Welcome to the Top Level of the Minors! It’s your new go-to site for information about Lehigh Valley professional sports including the IronPigs and the Phantoms!
When we last saw the IronPigs, they were in the process of losing a home series to the Red Sox affiliate, 2-4. And, frankly, it didn’t feel that close given the number of games where our local nine were just not competitive. The team didn’t give us a lot of reason for hope, headed out on the road for two weeks. Even a depleted Scranton team is always dangerous, and what to expect from the franchise’ first ever foray to Omaha to face the Kansas City affiliate?
But these Steel Swine are road warriors indeed. They went up to Moosic and derailed the RailRiders taking five out of six games–the only loss on the second game of a doubleheader by a 1-2 score. Then they got on a plane and flew west to take four out of six from the Storm Chasers, which includes a loss to a young pitcher named Zack Greinke. That 9-3 record over the last two series has vaulted the Precious Porkers to second place in the standings in the International League East.
The IronPigs are 34-26 and in second place in the International League East. They are 11-13 at home and 23-13 on the road. They are 22-19 vs right hand pitching, and 12-7 vs left hand pitching. Their best day of the week is Tuesday, where they’re 6-3, while their worst day is Thursday at 3-4. Here’s a look at the standings overall in the division:
But why the good road record?
There could be many factors, but I first look at the Phillies and the roster moves they prefer to make when the team is at home, in order to facilitate transportation and such. When the team is out on the road, in upstate New York or Massachusetts or egad Omaha, Nebraska? They’d prefer to leave them alone unless there’s something pressing. Over the past two weeks on the road, here’s a summary of some of the comings and goings on the roster:
INF Nick Maton called up the Phillies. Injured, on the MLB Injured List. Shoulder.
LHP Cristopher Sanchez up to Phillies. Used successfully as a reliever.
3B Will Toffey activated from IronPigs Injured List.
OF Roman Quinn sent outright to IronPigs, elected free agency, signed by Kansas City to minor league contract and assigned to Omaha. Has not yet played for that organization.
LHP Braeden Ogle activated from Injured List for IronPigs
INF Ali Castillo promoted from AA Reading to IronPigs
OF Matt Vierling and INF Scott Kingery recalled/selected from IronPigs to Phillies. Kingery was subsequently sent outright back to IronPigs off the 40-man roster again.
C Austin Wynns traded to San Francisco for LHP Michael Plassmeyer. Wynns appeared in three games for the MLB Giants before being sent to Sacramento, while Plassmeyer won his first start for the AAA IronPigs.
RHP Colton Eastman sent to AA Reading.
LHP Jose Alvarado, who had been with the IronPigs working out some control issues, recalled to Phillies with LHP Cristopher Sanchez returned.
RHP Michael Mariot traded to Detroit.
Phillies DFA RHP James Norwood, select the contract of RHP Micheal Kelly from the IronPigs
Discussion: Despite being on the road, there are a lot of moving parts here! But I’m not sure what else to attribute the record to. As you can gather moving through the transactions, the rotation is in a bit of flux right now. I think we can project a few moves that will stabilize it–even if temporarily. We’ll look at that below. Sorry to see the organization lose Roman Quinn. He was always a favorite and I would selfishly love to have had him back with the ‘Pigs. Wynns was hitting really well, but San Francisco needed an MLB catcher, so good on the Phillies for letting him get to the majors as he still has the injured Donny Sands and the healing Rafael Marchan here ahead of him on the depth chart, as well as the two guys in Philadelphia. Marchan is with the IronPigs officially on rehab. Now, why would the Phillies select Kelly over Mark Appel? Kelly has been good, and perhaps Mark hasn’t had the opportunities. But, in the end, I really think it has to be a similar reason as to why Scott Kingery got selected last week over INF Jairo Munoz, who has been hitting much better.
