Dealin'.
The Phillies traded Carlos Ruiz to the Dodgers yesterday, in connection with which the club promoted catcher Jorge Alfaro, not to AAA for the first time in his career, but straight to the bigs.
Maybe he’ll get the chance to catch Adam Morgan in New York tonight.
Maybe he’ll catch Jake Thompson, whom he’d caught in Frisco with the Rangers, back in Philadelphia on Monday.
Or Jerad Eickhoff, whom he’d caught in Spokane and in Hickory and in Myrtle Beach and in Frisco with the Rangers, on Tuesday.
Thompson has had a tremendous season, going 11-5, 2.50 in 21 AAA Lehigh Valley starts to earn his big league debut this month.
Eickhoff has had an outstanding start to his Major League career, posting a 3.57 ERA in 34 starts the last year and a week, striking out nearly eight batters per nine innings while walking just two per nine and averaging over six innings a start.
Nick Williams hasn’t set AAA on fire this summer (.265/.293/.434), but check his history for what happens whenever he repeats a level.
Alec Asher’s disjointed minor league season is back on track, as is his effort to return to the Phillies’ rotation.
Lewis Brinson missed a week and a half with AAA Colorado Springs with a hamstring strain, but since his return he’s homered three times in three games, including twice last night. He’s hitting .414/.410/.707 for the Sky Sox.
Luis Ortiz has yet to allow an earned run in four starts for AA Biloxi, spanning 17.1 Shucker innings.
Erik Swanson threw another scoreless frame last night for Low A Charleston in the Yankees’ system, and has now fanned 15 and walked four in 15 innings for the RiverDogs.
Nick Green made two effective starts for Short-Season A Staten Island (1.69 ERA) before making two more for Charleston (0.75 ERA), and he’ll get the ball again tomorrow.
Swanson and Green’s teammate Dillon Tate has more upside than either of them.
The player to be named later that Texas owes Milwaukee will have legitimate upside, too.
In other news:
LM Otero/AP
Ronald Martinez/Getty
Ronald Martinez/Getty
