Phillies

Will This Bell Ringing Over And Over Get You Hype For Phillies Baseball

... and has cemented himself as a building block for the Sixers' future, so don't expect this to be anything but a pipe dream. A few other notable names featured on the list include Paul Millsap, Chandler Parsons, Luol Deng and Andre Iguodala, among others. The Magic are a young, rebuilding team with very little star power. It seems like it's only a matter of time until Sam Hinkie is brought in to start The Process 2.0 and blow up the entire organization. NFL draft fan registrations up more than 200 percent. By Tom Ignudo | __link__ Contributor April 03, 2017 7:35 PM. Philadelphia expects a boatload of fans to attend the 2017 NFL draft, but the city's numbers might have been a bit off. According to the NFL, via ESPN , 168,000 fans have signed up for the fan mobile pass for the draft, as of March 31. Mayor Jim Kenney estimated that 200,000 people would gather at the Benjamin Franklin Parkway for the draft lasting from April 27-29. In comparison, 54,000 fans signed up for the 2016 draft in Chicago in that same ...

Meet The Philadelphia Phillies Top Prospects

... 2 B. In his first full season in the organization, the 2015 second-round pick out of Arizona made it to Double-A, though he batted only.250 in 37 games. With Single-A Clearwater, Kingery displayed some pop with 29 doubles and a.293 average. He’s also ranked as the No. 7 prospect at second base in the minors. 10. Cornelius Randolph, OF. The No. 10 overall pick in 2015 batted.274 with two home runs and 27 RBI in 63 games in the South Atlantic League last season. Randolph, 19, has plenty of pure talent, but there’s work and development to be done. __link__ estimates his arrival in the big leagues to be at least 2019. 9. Dylan Cozens, OF. Cozens mashed his way through Double-A Reading last season with 40 home runs and 125 RBI in a hitter-friendly ballpark. He hit for average (.276) and used his considerable athleticism on the base paths (21 stolen bases), but he struggled with strikeouts (186). Cozens will ...

Phillies Hope Clay Buchholz Pitches Well

... general manager Matt Klentak said when he traded for Buchholz. "We have a number of guys entering the last year of their contract that could potentially be trade chips.". All winter, the Phillies pursued marginal upgrades through trades or free agency with the shortest possible commitment. That led them to players such as Buchholz, Howie Kendrick, Michael Saunders, Joaquin Benoit, and Pat Neshek. Baseball is a copycat industry, and from the moment the Chicago Cubs transformed a one-year, $6 million deal for Scott Feldman into Cy Young Award winner Jake Arrieta, every rebuilding team has tried to duplicate it. Good luck. The blueprint of adding a veteran player, with the goal of later flipping him for younger prospects, is rooted in logic. In practice, it is much more difficult. The player must remain healthy. He must perform. And there must be a demand in the trade market. The veteran players added during the winter represent $63.7 million in payroll. The Phillies see that as an investment in the 2017 on-field product and as a necessary price to pay for the ...

Now-healthy Aaron Nola Out To Prove To Phillies Last Year Was A Fluke

... Phillies Opening Day couldn't come soon enough. He gave up six runs in a start. And seven in another that ended in the third inning. He allowed four runs or more in six of seven starts. Nola had made pitching look so easy ever since the Phillies drafted him in 2014 with their first pick. But last summer, it was not. His struggles ended in August, when Nola was shut down for the season with a sprained elbow. The injury did not require surgery and Nola says he is fully healthy. But concern remains. Phillies manager Pete Mackanin said he fears the day when Nola knocks on his office door to tell him his elbow flared up. This season - Nola's second full one in the big leagues - will be his chance to silence any doubts and prove that he is the pitcher the Phillies drafted and not the one who struggled last summer. "I didn't watch any footage," Nola said about last season. "Some things I remember from it. I have a pretty good memory from past games that I've thrown. But I just try ...

Phillies Win Opener As 'two Littlest Guys' Homer

... News, and __link__. A graduate of Central Bucks High School West and Syracuse University, he covered the Phillies from 2010 to 2014 with a one-year tour on the Metro desk between baseball assignments. More by Matt Gelb. Arrow icon. CINCINNATI - Three minutes into the season, when Cesar Hernandez cracked a solo homer to the red seats in right field Monday, these young Phillies exuded confidence. The December workouts in Miami to add strength produced immediate results for Hernandez. The laborious seven weeks of spring training melted to the scene of Tommy Joseph, the guy who is supposed to be crushing home runs, high-fiving the diminutive Hernandez and removing his helmet. "I mean, everybody was happy," shortstop Freddy Galvis said after a 4-3 Phillies victory over the Reds. Some Flo Rida blasted in the winning clubhouse. Galvis glanced toward Hernandez, who sat nearby at his locker, fiddling with his phone. "I have to tell you," Galvis said. ...