Looking Ahead: Marchan took a 40-man spot today as he completed his rehab and was optioned. Donny Sands hasn’t played in weeks, and the nature of his injury is not known. He still occupies a 40-man spot. There are some additional players who will need a spot, too, such as LHP Ryan Sherriff and RHP Sam Coonrod and maybe LHP JoJo Romero. However, perhaps there’s a candidate or two for the 60-day Injured List (Segura?) and other moves. So, stay tuned, as they say.
Not A Good Look: Minor league players change numbers all the time–especially at Triple-A where players are recalled and sent down for multiple stints at the level. However, it’s just not a good sign–at least to me–when you’re injured and the team takes your uniform number and gives it to someone else. Sure, there can be a myriad reasons why this could happen, including player preference as well as equipment limitations. And it’s difficult to get good injury information now that everything runs through Philadelphia. Finally, the roster runs deep these days. Right now, though, the following players on the 7-day Injured List don’t have a number: RHP Cam Bedrosian’s 47 is being worn by Jorge Bonifacio, RHP Hans Crouse’ 38 is being worn by LHP Bailey Falter, and Donny Sands’ 13 is being worn by Rafael Marchan. I hope to be pleasantly surprised and see these guys get healthy soon. Cryptic Twitter messages from Sands suggest that could be the case–as well as the jettison of the good-playing Wynns.
How does the lineup look?
Here’s how they lined up in Omaha Saturday night:
Munoz, LF .327
Maggi, SS .206
Hall, 1B .266
Bonifacio, RF .222
Marchan, C .194
Toffey, DH .202
Kingery, 2B .190
Castillo, 3B .261
Guthrie, CF .254
Bench: Cabral, C; Francisco, C; Peterson, OF
Rotation versus Circumvolution
As mentioned above, the players in the rotation are in constant flux right now, so rather than give you “probables” for the upcoming series, I’ll list some of the characters in the play, and we’ll see which roles they end up playing.
Corey Oswalt. He started the Tuesday game in Omaha and is a candidate to start a game this week–perhaps staying with the Tuesday role. He’s been to the big leagues with the Mets a few times over the past couple seasons. His 5.68 ERA since coming to the IronPigs is an improvement over where he started, but he’s still only doing two to three innings per outing.
James Marvel. Marvel was brought in as an innings-eating pitch-to-contact starter for Triple-A. The contact has been a little too much and hence the innings-eating part hasn’t come to fruition. The 9.44 ERA has landed him in the bullpen as of the Omaha series, but he should be still stretched out enough to take the ball one night this week if need be.
Michael Mariot. Traded to Detroit.
Ricardo Sanchez. The veteran lefty has been, at times, our most effective starter. He started the Thursday game last week and should be a candidate to start as soon as Tuesday or as late as Thursday this series.
Michael Passmeyer. The newly minted IronPig was great in his Lehigh Valley debut in Omaha. Add another lefty to the mix. He could start Wednesday, Thursday or Friday.
Bailey Falter. Falter will probably not start this series as they have him on tap for a Philadelphia start Friday in Washington for the doubleheader.
Cristopher Sanchez. As mentioned above, he’s been in Philadelphia and done reasonably well with an undefined bull-pen role. I don’t know how stretched out he is–perhaps we see him piggy-back with another starter above like Marvel or Oswalt.
Kent Emmanuel. How about another lefty? Claimed off waivers from Houston prior to the season, he’s been on the MLB 60-day Injured List since March with left elbow impingement. He began his rehab in Florida as a starter, and could join the IronPigs rotation as soon as this week to continue as an MLB rehab player. Eventually he’ll need a 40-man spot (see above) but he has some time.
Colton Eastman. He had some nice starts for us this season and could return from Reading but the weekend. Reading needs starters too, but there could be a couple guys shoving their way up from Jersey Shore?
Bullpen. I think we used nine pitchers for nine innings in Sunday’s finale in Omaha. It didn’t go well, but with such a deep group of relievers and everyone needs to get his work in, leaning on the ‘pen isn’t the disaster-in-waiting that it is at the next level.
Well, look who’s here!
