Adam Morgan continues to draw raves
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Adam Morgan continues to draw raves
David Murphy
A month ago, I didn't know who Adam Morgan was. On Thursday, a scout who watched his Double-A debut labeled him as one of his favorite prospects in the organization. The rough comparison I've heard is Chris Capuano, the veteran lefty who is currently thriving with the Dodgers.
Right now, he projects as a mid-to-back-of-the-rotation guy, but cheap back-of-the-rotation pitching is something that the Phillies are going to need in the coming seasons as Cole Hamels and Cliff Lee play out their deals and Vance Worley's salary stats progressing through the arbitration process. The book on Morgan: not as much of a ceiling as Trevor May or Jesse Biddle, but a higher floor. He's more polished, and could be in a position to contribute as early as later next season. That is a fast timetable for a guy who was drafted in the third round out of Alabama in June of 2011. The 2014 season is a more likely projection. But Morgan has already skipped low-A, and this season posted a 3.29 ERA, 10.2 K/9, 2.0 BB/9 and allowed just seven home runs in 123 innings at Clearwater. Last night, in his Double-A debut, he held the Yankees' Double-A affiliate to two walks and one hit while striking out six in seven scoreless innings.
Morgan, the Phillies' minor league pitcher of the month for July, is 22 years old, which is how old Vance Worley was when he made his major league debut.
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I'm here at Citizens Bank Park awaiting the start of the ceremony honoring Mike Lieberthal, the longtime catcher who will be inducted into (onto?) the Phillies Wall of Fame. I took part in an interview with Lieberthal on Daily News Live in which he said that the club had told him last year that it would likely come down to him or Curt Schilling for induction. Schilling obviously left the organization on less rosier terms than Lieberthal did, so it will be interesting how the Phillies proceed with next year's selection process.
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There has been lots of talk about Tyler Cloyd lately given his sparkling numbers at Double and Triple-A this season. But another pitcher to watch is righty Jonathan Pettibone, who has 11 strikeouts, five walks and five earned runs in 11 innings over two starts since his promotion to Triple-A. Pettibone is only 21 years old, drafted in 2008, when the Phillies went over slot to coax him out of a scholarship to USC.
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Domonic Brown is making is season debut in right field, the position he played all the way up to the point the Phillies acquired Hunter Pence last season. Nate Schierholtz is getting his first major league start in center field. So those are two things to watch in tonight's game against the Cardinals.
Buy Phillies tickets - The big move I'd still like to see is to figure a way to get Charlie Manuel to step aside gracefully and allow Ryne Sandberg to move up.
I've still not seen enough from Dom Brown that I am convinced he can be a primary MLB player, and he's had some experience at it.
I am hard pressed to imagine that all those others are going to work out, and insofar as doing "everything possible" for another prospect, that seems absolutely pie in the sky. Also, Nate Schierholtz seems hardly the feller to hand a starting outfield job since he's a well below average hitter over his career and with very little pop.
I'd actually like to see some of these fellers get something of a shot the rest of this year. That would certainly be better than recycling a proven failure as Michael Martinez!— BEMiller - Anybody notice the Orioles, who are still in a pennant race, brought up their AA 3rd base prospect Manny Machado last night. He hit 2 homers and drove in 4 runs in his MLB debut. Why don't the Phillies bring up Cody Asche and give him a tryout @ 3rd base, what do they have to lose? Maybe they're waiting for the rosters to expand in September. The 2013 third base replacement might already be in our system.— gonzoinFla
...all Sixto Lezcano did was contribute to a Phillies pennant winner is all...
Mike Olt went 1 for 3 with a ribbie last night in Texas' win over Detroit.— Bummy Davis- Sentence completion:
They have called up and are starting Michael Martinez because_________________.— BEMiller - BTW, why do so many people think calling a player a prospect amounts to calling them a can't miss!— BEMiller
- BTW, again: Michael Schwimmer is another who needs to be shown where the exit is: Stage left, right or center will do. He can't act, either!
GOOD GRIEF!— BEMiller - The Phillies and Braves are going to be in competition for a 3B next year. I saw where they may target Youkilis if they can get him for the right price.
I would like to see the Phillies trade for Mike Young. Rumor has it that the Rangers may be willing to make him available because he will be a free agent after 2013. He still has the knd of offensive capabilities the Phillies need and he doesn't have a full time role anymore. Seems like a good fit.— fafink - OK, you Schwimmer haters out there, would you care to guess what his ERA and WHIP have been since he was called back up in early June?
You don't know? Then why are you blasting him?
The answers are 3.10 and 1.11. If our entire bullpen had those numbers we'd be a a lot better shape.— judas_priest - Guys, The Phillies are nto a lot different then most teams, I'll bet you could build a roster of Minor league guys who could succeed in the big leagues and do very well! For those of you that do follow the minors you KNOW there are a lot of guys in the minors that are better then guys in the big leagues. For some reason Talent does not always matter, it matters where you are drafted and who you know/are related to!!!
— baseballcoach - Lieby was a good solid catcher who happened to play on some of our worst teams since WW2. I think being an all-star a few times and winning a gold glove is enough to get onto the wall, and then you can throw in the facts that he was also a classy guy and good teammate.— YodelInTheVlly
- I hope the phillys brass is smart enough to realize that KK and Mayberry aren t and never will be starters on winning teams........i m not saying somewhere over the rainbow either will be starters but a team tht employes them as front line players will be playing in the second division .........Hey Rube we dont want to be playing in the second division— jgf
