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“Who is this guy?”

This post will be updated through the first week or two of the season, and then via the “IronPigs Today” columns after that.  We’ll pin this one as it’s a nice reference when you’re at the game to remember who “that guy” is.

[UPDATE]  This post has been updated for the weekend of the Red Wings Series, April 10. 

Injured List, Etc.

Let’s get this out of the way.  We’re not starting off the season particularly healthy.

INF Aidan Miller:  The guy who is a top prospect.  Balky back.  Return unknown.  Reports of him “swinging the bat” could be erroneous.  Stay tuned.

OF Gabriel Rincones Jr: We know him from last season.  Big lefty outfielder with light-tower power.  Bad knees.  Hopefully back sooner rather than later.  They’re leaning into the platoon with him, which is an interesting developmental strategy.  Something to watch.

1B Keaton Anthony:  Broke his foot during Spring Training.  It will be a few weeks probably before we see him.  If he does well we may see him in left field a bit.

OF Johan Rojas:  Not injured, but suspended for horse steroids until 6/25/26.

RHP Daniel Robert:  Balky heart.  Treatment ongoing, should be able to return to play. 60-Day IL.

RHP Andrew Bechtold:  “Shoulder Discomfort” now on the 60-Day IL

RHP John McMillon: (Dev List)

RHP Michael Mercado:  7-Day IL for “Shoulder Tear”

C Mark Kolozsvary: 60-Day IL “Knee Surgery”

INF Erick Brito: 60-Day IL for “Hand Surgery”

INF Jose Rodriguez: “Shoulder Tear” now on the 60-Day IL

* – denotes, on the 40-man roster

Starting Pitchers

#12 LHP Tucker Davidson (LHP):  The lefty from Texas.  AAA veteran started 23 of 36 games in 2025 and 2024 with Nashville.  Started 15 in 2022 with Gwinnett.  MLB time with Atlanta, Baltimore, the Angels and Kansas City, all as a reliever.

#18 RHP Bryse Wilson:  Another AAA veteran.  He came up with the Braves and has MLB time with them, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee and the White Sox.  Another AAA starter, MLB reliever type.

#69 RHP Jean Cabrera*:  They guy who’s a prospect, but should be a reliever.  From Venezuela, he spent the last couple seasons in Reading.  Plenty of pitch-ability but not the body or the stuff that you usually see in an MLB starting pitcher.  He did have some nice innings in MLB Spring Training.  He and Rangel are the depth starters for the Phillies at this juncture.

#55 RHP Alan Rangel*:  Hey we know him!  From Mexico, we saved him from the Braves and Angels and he’s been up with the Phillies for a bit.  He’s in the mix to be the Phillies #6 or #7 starter this season.

#41 Ryan Cusick:  The former Braves’ first rounder.  He was claimed off waivers from the White Sox last season, passed through waivers and here he is.  He pitched for Vegas and Toledo last season in Triple-A and had yet to make his MLB debut.  His numbers in 19 games, 4 starts (man, I don’t remember those four starts, doubleheaders?) with the Pigs last season were not tremendous. He kicked around the Big Leagues as a reliever but has been stretched out to start games here.

#43 Connor Gillispie: The guy who might be a starter.  He started six games for Miami last season and has another stint in the bigs with Cleveland.  Last season pitched for Jacksonville and St Paul, including starts for both teams. So far he’s been a bulk innings guy on Wheeler nights

#xx Zack Wheeler:  The guy who might be a future Hall of Famer.  MLB Rehab will next pitch for the IronPigs on Wednesday April 8.  Probably will not go to St Paul with the team for the next series, but should rehab somewhere, one more time, before re-joining the Phillies.

First Base

#13 1B/DH Felix Reyes: The guy who won the Eastern League batting title last season.  He’s listed with the outfielders and they might try that a bunch, especially when Keaton gets back.

Infielders

#00 Christian Cairo*: The guy who is Miguel’s kid.  Stands just 5’8″ and spent all of last season with AAA Columbus.  Has yet to make his MLB debut.  Listed as a shortstop.  Slashed .237/.338/.331 last season in the International Leauge.

#5 Liover Peguero:  The guy who was a Pirate.  Fiery competitor from the DR spent parts of the last four seasons in Pittsburgh.  Listed as a shortstop.  Has been playing some First Base, although he doesn’t really profile there.

