This Week in Phillies Prospects - 4/16 - 4/22

So, obviously I won't touch on Biddle here as his start last night gotit's own post, but I will mention that it wasn't his only start of the week. His line for week looks a little insane: 13 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 24 K, 6 BB, 0.69 ERA, .600 OBP, 1.000 SLG, 2 doubles, 1 run.

So, who was hot this week (Biddle was clearly meteor entering the atmosphere hot)? Also, remember I'll only touch on prospects and guys who may get called up for injury (your Mitchells and Fields).

Tyson Gillies - Regression. A full on shit ton of regression. Batting Average? Check. Walks? Oh, hell yeah, check. Power? First Home Run of the year. The season numbers are still no great shakes, but his BABiP is now over .100. It was a very good week for Gillies, and I expect more to come as his BABiP is still insanely low for a guy with his speed.

Jermaine Mitchell - Mitchell isn't a prospect, but as we saw this Spring he could probably do something similar to what Mayberry does, if needed. He had a mighty good week with a walk, some power and a pair of Stolen Bases.

Cody Overbeck - Cody is another non-prospect, but a guy who could see MLB time in the event of injuries (probably lots of them, to be honest). He had a typical week racking up a bunch of K's a few Homers, a double and a couple of walks. Weirdly he also got Caught Stealing, which mostly just begs the question why the hell was he running in the first place? Botched hit & run maybe or perhaps he saw the catcher lose the handle and thought he could make it.

Cody Asche - Asche had a really good week pair 2 walks with 4 K's. He got 2 doubles and a stolen base to boot. His season line now stands at a very respectable .279/.353/.393. There still isn't a lot of power, but Asche does enough things well enough that he could have a nice MLB career. If any power develops? Huge plus for the guy.

Aaron Altherr - I'm getting pretty amped about Altherr. He's moved to Center now (as Kelly Dugan takes over in Right for Clearwater), which is likely a better spot for him long term. He went 8 of 26 this week with 4 Walks, 4 Doubles, 6 K's and a Stolen base. Yeah, 6 K's is a little higher than you'd like, but on the season his K rate is in line with his norm, while his walk rate is trending up.

Edgar Duran - Other than 2 CS, it was a really good week for the glove first SS prospect. His BABiP is unsustainable, but who cares? Enjoy it. .321/.351/.472 is a mighty good line for a slick fielding middle infielder. Even if his BABiP come back to earth, Duran is probably still worth keeping an eye on as a future utility guy, or perhaps a fringe regular.

A bit of the in between:

Chace Numata - Solid week for Numata. He needs to take more walks, but he went 4 for 14 at the plate with a pair of doubles. There's no mistaking though, the Phillies have plenty of Catcher Prospects, so Numata needs to keep it up if he hopes to stick around next year and not be forced out by the Rupp's, Ludy's, Lino's, etc.

Cameron Perkins - One Homer, 3 doubles, 1 K, 1 Walk. Solid week as Perk went 10 of 27 at the plate. I don't know where the hell Perkins will play in the future. In 2 seasons, he's been at 3rd, 1st, Left Field, Right Field. One thing I do know is they are all corner spots, so Perkins will need to mash or he'll be another Steven Susdorf who gets stuck at Triple-A. A .183 ISO is a big improvement over last year, but his walk rate needs to double, along with continued power development. There's potential here, but he's kinda fringy for now.

Christopher Serritella - Just copy and paste everything I said about Perkins here. Still, a nice week, though far too many K's and only a double beyond several singles and 2 walks (his first 2 of the season).

Mitch Walding - The drawback with Walding this year has been that he has shown no power at all. I'd love to say that changed this week, but it didn't. He's a bit of a singles machine, which as Ben Revere can attest is a tough way to go sometimes, as you're more prone to BABiP swings. The good sign, Walding can take walks and doesn't K a whole lot, so if he can develop some power, maybe he can stick at 3rd.

Adam Morgan - The Captain went 5 Innings for Lehigh Valley, giving up 2 hits and 3 walks to go with 4 K's. His prior ttwo starts were very strong, so hopefully this was just the occasional rougher starrt everyone has from time to time.

