Weekly Phillies Prospect Roundup - April 30 - May 6

With all of the talk about who gets called up with Doc to the DL, perhaps some performances at the other end of 611 suggest it may not be as bad as it looks. Maybe, just maybe a few guys at the top of this update could help in the coming weeks.

The hot:

Jermaine Mitchell - Came through the week with a .350/.435/.800 line with 1 double, 1 triple, 2 HR, 3 BB, 7 K. Were he to get a call, he can play any Outfield spot, he has some pop, some speed, he's better vs. RHP, but he doesn't have crazy splits, so he'd be useful. To be entirely honest, it's a little weird Mitchell has never gotten a shot in the Majors. His numbers are solid. He strikes out too often, but he draws walks like crazy and seems to be exactly the kind of guy you would expect to make the A's. Weirdly, in almost 800 AB, he K's less in Triple-A than he did at lower levels. I don't think he'd ever be a star, but I do expect he'd likely be a pretty solid #4 Outfielder.

Tyler Cloyd - Well, sure picked a convenient time to heat up, didn't ya? This week: 8 IP, 10 K, 0 BB, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 HR. Season numbers are more middling, but that's a nice time to put that line together, just before Doc's bad Marlins start. Cloyd is unlikely to have many lines like that, but he could be a useful inning eater if needed.

Darin Ruf - Ruf was more warm than hot, perhaps this week, but a .280/.357/.400 line is still pretty solid. Add on 1 HR with 2 BB and 4 K in 28 PA and it's pretty solid. Sure would be nice as a LOOGY eliminator on the bench for a few days.

Chace Numata - Clearly we are moving off the Doc Replacement train here. Numata had a tremendous week at the plate, going .421/.476/.579 with 1 HR, 2 BB and 3 K in 21 PA with a stolen base, to boot.

Hoby Milner - Milner went 6 innings with 3 hits, 8 K, 1 BB and 1 HBP with 0 runs scored. I'm not the biggest Hoby Milner fan, but John Sickels seemed to like him a good bit this past offseason. Milner was mostly unlucky in his first few starts, but he's strung 3 pretty strong starts toether now, so I'm inclined to think, perhaps Sickels was onto something and maybe Milner could make his way fairly quickly to the back of the rotation or middle of the bullpen. Too early to say, but promising, though it would be nice to see him go past the 6th at some point this summer.

Leandro Castro - .300/.391/.500, 1 HR, 1 double, 3BB, 3 K, 2 SB, 0 CS. Castro has quietly put together a solid line this spring, he just almost never walks (his 3 this week more than doubled his season total). His lack of walks means his ceiling is likely 5th Outfielder.

Edgar Duran - Duran bounced back from an amazingly awful week with one of his best so far this season. .389/.421/.389, 2 SB, 0 CS. There's no power there, but for a middle infielder that's less of an issue. I root for Duran largely, I think, because it reminds me of my favorite era of boxing. It's a bad reason and he's unlikely to pan out with almost no walks or power and waaaay too many K's for a guy who doesn't walk or have much power. This Duran is all Jabs.

Maikel Franco - It's only a matter of time until the zeitgeist of talk radio catches hold of the name Maikel Franco and suggests he's the next, next Mike Schmidt. A proud tradition previously bestowed upon such luminaries as Rick Schu, Dave Hollins and Scott Rolen. I'd hate to be a 3rd base prospect for the Phillies, that's a tough shadow to try to get out from under. Franco is certainly not the next Schmidt, as his defense is average and he may have to move across the diamond sometime in his prime as he grows out of the position. That's fine though, he still looks to have a very bright MLB future. This week he sported a .375/.393/.583 line that would be the envy of many minor leaguers. Of course, he did that with a fairly typical 5 K's and 2 BB.

Cameron Perkins - .346/.393/.654, 3 doubles, 1 triple, 1 HR, 1 SB, 0 CS, 1 BB, 4 K. I don't know that Perkins is anything more that a AAAA ceiling guy due to his tendency to K a lot and take few walks, but he provides some damned fun lines to look at.

Yoel Mecias - 8.2 IP, 11 K, 3 BB, 6 H, 2 ER. That's over 2 starts, which is the only down side. Pretty nice week.

Seth Rosin - This is the end of the hot players list, but Rosin was pretty solid. going 13.1 IP, 8 K, 0 BB, with a crazy 3 HR leading to 4 ER. Were it not for the gofers, would have been a damned fine week.

