We caught up with John Manuel of Baseball America earlier for a Q&A in regards to the top ten Phillies prospect rankings (click here) put out by BA on Monday. We thank John as always for his time.
Question: You had Brown atop the rankings last year. Obviously he had some competition for that top spot, but what did he do to maintain that ranking?
Answer: He very easily maintained that ranking. He hit, he ran the bases, he showed emerging power. He’s still raw and needs minor league time to improve his offensive consistency and his defensive skills, but his athleticism and big-time tools made this a fairly easy call, despite the quality of the other players in the system.
Q: Were people you talked to surprised at the way Kyle Drabek rebounded from his surgery?
A: Not really, because he flashed it last year in the Hawaii Winter Baseball stint, and he’s got such natural athleticism and competitiveness. He pitched well deep into the year, stayed healthy and threw strikes with quality stuff. Very encouraging year, and if he was your No. 1 prospect, you’d be satisfied.
Q: He was in Lo-A 18 months ago, but he’s 24 now and can obviously hit. How close is Michael Taylor to the big leagues (considering he’s got a tough OF to crack)?
A: Just talked to Michael yesterday and he knows his situation (it was my pleasure to speak to him, quality young man). He’s probably ready to help in 2010 if they need him; heck, he would have been able to help in ‘09 if needed. But the Phils right now do not need him, so he can spend 2010 in Triple-A. He’s definitely trade bait, but he’s also a 24-year-old outfielder. Those don’t often have a ton of value.
Q: Strength of the system compared to 12 months ago considering they traded away four of last year’s top ten?
A: Still strong, and so strong at the top (stronger than it was last year because Brown has done it at higher levels and Drabek is healthy) that I think the system will move up our org rankings from 12 last year. Lots of very young, high-upside talent.
Posted in 2009 BlueClaws, Anthony Gose, BJ Rosenberg, Baseball America, Domonic Brown, Harold Garcia, Jarred Cosart, Michael Taylor, Past BlueClaws, Phillies, Q&As, Travis d'Arnaud, Trevor May | No Comments »
Wednesday, October 21st, 2009
Baseball America recently put four 2009 BlueClaws among their top 20 South Atlantic League prospects in an annual post-season ranking (see ranking here). We wanted to take you a little bit more in-depth on those player, so we sat down for a Q&A with Matt Forman of Baseball America, who made the list.
We’ll start with the offensive players (13. Anthony Gose, 17. Travis d’Arnaud, NR. Harold Garcia). Next week, we’ll talk about the pitchers.
Q: You were here for Gose’s home run in game one of the finals against Greenville. What was your take on him?
A: I was very impressed. Just reading the scouting reports before I saw him, I thought he was in the Michael Bourn mold. But he’s got more upside than Bourn does…He’s a hard-nosed guy that doesn’t wear batting gloves. He’s got some pop, and plays a shallow center. He can track anything down. His arm is strong. He’s the complete package.
Q: Is there a comparison with a current big leaguer?
A: He’s like Carl Crawford, in that he has the four tools now. For Crawford, the power came later in his career. You think he (Gose) can hit for power down the line, though I’d like to see a little more from him in playing the small ball game. He could wreak havoc with his speed.
Q: What did you see from Travis d’Arnaud?
A: If he were in a more hitter friendly park it wouldn’t surprise me if he hit .275 with 20 home runs. His doubles number (38, led league) was very impressive. His hands are good and he has a very compact approach…
(more…)
Posted in 2009 BlueClaws, Anthony Gose, Baseball America, Harold Garcia, Q&As, South Atlantic League, Travis d'Arnaud | 1 Comment »
Monday, October 5th, 2009
We spoke with BlueClaws manager Dusty Wathan last week for a multi-part end-of-year wrap up piece which will debut soon. Here are some highlights:
- When he realized he had a team that could win: It was probably not until after the first month, about 30 games in, and we were still in the mix. That’s when the guys came together too.
- The team’s league-best road record: Sometimes in lower levels it’s easier to play on the road. A lot of guys are counting on other guys to get them to the ballpark and it’s harder to get into a routine.
- The bullpen in the first half: It was huge because the starting pitching didn’t have their pitch counts as high as they would be. It we could get five or six from the starter, we would lock it up. To have four guys back there it was amazing. Every night we had two guys available.
- First, not second: A lot of people forget who was here in the first half. Tyler Cloyd, Jon Velasquez, Jason Knapp…It’s tough in a league where the halves are split because you tend to forget who got you to the playoffs. Velasquez and Cloyd especially got a lot of Ws. Knapp pitched well but we couldn’t get him any runs.
- Jesus Sanchez: [Delmarva manager] Orlando Gomez said he couldn’t believe how far Sanchez had come since that first weekend [when he lasted 2/3 of an inning on Easter]. Nobody could believe he was catching last year.
- Travis d’Arnaud’s second half: When a catcher struggles at the plate, sometimes they take it on the field, but he never did that in the entire first half. And he was outstanding in the second half.
- Anthony Gose: His personality definately helps. He doesn’t let things worry him. He’s never in a bad mood or worried about yesterday. You don’t know if he went 0-4 or 4-4 yesterday, or even after the game. He’s a team leader and guys listen to him. To do that at 18, that’s pretty special.
