Dylan Cozens to have foot surgery that will jeopardize his 2019 season

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Phillies prospect Dylan Cozens career sidelined by foot surgery

The Philadelphia Phillies organization has lost an outfield prospect with big-league experience. It was announced today that Dylan Cozens, who has appeared in 27 games with the Phillies, will have foot surgery and miss the rest of the 2019 season.

Cozens, who turns 25-year-old on May 31, played in 26 games with the Phillies during the 2018 season. He slashed just .158/.273/.289 over 44 plate appearances, making eight starts. Half of those came over the final week of the regular season, after the Phillies had been eliminated from postseason contention.

On June 6 in just his third big-league game, Cozens blasted his lone home run to this point in Major League Baseball. That night at Wrigley Field against the host Chicago Cubs, Cozens drilled a two-run homer off closer Brandon Morrow in the top of the 9th inning to give the Phillies a 5-3 lead.

Cozens was called up briefly this season and appeared in one game on April 26. He grounded out weakly to second base as a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the 7th inning of a Phillies 4-0 win over the Miami Marlins at Citizens Bank Park.

Tom Housenick

✔@TomHousenick

OF Dylan Cozens (foot surgery) done for the season

Slashed .167/.333/.462 with 6 HRs, 20 BBs, 42 Ks in 23 games with @IronPigs

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5:33 PM - May 21, 2019

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The Phillies second round pick in the 2012 MLB Amateur Draft out of high school in his native Arizona, Cozens became a sensation in the 2016 season at Double-A Reading. That year he blasted 40 home runs and stole 21 bases, teaming with current Phillies first baseman Rhys Hoskins (38 homers) to form the most powerful combo of hitters in all of Minor League Baseball.

Strong 2018 finish has Hector Neris stock up entering Phillies 2019 campaign

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Neris was back to his shutdown self in 2018's second half

Growing up in Villa Altagracia in the San Cristobal province of the Dominican Republic, Hector Neris was a gifted athlete who enjoyed utilizing both his physical and mental gifts.

While enjoying the physical competition on the baseball diamond and on both volleyball and basketball courts, Neris also enjoyed testing and stretching his mind as an avid chess player.

On April 29, 2010 the Phillies signed Neris as a 20-year-old international free agent. Over the next three years the right-hander would prove that he was durable and that the had the ability to overpower minor league hitters.

From 2010-14 as he worked his way up progressively through each stop in the system, Neris struck out 363 opposition batters across 353.2 innings over 191 games.

Beginning with a one-game audition in August 2014, Neris has appeared with the big-league Phillies in each of the last five seasons. His performances in 2016-17 appeared to cement him as the club’s long-term closer. Over those two years, Neris allowed just 127 hits across 155 innings over 153 games while compiling a cumulative 188/56 K:BB ratio. He also served in a key role out of the Dominican Republic bullpen during the 2017 World Baseball Classic.

But then from the very outset of the 2018 season, Neris saw very different results. It all began in the season opener in Atlanta. After retiring two of the first three batters, and following an intentional walk to Freddie Freeman, Neris surrendered a three-run, walk-off home run to Nick Markakis.

Neris was strong over his next three outings, striking out four and walking none over three shutout innings while recording his first Save of the season. However, in his fifth outing with the Phillies leading the Cincinnati Reds by 3-2 at Citizens Bank Park he surrendered three straight hits to start the top of the 9th to tie the game. The Phillies would win in 12 innings, but Neris had blown a Save opportunity.

Over the next few weeks, Neris would have few clean innings, and appeared to genuinely be losing confidence on the mound. By the end of June he had surrendered 35 hits over 30 innings, including an incredible 11 home runs. He had an unsightly .292 batting average against, and hitters had a huge .981 OPS against him.

Neris still had good stuff, as revealed by his 41/11 K/BB ratio. But he was simply making too many bad pitches. The Phillies had seen enough and sent him back to Triple-A Lehigh Valley to try and regain his confidence.

Can right-hander Drew Anderson elevate his big-league profile?

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Drew Anderson has enjoyed minor league success

Barring the late signing of a veteran free agent such as Dallas Keuchel, the Philadelphia Phillies starting pitching rotation would appear to be set as spring training gets underway down in Clearwater, Florida.

Aaron Nola is the newly-signed young ace. Jake Arrieta fills the proven veteran role. Nick Pivetta, Vince Velasquez and Zach Eflin are incumbents on the back-end trying to find consistency and elevate their games. Jerad Eickhoff is the returning-from-injury former rotation member trying to fight his way back in from the outside.

In the bullpen, veterans David Robertson and Juan Nicasio have been added to a group of right-handers that already included Seranthony Dominguez, Hector Neris, Pat Neshek, Tommy Hunter and Edubray Ramos. One of the most exciting arms in the early going has been 22-year-old righty Edgar Garcia.

So where does all of that leave Drew Anderson? He will reach age 25 in exactly one month, before the end of the Grapefruit League season. He has been tantalized with a taste of the big-league life on a handful of occasions spread out over the past two seasons.

Anderson has an uninspiring 0-1 mark with a 7.80 ERA and 1.733 WHIP thus far over 15 innings with the Phillies across seven mound appearances, six of those out of the bullpen. He has surrendered 23 hits with a 13/3 K:BB ratio.

