Phillies minor league affiliates Reading, Jersey Shore and Clearwater each are scheduled to open their season tonight.
Reading has a veteran laden club which should compete well in the Eastern League. They have multiple players on the roster who’ve had prior successful experience at the AA level but there are also fellas who are there initially or returning to make folks take notice. Gabriel Rincones Jr has the bat speed, power and athleticism to do very well. I’ve been touting Kendall Simmons ability to turn and drive baseballs for his entire pro career - am anxious to see him at the AA level. Caleb Ricketts, Baron Radcliff and Marcus Lee Sang have power games from the left side of the dish. Carlos De La Cruz returns from the right side of the box. Arturo DeFreitas had a terrific spring at the plate.
The starting rotation is made up of pitch-ability hurlers with lefty Matt Osterberg earning the opening day assignment. The bullpen has big arms - watch for Tommy McCollum, Tristan Garnett, Carlos Francisco, Andrew Schultz, Andrew Baker and Matt Russell out of the pen - Konnor Ash is one to take notice of as well. There’s also a couple of really good arms still ramping up in Clearwater who will impact the Eastern League when called upon - Christian McGowan and Cristian Hernandez.
Jersey Shore has star quality along with speed to burn. “Claw-Chaos” is my mantra as the team looks to take it to their opponents with aggressive approaches in hitting, on the base paths along with defense and pitching. The outfield is loaded with talent as Manager Greg Brodzinski will be challenged to find shared playing time for twenty year olds Justin Crawford, Emaarion Boyd and Hendry Mendez, twenty one year old Leandro Pineda and slightly older young men Troy Schreffler and Cade Fergus. It’s also a very good defensive outfield group with four of the players capable of playing plus level center field and all six possessing plus throwing skills. The middle infield of twenty year old Bryan Rincon, nineteen year old William Bergolla and twenty one year old Erick Brito is very good defensively - all three can also hit, very good bat to ball skills. Zach Arnold, Felix Reyes and Chad Castillo are all corner power bats. The three catchers (Justin Dissin, Ryan Leitch, Andrick Nava) have worked hard to sharpen their defensive skill sets - they take it to heart, all three are good bats.
The starting pitching rotation will begin as a five man sequence (opening night starter Sam Aldegheri, Jean Cabrera, Braeden Fausnaught, Estibenzon Jimenez & Starlyn Castillo/Eiberson Castellano) and has an attacking, no fear mentality - the bullpen can be very strong as it has at least six pitchers who can go multiple innings twice a week if needed and a back end contingent of big arms or plus secondaries that can close games (Andrew Walling, Gunner Mayer, Danny Wilkinson, Daniel Harper, Chuck King, Wesley Moore, Jack Dallas). Should be a fun first half at the jersey shore!
Clearwater should also be a fun group to watch. Teenage talents Aidan Miller, Devin Saltiban, Nikau Pouaka-Grego, Tjayy Walton and Kehden Hettiger all have offensive and defensive skills that can serve them very well however given their youth expect some struggles also, it’s all part of it. Add in the mix 20 year olds Raylin Heredia, Avery Owusu-Asiedu and Jordan Viars and you can see an abundance of youthful talent is there to learn how to succeed with skipper Marty Malloy being the right guy to teach them how to do so. Bryson Ware, Keaton Anthony, Ricardo Rosario, Lou Albrecht, Luis Caicuto, Trent Farquhar, Dakota Kotowski and Pierce Bennett are just a bit older, they should have a leadership impact on the group.
The six slot starting pitching rotation of George Klassen, Jake Eddington, Micah Ottenbreit, Jose Pena, Mavis Graves and Luke Russo/Casey Steward have the stuff to do very well, three of them are also twenty year olds. The bullpen has some older arms albeit inexperienced at the pro level (ranging from 22 to 25 yrs of age) - I’m excited to see Jaydenn Estanista, Ethan Chenault, Trey Dillard, Saul Teran and Brandon Beckel in particular.
Regarding the Phillies slow start :
Over the years of my Phillies fandom which began 55 seasons ago rooting for the 1970 roster consisting of players such as Deron Johnson,Tony Taylor, Larry Bowa, Larry Hisle, Don Money and Denny Doyle I’ve certainly mellowed in daily demeanor. Each and every game I watched over the multiple seasons used to have me on edge in regard to a daily/nightly “must win” mentality - needless to say there were plenty of disappointments as well as triumphs that brought great joy.
We’ve seen plenty of bad teams - it says here that the 2024 Phillies are not of that ilk. They are also a group that is built upon star quality - if the stars aren’t shining then struggles occur - it’s really that simple. Here’s the thing - the stars on this club are really good so no need to be overly concerned after just six games - things will pick up.
The now mid sixties age fan version of me has learned patience, we’ve always had persistence 🤓. Every game is still a “must win” in my competitive spirit but the disappointment when regular season losses occur isn’t equivalent to the younger version of myself. Baseball seasons are a marathon of peaks and valleys not a short sprint of immediate urgencies, reaching the playoffs is the ultimate regular season goal - once there the old “must win” edge returns - just sayin 🤓.
Happy Day, Happy Baseball ⚾️
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