies and Chicago Cubs had discussed a swap of Brown and former All-Star Alfonso Soriano, which perhaps serves as the best illustration of how far the former may have fallen. 

In spring training, however, Brown has put the brakes on that fall. He has been one of the Phillies’ best and most consistent performers in camp, winning a job as an everyday corner outfielder and helping to restore the faith that may have been lost over the last few months. 

Now the challenge is deciphering what Brown’s torrid spring means for his future in the regular season. The Phillies are counting on him to take the next step and produce offensively, but can he? 

Here are a few predictions for Brown moving into the 2013 campaign. 

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Phillies Spring Training: News and Notes Live from Clearwater

The Phillies headed into the home stretch of spring training Sunday with a tough 7-6 loss to the Boston Red Sox in Clearwater, Fla.  While the result wasn’t what fans would have wanted, the Fightin’s showed some grit in coming back from a 6-0 deficit to tie the game in the eighth before giving up the winning run in the ninth.

How did the Phillies’ key players fare Sunday?  Here is a firsthand account of how the game shaped up at Bright House Field, and how some players with a lot on the line fared.

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Final Predictions for Who Will Make Philadelphia Phillies Roster

The Philadelphia Phillies are just one week away from handing the ball to Cole Hamels and beginning the 2013 season against the Atlanta Braves.

In the meantime, the Phillies have already put an end to most of the uncertainty surrounding the Opening Day roster.

By sending outfielder Darin Ruf to Triple-A to start the season, as Jim Salisbury wrote on CSNPhilly.com, the team currently has five healthy outfielders left in camp.  By releasing Yuniesky Betancourt, as Jim Salisbury on CSNPhilly.com also reported yesterday, the Phillies have essentially determined what their bench will look like with backup catcher as a possible exception.

That leaves the bullpen as the only unsettled area heading into the final week of spring training.

Of course, just as Betancourt is now a roster cut of the Phillies, a number of other players will also soon be cut by teams and will become options for the Phils should they have interest.

Until then, here are final predictions for who will make the Phillies’ roster, with names to watch at each position included.

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Expectations for the Philadelphia Phillies Coming out of Spring Training

After a disappointing campaign in 2012 riddled with injury, a beleaguered bullpen and a win-less Cliff Lee until July, the Philadelphia Phillies come into the 2013 season focused and, most importantly, healthy.

Spring training is a chance to get back in the groove of things, iron out the kinks and both mentally and physically prepare for the upcoming grueling season. Some players certainly went above and beyond that calling this spring, turning heads and opening eyes league-wide. Let’s just hope they save some magic for the regular season. Manager Charlie Manuel would certainly agree.

This slideshow highlights some major expectations out of this Phillies team coming out of spring training. 

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Domonic Brown: A Firsthand Look at the Turnaround from Clearwater

Domonic Brown has been tantalizing Phillies fans for several years now.  No one ever denied that he had talent in spades.  He could hit; he had power; and boy, could he run.

But the years would go on, and Brown’s huge potential just wasn’t being realized.  He was called up in 2010 after Shane Victorino was placed on the disabled list, and remained with the team afterwards as a left-handed batter on the bench.

Ruben Amaro admitted several years later that his staying on the bench that season stunted his development.  The next year Brown was favored to win the starting slot vacated by the departing Jayson Werth, but broke his hand in spring training and started the year on the disabled list.  When he came back, he wasn’t able to impress, compelling Amaro to deal a few prospects and start the brief but much-loved Hunter Pence era.

After Pence was traded in last season’s house cleaning, Brown was called up and, with the team not expecting to contend, given a fairly regular place in the lineup.  He didn’t put up numbers, but something about the way he played had caught my eye.  He just seemed to look more like a major leaguer than he had in the previous two seasons.

Still, this spring was going to be huge for Brown.  With the corner outfield spots wide open and presumptive starter Delmon Young out for at least the first two weeks of the season, 2013 seemed to be the last chance for Dom Brown to show the Phillies that he was the player topping so many lists of prospects three years ago.

The results have been delighting fans who once despaired.  Brown is hitting .389 through Saturday’s 13-4 victory against Baltimore at Sarasota, along with seven homers—tied for the MLB spring lead—and 16 RBI.  The transformation in his look that started last year has been completed, and now it just looks like he belongs.

Some Phillies fans are, understandably, a bit skeptical.  Brown has had great springs before and then failed to carry it over into the regular season.  But this year, I think things will be different.

My reasons for this belief are based on two things that I’ve seen about his mechanics that are markedly different than in years past.  First off, his hands are lower and closer to his body this year. This fixes one of the long-time flaws in his hitting: The length of his swing.

Brown’s swing in seasons past has been extraordinarily long, which gave him little margin for error when he committed to a pitch.  He had little ability to adjust mid-swing, leaving him flailing at breaking pitches, while the swing’s length also saw him unable to catch up to good fastballs.

In attendance at Saturday’s game at Orioles camp, I noticed just how different Brown’s swing was this year in the third inning.  With runners on the corners and two outs, Brown was facing Wei-Yin Chen.  Chen threw Brown a good breaking ball, and as Brown loaded up it looked like he was going to be way out in front of the pitch and miss it completely.  Instead, he adjusted mid-swing and shot a grounder up the middle, bringing Jimmy Rollins in to score.

