Phillies MLR 4/22-4/24: Do the Phillies have a new #1 prospect?

While Jay is away, we’re going to do things a little differently.

4/22: Rochester 4, Lehigh Valley 3
4/23: Lehigh Valley 10, Rochester 8
4/24: Lehigh Valley 10, Rochester 1

A good offensive weekend from the IronPigs, led by Darick Hall’s 2 HR performance on Saturday night. Over the weekend, Hall went 4 for 11 with those two home runs and seven RBI. Overall, the other best bats from the team went to Donny Sands (5 for 9, 3 RBI) and....that’s about it. They hit better collectively than there were any real stand along performances other than Hall. One has to wonder that if the Phillies hadn’t signed Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos, would Hall have made the team as a 1B/DH option that didn’t cost a whole lot of money? Guess we’ll never know.

4/22: Harrisburg 7, Reading 2
4/23: Reading 4, Harrisburg 3
4/24: Harrisburg 5, Reading 3

A rather uneventful weekend in Reading, highlighted by the return of Simon Muzziotti to a more proper placement for his current skillset. Erik Miller had a solid start on Saturday night (3 IP, 2 H, 0 BB, 3 K) in the Fightin’s win. Vito Friscia went 2 for 3 in that game with a home run and two RBI. And despite back-to-back home runs on Sunday from Logan O’Hoppe and Madison Stokes, Reading lost their second of three over the weekend to Harrisburg.

4/22: Jersey Shore 4, Asheville 3
4/23: Jersey Shore 4, Asheville 2
4/24: Jersey Shore 13, Asheville 6

The Blue Claws enjoyed a weekend sweep these three days. The highlights include Johan Rojas stealing his 11th and 12th bases of season (though he’s still hovering around the Mendoza line), Nick Matera going 2 for 3 with two RBI on Saturday night, but the bigger story was Mick Abel’s excellent start that night, going five strong innings, allowing only three hits, one walk while striking out nine batters. It’s his best start of the year.

Sunday, the Blue Claws had their best game. Down 6-3 in the eighth innings, the Claws dropped a 10-spot on the Tourists. The inning went like this:

• walk
• walk
• single
• single
• strikeout
• fielder’s choice (no outs recorded)
• bunt single
• walk
• walk
• double
• single
• walk
• strikeout
• single
• strikeout

Wild.

4/22: Clearwater 5, Tampa 0
4/23: Clearwater 3, Tampa 0
4/24: Clearwater 8, Tampa 1

We could talk about offense, we could talk about allowing only one run over three game, but let’s face it. There is only one story for the Threshers this weekend.

Andrew Painter.

Five innings, one hit, no walks, 14 STRIKEOUTS.

All but one out that recorded by Painter came via the batter trudging back to his dugout from the plate. For those of you scoring at home, that puts Painter’s season line this far at this:

3 G (3 GS), 12 IP, 4 H, 1 R (0 ER), 3 BB, 30 K

It might be time to have a conversation about who the number one prospect in the system is right now. Is it jubilance over a few dominant starts? Of course, but let’s all be happy that the Phillies have apparently nailed two successive draft picks.