One, two, three

Reading vs. New Hampshire - May 29, 2009

Top of the 11th.  Relief Pitcher Chance Chapman.

 

New Hampshire Nick Gorneault strikes out swinging.  Brian Jeroloman flies out to left field.  Al Quintana called out on strikes.  

Another Win

READING, Pa. – The Phillies had the bases loaded with two out in the 11th, looking for something, anything from Michael Spidale.

They certainly weren’t looking for a routine ground ball to third, but that’s what Spidale managed off tough right-hander Daniel Farquhar.

With Michael Taylor on third, the result of his career-high fifth hit of the game to start the inning, you could say the ball was Taylor made after New Hampshire Fisher Cats third baseman Al Quintana kicked it, allowing the winning run to score in a comebacking 8-7 decision Friday night before 8,191.

All Taylor did was go 5-for-6 to jack his batting average to .342. He hit four balls hard, including his ninth home run, which accounted for four RBIs. But it was his seeing-eye single through the left side in the 11th that might have been as impressive. Facing Farquhar, a side-armer who is tough on right-handed hitters, Taylor got enough of one of his deliveries to start the winning rally.

Kevin Mahar worked a walk, Neil Sellers moved up both runners with a groundout to the right side andGus Milner was walked intentionally. One out later the Phillies (26-20) were the ones slapping celebratory hands.

The Fisher Cats had scored five runs in a bat-around first inning that included six hits and an error and featured 32 pitches from Tyson Brummett.

Brummett, to his credit, kept his team in the game when he put together five scoreless, one-hit innings. He struck out two and did not walk a batter in his six innings of work.

The Phillies clawed back into it, cutting the lead to a run through six innings. They scored two in the first on an RBI single by Taylor and a double-play grounder.

It became 5-3 in the fourth on Spidale’s homer to left, though the inning ended with the bases loaded.

A Mahar triple and a Sellers sac fly in the fifth had the home team right back in it.

The Cats (24-25) scored a pair of runs off Pat Overholt in the seventh to open a three-run lead, Quintana hitting the first pitch of the inning for his third home run.

Taylor’s bomb in the seventh cut the lead to 7-5. His two-out, two-run single in the eighth tied it.

The win went to Chance Chapman (2-0), who followed up Jason Anderson’s two innings of scoreless work, with a perfect 11th that included two strikeouts. Farquhar (0-1) got the loss.

PHILLERS: Gus Milner’s inside-the-park homer Wednesday at Akron was the first struck by a Phillie since Peter Bergeron did it July 10, 2006, also in Akron. . . . Milner’s fourth-inning single extended his hitting streak to six games. . . . The Phillies were coming off a 6-2 road trip. . . . Michael Taylor lost a 14-game hitting streak Wednesday during which he batted .407 (22-for-54) with four doubles, a triple and five home runs while scoring 10 runs and knocking in 18 . . . Quintin Berry went 3-for-5 Friday and scored twice. 

PLAYER MOVES: Veteran catcher Paul Bako was added to the roster from extended spring training. He played 99 games for the Reds last season, batting .217 with six home runs and 35 RBIs. He also has played for Detroit, Houston, Florida, Atlanta, Milwaukee, the Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Dodgers, Kansas City and Baltimore. Bako, 36, began his major league career in 1998 with the Tigers. He took the roster spot vacated by infielder Carlos Leon, who went on the disabled list with a strained right groin.

This story was posted on May 29, 2009 on the official Reading Phils website

First Win In Double A

Akron, OH -- After giving up a three-run lead in the bottom of the ninth inning and falling in the completion of Wednesday night's suspended game 6-5, the Reading Phillies came back to win the finale of the three-game series 2-1 over the Akron Aeros on Thursday afternoon at Canal Park.

Reading (25-20) scored a pair of runs in the top of the seventh and final inning as Ozzie Chavez hit a two-run single through a drawn-in infield to take a 2-0 lead.

Mike Zagurski came on in the bottom of the inning to nail down the save and gave up a one-out, solo home run to Nick Weglarz, pulling Akron (32-13) within a run at 2-1. 

Matt McBride walked on four pitches and advanced to second on a pitch in the dirt to put the tying run in scoring position. Armando Camacaro, appearing in only his seventh game of the season with the Aeros, hit a line drive to left field on a 2-2 pitch that was caught by a sliding Kevin Mahar to end the game.

It was the second save of the season for Zagurski, and it sealed the win for Chance Chapman (1-0) -- his first in Double-A.

The Phillies closed out the road trip with a 6-2 mark.

The Reading Phillies will begin a three-game series with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats on Friday night at FirstEnergy Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. 

Rain Out

Game called due to weather.  

Phils v Aeros

The Reading Phils are on their way to Ohio to take on first place team Akron Aeros.  Tune in online or to ESPN 1240 AM at 6:35 for pre game show.  

Series ends May 28 with an early morning game at 10:35 am.

