In years past, August has brought me baseball apathy. By August I’ve had enough of the park, enough of the food, enough of the losing, and I’m ready for some football. Not this year though. I’m about as pumped for August baseball as I am for April baseball. Why? Dunno. But over the coming days I’ll present ten possible reasons–ten reasons YOU should be pumped about August baseball as well.
Reason Number Eight: Prospects
Even if you don’t care about wins and losses for the IronPigs, some of the top Phillies prospects have found their way to Coca Cola Park for the end of this season. And as with Freddy Galvis last year, you never know how long we’ll have them, so, come out and see:
- Sebastian Valle
- Jon Pettibone
- Cesar Hernandez
- Tyler Cloyd
- Jake Diekman
- Phillipe Aumont
- Justin DeFratus
- Austin Hyatt
- JC Ramirez
…and we can debate which are actually prospects, but each of the above have at least a shot to be with the Phillies either in September, or next spring, or at some point in the future. Also keep in mind that any moves Phillies’ brass makes over the winter could involve trading of “prospects.” This could deplete the list further.
About Last Night:
Sloppy kinda game. I got there late, and left early. CJ and I voted to stay for the 12th, but Mrs. Kram voted to go, so…we heard the winning run score on PigsRadio on the way home. Here are some of my baseball observations:
Evidently, JC Ramirez has been working on a re-tooled delivery. This may have contributed to some of his recent struggles, but he seems to be coming around. His stuff was more “electric” last night. Good pop on his fastball, touching the mid-90s at times. My criticism of him in the past was that he was “throwing” and not “pitching.” He seemed to keep the batters off-balance just fine last night. Good work by him.
I like Justin DeFratus. He’s getting better all the time coming back from his arm difficulties.
Phillipe Aumont still scares the bejesus out of me. He could strike out the side in nine pitches or he could walk four in a row. You never know. He did well last night, got through two innings, but not without some drama with runners in scoring position. Nice defensive play by him to get out of the inning.
Cesar Hernandez is a singles hitter I guess. He hits for average with the occasional triple. His speed on the base paths is reasonable. His fielding doesn’t look like anything special. We’ll continue to watch him to see how he adjusts to the higher level.
Tough night for Valle. I guess word is going to get out in AAA that he’s willing to swing at most anything, especially off-speed stuff. Let’s watch for adjustments at the plate, and perhaps some plate discipline upcoming. He threw a guy out, though, which was nice.
On Tap:
I’m really looking forward to the games tonight and tomorrow. As I write, I just got news that my other commitment for this evening (Thursday) has been cancelled. I’m interested to see how Austin Hyatt does on his return to AAA. I’ll be watching how he works, and if there are any changes when runners are on base.
Tomorrow will bring us the Coca Cola Park debut of Jonathan Pettibone. J-Bone is one of the top prospects and has done pretty well in his first two AAA starts on the road. Also, I’ll be at the park early for my second Batting Practice Party. These are always fun, and sometimes the kiddos can get some baseballs out of the deal.
Saturday is Woodchuck day. Anybody up for a tailgate?
See you at the park,
@Kram209
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