Ahh, Buffalo. Could the benefit from all those top-level Blue Jays prospects be running out? The roster looks similar to when the Bisons visited last month and took four out of six. However, they’ve been scuffling a bit of late only winning three of their last ten games. Groshans and Lopez are still around. The pitcher Francis and Samad Taylor as well. Tanner Morris rounds out their prospect group, which is not scary.
But I’m burying the lede, right? This series is a chance for the IronPigs to lay claim to the top spot in the division. Everyone likes a winner, you know. As far as the season series, we play up in Buffalo in August and that’s it!
What’s going on at the park?
- Tuesday, June 14th – 7:05 pm
- Tail Waggin’ Tuesdays
- Bring your dog to the ballpark!
- $1 Hot Dog Night!
- Lehigh Valley Coquis
- Martial Arts Night
- Pre-Game on-field demonstrations
- Tail Waggin’ Tuesdays
- Wednesday, June 15th – 7:05 pm
- Allentown Ambassadors Tribute Night
- Youth Cap giveaway
- Dance Night
- Pre-Game on-field demonstrations
- Thursday, June 16th – 7:05 pm
- Waterproof Phone Bag giveaway
- Pre-Game Happy Hour
- Plaza Gates open at 5:00pm
- Rest of the ballpark opens at 5:30pm
- $1 Hot Dogs and $2-$3 Domestic Drafts
- Friday, June 17th – 7:05 pm
- To infinity…and baseball Night
- Faith Night
- Enjoy a pre-game video presented by the IronPigs players on what faith means to them
- Post-Game IronPigs player Testimonial
- Post-Game Fireworks!
- Saturday, June 18th – 6:35 pm
- STH: On-Field Batting Practice Viewing
- Kid takeover Night
- Vollyball Night
- Youth Piggy Bank giveaway
- Luncheon with the players for IronPigs Charities.
- Post-Game Fireworks!
- Sunday, June 19th – 1:35 pm
- Father’s Day Celebration
- Father’s Day special buffet at the Oasis looks good! Check the IronPigs home site for links to tickets. Take Dad out to the game!
- Phillie Phanatic Appearance!
- Youth socks giveaway
- Sunday post-game Kids Run the Bases
(*Bold/Italics are the “Kram Highlights.”)
Other IronPigs Goings On: Some new merch in the store including Wooder Ice for Philly Night and the Father’s Day cap that works off the MLB design, which I like. IronPigs Charities Luncheon with the players is back! Check the site for tix; they’ll probably sell out. “Allentown Ambassadors Night” looks good. Will there be any further merchandise or auctions?
Reading Overlap
Like most home series this season–other than last week–our games overlap almost exactly with Double-A Reading. It was good to get down there for a whole week of baseball last week. This week they have T-Shirt nights Tuesday and Wednesday with the Tuesday shirt being a stars and stripes and the Wednesday one to celebrate Yuengling Night. They have a Father’s Day T-Shirt on Sunday, too, in a late game that we’ll try to get to following the IronPigs matinee. Oh, and as I alluded to above–I don’t have any information and I’m not even predicting anything BUT: I’m going to keep refreshing my transactions this week to see if we get any pitchers from Jersey Shore ready for the challenge of Double-A.
Status Report
We’ve got lots to do here at the Top Level of the Minors, coming over from the Horn and Bell, to make it into the media coverage the Lehigh Valley deserves based on the way the area and its sports fans support the IronPigs and the Phantoms. Thanks for coming along for the ride–lots of new stuff coming soon. All old feeds are current and I’m not deleting anything. You can still reach me on Twitter @Kram207, Insta: Kram207 and SpaceBook: Kram TwoOhnine. Eventually, there will be “Top Level” specific feeds, but we’ve gotta start somewhere.
“See you at the park”
We’ll stay with the same sign-off, because at the heart of it, I just like going to the games. I get pumped up for it and that’s why I’ll give you 2000 words about six games that haven’t been played yet. 🙂
@Kram207
Be First to Comment