Down on the farm. A look at the minors.

With Monday being an off day for the Phightins, I thought I would take a look at our up and comers. So here we go down on the farm.

Lehigh Valley (AAA): Kyle Kendrick got rocked by Toledo yesterday in a rare mid day game. He gave up 6 earned runs over five innings. He did manage to strikeout 4 and only walked one. The part that impresses me the most about Kyle Kendrick so far is his ERA. The six earned runs brought his ERA up to 3.75. I would say that is pretty respectable compared to what we saw from him the bigs last season. Hopefully this means he is turning it around. You can never have enough sinkerballers at the Bank. Right now Kendrick needs to focus making batters miss the ball. His WHIP and his groundball rate are both hovering right around 1.50. So to get back to the bigs with the Phils or anyone else, he will need to improve both of those.

Reading (AA): Michael Taylor is continuing to prove that his 2008 campaign was no fluke. Taylor is hitting .300 on the nose this year. He is showing great plate discipline with only 12 strikeouts in 90 ABs. His K:BB is almost even at 12:11. With an OB% of .373, I think Taylor just needs a full spring with Lopes to fine tune the art of the stolen base and he will be a perenial threat on the base path. Taylor is definitely setting himself up nicely for a shot at the bigs in case of an injury. Right now his only real competition for that call is Mayberry in Lehigh Valley, but Mayberry is showing a little less plate discipline that could hurt his chances. Either way, we'd be calling up guys who are getting on base on their respective teams and best of all are RHed.

Clearwater (A+):  Drabek seemingly struggled last night even though Clearwater pulled out the victory over Florida State League leading Brevard County. Drabek only pitched five innings walking three and also had a wild pitch. The good news is he only gave up one run and struck out five. Drabek was actually in line for the win until Jared Simon blew it in the ninth. Overall, Drabek is having a great season. In seven games this season (6 starts, 1 relief appearance of 6.2 IP), Drabek is 3-0 with an ERA of 2.21. His WHIP is in the low 1s at 1.13 and his K:BB ratio is currently over 4:1 (51:12). I would be surprised if Drabek isn't pitching in AA Reading or higher by the end of the year.

Lakewood (A): The big story down at Lakewood for the last month or so has been the pitching staff, namely Jason Knapp. He has 44 strikeouts in 6 starts (32.2 IP). Where had started off fantastic with a low 3s ERA. He started strong with 37 Ks in his first 4 starts. His last two starts have been less than desirable 10 ERs in 8.1 IP and only striking out 7 over two games. Anthony Gose and Zach Collier, 2nd and 1st (supplemental) round 2008 draft picks respectively, have been showing some promise. Both have modest batting averages floating in the .250-.260 range. Where Gose struggles at the plate, 30 Ks in 116 ABs, look out when he does get on base. 10 of his 29 base hits have been for extra bases, 0 HRs I may add. Of the 19 singles and 6 BBs, Gose basically turned those around into extra bases steally 19 and being caught 4 times. Collier has hit for a slightly higher average, bust basically shows the same plate discipline, striking out 25 times in 103 ABs. Again 10 of his 27 hits have been for extra bases, still 0 HRs. While not as fast as Gose, Collier has stolen 9 bases and caught only once. The only two things I see wrong with Gose and Collier are plate discipline and the fact that both are left handed hitters. The big league squad as currently constituted is already LH dominant enough. Hopefully a flux of RH or switch hitting talent could come or these two may end up valuable pieces for a bigger fish. Knapp, Gose, and Collier are all still years away, but it is good to see guys contributing right away.