#29 Carter Kieboom:  The guy who was a first rounder for the Nationals.  Spencer’s brother.  Listed as 3B, it just hasn’t clicked for him in the big leagues, but he hit .319/.368/.449 last season with AAA Sugar Land.  He was a late addition via cash trade with Cleveland where he was a non-roster invitee, but showed poorly this spring.

#4 Robert Moore:  Came over from the Brewers along with Hendry Mendez, for Oliver Dunn.  Scrappy second-base type drafted out of Arkansas with a sandwich-round pick. Never seems over-matched despite his diminutive stature.

Outfielders

#46 Bryan De La Cruz:  The guy from Miami.  He split last season between Gwinnett and Scranton in Triple-A.  He’s been in the bigs with Atlanta and Pittsburgh in addition to Miami.  He had a really nice Spring Training but got squeezed out for a spot with the Phillies.  The righty could get a shot if Otto Kemp falters. He’s got an opt-out over the summer some time.

#0 Pedro León*:  The Cuban from Houston.  Cup of coffee with Houston in 2024 where he was a highly rated prospect at one time.  Spent the last few years with Sugar Land, where he hit .299 in 2024.

#7 Cade Fergus:  [UPDATE:  Development List]  The guy who is clutch.  He’s been up and back from Reading and should continue along that path.  Money in extra innings.

#3 Oscar Mercado:  The guy who was on our team first part of last season; he returns for outfield depth.

#45 Steward Berroa*:  Came via cash trade with Milwaukee due to 40-man crunch for Brewers.  Switch-hitting Dominican outfielder standing 5’9″.  He slugged 10 HRs in 79 games for AAA-Buffalo in 2024, slashing .281/.371/.454.  He has MLB time with Toronto and Milwaukee.

Catchers

(It’s a lot of catchers)

#27 René Pinto:  [UPDATE: 7-Day Injured List] The veteran who played 83 games in the Majors with Tampa.  54 games in Reno last season in Triple-A.  He’s from Venezuela and has some pop in his bat.

#16 Caleb Ricketts:  The guy who is a catching prospect.  Phillies’ 7th round pick in 2022 out of San Diego.  The big backstop bats lefty and has been with Reading the last couple seasons.  Definitely advanced in 2025 over 2024, but did battle some injuries along the way.

#24 Paul McIntosh:  The guy who came over from Miami in the Luzardo trade.  He was originally drafted by the Angels out of West Virginia.  Was here a bit last season, but didn’t hit a ton.

C Garrett Stubbs:  He’s back!  They guy who passed through waivers!  He has a unique “two-way” kind of contract and anyone who claims him would have to initially have him on the MLB active roster and then might be responsible for his current deal.  He could elect free agency, but then he’d lose his current deal.  Why is this important?  Well, his deal will pay him $575,000 to play in the minors and $975,000 to play in the majors.  It’s good work if you can get it, in East Allentown.

Relief Pitchers

#50 Seth Johnson*:  The guy who throws gas.  But, needs to throw strikes.  If he can stay in the zone and get guys out, he’ll be good ‘pen depth for the Phillies.  He also might be the AAA closer.

#56 Griff McGarry:  The guy who was a National this spring.  Plucked via the Rule 5 draft, he was returned to the Phillies when he didn’t make the Nats 26-man roster out of Spring Training.  He was being groomed to be a reliever on the MLB level this spring, which is probably right, but we know he wants to start, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him perhaps piggy back with Wheeler a bit and start getting stretched back out so that the Phillies can have him eat AAA innings as a starter.  He’s a column-favorite, though, so we’ll be watching carefully for what their plan is.

#39 Chase Shugart*: The other guy who was a Pirate.  Drafted by the Red Sox initially he appeared in 35 games out of the pen for the Bucs last season with reasonable numbers.  Like Johnson, competing to be an up-and-down guy for the Phillies relief crew.

#47 Nolan Hoffman*:  The guy who’s not the original Hoffman.  He was here last season and will be in the mix with Johnson and Shugart for first call up.  Came over last season in a cash trade with the Rangers.  A Mariners pick out of Texas A&M.

#54 Genesis Cabrera (LHP):  The guy who hurt Bryce Harper.  It’s all good now, but he spent time with St Louis and then Toronto before kicking around to four teams last season: Mets, Pittsburgh, Cubs and Twins.

