Phillies Notes: Galvis, Hernandez, Bowa, Mackanin
Freddy Galvis‘ pinch-hit double for the Phillies on Sunday may very well have been his final plate appearance with the team, writes CSNPhilly.com’s Jim Salisbury. Top prospect J.P. Crawford arrived in the Majors in September, and while he hardly set the world on fire with the bat (.214/.356/.300 in 87 plate appearances), he still could land the team’s Opening Day shortstop job next year. It’s likely that general manager Matt Klentak will shop both Galvis and second baseman Cesar Hernandez this winter, writes Salisbury, as the team will want to get a look at its potential middle infield of the future — Crawford and top second base prospect Scott Kingery — in 2018.
Galvis, 27, posted an uninspiring .255/.309/.382 batting line in 2017 but played in all 162 games and has generally received strong marks for his glovework at short. He’ll be due a raise on this year’s $4.35MM salary and is controlled through 2018. Hernandez, meanwhile, posted a .294 average that is identical to his 2016 mark with a .373 OBP (up marginally from .371) with improved power output. After slugging .393 last year, the 27-year-old slugged .421 with 26 doubles, six triples and nine homers in 2017. A solid defender himself, Hernandez is controlled through 2020 and will be arb-eligible for the first time this winter.
More on the Phils…
- The Phillies have informed bench coach Larry Bowa that they want him to remain in the organization next year, reports Bob Brookover of the Philadelphia Inquirer. However, it doesn’t seem likely that it’d be in the same role, as the team has also informed the coaching staff that whoever is hired as Pete Mackanin’s replacement in the dugout will have the ability to name his own staff. Bowa could be retained as an instructor at multiple minor league levels next year, per Brookover, though he’s yet to make a decision and likely won’t do so until he meets with the team later this week. Bowa could certainly have value in that capacity; Galvis told Salisbury in the previously linked column that Bowa played a significant role in honing his own defensive skills.
- Recently dismissed manager Pete Mackanin spoke to MLB.com’s Ben Harris about his new role in the Phillies’ front office as a special assistant to Klentak. In his new role, Mackanin will evaluate players both in the Phillies organization and on other teams to help the front office in trade decisions, and he more generally stated that he’ll be an advisor to Klentak and his staff on a variety of baseball operations issues. As Mackanin points out, he’s played, coached and managed in both the minors and Majors in addition to previous work as a big league scout, so he’ll have plenty of experience to offer the Phillies. Mackanin revealed that he’s been given permission to pursue other opportunities with other teams if presented, but the 66-year-old also suggested that he doesn’t have plans to do so. “I would truly like to be here when this team wins,” he said.
NL East Notes: Gordon, Joseph, Kingery, Ross
Marlins second baseman Dee Gordon is drawing trade interest from three teams, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reports (via Twitter). The Fish are known to be open to discussing any player under a long-term contract as they look to be deadline sellers, and Gordon is locked up through 2020 on an extension that will pay him $37MM in salary over the next three seasons, plus a $14MM club option for 2021 that carries a $1MM buyout. (Gordon also has roughly $3MM left to be paid in this season’s salary.) After a lost 2016 season that included an 80-game PED suspension, Gordon is hitting .298/.346/.363 in 368 PA this year, though the bulk of his value has come in the form of baserunning (31 steals in 37 attempts) and strong second base defense. Gordon projects as a long-term asset rather than a deadline rental for interested clubs, which leads to some intriguing speculation about his potential market. Several contenders and pseudo-contenders would use a boost in second base production, though some of those teams near the bottom of the list already have long-term second basemen who are simply underperforming.
Here’s more from around the NL East…
- The Phillies have made first baseman Tommy Joseph available in trade talks, CSNPhilly.com’s Jim Salisbury reports. With prospect Rhys Hoskins raking at Triple-A, it has widely been expected that Joseph would be available at the deadline given that the two primary first basemen can’t really co-exist in the same lineup. After a very rough start to the season, Joseph has recovered to post a .252/.313/.466 slash line and 15 homers through 323 plate appearances. Though Joseph is 26, controllable through the 2022 season and has shown some solid power in his brief big league career, it is thought that the Phillies may only be able to get good value for him in a trade if packaged with a rental player.