Not so hot:

Larry Greene - Sweet crap, is he swinging at anything? An insane .067/.300/.067 with 9 K and 5 BB in 20 PA, were it not for a lone single I would simply assume Larry was just standing there watching pitches fly past. This is a weird season so far as Fudgie has a 43% K rate and a 22% BB rate. That K rate is a really, really, really, really, really bad sign if it continues past the holiday weekend coming up. For now, I'm fine with just writing it off to a weird small sample size oddity as a guy starts working his way into shape.

Roman "Candle" Quinn - .174/.296/.174, 3 BB, 8 K, 4 SB, 1 CS. Oh, Roman, everyone is rooting for you, and it's a positive that you still have the patience to take walks (though 8 K's really ugly).

Jesse Biddle - What an awful start. Silver lining being there's no way he could get called up after such a shellacking, so all that stupidity can be put at bay for the time being. Biddle went 0.2 innings, faced 7 batters, gave up 4 walks, 1 hit, 0 K with 3 ER and was lifted when he reached the organizationally mandated pitch count limit for an inning.

BJ Rosenberg - YEah, he ain't getting called up anytime soon. 4.0 IP, 5 H, 4 BB, 1 K, 1 HBP, 3 ER

Shane Watson - Almost as rough as Biddle's day. 3.0 IP, 3 H, 6 BB, 2 K, 4 ER.

Tyson Gillies - Well, for one thing Gillies got demoted this week. Also, there still isn't any power there. .154/.267/.154, 2 BB, 3 K. Well the plate discipline is good, perhaps a breakout is coming once his BABiP adjusts and, perhaps, he gets use dot his swing or is allowed to revert back to his old one.

Brody Colvin - 3.0 IP, 3 H, 3 K, 2 HBP, 1 BB, 1 ER

Justin De fratus - 5.0 IP, 5 H, 3k , 2, BB, 2 HBP, 2 ER. Lot's of plunking of batters this week.

Adam Morgan - 4.0 IP, 6, H, 6 K, 2 BB, 1 HBP, 1 HR, 4 ER. Morgan's recent struggles probably mean he's not coming up before the All Star Break. Then again, Pettibone was struggling before he got called up, so what the hell do I know?

Notable players who had your average week.

Aaron Altherr - A .269/.286/.692 line is nothing to scoff at, unless you spent the previous month manhandling the level. 10 K's is way too many and 0 walks way too few, but 3 doubles, 1 triple, 1 SB and 2 HRs? Oh, how can I stay mad at you, AA? I'm going to petition to have April changed to Aaron and May changed to Altherr.. ~cough, cough~ excuse me. Where was I? Oh, yeah, um, need to work on getting the K's down as that could be a significant issue, and where the hell'd the walks go? That had always been a strength, it's just one week though, so hopefuly it's a fluke (exscept the power).

Cody Asche - Kind of a scuffling week and still not much power as Asche had a .190/.250/.333 line this week.

Kelly Dugan - Still waaaay too many K's for Dugan, but it's well hidden by a .273/.333/.273 line.

Cesar Hernandez - A contestant for odd line of the week. Cesar had a .227/.346/.455 triple slash with 1 triple, 1 HR, 7 K and 4 BB. Traditionally, Hernandez has been a low K, Low BB, low power player, so everything is a little out of whack last week. I have to say, he may be hitting his way into some time with the parent club this summer.

Tommy Joseph - Once his playing career is over I'd love to see Joseph start a doo wop group named Tommy Joseph and the Backstops. Now back to reality, Not many PA's for Tommy this week, so the .222/.300/.222 line isn't much to make anything of, though the walk is nice.

Brian Pointer - Another weird line as Pointer goes .133/.350/.133with 4 BB, 6 K and 6 SB with 1 CS. Were it not for the near complete lack of hits, that would be a damned fine line.

Chris Serritella - Would it kill ya to take a walk once in a while? .318/.318/.455. I mean the contact is good and the power is nice, but it's a tough way to make a living if you always need to have the ball go to just the right spot to be productive.

Perci Garner - Well the walks were way down this week (as were the K's). 7 IP, 7 H, 1, BB, 0 HBP, 2 K, 1 ER.

Ethan Martin - 11.0 IP, 8 H, 8 K, 5 BB, 1 HBP, 4 ER. Martin has been walking an insane number of batters, so believe it or not, that line's pretty good for him this season.

Michael Stutes - Well, "Cutesy Stutesy" made his case for being a call-up consideration this week, as well. He went 5.0 IP over 3 appearances with 6 K, 0 BB, 1 H, 0 ER. Stutes hasn't been great so far this year, but it's nice to see lines like this, since he's likely to spend some time in the majors due to injuries or roster shuffles or Durbin being shot acros the Delaware (state, not river) by a cannon, or any myriad of other reasons.