#67 Jonathan Hernandez:  The guy from the Rangers, via Durham.  He has a bunch of MLB time mostly with Texas.  He had a stint in the Seattle organization and returned to Texas before ending up on Durham last season spending part of the season injured.  His numbers with AAA-Durham though, were outstanding following his injury.  This guy’s a dark horse for a 40-man spot.

#33 Trevor Richards:  The guy from KC and Arizona.  He has 295 games in the MLB with Miami, Tampa, Milwaukee, Minnesota and Toronto, too.  The Phillies snapped him up in December on a minors deal; he almost certainly has an opt-out at some point.  His Triple-A numbers last season weren’t great, though, so he’ll be looking to get back to MLB form.

#57 Lou Trivino:  The guy they call “Sweet Lou” is a Slippery Rock product who was here for a spell last season as the organization was collecting former PSAC players.  He was originally drafted by Oakland and has a bunch of MLB time there, in addition to some with the Yankees and last season with the Phillies.  He re-signed on a minors deal to be here.

#44 Andrew Walling (LHP):  The guy who the Phillies signed to a minor league contract after he pitched for Williamsport in the MLB Draft League.  He spent a bunch of the past two seasons with Reading before showing well for the IronPigs late last season.

#27 Kyle Backhus (LHP)*:  The guy who throws side-arm.  He had a tremendous Spring Training, a horrible Opening Day, and has been good since.  He had options and got moved down to activate Kerkering.  Came over in a trade with Arizona for CF Avery Owusu-Asiedu.  26 games with AAA-Reno last season, 4-4, 2.05 ERA, also had 32 games with MLB Arizona last season.

Printable Roster: 4/9/2026

040926 LHV Roster

See you at the park,

@Kram207

Featured Image of Griff McGarry by Steve Kiebach

The week-long series with the Red Wings of Rochester continues this weekend.  Here’s what you need to know if you’re following the team or going to the games:

Too Much Winning

The early success of the team through the first series and a half of the season was sure to come to an end.  The nemesis Red Wings did just that taking the first two games of the series before getting rolled last night.  And while we might lament the missing players who are trying to come back from injuries (Keaton Anthony, foot, Aidan Miller, back, Gabriel Rincones Jr, knee) we do have some guys in the lineup who are playing hard, doing the right things, and trying to impress the Phillies enough to make a move.

As The Roster Turns

The opening, pinned, ROSTER POST has been updated with the latest information.

• OF Cade Fergus has been off, and on, and back on, the Development List
• RHP Orion Kerkering completed his rehab assignment and was reinstated on the Phillies
• To make room, LHP Kyle Backhus, the side-winding reliever, was optioned to the IronPigs. He was activated two days ago and made his debut with the Pigs Thursday night.
• SS Jose Rodriguez was transferred from the 7-Day to the 60-Day Injured List.  As far as organizational roster spots, we are at the maximum.  Expect to see some 60-Day guys moved to “Full Season” if needed and they’re not expected back.
• C Renee Pinto is on the 7-Day Injured List
• RHP Mitch Neunborn has been sent to AA-Reading.
• Phillies receive OF Steward Berroa in a cash trade with Milwaukee.  He’s on the 40-man and was optioned to Lehigh Valley.  He’ll be active Friday night.  We hope this doesn’t signal poor prognosis for Rincones and Anthony.
• C Garrett Stubbs hasn’t been in the lineup for a couple days.  One wonders if he’s been jetting across the country just in case Realmuto is more hurt than we think.  As the Phillies return home and Realmuto expects to play Friday night, expect Stubbs back in the Lehigh Valley.
• MLB Rehabber Zack Wheeler looked good the other night.  His fastball is still a couple clicks off, but his secondaries were baffling Red Wing hitters.  He probably needs one more start, which could come on Tuesday in St Paul (Pigs) or Somerset (Reading).  Interestingly, Stew Berroa was given Zack’s IronPigs’ uniform numbeer.  Hmm.  (Could be Florida on Monday; haven’t seen a plan.)

Reminder: click through to the roster post for player capsules and a printable roster.

