The Ironpigs Light Up Kyle Kendrick but Does That Even Count?

When I checked the box score of the Ironpigs tonight, I got excited.

J.P Crawford had a nice game, and is showing some signs of busting out of his 12 month slump, Jorge Alfaro and Rhys Hoskins both homered and hell, even Nick Williams messed around and drew a walk.

All that excitement went out the door when I saw this was against Kyle Kendrick.

Yes, the former Phillie is still, in fact, bad at pitching, except now he’s being bad down in the minor leagues. Maybe Kendrick would want to go to Japan to play at this point… it wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world.

In all seriousness, between this outbreak tonight and Scott Kingery’s scintillating few opening nights as an Ironpig, it’s made what’s going on at the major league level a bit easier to take. There are reinforcements on the way and even if they may take a little while to get here, we won’t have to watch much more aging players here on short term deals. Soon, and I mean very soon, like All-Star break (?), Williams and Kingery should at least be up. Hoskins should be up here now but with Tommy Joseph not being terrible it’s going to take either a Joseph trade or a position switch to see Hoskins. Hopefully the Phillies can sell high on Joseph at the deadline and maybe ship him to teams that need first baseman like the Yankees. The only reason I’m selling high on Joseph is because I view Hoskins as the future and scouts around baseball rave about the kid. They think he has legit power and an advanced eye at the plate, which makes for a deadly combination. I need to see Hoskins soon, the reports I’ve read are salivating.

Alfaro and Crawford probably have the longest ways to go. Crawford has been a disappointment since he’s gotten to Lehigh Valley and in over 600 plate appearances he’s only accumulated 26 extra base hits. That’s bad. His bat looks a little slow and some scouts have even said that he might not be a top 10 prospect in the Phils organization, which is an insane fall off. Not as insane as Dom Brown’s but certainly up there. By the way, for your Dom Brown update… he pitched over the weekend. 

Still, the talent is there with Crawford and if he can just heat up a little bit, and show that advanced eye that has helped him fly through the minor leagues, he should be up here in September.

Finally, Alfaro is probably going to be your starting catcher next year because of arbitration numbers or some math that I don’t understand, but just know if he’s not your starting catcher next year there’s a huge problem. Alfaro’s problem is that he’s not a very good catcher, which would definitely seem to be a problem. He’s supposedly got a long way to go from a calling the game standpoint and blocking standpoint and some scouts have wondered if he can even stick behind the plate. Maybe a switch to the corner outfield is in store.

To answer the overarching question as to whether or not tonight’s offensive outburst counts… the answer is no. Kyle Kendrick is worthless and I would have been disappointed if there was any other outcome.

By phillyfanlife.com | June 29, 2017