With Jaime Moyer moving to the bullpen, Chad Durbin returning from the DL, and J.C. Romero on the way, the Phillies pitching plethora — at least in quantity — could grow again. Opening day starter Brett Myers soon starts his rehab assignment and hopes to land in the Phillies bullpen before September.
In fact, he would have pitched tonight for the Clearwater Threshers had he not sustained an odd — and vague — injury last night.
This morning, the Phillies announced Myers was scratched from his start because he injured his eye while having a catch with his son. Later, the story changed to Myers hurting his eye “when he slipped while getting out of his pickup truck. … Myers landed on his face, causing considerable swelling.”
USA Today posted an interesting quote from Phillies spokesman Kevin Gregg:
“Brett told us one story and then he told us this story,” Gregg said. “We were misinformed by Brett.
I don’t want to speculate, but I think we can all draw our own conclusions as what caused his late-night pick-up, slip-up. It is a little disconcerting that Myers flip-flopped. MLB.com’s Adam Rosenberg echoes that sentiment:
“At this point, it is unclear as to why the story behind Myers’ injury changed. What is clear is the fact that Myers originally told the Phillies the story involving playing catch with his son, and then he later informed them of the scenario involving the truck.”
Myers will be reevaluated tomorrow by the Phillies. He was only supposed to go an inning today. No make-up start has been announced.
Fleet Feet
Twenty-five-year-old center fielder Quintin Berry swiped his 40th base last week. Berry, now in AA, has stolen 40-plus bases the past three years, with Reading, Clearwater and Lakewood. The past two years he led his respective leagues in steals, and this year he currently tops the Eastern League with 42.
A midlevel prospect, Berry puts up solid, but not great, numbers. He’s hovered around .280 all year (a recent slump brought him down to .273), posts an above-average on-base percentage .356 (During his MVP year, Jimmy Rollins’ OBP was only .344), and makes few defensive lapses — two errors in 112 games.
Yet, with Shane Victorino, Jayson Werth, Raul Ibanez, John Mayberry, Michael Taylor and Dominic Brown, there is a talent log-jam in the outfield. If Berry continues his production, he could be a future bargaining chip in the off-season or next year.
Brown Out
Speaking of Brown, the R-Phillies right fielder was named Player of the Week by the Phillies farm system for August 3-9. His transition to AA has been fluid. The Phillies write-up:
Hit .348 in 6 games, 7 runs, 8 hits and 6 RBI. Among his 6 hits: a double, triple and 3 homers. Since promotion to AA from Clearwater on August 1: .333 in 8 games, 3 homers, 6 RBI. He was the player of the week (May 4-10) at Clearwater. The 21-year-old was selected in the 20th round in 2006 out of Redan (GA) High School.
I’m looking forward to watching Brown get some big league at bats at Spring Training next year.
All Good Things Must Come to An End
Two notable minor league streaks were snapped last week. Reliever Scott Mathieson gave up his first earned run of the year after blanking hitters for Gulf Coast, Clearwater and Reading. After 19 innings, the Binghamton Mets scored a run against him August 9.
Also on the R-Phils, right-hander Chance Chapman bested Mathieson by a third of an inning. The reliever lost his 19 1/3 streak against the Trenton Thunder. This year, the 25 year old is 6-1 with a 3.03 ERA in 31 relief appearances. Chapman was drafted in the eighth round in 2007.
CrossCutter All-Stars
Five members of the Williamsport CrossCutters were named to the New York Penn League All-Star Game. The short-season A league’s game is August 18 at State College, Pa.
A brief run-through of the players: C Sebastian Valle (.320 AVG, 4 HR, 34 RBI), OF Leandro Castro (.348, 5, 30, .391 OBP), SS Jeremy Barnes (.293, 3, 26), 1B Francisco Murillo (.280, 4, 14), and RHP Austin Hyatt (2-0, 0.51 ERA, 6 SV).
—Sam Fran Scavuzzo
***follow me on twitter @samfrans ***
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