Reyes Watch

1B/LF/DH Felix Reyes has been one to watch this young season.  He’s hitting .346 in Home Games while OPSing .910.  Versus lefties he’s hitting .400 with a 1.133 OPS.  He’s been getting time at the three positions listed above.  We saw one poor play in LF during the opening series, but he had a nice play in the outfield the other night (photo below).  Given our injuries and the slow start of a couple of these other players, he’s a guy you can come to the games and take a look at.  If they think LF is realistic for him in the Big Leagues, they probably need to start having him dedicate more time out there in games, right now.

Taking it one step further:  Kieboom has been a liability at third.  Put him at First, Cairo at third and Peggy at second with Alcantara at shortstop.  BTW, Pigs are 5-0 when Alcantara plays shortstop.

Weekend at the Park

6:35PM First Pitch on Friday and Saturday, 1:15PM Sunday.

Gates: 5:15PM Friday and Saturday, 12:00 Sunday.  15 Minutes earlier for Clubs and Suites.

Promotions:

Friday:  Post-Game Fireworks, “Club PIG”

Saturday: Coquis

Sunday: Post-Game Kids Run The Bases

Pitching Matchups:

Date Time
4/10 6:35 p.m. RHP Connor Gillispie (2-0, 0.00) vs. rhp luis perales (0-1, 6.23)
4/11 6:35 p.m. RHP Ryan Cusick (0-0, 5.63) vs. rhp andry lara (0-1, 7.50)
4/12 1:15 p.m. LHP Tucker Davidson (0-0, 0.00) vs. rhp riley cornelio (1-0, 2.89)

Weather:

Friday: Pushing 70 at game time, but you’ll need a hoodie by the end.

Saturday: Back to high-50s at game time, but less windy.

Sunday: 55 and clear at game time.  Less wind.

See you at the park,

@Kram207

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Looking Back

The IronPigs opened at home in the cold of March with a three game series against Toledo.  The Mud Hens (AAA-DET) came in with top prospect Max Clark as well as our old buddy Cal Stevenson.  To everyone’s delight, the ‘Pigs got the mini-series sweep and left town for the warmer weather of Durham, North Carolina with a perfect 3-0 record.

Alas, a perfect 150-0 record was not to be, as they dropped a couple in Durham, but gatheered a 4-2 series win. They return home with a 7-2 record, near the top of the standings.

Resources

The headlining roster post with player capsules has been fully updated HERE.

The ‘New Food’ post will get updated this week–hopefully in time for the ‘Weekend Update.’

Reading has their home opener tonight.  Their roster post is HERE. We’ll update that one at some point as well.

Roster

Click on the link above to get the full roster details and latest news as of this morning.  The headlines, though, are that Garrett Stubbs has returned (yay four catchers) and that RHP Zack Wheeler will remain* with the IronPigs on rehab and start the game tomorrow (Wednesday) at Coca Cola Park.

*He’s not really with the team.  He’s doing his training and rehab in Philadelphia and will parachute in for the games, home or away.  Still, we’re glad to have him and to watch the work put in by one of the best pitchers in baseball.

Hello, Rochester

Rochester opened their season in Jacksonville (Aside: Imagine that!  A team from upstate New York opening in Florida in March rather than the frozen tundra!  Maybe this MLB-owns-MiLB thing will work out somehow.) where they won 2-1 in the mini-series.  Then they opened their home schedule last week versus Scranton and went 2-4 on the week including a 16-5 pasting by the RailRiders on Easter Sunday.

The AAA-affiliate of the Washington Nationals, the Red Wings do not appear to carry any of our old friends; however, they do have a fair few names you’ll remember, maybe from last season or from prospect lists.  C Harry Ford is the former 12th overall pick of the Seattle Mariners in the 2021 draft, out of high school in Georgia. He came over when the Nationals traded LHP Jose Ferrer.  LHP Luis Perales was on the Red Sox as an international signee out of Venezuela.  He came over to Washington in a December trade.  OF Andrew Pinckney is a name you’ll recognize from Red Wings teams of the past couple seasons.  OFs Dylan Crews and Robert Hassell III are former prospect-list darlings who find themselves in Triple-A to start the season.

