The Prospect Pasture - May 12

The month of May has been good to some prospects, but pretty bad to others. Let’s start with the good:

Single-A Clearwater’s Kyle Drabek, the Phillies’ fifth-best prospect as ranked by Baseball America, currently leads the Florida State League in innings pitched (40.2) and strikeouts (51). Drabek’s closest competition on the strikeout leaderboard is Lakeland’s Duane Below with just 38 punchouts. The 2006 first-round pick has a 2.21 ERA to go along with his 1.131 WHIP and should be in line for a promotion to AA Reading at some point this summer if he can continue his dominance.

Clearwater outfielder Dominic Brown leads the Florida State League in total bases (69), slugging percentage (.612) and OPS (1.014). He has been an offensive machine, made evident by his .327 average, six home runs and 26 RBI. He’s currently batting .351 in his last 10 games with two home runs and 11 RBI.

Reading southpaw Antonio Bastardo has been impressive since transitioning from the bullpen to the rotation. He threw six innings of one-hit ball last night and recorded 10 punchouts. Bastardo is flashing a 1.77 ERA and 0.787 WHIP as a starter. He leads the Eastern League in overall WHIP (0.830) and his overall ERA (1.63) is fourth-best on the leaderboards.

But it hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows for everybody.

Lehigh Valley starter and second-ranked prospect Carlos Carrasco has been struggling badly of late, giving up 13 earned runs in 9.1 total innings over his last two starts. His ERA has jumped from a respectable 4.50 to an Eaton-esque 6.62 since May 7. It is still early in the season, but he is losing value if the Phillies consider moving him in a July trade.

Drew Carpenter, Carrasco’s teammate and fellow starter, has also been having trouble in his last two starts. He has given up four runs in each of his last two starts, which lasted five and six innings, respectively. He has not been as prone to the big inning as Carrasco, so hopefully Carpenter can straighten himself out quickly.

Photos courtesy MiLB.com.

Jimmy Rollins and his Quest for .400

As everybody knows, Jimmy Rollins has been known for his predictions the past few years. After starting this season in a terrible offensive funk, Rollins made another bold prediction about two weeks ago on April 27, when he was quoted as saying that he felt ready to hit .400 for the next month.

Well, the crystal ball seems a bit foggy right now. He’s batting .171 (7-for-41) this May, with five runs scored, three RBI, and zero stolen bases to go along with a .237 OBP.

Let’s say Rollins gets 111 at-bats this May (his career average for the month). He will need to record 38 hits in his next 70 at-bats to reach .400 for the month. That’s a .543 clip for the next three weeks.

To his credit, he has not been incorrect yet. After declaring the Phillies the “team to beat” in 2007, the Phillies won their division and advanced to the postseason for the first time in 14 years. Next was his proclamation that the Phillies would win 100 games in 2008. The team went on to win 103, with the final win coming as the World Series clincher.

It isn’t impossible, but Rollins may have out-predicted himself on this one.

Photo courtesy Steve Nesius / Associated Press.

Why is Mike Koplove Still an IronPig?

Meet Mike Koplove, baseball journeyman. The 32-year-old reliever from South Philly took the opportunity to sign a minor league contract with his hometown team this past offseason and was one of the Phillies’ final roster cuts, as he even made the trip to Citizens Bank Park for the two-game preseason series against the Rays. But once catcher Ronny Paulino was traded to San Francisco (and then immediately flipped to Florida) for reliever Jack Taschner, Koplove was sent down to AAA Lehigh Valley as an insurance policy for the major league club.

Koplove’s submarine-style delivery has been baffling the opposition, and the only run he allowed this season was from an RBI single on April 10, just about a month ago. He’s thrown 15.2 innings through 12 appearances with a 1.340 WHIP and a 0.57 ERA. He’s averaging 10.3 strikeouts per nine — a number that bests both Jake Peavy and Dan Haren who rank fourth and fifth in the MLB in strikeouts, respectively.

Koplove is a guy who can go two innings if he has to, and it’s a shame that he’s stuck in the minors right now. He’s had major league success with the Diamondbacks from 2001 - 2006 but hasn’t been given a chance in three years. If relievers like Scott Eyre, Chad Durbin, and Jack Taschner continue to struggle, maybe a shakeup will become necesary to get the bullpen back in line. Getting bumped up to a major league contract wouldn’t hurt Koplove either. The extra cash could go a long way towards getting some protection for those bloody knuckles of his.

Photo courtesy MiLB.com.

Flyers Taking a Peek at Ray Emery

Strange news today as Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren admitted that he’s looking into goaltender Ray Emery. Known for his bad temper, speeding tickets, and punching out a trainer on his current Russian team, the potential of adding Emery to the current roster would steer the team even more towards the style of the mid-1970s Broad Street Bullies, especially considering the presence of two clear-cut enforcers in Riley Cote and Dan Carcillo.

Signing Emery would certainly bring a questionable attitude into the locker room, but he would likely be willing to sign a one-year contract, leaving the door open for the organization to use him as a temporary replacement and take a look at next year’s free agent goaltender class. Marty Biron, who is now an unrestricted free agent, is currently demanding at least three years.

In 134 career games between the pipes, Emery has a .907 save percentage to go along with a 2.71 GAA average. Biron averages 2.59 GAA and .911 save percentage.

Replacing Biron with Emery would be an ironic way to deal with the goalie situation, considering Emery won a rare goalie fight against Biron in 2007.

Next year’s free agent goalie class includes Minnesota’s Niklas Backstrom (2.24 GAA, .923 SV%), Boston’s Tim Thomas (2.62 GAA, .918 SV%), Edmonton’s Dwayne Roloson (2.62 GAA, .910 SV%),  and Los Angeles’ Erik Ersberg (2.58 GAA, .911 SV%) to name a few.

The Prospect Pasture - May 1

Kyle Kendrick continued his success in a 4-2 victory at AAA Lehigh Valley last night, throwing six scoreless innings with two walks and four strikeouts. Kendrick is 2-1 with a 2.77 ERA in five starts so far and looks to be the best replacement at the major league level if a starter goes down to injury.

“Kendrick is off to a very good start, ” said Comcast SportsNet writer Kevin Czerwinski on Daily News Live last week. “[The organization] was a little bit worried if he would take his demotion down to Lehigh Valley in a positive light and he’s really embraced it. He wants to prove that he can be back up here.”

Kendrick was rocked in the majors last season and finished the year with a 5.49 ERA in 155.2 innings over 30 unimpressive starts. If the Phillies starting pitchers continue to struggle in ‘09, he just may force Charlie Manuel to call up the hot hand if Kendrick continues to dominate in the minors.

Reading outfielder Michael Taylor had another monster night with a pair of doubles and a home run to go along with five runs batted in. Taylor has hit safely in his last seven games, posting a .467 average in that span with three doubles, a triple, three home runs and eight RBI.

I must have spoken too soon about Reading right-hander Mike Stutes yesterday. The 22-year-old Oregon State product struggled last night, allowing four runs on eight hits through just two innings. The outing raised his ERA from 1.59 to 3.32.

Clearwater lefty Yohan Flande finally let up an earned run last night. He threw six solid innings of one-run ball in a 3-2 loss. Flande has been impressive early, flashing a nice 1.000 WHIP and a rating of 8.2 K/9.

Carlos Carrasco will take the mound for the IronPigs tonight and will hope to bounce back his last start when he allowed six runs in just 2.2 innings.

Photos courtesy MiLB.com.