- While Hoskins seems very likely to get an audition in the big leagues this season, Phillies second base prospect Scott Kingery may remain at Triple-A in 2017, Matt Breen of the Philadelphia Daily News writes. Though Kingery only has 12 Triple-A games under his belt, roster logistics could be the main reason Kingery probably won’t see the Show in 2017. If the Phils leave Kingery at Triple-A all year, they wouldn’t have to add him to the 40-man roster and thus protect him during the Rule 5 Draft in December. Over 371 combined PA at the Double-A and Triple-A levels, Kingery is hitting .312/.371/.606 with 22 home runs.
- Nationals righty Joe Ross was removed during the fourth inning of his start today after experiencing a notable drop in velocity during the game. Ross hadn’t been pitching well (three ER in 3 1/3 IP), though his removal came with one out and nobody on in the fourth inning, and Washington’s team trainer accompanied Dusty Baker and pitching coach Mike Maddux to the mound. Baker described the injury as “triceps tenderness” in his postgame talk with MASNsports.com’s Mark Zuckerman and other reporters. Ross had has an inconsistent season that saw him demoted to Triple-A for a brief spell, and the young right-hander has a 4.86 ERA for the Nats, thanks in large part to 15 homers allowed in just 70 1/3 IP. Ross missed roughly 10 weeks last season due to shoulder soreness.
Injury Notes: Stanton, Hernandez, Dozier
Here are a few notes on developing injury situations throughout the league.
- Marlins slugger Giancarlo Stanton left today’s game with what appeared to be a hand or wrist injury after being struck by a 95-MPH fastball by Trevor Williams of the Pirates, Tim Healey of the South Florida Sun Sentinel and other reporters have noted. It appears, however, that Stanton and the Marlins have lucked out, as the team announced after the game that X-rays were negative and that Stanton only has a hand contusion. He is day-to-day. Losing Stanton would have been a significant blow to the Marlins — he’s in the midst of a healthy and terrific .288/.365/.566 season, and the team, as Healey notes, is already dealing with injuries to lineup regulars Justin Bour, Adeiny Hechavarria and Martin Prado.
- Phillies second baseman Cesar Hernandez suffered an oblique or abdominal injury on Friday and appears likely to head to the disabled list, CSNPhilly.com’s Jim Salisbury writes. Hernandez was not placed on the DL before today’s game, but he was not in the lineup. As Salisbury notes, the Phillies do have a good second base prospect in Scott Kingery who’s batting .304/.379/.621 at Double-A Reading, although Kingery has not yet played at Triple-A, so it’s unclear whether they would see him as a candidate to play second at the big-league level if Hernandez were to miss significant time.
- The Royals have announced that OF/3B Hunter Dozier has been placed on the minor-league DL with a hamate fracture. Dozier, the eighth overall pick in the 2013 draft, currently ranks as the Royals’ top prospect, according to MLB.com. But he’s had a rough 2017 season, missing almost two months to start the season with an oblique strain and now dealing with his hamate issue, which will likely cause him to miss several weeks. Dozier batted .294/.357/.506 for Triple-A Omaha last season.
Phillies To Sign Top Picks Randolph, Kingery
1:30pm: The Phillies announced that they have reached agreement with a number of draft choices, including second-round pick Scott Kingery, as Todd Zolecki of MLB.com writes. Kingery’s deal is for the full value of his selection, netting him a ~$1.26MM bonus, according to MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo (on Twitter).
Kingery, a second baseman out of the University of Arizona, was tapped with the No. 48 overall pick. Prior to the draft, Kingery took some time to chat with MLBTR’s Zach Links for a comprehensive Q&A about his skill set and collegiate career. Kingery’s story is a unique one as he went from an undersized walk-on for the Wildcats to becoming one of their premier talents. The youngster told MLBTR that he received no scholarship offers coming out of high school and he did not envision a major league future for himself back in 2012.