Pitching

Probable starter matchups this week: [Updated 4/7, 1PM]

Tuesday: RHP Jean Cabrera vs RHP Riley Cornelio

Wednesday: RHP Zack Wheeler (MLB Rehab) vs LHP Andrew Alvarez

Thursday:  RHP Alan Rangel vs. LHP Mitchell Parker

Friday: RHP Connor Gillispie vs. RHP Luis Perales

Saturday: RHP Ryan Cusick vs. RHP Andry Lara

Sunday: LHP Tucker Davidson vs. TBA

Updates

Batting practice viewing for Bacon USA Members will be held on Tuesdays this season.  Contact your ticket rep for details and RSVPs.

Note that games in April are exclusively 6:35PM starts other than Sundays, which are 1:15PM this season.  That means weekly gates are 5:00PM for Club/Suites and 5:15PM for Main/CF–except Thursday Happy Hour will be 5:00PM everywhere.  In May it gets wonky with a 6:05PM on a Tuesday before an education day, and a couple of those 11AM day games.  And then 6:45PM.  It looks like those 6:45PMs will continue throughout the season and not convert to 7:05 at any point.

PigsFoodFinder.com appears to have been updated for 2026 at this juncture.  It’s not perfect, but a great resource, especially if you’re bringing guests who may want to explore without wasting the hole game in lines.

Promotions:  What’s Going On At The Park?

Tuesday: Tail Waggin’ Tuesday, Dollar Dogs, “Awful Night”

Wednesday: Tacos & Tallboys, Rock Night

Thursday: Happy Hour, Pro Wrestling Night

Friday: Fireworks, Club PIG, Youth Wrestling Night

Saturday: Coquis Night, STEAM Night, Tesla Pre-game Parade

Sunday: Master’s Sunday in Club Level, Post-game Kids Run Bases

Who’s Hot, and Who’s Not

HOT

Reliever Chase Shugart has been pitching in leverage situations and maintains a 0.00 ERA on the season.

OF Bryan De La Cruz is heating up.  His .178 average may seem poor, but his .878 OPS shows his real impact on the games.

INF Carter Kieboom is also heating up.  His average is up to .280 and OPS .840.

C Garrett Stubbs came out of the chute on fire.  He has a couple HRs already!

1B/OF/DH Felix Reyes is starting to hit the home runs.

NOT

MLB-Rehab Zack Wheeler doesn’t have the good stuff yet–poor fielding behind him notwithstanding.

C Caleb Ricketts hasn’t found the groove yet at Triple-A

Relievers Genesis Cabrera and Andrew Walling have been uneven in the middle innings

RHP Griff McGarry had a great first appearance for the Pigs, but then melted down in his second.

Thoughts on the Team, This Young Season

The offseason worry about this roster was largely centered on the starting pitching.  Thus far, the starters have done reasonably well.  Hopefully it continues.  The relief crew will have occasional bad outings, but they are a deep bunch and should continue to be good.  We’ve been doing enough at the plate to make things work–Kieboom, Reyes, De La Cruz all chipping in.  The lineup will improve, too, with the return of Aidan Miller and Gabe Rincones and Keaton Anthony, when they are available.

Elsewhere

Reading is ice cold, 0-3 after their opening series in Akron.  It seems top prospect Dante Nori is nicked up, only starting two of their games and not yet playing the field.  They open their home schedule tonight (my 10th opening night down there as a season ticket holder) so we should get some answers.

In Philadelphia, Alumns Andrew Painter and Justin Crawford are doing ABOUT WHAT WE THOUGHT.  We’ll continue to follow them and wish them well.

See you at the park,

@Kram207

Featured Image by Jack Mitroka, cropped to fit the space

The IronPigs go for an opening-series sweep today at Coca Cola Park under sunny skies and (checks notes) somewhat less than 75 degree weather.  But, it might be the nicest weather of the season thus far.

Wheeler was great yesterday.  He admitted he didn’t have his good stuff with the breaking pitches–how could you when you can’t feel your hands and the ball is like a pool cue ball?  But he’s a pro and a veteran and he powered through without much difficulty.  He wasn’t amused by the whole rib-related promotions, but then kind of realized that he’s so far above Minor League Baseball that it really doesn’t matter.  Good for him.  Gotta wonder if the third start, planned for Reading, is throwing them a bone or taking it away from the IronPigs.