Yoel Mecias - Mecias has had terrible luck so far this season with a sky high BABiP against, an ERA more than twice his FIP, all in spite of a great improvement in GB% so far and an uptick in K/9. Of course he's also doubled his BB/9 so he's not totally without fault in his struggles. He pitched 3 innings this week with 1 K, 1 BB and 1 H.

Maikel Franco - A solid, but unspectacular week for Franco. He went 9 for 29 with 3 walks and 6 K's. He also had 2 doubles. He seems to be handling Clearwater pretty well out of the gate with a .293/.354/.493 line with a .200 ISO. It's possible the Phils could be aggressive and promote Franco to Reading mid-season, as there's no one blocking him there in any way, shape or form.

Roman "Candle" Quinn - Quinn avoided the cold list on the strength of 3 steals, a pair of walks and a Homer. Make no mistake though, Quinn is scuffling a bit early this season with a near 30% K rate and a rough Batting Average that isn't deflated by any BABiP problems. His problem is entirely K rate related. If he can adjusted and cut that rate in half, he'll be fine. In the field he's been quite pristine, since a really awful first week, so there's that.

Kenny Giles - The results were no great shakes, but 3 K, 0 BB, 2 H in 1.2 innings is about as good as you can hope for a guy whose biggest question mark is control. A quick trip up the ladder is still possible and if his control holds up Giles could be a top shelf reliever.

Who had really bad weeks?

Larry "Fudgie" Greene - Just shaking the rust off maybe, but 2 singles and 2 CS (Seriously, what the hell are some of these guys running for?) is probably not what he was hoping for. Still, he's got 3 walks and it's only about a dozen at bats, so nothing to get worked up over.

Tommy Joseph - One for 14 with 4 K's and 2 walks. Of course, he did have a Homer, so that's nice. Aside from a rather sexy ISO, his season numbers are quite bad so far, but it's early.

Carlos Tocci - Oh man, I jinxed him bad in week 1. He went all week with just 3 singles and a walk until last night's 2 for 3 with a double night. ...and the albatross falls from his neck... Well, we'll see. I've just been listening too much Iron Maiden to not sneak that in here.

Ethan Martin - The wildman was out in full force over the weekend walking 4, hitting a batter, giving up 5 hits and 7 runs in 4 Innings. Of the 5 hits you had 2 doubles and a Home run, so he was hit hard too. Hopefully Dr. Jeckyl shows up this week and sticks around for a while, as Martin has gone wild, good to wild again.

Percy Garner - Remember when I was really jacked up about Garner's awesome first start? Well, at least the K's are still there. Two games this week he went 11.2 innings with 8 K's 7 BB, 1 HBP, 1 double, 1 triple, 1 HR, 11 total hits, 5 ER. His control seemed much better his first 2 starts, so if he can regain that control, he could move up to Reading. If not, I hate to say he's probably going to the bullpen.

Shane Watson - In 10 innings over 2 starts Shane went 6 K's 5 BB's, 1 HBP, 7 H, 5 ER. No I didn't acciedentally copy stuff over from Percy's line. Just that kind of week, I guess. Similar to Percy it was 1 rather awful game and one mediocre game combining to a rough line. Also, like Percy. Watson was far better his first 2 starts. Everyone has bad weeks.

Sebastian Valle - Valle had a really painfully bad week. Aside from a Walk last Thursday Valle did not get on base all week, going 0 for 9 with 4 K. He did successfully play an error free game in Left Field early last week, but he finished the week with a .000/.100/.000 line, so it's all uphill from here. His season line sits at .150/.209/.350, so the optimistic type might be thrilled about a 7% BB rate and a .200 ISO. Certainly those are nice, and his .174 BABiP is as unsustainable as Duran's .400+ BABiP is. Valle will need to keep his BB rate up, while bringing his K rate back down to career norms. If he does that, you know what? He'd probably look like a better Catching prospect than Joseph, as a 7% walk rate and. .200 ISO would make him a pretty decent Starter.