Clearwater’s Juan Villavicencio is a guy I’ve struggled to make heads or tails of this season, but the 21-year-old shortstop hit his seventh homer tonight. His MO is he hits the ball hard, and he hits it hard everywhere. He’s now slashing 291/362/514 in 46 games
Ramon Marquez struck out 6 over five no hit innings in his debut for the Blue Claws tonight.
Wood gets a lot of the hype (and rightfully so) but this kid is 20 and has dominated so far this year.
Fastball in the mid-90’s now, a cutter he’s developed and a Devin Williams-ish change-up.
Second best pitching prospect in the system.
The day after he was demoted to the minors, Andrew Painter came to Citizens Bank Park. The Phillies have to fix his fastball. They know. He knows it. Where do they begin? Story: https://t.co/5SQCOWfXN3
MLB today proposed an overhauled domestic amateur-entry system that removes high school players from the draft, makes college players eligible after sophomore year, shortens the draft from 20 to 12 rounds, and cuts bonus pool from current $358.7M to $200M, sources tell ESPN.
Felix Reyes bashed his 16th HR of the season last night, matching a career-high he set last year en route to being named Eastern League MVP.
.313/.342/.642 .985 OPS with 16 HRs and 42 RBIs in 41 games with LHV.
#Phillies
Some things I’m curious about now that Painter has been sent down.
1. I wonder if they start dabbling with cutting his fastball all the time. The four-seam shape just might never come back, he’s already trending towards it cutting more anyway— might as well lean into it more. Worked for Corbin Burnes back in the day.
2. Wonder how aggressive they get with Gage Wood. I wouldn’t bring him up until I see him in AAA with the big league balls but I think his innings limit is anywhere between 80-100 and he’s at 40 right now.