So that’s the schedule that’s been put out there:  He’s pitch again for the IronPigs on Friday in Durham.  He’ll train in Philly in between and parachute in for the game.  Then, his third start will be in Reading the following week–their schedule overlaps with IronPigs that week–on probably Wednesday 4/8 or Thursday 4/9.  They mentioned a fourth start, but we kinda doubt he’ll need it at this point. He sat 92-93 with the fastball yesterday with minimal effort in the freezing cold.  Considering that’s like his second start of Spring Training and the control was so good?  There are no worries around here.

Orion Kerkering pitched a quick inning in relief–also on rehab.  He debuted his new splitter to little success but got through his inning unscathed.  Unlike Wheeler Kerk is with us for the whole rehab experience.  We’ve been told he’ll travel to Durham and get another inning or two.  Then, when he’s good to do a back-to-back he’ll be ready to be activated to the Phillies.

Garrett Stubbs should return today, after passing through waivers and accepting his assignment.  His contract was designed just so that this would happen.  Expect a roster move prior to the game, perhaps someone will join the nascent Reading roster or be placed on the Development List.  He’s a great veteran presence, and of course there’s the ‘vibes’ stuff.  The lineup is still kind of anemic, though.  No one is helpless and they’re all settling in, so not throwing darts at anyone.  It’s the pitching so far–even discounting the four innings we got from MLB guys yesterday–that’s been the reason for early success.  We’ve got a bunch of veteran, accomplished MLB-experienced relievers at the ready.  One will falter at some point, but if we can get good enough starts then we should still be able to win some games.

Enter RHP Ryan Cusick.  He’s a former first rounder from Atlanta who was quickly shipped off to Oakland to advance through their system.  Last season, following a DFA from Oakland/Vegas, he ended up with the Detroit organization and these very Mud Hens, appeared in one game and got DFA’d again.  He was picked up by the White Sox and sent to Charlotte.  He did not appear for Charlotte or the White Sox, still had an option, but was still sent off to DFA limbo.  Enter the Phillies.  They wanted him to work on some things so they put him in the lab in Clearwater for a bit.  Then, he was with the IronPigs where he made 19 appearances including four starts.  Overall it was 27 innings, 34 Hits, 35 Strikeouts and 13 Walks.  We are assuming they told Cusick over the offseason, as some point, that they saw him mostly as a starter or long-man, so that is how he has prepared.  But that is a bunch of assumptions, too.  It will be interesting to see how long he goes today and what he looks like.

The opposing starter is RHP Keider Montero, a Venezuelan native.  He had 10 outings and 8 starts with Toledo last season, as well as 20 appearances and 12 starts for Detroit.  Look for high-velocity and high-spin today, with low control.  Patience might be key for ‘Pigs hitters.

Game Time is 1:15 PM

Gates at 12:00 (Main) and 11:45 (Club/Suites)

Good seats still available.

Weather: 51 degrees and sunny at game time, with temperature increasing during the game.  Still kinda breezy though.

Promotions:  Tail Waggin’ Day–bring the pup, and post-game kids run bases.

What’s Next?

The ‘Pigs head to Durham, NC for a standard six-game series.  Around here, you can go to Reading on Tuesday at 5:00PM for a scrimmage between AA Reading and Hi-A Jersey Shore.  It’s a good look at those rosters and lineups and the weather looks to be tremendous.  Next weekend is a home/home with the Penguins over on the hockey side.  They are up in Scranton this afternoon, and then back there on Friday before a home rematch Saturday night for Star Wars Night.  Reading baseball will be in Akron Thursday through Saturday to open up–their Media Day is Tuesday I believe.  They’ll be off Easter Sunday and open at home Tuesday April 7 vs Hartford, overlap with the next home IronPigs series versus Rochester.

See you at the park,

@Kram207

Featured Image by Cheryl Pursell.  It has been cropped to fit the space.  

The IronPigs beat the Mud Hens last night 5-2.  It was the sixth straight opening night victory for the Lehigh Valley 9.  Here are some thoughts following the game, kinda randomly.