Phillies Face Coven Of Non-believers To Start 2017

... these New Phillies, so young and cool and experimental with their hair. But tragically, this has affected my widely respected objectivity that I have maintained so stoically and professionally through the years. In response to this, I was up all night, staring out a window at the stray cat fight club outside of my home, considering how to regain my lost integrity. The only solution I could muster was to gather all of the worst things people have said about the Phillies leading up to the 2017 season and put it all in one place in an attempt to counteract the joy that led to me overreaching in regards to their win total. J. P. Crawford needs to stop reading about how good he is and start working to show everyone how good he is. — "A rival scout," Sports Illustrated. We'll open with a doozy that by now we've all seen. Sports Illustrated's MLB preview featured sections on all of the teams written by rival scouts, who broke down their enemies player by player. Obviously, the shortstop considered the Phillies' best prospect warranted a mention, and this scout felt like J. P. Crawford was spending ...

Phillies Come Out Hitting In Middle Of Order

... is the Phillies beat writer for the Inquirer, the Daily News, and __link__. A graduate of Central Bucks High School West and Syracuse University, he covered the Phillies from 2010 to 2014 with a one-year tour on the Metro desk between baseball assignments. More by Matt Gelb. Arrow icon. CINCINNATI - The Phillies collected seven extra-base hits, scored four runs, and won a game Monday in which Tommy Joseph and Cameron Rupp went a combined 0 for 8 with four strikeouts. Last season, when the Phillies were desperate for offense, Joseph and Rupp were keys. Mail icon. The Phillies believe their lineup has improved. The middle of the order, two through five, reached base 10 times in the 4-3 win over the Reds. Howie Kendrick lashed three hits. Odubel Herrera doubled and walked twice. Michael Saunders stroked a run-scoring double in the first inning. Maikel Franco singled and walked. There is depth, and that could breed more runs. "Yeah," shortstop Freddy Galvis, "I believe it will. Especially because we have two ...

Phillies Need Sluggers. Dylan Cozens And Rhys Hoskins May Fit The Bill

... him in the second round and lured him away from playing college football by giving him a $660,000 signing bonus. First, Cozens said, he had to learn to become a better hitter. The power then followed as a result. "I got a taste of it last spring, when I brought him to Port Charlotte as a minor-leaguer, an extra guy," Mackanin said. "He hit about three or four balls over the batter's eye in center field and on the roof of the building in right field. I'm well aware of his power, and I think he's going to be a real good hitter for power. He's a good defensive player, too.". Ryan Howard is the only Phillie to hit 30 or more homers in a season since 2011. The Phillies are desperate for power hitters who can take advantage of Citizens Bank Park's tight dimensions. It is likely something they will address in free agency, but ...

Phillies Farm System Very Talented At All Levels

... healthy, and Cozens, 22, has enormous power but must prove he can handle breaking balls. Not a single Lehigh Valley pitcher was listed among the top 10 prospects, but the Phillies are excited about an Iron Pigs cast that includes Jake Thompson, Zach Eflin, Ben Lively, Mark Appel, and Nick Pivetta. Those five combined to make 64 starts at Lehigh Valley last season, going 31-17 with a 2.95 ERA, and two of them already have some big-league experience. Eflin will open the season on the disabled list because of surgeries on both knees. Lehigh Valley figures to be the most closely watched Phillies affiliate this season, but Lakewood, the lowest-level affiliate that will open play this week, should also generate plenty of excitement. That is where you will find outfielder Mickey Moniak, the No. 1 overall pick in last year's draft, and Sixto Sánchez, the highest-rated pitching prospect in the farm system. "[Moniak] didn't show us anything last year that says [Lakewood] would be too big of a challenge for him," said Joe Jordan, the Phillies' director of player development. In his first professional exposure with the Gulf Coast League Phillies, Moniak, 18, ...

Phillies' Odubel Herrera's Chance To Become An Elite Hitter

... tremendous, and that's where he generates a lot of power from.". Freed from the TV booth, Stairs is back to speaking with the speed of a cattle auctioneer, and Herrera's development is a topic that really gets him going. Throughout Stairs' playing career, his strength was his knowledge of the strike zone, his ability to get a fastball that he could drive. He hit 265 home runs and struck out 1,122 times, and he wants Herrera to extract the best of that all-or-nothing approach - the plate discipline - and cast aside the temptation to overswing, even when he gets the pitch he wants. Herrera jumped from eight home runs in 2015 to 15 in 2016, but Stairs would prefer that Herrera pay no attention to his home run total. "He did a great job last year of saying, 'Listen, what is your strength with a fastball? You sit on that pitch. If you get to two strikes, then you battle,' " Stairs said. "There's no reason to be in a hurry hitting. If I'm a good inside-fastball hitter, why am I going to expand and hit a first pitch away? Make the pitcher work. Again, you become a stubborn hitter and ...