Just a couple of weeks left for us to peruse the minor league box scores. We'll get bonus baseball from the Lakewood BlueClaws -- who made the playoffs via winning the SAL Northern division in the season's first half -- and possibly the Reading Phillies, who are currently 1 game up on the Bowie Baysox in the race for the Eastern League's Southern division second playoff berth.
Until then, let's just enjoy the box scores while we've got 'em, right? This week, check below the jump for info on Antonio Bastardo, Anthony Gose, and the possible "saving grace" of the Bobby Abreu salary dump.
Domonic Brown, OF-L, Reading: Just a 5-for-26 week for Brown, but he did swipe 2 bags to give him 7 without being caught in Reading. That's encouraging, especially after a medicore 15:8 SB:CS ratio in Clearwater this year. Brown has piled up the strikeouts recently -- 7 this past week to give him 24 in 109 Double-A at bats -- so that's a (small) area of concern heading forward.
Michael Taylor, OF-R, Lehigh Valley: On the DL with an oblique injury.
Kyle Drabek, RHP, Reading: Drabek didn't exactly go out on top with his last start of the season on Tuesday: 6.0 IP, 10 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 7 K. The fact that it was his last start, though, is good news -- 158 innings the season after Tommy John surgery is a pretty substantial workload. It remains to be seen if we'll see a hangover effect next year, but whatever the case, 2009 was a rousing success for the organization's 2006 first round pick.
Antonio Bastardo, LHP, GCL Phillies: With J.C. Romero's return in question, Bastardo could prove a key figure for the big club down the stretch. Currently rehabbing in the GCL, the diminutive southpaw surrendered 1 unearned run on 2 hits and 1 walk, striking out 3 in 3.1 innings across two appearances. This is a guy who has held left-handed hitters to a .163 average in his minor league career -- I think he could slot in nicely as the pen's second lefty.
Freddy Galvis, SS-S, Reading: I spend last week talking about how Galvis can't hit his way out of a wet paper bag, and the organization goes and promotes him to Double-A. He responded with a homer in his third game, and posted a .250/.250/.375 line over his first 24 plate appearances. His glove will certainly help the R-Phils' playoff push, but it remains to be seen how being overwhelmed by Double-A pitchers (which is inevitably going to happen) will affect his development as a hitter.
Anthony Gose, OF-L, Lakewood: A 10-for-33 week gave Gose the opportunity to run, and he responded with 5 steals (he was caught once) to take his tally to 74 thefts (with 19 CS) on the year. His second half at the plate (.275/.355/.356 with 9.0% BB and 18.9% K) is cause for excitement -- he has game-changing speed and the athletic tools to be a Gold Glove caliber center fielder, so if the bat continues to develop, watch out.
Justin de Fratus, RHP, Lakewood: De Fratus began the year in Lakewood's bullpen, but was eventually promoted to the rotation after some excellent work. Wednesday's start was his best of the year: 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 10 K, 8 ground outs to 3 fly outs. He's stingy with the free pass (just 1.3 BB/9), keeps the ball down in the zone (55.1% GB), and still notches his share of strikeouts (8.4 K/9). Still just 21, de Fratus continues to improve, and with a 2.39 FIP in 108.1 innings this year, he's looking like one of the organization's better pitching prospects.
Jonathan Pettibone, RHP, Williamsport: Speaking of big, young right-handers who induce worm burners... the Phils' third round supplemental pick from the 2008 draft returned to action on Saturday after a month-long DL stint, pitching 1 inning in relief and surrendering 2 hits and 1 earned run. Just 19, Pettibone's had a promising 33 innings debut: 9.3 K/9, 3.8 BB/9, 50.5% grounders, and an FIP (2.50) that belies his mediocre-looking ERA (4.91). He's a long way away, obviously, but the early returns look good.
Travis Mattair, 3B-R, Lakewood: Despite repeating Lakewood, 20-year old "Moose" Mattair hasn't demonstrated the hitting ability that got him selected in the 2nd round of the 2007 draft. A .241/.334/.337 line, with 11.2% BB and 29.3% K, has him sliding down prospect charts, but the struggles are puzzling in a lot of ways: Mattair is a big, athletic kid who for some reason hasn't been able to unlock any of his raw power (just a .098 ISO this year). Much like Galvis, his glove might already be good enough to play in the majors, but the bat needs to come along if he's ever going to make it there.
Jesus Sanchez, RHP, Lakewood: After utterly failing as a catcher -- a .220/.295/.274 line across 3 seasons will do that to you -- Sanchez re-emerged as a pitcher this year. Tuesday's start -- 7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K -- was just the latest in a long line of effective outings for the 5'11" 21-year old, as his season totals are pretty impressive at this point: 127.0 IP, 38 BB, 114 K, 2.74 FIP. I'm still waiting to hear a report on the kind of stuff he has, but those are pretty good debut numbers from a guy who's pitching for the first time. Who knows -- we might yet get something useful from the Abreu deal!