His second big contribution Saturday showed the other big change in his mechanics.  This is partially a product of his hands not having to move as much, but Brown’s lower body is now far more anchored when he is batting.  Gone is the sway and movement that accompanied Brown’s swing in previous years.  This has helped with getting his bat through the hitting zone quicker and has given him a more stable base with which to drive the ball.

And drive the ball he did in the fourth.  With Ryan Howard and Michael Young on base, Brown took a pitch from reliever Jim Johnson deep into left-center field.  There was absolutely no doubt that he had hit his seventh homer of the spring.

I think that Dom Brown has finally taken the steps necessary to break out.  Milt Thompson and Greg Gross have for the last three seasons tried to get the mechanical adjustments Brown needed to become the player he could be to take, but neither were able to do so.  Steve Henderson and Wally Joyner seem to have finally gotten him to take those tweaks to heart, and he looks primed for a breakout year right at the time that the Phillies, strapped for youth and offense, need him to.  There is obviously a season to play, but it looks like 2013 will finally be Brown’s year to shine.

Read more Philadelphia Phillies news on BleacherReport.com

Fate Pulls Roy Halladay, Phillies and Blue Jays into Spotlight Together Again

Roy Halladay‘s 2013 spring training performance has been just shy of disastrous.

Halladay was knocked around again in his most recent trip to the mound, a four-inning, 81-pitch, seven-hit slog against a lineup comprised of Triple-A hitters, per Jayson Stark of ESPN.com.

How bad was it? He retired only seven of 18 batters. One of the innings was halted by Philadelphia Phillies pitching coach Rich Dubee with the bases loaded and two out—presumably because the Phillies did not want Halladay rearing back to get out of the exhibition jam only to hurt himself for real.

Take a minute and think about how desolate things have become for Halladay when his corner man has to temporarily stop the fight against a Triple-A lineup.

This was hardly the step forward Halladay or the Phillies were hoping for, following consecutive appearances that saw Halladay touched up by the Detroit Tigers and then removed after one inning against the Baltimore Orioles because of a stomach virus.

Spring training statistics are meaningless, but spring training radar-gun readings? They do not lie.

Halladay himself conceded Saturday, for the first time meaningfully and honestly, that he will have to pitch for the foreseeable future (perhaps until he is done) with a diminished arsenal.

Halladay’s candor is admirable, though there probably was no point in denying the obvious.

Per Todd Zolecki of MLB.com, Halladay rarely touched 90 mph with any of his pitches. Perhaps the most disconcerting part of that reality is that Halladay said after the game that he feels great.

“My goal today going in was to feel good, be strong all the way through, to feel like my arm slot was repeating, and I felt like that was there,” Halladay said.

The Phillies would probably rather have heard that Halladay was “still building arm strength” or even that he “is still not 100 percent back.” At least that would have given some hope that the Cy Young version of Halladay is in there somewhere.

But if Halladay feels great and cannot hit 90 on the gun with his fastball, what next?

Stark’s blog piece (even more cautionary than the overview story he filed) included some four-alarm-bell quotes from Halladay.

“I don’t know of any guys throwing harder as they got older,” Halladay said. “A lot of the guys I’ve played with, I’ve watched…I’ve watched (other older pitchers) evolve and do different things. I’ve never seen a guy that threw harder as he got older.”

So Halladay is going to become Greg Maddux now?

The curious part of Saturday’s debacle and Thursday’s upcoming “final tuneup” for Halladay before he faces the Atlanta Braves in a game that counts is the opponent.

The Triple-A outfit that handed Halladay his head Saturday belonged to the Toronto Blue Jays.

Halladay will face the Blue Jays’ major leaguers (some of them, anyway) Thursday.

Baseball is a funny game. Half a generation ago, Halladay was throwing seeds and BBs for the Blue Jays, winning a Cy Young Award with them in 12 years but never sniffing postseason play.

Halladay accepted a trade to the Phillies for the 2010 season and signed a contract extension with them because he figured it was an E-ZPass lane to the playoffs.

“It was an easy decision for me. Once the opportunity came up for me to be part of this, it was something I couldn’t pass up,” Halladay said at the time (per ESPN.com).

Look at the picture three scant years later.

The Phillies are coming off an 81-81 season and are solid favorites in the National League East…for third place.

Halladay is struggling mightily.

Conversely, the Blue Jays are favored to win the American League East and maybe even the World Series (per Bovada).

And in a few days, in an otherwise mundane preseason game, the Blue Jays have a chance to put another blemish on Halladay’s hope of finding what he has lost.

When Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos traded Halladay, he might have been thinking that by the time his team would be ready to contend, Halladay would probably not be “that pitcher” anymore.

Quickly, the Phillies and the Blue Jays are finding out how prescient the move turned out to be.

Read more Philadelphia Phillies news on BleacherReport.com

Phillies Spring Training: An Eye-Witness Take from Clearwater

A lot of questions confronted the Philadelphia Phillies as they headed into spring training.  Would their aging stars bounce back from long stints on the disabled list and regain their effectiveness?  Would those who had avoided the DL be able to avoid Father Time for one more year?  Would youngsters come up and fill voids left by core players departing?

With Opening Day less than two weeks away, the answers to those questions are going to finally start being answered.  Some are already sharpening into focus.

This weekend, my girlfriend and I have jetted down from the New York Metro area to Clearwater, Florida, to soak in some spring matchups.  Here are some eyewitness takes on some of the team’s biggest issues after Friday’s win against the Braves, from the health of men like Ryan Howard and Chase Utley to general news and notes.

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