• 7,459 for baseball last night at the same time as 7,127 for hockey.  Pretty good night to support Lehigh Valley Professional Sports.  Kinda like it’s the “Top Level of the Minors” around here.
• It was really cold.  But at least it was windy. You gotta have both.
• At first glance the lineup was unserious.  Three catchers?  But in retrospect, with Miller and Rincones on the shelf, what else you gonna do?
• We’re expecting Oscar Mercado in the lineup tonight along with Sergio Alcantara perhaps.
• We’re getting the feeling that Felix Reyes in left field is going to be a real thing.  If he’s going to hit .800 then he can play anywhere he wants.
• I did think, from my seat, that he could have made a better play on the one ball hit to his right, down the line.  Even if he couldn’t have caught it we thought he should have done a better job keeping it from rolling all the way to the wall.  But man it was cold.  De La Cruz wasn’t moving any too fast, either.
• Pedro León is the new Leandro Castro.  Discuss.

• Reyes and De La Cruz back-to-back in the lineup is formidable.  If we can get Kieboom rolling it will look even better.
• And yeah, Rincones and Miller in there somewhere would be nice.  Word is that Miller is doing baseball activities so that bodes well.
• There’s a lot of zeros in this lineup.  I’m not being mean.  Just pointing out that having a number 0 and also a number 00 is kinda rich.
• No bar menu last night–system still links with Illuminations site.  PigsFoodFinder still hasn’t been updated.  Taps taste like they haven’t been cleaned.  Some feeling that the organization just trying to get through this weekend in one piece before they really get rolling on April 7.
• “Just Walk Out” looked like it was popular.  There were so many employees standing around watching it, though, they could have been serving the food rather than making people get it themselves!  I kid.  We think it’s cool.
• Kram III is not a fan of the Keystone Cabanas.  He thinks they’re ugly and they block the view from the main grandstand out and from the outfield concourse in.
• For my part, they don’t block any part of the big screen from my seats, and if they can help get some of the groups out of the club level and out of every nook and cranny of the stadium then I’m all for it.
• Perhaps they need to paint the grass-facing base of the cabana porches, though.  Perhaps green to match the lawn.  Or brown to match the structure?  It would make them more pleasing from a view perspective.
• There were a bunch of roster moves made before the game.  We’ll get the pinned roster post updated eventually, but for now the details of the moves, the injuries, and a printable roster are all HERE.

Today’s Game

Zack Wheeler rehab game!  All you can eat rib buffet special in the Tiki.  Ribbie is a heavy favorite to win the pork race. Orion Kerkering is here for rehab as well.  While we expect Wheeler to parachute in when he needs to pitch to competitive batters and then airlift out to Philly afterwards, Kerkering should stay with the team for full rehab until he can pitch back-to-back, at which point he may be reactivated for the Phillies.

Game Time: 4:35PM (Phillies start 4:05PM)

Gates: 3:15PM East/CF, 3:00PM West/Club/Suites

Tickets:  Good seats still available

Promotion:  Magnet Schedule Giveaway

TV Broadcast:  Of course, Service Electric.  But you can find games on the Bally Live App as well these days, free.

Radio Broadcast:  Some talk last night about listening to the game on a YouTube stream.  Not sure if they lost the radio affiliation or if they’re just getting bumped by March Madness.  We’ll follow up.

Weather: 43 degrees, sunny and windy at game time.  Sun is out but bundle up!

Pitching:  RHP Zack Wheeler (MLB Rehab) vs Toledo LHP Bryan Sammons (2024: 6-7, 4.15, 22G Toledo.  Japan in 2025)

See you at the park—AND the arena.  We’re hitting both tonight!

@Kram207

Featured Image by Kram.  I should have waited for the flag to open.  I also forgot to pick up my giveaway last night.  Still Spring Training for all of us I guess. 

More moves than expected today as we get ready to play baseball.  So we’ll update in a stand-alone post:

Stuff We Knew

We knew Mercado was on the way back.  We knew Cairo was put on the 40-man because he had an escalator clause in his contract.  We knew about injuries to Keaton Anthony, Aidan Miller, Gabriel Rincones and Daniel Robert’s balky heart.

News

Sergio Alcántara has 193 games of MLB experience with a myriad teams.  He was in camp with Washington this season and was released by Rochester earlier this week.  In 2025 he played one game with San Francisco and 113 with AAA Sacramento and AAA Reno where he slashed a combined .251/.368/.341

In addition to Daniel Robert, we wish good healing for Erick Brito and Mark Kolozsvary following their surgeries.

Jokes about betting (Rodriguez) and “are the Mercado’s related?” will be suspended until those guys can get healthy.

Printable Roster:

032726 LHV Roster Updated