Weekly Phillies prospect roundup July 16 - 22

The Major League club hardly played any baseball the last week. The Minors probably could have used the week off too.

HOT

JP Crawford - Crawford's off to a really, really good start in the GCL. This week he went .350/.409/.400, 1 doubles, 1K, 2 BB. JP's had more errors than you'd like with 5 in 15 games to date, but he's still pretty young, and that is likely to resolve as he grows and gets pro coaching.

Kelly Dugan - If I'm being honest here, Dugan is bordering on my Top right now. He's adjusting to Double-A so far, he's shown some pop and he's good enough to play in both OF corners. More on all that later though. This week Dugan went .308/.379/.423, 3 doubles, 3 K, 2 BB, 1 HBP, 1 CS.

Maikel Franco - Not as hot as he was a few weeks back, but still hitting (mostly). Franco went .345/.367/.379, 1 double, 3 K, 1 BB. Not much power this week.

Larry "Fudgie" Greene, Jr. - Not any real power, but he's making contact and his BABiP was nearly .550 this week. .350/.480/.400, 1 double, 7 K, 5 BB in 25 PA.

Cesar Hernandez - I feel like I screwed up 2 things on my Top 30 this year. I ranked Austin Wright way too high thinking he might be able to carry his success up the ladder to pitch in the back of the MLB rotation and I ranked Hernandez way too low (and by too low I mean not at all). My thinking was that he wouldn't hit well enough to be an MLB regular and no team would bother carrying a backup second baseman. Well Cesar's bat is not bad (.391/.400/.435 this week, .314/.377/.413 on the season though his BABiP is quite high as well), but the best thing to his future path is that the team has now started playing him in Center a bit. If he proves he can handle Center, and maybe Left, he becomes, at minimum, a valuable reserve capable of playing a few innings at Short (if needed, he doesn't have the arm for it) and full games in Center, Left and Second.

Gabriel Lino - Remember Lino? We got him in the Jim Thome trade. He's a really intriguing guy with big power potential and a huge arm, but a bit of an issue catching baseballs (of some concern given his position as a Catcher). Well, Passed Balls remain a bit of an issue, but seems to be improving, as he has 4 in 24 games behind the dish (28 in 88 games last year). This past week he just killed the ball while hitting. Going .438/.438/1.063, 4 doubles, 2 HR, 4 K in 16 PA. Even more impressive, those 2 jacks were in Williamsport, which is not the most power friendly park.

Wilmer Oberto - Oberto's a little old for the GCL, as I noted last week. That's hardly his fault though, you hit where they send you, and hit, he did. Oberto had a somewhat staggering .346/.393/.885 line in 28 PA with 1 triple, 4 HR (!!!), 4 K, 1 BB, 1 HBP. Can't ask for more than that and it's probably worth seeing what he might do in the NYPL.

Sebastian Valle - It was a good week to be a Catcher, apparently. Valle went 5 for 17. Well, that doesn't seem all that hot, right? Well, of those 5 hits, 4 were Homers. Valle only had 2 K, which is nice, but made a ton of contact drawing his standard 0 walks. Make no mistake though, 4 homers in a week is the reason Valle is still on radars.

Freddy Zorilla - I usually don't talk about VSL players, but I like the cut of Zorilla's jib, plus he had an interesting line for the VSL going .313/.476/.313, 4 K, 5 BB. You don't see a ton of walks in VSL lines (or Zorilla's for that matter, those 5 more than doubled his season total).

Jesse Biddle - With the daily updates I haven't really being covering Pitchers much recently, but Biddle had a top notch start coming off his Futures Game appearance. Speaking of which, if you watched his work in that game you saw him unleash what makes him a dangerous pitcher, that crazy Curveball, which is swing and miss stuff. When his other pitches work, he can unleash the Curve for a lot of K's, when those other pitches aren't working, Biddle's pretty pedestrian. This week he went 7.0 IP, 3 H, 7K, 2 BB, 1 ER.

COLD

Jan Hernandez - The Third Rounder's start has been a little slower than Crawford's, he went .211/.250/.263, 1 double, 7 K, 1 BB.

Cameron Perkins - Before breaking his wrist Perkins was on absolute fire. He's been more pedestrian since his return to the lineup, but that's to be expected. .182/.250/.227, 1 double, 4 K, 1 BB, 1 HBP.

Chris Serrittella - Mentally I kind of group him with Perkins, as they're both hitters without a really strong defensive position. This was a pretty bad week, .105/.150/.105, 3 K, 1 BB.

Steve Susdorf - I was going to make a strong case next week when one of the Catchers goes away on the MLB roster (via trade or trip up the turnpike) for Susdorf to get the call to be 5th OF. Defensively he's probably not much better than Young (Young has a much better arm too), but Susdorf just gets on base and could be a valuable PH. Then he puts out a .188/.188/.188 line and blows my argument to smithereens for, at least, this week.

Seth Rosin - Rosin got a little unlucky this past week. I don't mean to sugarcoat as he gave up quite a few hits and hard contact, but 11.0 IP, 14 H, 3 BB and 8 K doesn't look like the kind of line you'd expect to give up 9 ER. Still, regardless of the ER, that's not a very pretty line.

Other interesting players (recent draftees, top prospects, guys whose name I like, etc.)

Aaron Altherr - Altherr is settling in to a line closer to what I expected before the season (for the year he's at .276/.343/.477). This week was a solid, but unspectacular line of .250/.318/.400, 1 double, 1 triple, 5 K, 2 BB, 1 SB (0 CS).

Cody Asche - .294/.294/.294 (say it 3 times in a dark room with a mirror, see what happens).

Dylan Cozens - Racking up the Walks (and K's) again, as he goes .250/.400/.313 with 6 K and 4 BB.

Tyson Gillies - The other guy who could have worked his way into an opportunity when Revere got hurt also scuffled this week going .214/.214/.286, 1 double, 4 K, 1 BB, 1 CS. Gillies also has had some Outfield brainfarts this year that hurt his chances some. I feel bad for Gillies for his rough few years with the Phillies Org. All hope isn't lost yet, but it's fairly dim at this point.

Zach Green - A top pick in 2012 Green is still adjusting to Third Base. He had a bit of a rough week at the plate, but there were still things to like in his .167/.286/.333, 1 HR, 3 K, 2 BB, 1 HBP line. Patience and Power, folks. If you can maintain them during slumps that's a mighty good sign.

Andrew Knapp - Odd aside, "It's Knapp time!" would be a very confusing promo if anyone were to ever try it. Knapp had a bit of a rough week going ..143/.250/.143 with 4 K, 1 BB and 1 HBP (plus 1 CS). Still filling the DH role as he has an arm issue preventing him from Catching (or to be more accurate, throwing).

Jose Pujols - Jose Pujols had one hit last week. It left the ballpark. Otherwise he had 4 BB and 3 K in 17 PA.

Cord Sandberg - This is a borderline hot line here. .278/.458/.333, 1 double, 5 K, 6 BB, 2 CS in 24 PA.

Carlos Tocci - Certainly not his best week, but he's hoding his own going .200/.250/.200, 1 K, 1 BB in 16 PA.