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The Prospect Pasture - May 12
Posted on May 13th, 2009 No commentsThe 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.
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The Prospect Pasture - May 1
Posted on May 1st, 2009 No commentsKyle 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.