“Definitely not. That’s not something that I had in mind going into my freshman year, especially as a walk-on player. I didn’t have a spot on the roster yet for sure, so at that point, I was just trying to find a spot on the team,” Kingery told Links.
Kingery is being advised by David Matranga of PSI Sports.
1:08pm: The Phillies have agreed to sign first-round selection Cornelius Randolph for the full slot value of $3,231,300, reports MLB.com’s Jim Callis (Twitter links). Selected 10th overall, Randolph was advised by and is now represented by Scott Boras. MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki tells Callis that the Phillies plan to move Randolph from the infield to the outfield, and Callis notes that Randolph’s bat “will play anywhere.”
A high school shortstop that had committed to Clemson, Randolph’s defense was questioned by many scouts heading into the draft. That did little to detract from the allure of his bat, however. Randolph ranked as the draft’s No. 11 prospect in the eyes of Fangraphs’ Kiley McDaniel, 19th on the Top 200 compiled by Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com, 20th on Baseball America’s Top 500 and 29th on the Top 100 of ESPN’s Keith Law.
McDaniel praised Randolph’s above-average hitting ability, raw power and strong arm when calling him “maybe the best of a deep crop in the Georgia prep ranks.” Mayo and Callis wrote that 6’1″, 190-pound Randolph “has the tools and approach to hit for power and average.” BA praised his bat speed and the ability to hit for all fields, noting that while scouts are “sure” that Randolph isn’t a shortstop, his home on the diamond could be in left field or at third base. ESPN feels that he profiles as a middle-of-the-order bat but cautions that there could be more swing-and-miss to his game than his mechanics would indicate at first glance.
Zach Links contributed to this post.
Q&A With MLB Draft Prospect Scott Kingery
The 2015 MLB Draft begins on Monday, June 8th and runs until Wednesday, June 10th. In anticipation of the draft, MLBTR caught up with University of Arizona second baseman Scott Kingery, one of the most highly regarded players in this year’s class.
Tomorrow night, Arizona second baseman Scott Kingery will be waiting to hear his name called from Secaucus, New Jersey. Just three years ago, few could have imagined that Kingery would be in line to be a Day 1 draft pick or to even get drafted at all. Kingery was a very solid player coming out of Phoenix, Arizona’s Mountain Pointe High School, but he was overlooked by schools largely because he was only 5’7″ tall.
Kingery arrived at the University of Arizona as a walk-on, made the team, and started really making a name for himself in his sophomore year. An awful lot has changed over the last three years – not just Kingery’s stature. Today, he is rated as the No. 25 draft prospect in the country by ESPN.com’s Keith Law, No. 40 by Baseball America, and No. 42 by Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com. Kingery took some time out of his busy schedule late last week to chat with MLB Trade Rumors about his career at Arizona, his draft stock, and his MLB future.
Zach Links: It’s pretty rare to see a college walk-on go on to become a top draft prospect. In 2012, did you think you’d be in this position today?
Scott Kingery: Definitely not. That’s not something that I had in mind going into my freshman year, especially as a walk-on player. I didn’t have a spot on the roster yet for sure, so at that point, I was just trying to find a spot on the team.
It was pretty late in the summer when an assistant coach came down to watch me play in a tournament. They offered me a recruited walk-on spot, which means that you have a place on the fall roster but nothing is guaranteed for the spring roster. So, I wasn’t thinking about the majors at all at that point.
ZL: Did you consider taking scholarship offers from other schools, whether it was D-I or D-II?
SK: I was committed to going to a junior college in Arizona, but other than that, I didn’t have any D-I, D-II, or D-III offers for baseball. So, it was pretty much go to junior college or just take my chances at Arizona.
ZL: You turned the corner in a big way from your freshman year to your sophomore year. What changed for you?
