This Week in Phillies Prospects Apr 9 - Apr 15

There were some really weird lines this week. I'm not going to go through every line in granular detail. If you're interested, here's a link to the weekly report from where I usually go to get it.

So let's start off with who had rather good weeks:

Aaron Altherr - Apparently no one told Mr. Altherr that the FSL is supposed to be a tough league for Offense. This week he went 12 for 27 with 5 Ks and 4 BBs with his first Homer of the season. Altherr is the kind of player scouts love. He passes the eyeball test (tall, well built, runs well), it would be wonderful to see him put something together early this year and start making some noise in Prospect circles. The exciting thing about Altherr is that his BB rate has improved every step up the ladder and other than an early Lakewood hiccup late in 2011 his K rate has remained pretty reasonable. I really think Altherr could be a breakout guy. That said, his current .444 BABiP is pretty damned unsustainable, so expect some fall back to earth. Still, this is an absolutley excellent start even forgetting the BABiP, he has 3 steals with no CS. A nearly .200 ISO. His Walk rate is close to 10%. Keep it up in these areas and even once his luck normalizes he could still be a pretty hot commodity in a few months.

Maikel Franco - The Third Baseman of the future is kinda killin' it in Clearwater. And unlike Altherr, I can't point to BABiP, as he may be slightly lucky, but he's mostly just destroying baseballs. This week Franco blasted 2 Homers, went 11 for 32, with 2 walks and 2 K's plus a slightly absurd 6 doubles in 7 games. If you've got your calculator or abacus or fingers out, you may now realize that's 8 of his 11 hits that went for Extra bases.

Adam Morgan - You're likely to see Morgan in Citizen's Bank Park sometime this year. He's making a great early case that he's ready now. He went 8 strong Innings with 3 hits, one walk and 4 K's (9:2 K:BB rate on the year). That's his second very strong start of the young season. It would be nice to see him induce a few more grounders and get a few more K's, but I'm nitpicking, this is an excellent start.

Seth Rosin - I thought his schtick was getting a little old by Knocked Up, but I really love 50/50 and Pineapple Express, so... Whoops, wrong guy. This Seth came over from the Giants for some Pence guy and he's kicking ass and not bothering to take names so far this year (in all fairness, that's pure speculation on my part. Seth might be very interested in the names and backstories of his opponents). This week he went 6 innings with 3 hits, 1 walk, 5 k's and no ER. Worth keeping an eye on.

Mauricio Robles - I don't expect much from Robles, but hell of a line this week in relief. Five innings, one hit, no walks, 8 K's. Pretty solid work, to say the least.

Who had a bad week? Way more guys, that's who:

Cody Asche - It took Asche a while to Adjust to Double-A, so no reason to panic or get down on the kid. He had a pretty bad week though with only 2 singles and a walk to go along with 4 K's.

Leandro Castro - Literally the only good thing I can say about his week is he hit a double. That was literally the only thing he did this week. No other hits, no walks, around a 30% K rate. Time to start fresh this week.

Tyson Gillies - Well it wasn't all bad for Gillies. He took a few walks, hit a triple (only hit of the week, but at least it was extra bases), stole a base.

Anthony Hewitt - Good week, bad week. Hewitt keeps up his long standing trend of showing the flashes that excite prospect watchers, then follws up with a stinker, racking up 7 K's (damn near 50% K rate) and only one walk with a great 4 SB, with a disappointing 2 CS. The jump to Double-A is tough, and all-in-all Hewitt is handling it as well as one could expect so far. I'm really pulling for him to put things together. Perhaps the best note, no errors. I have hopes this means he finally has learned to control his cannon and not launch throws wildly. Perhaps stubbornly I'm not giving up hope yet.

Chace Numata - And there's that wicked BABiP correction I mentioned last week.

Cameron Rupp - Bad week for Catchers apparently. Rupp with the dizzying .167/.167/.167 line on the week.

Carlos Tocci - I swear I didn't mean to jinx the kid last week when I mentioned his strong start. Still it's only a week and he did take a walk and a HBP, so it wasn't all bad news.

Mitch Walding - That's a pretty rough week going down with 9 K's, no walks, hitting into two double plays.

Yoel Mecias - Four k's, 3 Walks, 8 hits, 6 Earned Runs in three Innings. That line's not very good, but at least it isn't...

Austin Wright - ONE inning, zero hits, 1 K, 5 walks, 1 hit by pitch, 4 Earned Runs, 8 batters faced. I've been trying to figure that one out. The K wouldn't have driven in any runs. 5 BBs and an HBP would automatically drive in 2. I suppose if the other 2 outs are deep fly outs that might be able to drive in 2 runs, provided the one K is out number 3. Of course, I didn't take the time to look at the box score, so I suppose errors or PBs could also play in.

The rest of the interesting:

Cesar Hernandez - Cesar cooled off some from his scorching start, but it's all relative, he still had a good week, though he's still looking for his Third walk of the year after finishing his first week with 2 walks and only 1 K.

Tommy Joseph - Joseph managed to go 0 for 3 with 3 K's to start the week, but finished stronger with a 2 run double to end the week (this doesn't include last night's 3 run jack, that will be in week 3 of the season's wrap up).

Ethan Martin - Perhaps I should have listed Martin under the Hot category, as other than 3 hard hit balls that went for 2 doubles and a triple he pitched damned well this week racking up 8 K's to only 2 BB's. A big improvement from his first outing this season where he made more people walk than a faith healer.

Sebastian Valle - Not his greatest week. He did hit his second Homer of the year, but he also racked up quite a few K's. Last night Valle played in Left Field, and while that's not the week I'm discussing here that is notable and perhaps a little odd. Does it increase his trade value? Make him a poor man's Ryan Doumit who can play in the field when not eating sunflower seeds on the bench as a backup? He's solid enough defensively and has really good pop to stick as a backup, so getting some positional flexibility might be kind of nice.

Jesse Biddle - Not a great week for Biddle who got no K's, gave up 2 walks and 4 hits and managed to have the bad luck that that resulted in 5 runs (4 earned).

Percy Garner - Killed it in week 1, week 2 was a little more down to earth with 6 innings, 5 K's, 1 HBP, 1 BB, he got rocked for 4 doubles, and gave up 2 earned runs. Still, there's a good bit of hope there. He may still be a bullpen guy down the road, but the control was still okayish in week 2.

Hoby Milner - Crappy luck for Milner last week. In 2 appearances he had 9 K's and 2 walks. Sadly he also gave up 3 homers, 4 doubles and 12 runs in a little over 5 innings of work. It's mostly bad luck as his BABiP is well over .500. I kind of feel bad for him.

Brian Pointer - Pointer is doing two of things I really wanted to see. Stealing bases with good success (5 swipes with no CS) and taking Walks (8.8% rate, which is actually below normal for him, but still not bad, though he is getting hit with so many pitches I'm wondering if he's actually standing on the damned plate). Sadly what he's not doing is hitting very much (though when he is, he has some pop with a .152 ISO). The walk rate is nice, but if you can't hit often enough Pitchers have less reason to pitch out of the zone. Lots of promise here if he puts it together.

Roman "Candle" Quinn - Sadly due to changing family obligations this weekend I was unable to make it out to see Quinn. That's a shame, as the game I planned on going to may have been his best of the year with 3 steals, a walk and a base hit. Overall, Quinn cooled off some this week, but he did have that awesome inside-the-park Home run, he didn't commit any errors and he continued to be a bit of a terror on the basepaths.