Memorial Day Week-End in Western PA

Chapman and the Reading Phils will be at Altoona Curve May 22, 23, 24 and 25.

DOUBLE A HERE WE COME!!!!

It is official.  Chapman has been promoted to the Phillies Double A ball club, the Reading Phils.   

He leaves Florida with a .77 ERA!  

Red HOT!

Saturday, May 8, 2009

Threshers 11, Cubs 6

"After a delay of about 30 minutes the game finally resumed with some major defensive changes for the Cubs. They were able to get out of the inning with no further damage, but their offense was set down in order by the red hot Chance Chapman on  the mound in his second inning of work for the Threshers."

For complete game recap see Threshers Nation 

A Closer Look

Took this article from Phuture Phillies blog dated April 20, 2009.  Be sure to click on the link for responses to the blog.

We move on to our second installment of A Closer Look, but we don’t move very far, staying in Clearwater to take a look at Threshers pitcher Chance Chapman.

Chapman was the Phillies’ 8th Round Pick in 2007 out of Oral Roberts, and he signed almost immediately for a $20K bonus.  BA had this to say about him when he was taken…

Chapman’s strikeout pitch is a big league slider, and he also has an 88-91 mph fastball with life. When he commands his fastball, he’s tough to hit. Chapman’s age works against him, as he’s 23 after spending three years at Cuesta (Calif.) Junior College and missing all of 2004 with an injury.

Now in his third season of pro ball, I think it’s fair to assess what Chapman has achieved so far, and project where his career might be headed.  Check below the jump as we tackle the numbers.

As mentioned, Chapman wasted no time signing and reported to the NYPL in 2007.  As a 23-year old in the pitching-dominated league, he took care of business, making the All-Star team and posting the following line:

2007 (A-, Age 23): 77.2 IP — 7.8 K/9 — 2.3 BB/9 — 52.3% GB — 1.16 WHIP — 2.21 DICE

A solid performance, tempered of course by his age.  Still, given the supposedly plus slider, it made Chapman an intriguing candidate for conversion to a bullpen role.  You’ve undoubtedly heard the logic before, but it bears repeating — the idea is that a guy will be able to scrap his marginal pitches, concentrate on his two best offerings, and add a few ticks to his velocity since he can gear up in one- and two-inning bursts.  This seemed to be the best way forward for Chapman, and though he began 2008 in the Lakewood rotation, I wondered if the Phils were going to have him go the Pat Overholt route, i.e. have Chance pitch as a starter in order to better develop his offerings, and promote him midseason with an eye toward having him ready for the bullpen within a year or two (see Overholt’s 2007 season here).

Unfortunately for Chance, that turned out not to be the case.  This is just speculation on my part, but I wonder if: (1) the relative dearth of starting pitching options in Lakewood, at least until the Worley/Stutes/Cisco trio arrived; and (2) the fact that the BlueClaws were in a pennant race; were the primary factors that conspired to keep Chapman in Lakewood for the entirety of the season.  Whatever the case, he once again posted solid numbers:

2008 (A, Age 24): 139.0 IP — 7.6 K/9 — 2.4 BB/9 — 51.1% GB — 1.22 WHIP — 2.73 DICE

And so at Age 25, entering his third season in pro ball, Chapman has finally been shifted to the bullpen for the Threshers.  There’s reason to believe he may have some success in that role, too.  He doesn’t show a noticeable platoon split, holding LHB to a a career .253 BAA and RHB to a career .244 BAA, and his ground ball tendencies have cut down on both the extra bases hits and the home runs allowed (just 7 in 216.2 IP heading into this year).  Finally, while his peripherals have generally stayed strong from inning to inning, it appears from the numbers that his stuff is a bit more hittable the deeper Chapman goes into a game.  Here’s his career batting average against figures by inning:

1st: .192
2nd: .236
3rd: .233
4th: .255
5th: .262
6th: .292
7th: .333

That, of course, lends further credence to the idea that Chapman’s stuff, and numbers, would only improve with a shift to a relief role.

So far this year, Chapman made a spot start as part of a make-up doubleheader on April 16, and he’s been used out of the bullpen twice.  It’s certainly a miniscule sample size, but in his two relief outings totaling 3.2 innings, Chapman has surrendered 1 hit, 0 runs, walked 2 and struck out 4.   On Sunday, he was used as a set-up man, and pitched a hitless, scoreless inning (inducing 2 groundouts and 1 flyout) to bridge the gap from starter Yohan Flande to closer Jared Simon.

Based on the career numbers and his repertoire, I think Chapman has a future as a reliever.  If he posts solid numbers for the Threshers through the first half of the season, the organization should not hesistate to bump him to Reading by midseason.  Many might look at Chapman and see organizational filler, but I see a guy with a chance to help the major league club in the bullpen by 2010 or 2011 at the latest — and when you have someone who can do that for 3 years at the major league minimum, it’s a valuable asset.