SK: I think each year you play in the Pac-12 you just get a little bit more confident. I gained experience and I learned a lot. I think in your first year as a freshman you come in and don’t know what to expect. The level of play from high school to college increases so much. But, I learned more and more each year and built off of that.
ZL: Your double play partner, Kevin Newman, is considered to be one of the very best draft prospects in this year’s class. Did you feel like you’ve pushed each other over the years to excel?
SK: Yeah, when I was in the outfield the first few years I didn’t spent that much time with him. Now I’m at second base and we push each other and that helps us play better. This year he become one of my roommates and that’s when I realized how truly competitive we are with each other. Literally everything is a competition between us.
ZL: How does that competitive spirit between the two of you manifest itself off the field?
SK: If it’s video games, we’re competing. One night we were mini golfing and it got intense. We started even having competitions in the weight room and seeing who could get to school the fastest.
ZL: You played second base while at Arizona but there has been talk of your skills translating to shortstop. Could you see yourself playing shortstop at the big league level? How comfortable are you at shortstop?
SK: Since I haven’t been there in a few years, I think it would take some getting used to again. But that was my home all through high school. College is the only time I haven’t played there really…I think I could definitely play shortstop. I think a lot of teams want to see me try that out, too. If it doesn’t work, they can always throw me back to second base.
ZL: Do you have a preference between playing shortstop or second base?
SK: I’ve always loved playing shortstop more but playing second base isn’t too bad either.
ZL: Why do you like playing shortstop more?
SK: I don’t know why, but that’s just always been where I’ve been the most comfortable. I grew up playing that position and I just want to get back over there. When you’re at shortstop you feel like you’re kind of in the head role, kind of captain on the field. I’d like to get back to that.
ZL: There always seems to be skepticism surrounding shorter players, even when they’ve proven their ability time and time again like you have. Do you feel like any concern about you being under 6-feet tall is overblown?
SK: At this point, I don’t think that’s gonna come into play, but that was definitely one of the big reasons why I didn’t get a scholarship offer out of high school. I was 5’7″, 150 pounds heading into college so I think everyone saw that small stature and they didn’t want to take a chance. Now, I think I’ve proven myself over multiple years so I don’t think that my small stature matters much. Also, I’m 5’10.5″ now and I’ve put on 25 or 30 pounds, so it’s a different story.
ZL: What are you hearing about where you might get drafted?
SK: It’s kind of all over the place, but I’ve been hearing and reading that it could be somewhere in the No. 20-50 range. Hopefully I’ll get drafted towards the top of that, but, we’ll see. Anything can happen.
ZL: What do you think sets you apart from other middle infielders in this class?
SK: I’ve proven that I can hit at multiple levels. I did it in college and I did it in the Cape Cod league. That, along with my speed, sets me apart. I’ve shown that I can create havoc on the basepaths with my speed and my bat really just improved each year at Arizona. I also got even more comfortable with my range this year and I made things happen on defense as well.
ZL: What’s the main thing you want to work on?
SK: I want to work on my footwork at second base because that can always get better. I also want to make sure that I stay aggressive at second base. It’s a short throw so sometimes you can find yourself getting complacent and sitting back on a ball rather than getting the right hop. I like to be aggressive and get right to the ball.
ZL: Last summer in the Cape Cod League, you showed that you can still rake with a wooden bat. Do you sense that has helped your draft stock somewhat?
SK: Definitely. The top players in college are in the Cape Cod league so going there, facing that pitching, and putting up some good numbers really shows the scouts that I have a good swing and that it doesn’t matter if I’m swinging wood or metal.
ZL: Everyone loves to compare draft prospects to current players. What major league player would you say that your skill set is similar to?
SK: I’d say I’m something like Ian Kinsler, with a little bit more speed.
ZL: What are your plans for draft night?
SK: I’m just going to have some friends and family over. We’ll be watching on TV with everyone else, waiting to see what happens.