Fourth day of major league full squad workouts and minor league mini-camp. Major leaguers practiced in the morning and minor leaguers in the afternoon. Major leaguers had an afternoon golf outing.
Major League Camp :
Live BP : 7 pitchers
Nick Vespi, Matt Strahm, Jordan Romano, Jose Alvarado, John McMillon, Orion Kerkering and Tristan Garnett threw one inning outings.
McMillon, as advertised, showed big arm capabilities yet also struggled containing it in the strike zone. If the excellent pitching coach tutelage that the Phillies posses can help him harness his command there’s certainly big league stuff as he displayed today.
Buddy Kennedy went yard on Roberts to left field.
Minor League Mini-Camp :
Side Bullpens : 11 pitchers
Luke Gabrysh, Enrique Segura, Aaron Combs, Zack Tukis, Angel Liranzo, Danyony Pulido, Erik Ritchie, Luis Gonzalez, Luis Avila, Pedro Reyes and Wilmer Blanco.
Live BP : 6 pitchers
Nelson Alvarez, Paxton Thompson, Andrew Bechtold, Chuck King, Brandon Beckel and Jack Dallas.
I watched Andrew Bechtold on Ashburn - he’s also as advertised, has an electric, high velocity fastball that he coupled with a slider in today’s session, also mixed in a few cutters. He’s got the power to throw it by hitters and did so today. Erick Brito lined a hard single to the shortstop hole against him and Marcus Lee Sang sliced what would have been a double down the left field line - both pitches were up. From my first look at him I’d say there’s talent to work with for sure and the potential to develop a major league reliever - he’s got 97 to 100 mph but is raw, is a converted infielder who’s still learning the nuances of the mound. Given the faith I have in the Phillies pitching coaches Mr. Bechtold could just become a gem. Definitely worth watching develop. 👀
Young Catching Corps :
There are four young catchers I plan on writing a future feature article on that all have the potential to climb to the highest rung - they are about the same age and are thus clustered together at the moment in the system but mark my words baseball folks know the names or soon will of Eduardo Tait (18), Alirio Ferrebus (19), Guillermo Rosario (19) and Angel Mata (20). They are a very talented group of catchers both offensively and defensively - hard workers with skillsets to excel - all four, in my mind, project as potential big leaguers in the future - just sayin.
Happy Day, Happy Baseball ⚾️
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