- What Dusty learned this year: The biggest thing was getting a feel about the players. Players are talented and they have ability to have success at the minor league level. You can lead them in the right direction, but you can’t hit, you can’t pitch. You prepare as well as you can, and hopefully they can go out there and do it. This group did that easily. Also, use your coaches, and we had great coaches.
- Korey Noles, winner in the clincher: He pitched last year, but didn’t make a team out of spring training, but stayed in extended at his age, started in GCL, went to Williamsport, and it paid off for him.
- Top of the lineup: If Harold Garcia were on a different team, you would hear a lot more about Harold Garcia…Without Gose, he’s right there on the front page of everything.
- Heading into the playoffs: I thought we had as good an opportunity as everyone else. When I saw game one in Kannapolis, I felt we had a pretty good chance. With all those close games we had throughout the season, playing in a playoff atmosphere in the first half, our players thought they could win it. When they believe they can do something, especially Gose, d’Arnaud and Garcia, watch out because they’re going to do it.
Posted in 2009 BlueClaws, Anthony Gose, Dusty Wathan, Harold Garcia, Jason Knapp, Jim Murphy, Jon Velasquez, Q&As, Travis d'Arnaud, Tyler Cloyd | 1 Comment »
Sunday, September 20th, 2009
Win a championship. Go to Disney World. Well, not quite, but close. It’s off to Clearwater for several members of the 2009 BlueClaws SAL Championship team for the 2009 Florida Instructional League.
- OF Anthony Gose led all of Minor League Baseball in stolen bases this year with 76 and hit ..407 in the six playoff games. He was voted the league’’s most exciting prospect, best baserunner, and best defensive outfielder by the league’’s managers.
- 3B Travis Mattair completed his second season with the BlueClaws with an SAL title. Mattair’’s Lakewood teams were 158-118 over two regular seasons and the former 2nd round pick has played more games with Laekwood than anyone in team history.
- 2B Harold Garcia was voted the league’’s best defensive second baseman and added 42 stolen bases this year while forming a potent 1-2 duo with Gose at the top of Lakewood’’s lineup.
- C Travis d”Arnaud hit 13 home runs on the season and .305 in the second half as Lakewood’’s lead catcher. d”Arnaud was a former supplemental first-rounder of the Phillies in 2007 and hit .391 in the playoffs.
- C Sebastian Valle returned to hit 5th for the BlueClaws during the playoffs. He began the year with Lakewood and hit .306 with Williamsport before returning for the playoffs.
- RHP Trevor May went 4-1 with Lakewood during the regular season and won game two of the division series. He did not allow a run in his last 21 innings and gave up just three in his last 37 on the season.
- RHP Jesus Sanchez went 9-2 over his last 15 starts and won game two of the Championship Series. Sanchez is a former catcher who was in his first season as a pitcher this year.
- LHP Matthew Way joined Lakewood in early August and went 4-1 plus he won game one of the Division Series. Way was a 5th round pick this year (Washington State).
- RHP Heitor Correa joined the BlueClaws in early May and won seven games this year. He developed a back injury and did not appear in a playoff game.
- RHP Justin De Fratus was an all-star as a reliever in the first half and moved into the rotation in the second half. Overall, he won 5 games with a 3.19 ERA, though he was injured late in the season and did not play in the postseason.
- LHP Jacob Diekman had an ERA of over 7 in the first half, but after dropping to a sidearm delivery, Diekman pitched to a sub-2 ERA in the second half.
- RHP Austin Hyatt was drafted in the 15th round this year (Alabama) and threw six shutout innings for Lakewood in the postseason (including the final two). He had a 0.66 ERA with Williamsport before joining Lakewood.
Posted in 2009 BlueClaws, Anthony Gose, Austin Hyatt, Harold Garcia, Heitor Correa, Matthew Way, Sebastian Valle, Travis Mattair, Travis d'Arnaud, Trevor May | No Comments »
Saturday, September 19th, 2009
In 2006, the Matt Thayer caught the final out, a fly ball to right field, and promptly threw the ball into the seats.
Tonight, second-baseman Harold Garcia caught a pop-up to shallow center. And kept the ball. Good job Harold.
Posted in 2009 BlueClaws, BlueClaws Post-Season, Harold Garcia | No Comments »
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009
Lakewood won game one last night 6-3, now just two wins away from their second SAL title in four years. Some notes and quotes…
- Anthony Gose’s leadoff HR was his second of the year. His first was also against Greenville, at Fluor Field in July. Gose said “It was a 1-0 fastball and I didn’t miss it.”
- Dusty Wathan: “Wertz and Diekman came in in big situations. They did a great job going after guys. From then on out it almost seemed easy after Clay (Condrey) got out of his jam. It’s never easy but after we got those two runs in the eighth it really helped us.”
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The BlueClaws are hitting .337 as a team in the playoffs, and Travis d’Arnaud is 6-11.
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Harold Garcia hit eight HRs during the regular season (two batting right-handed), but his HR last night was from the right side.
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Austin Hyatt has two 1-2-3 innings in the playoffs and has a hammer-lock on the eighth inning. His addition has been tremendous.
Posted in 2009 BlueClaws, Anthony Gose, Austin Hyatt, BlueClaws Post-Season, Harold Garcia | No Comments »