What exactly has earned the Phillies 21st round pick in the 2012 MLB Amateur Draft out of Galena High School in his hometown of Reno, Nevada a place on the current 40-man active roster?

Aside from his big-league struggles, Anderson has pitched very well over the course of a six-year professional career. He has risen incrementally through the system, making a stop at each of the Phillies minor league affiliates at one time or another. Anderson has pitched particularly well since missing the entire 2015 campaign after undergoing Tommy John surgery that April.

MINOR LEAGUE SUCCESS

When he returned in 2016, Anderson wowed by allowing just 55 hits across 70 innings with a 78/22 K:BB ratio over 15 starts split fairly evenly between Low-A Lakewood and High-A Clearwater. That earned the 22-year-old a spot on the Phillies roster that off-season during an overall roster shakeup by the club. He has remained there ever since.

Phillies lefty pitching prospect Cole Irvin appears ready for his shot

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Irvin has risen through the minors and is knocking on the big-league door

We’re now less than three weeks before Phillies pitchers and catchers are due to report for the start of spring training in Clearwater, Florida. Most of Phillies Nation is waiting, now impatiently, for the sudden lightning bolt of an announcement on the Bryce Harper and Manny Machado free agent situations.

However, many sources have reported that the club is also still considering options to improve the starting pitching rotation. Specifically, a proven veteran left-handed winner would be a perfect fit for a club hoping to contend in what appears to be a tough NL East Division in the 2019 season.

The primary name floating around has been that of free agent Dallas Keuchel. The lefty could still return to the only team for whom he has ever pitched, the Houston Astros. However, the Phillies and Milwaukee Brewers also would appear to be good matches.

While there are other veteran left-handers available, including former Phillies pitcher Gio Gonzalez, there is also an option available from inside the organization, one that might be as good an option as any other than Keuchel.

That option is California native Cole Irvin, the club’s #10-ranked prospect per MLB Pipeline. Irvin, who turns 25-years-old on January 31, was the Phillies fifth round choice in the 2016 MLB Amateur Draft out of the University of Oregon.

Irvin signed quickly that summer and was sent straight to Low-A Williamsport. There he made a strong impression, going 5-1 with a 1.97 ERA and 0.964 WHIP over 10 games, seven of those starts. He allowed just 36 hits over 45.2 innings while striking out 37 opposition batters.

In the following 2017 campaign, Irvin split the year between High-A Clearwater where he made 11 starts and AA-Reading, for whom he made another 13 starts. Over 25 games at the two levels, 24 of those starts, Irvin went 9-9 with a 3.39 ERA and 1.176 WHIP. He surrendered 140 hits over 151.1 innings with an excellent 118/38 K:BB ratio.

Irvin pitched the entirety of last season at the highest level of the minor leagues. For the Phillies Triple A-Lehigh Valleyaffiliates he made 26 appearances, 25 of those as a starter. He went 14-4 with a 2.57 ERA, 1.054 WHIP, and allowed just 135 hits over 161.1 innings with a 131/35 K:BB ratio.

For that performance, Irvin was named as the International League Pitcher of the Year. Back in October here at Phillies Nation we named Irvin as our Lehigh Valley IronPigs Player of the Year.

Overall in his three-year professional career, Irvin has pitched in 61 games, 56 of those as a starting pitcher. He has put together a 28-14 record with a 2.84 ERA and 1.094 WHIP over 358.1 innings. The southpaw has yielded just 311 hits, including just 27 home runs, and has a strong 286/81 K:BB ratio.

Cole Irvin named as Lehigh Valley IronPigs POY

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The Lehigh Valley IronPigs have been the Triple-A minor league affiliates of the Philadelphia Phillies since the 2007 season. But the franchise has a long and winding history.

Founded in 1993 as the Ottawa Lynx in Canada, they were an affiliate of the old Montreal Expos for their first decade of existence. The Baltimore Orioles then took control of the club through 2006.

Then in 2007, having grown unhappy with the ownership of their Triple-A affiliates at the time, the Scranton-Wilkes Barre Red Barons, the Phillies entered into an agreement with the Lynx to become their new highest-level minor league affiliate.

With the opening of Coca-Cola Park for the 2008 season, the Phillies relocated that former Lynx franchise to the new Allentown, Pennsylvania facility and changed the team’s identity. The name “IronPigs” is drawn from ‘pig iron‘, or crude iron, which is manufactured in the area.

Allentown, PA is approximately 70 miles north of the Philadelphia area. It takes about an hour-and-a-half to make the drive, with most using I-476.

The IronPigs captured the North Division crown with an 84-56 record that was the best in the entire International League this season. However, first-year manager Gary Jones and the Pigs were bounced out in the playoff semi-finals by Scranton-Wilkes Barre.

Now an affiliate of the New York Yankees, Scranton took the first two games in the best-of-five series by 3-2 and 3-0 scores. Lehigh Valley got back into the series with a 3-2 victory in Game Three, but then Scranton closed it out with a big 7-2 rout in Game Four.

This year’s Lehigh Valley IronPigs Player of the Year is pitcher Cole Irvin. The 6-4, 180lb left-hander will turn 25-years-old just prior to the opening of 2019 spring training. He was the Phillies fifth round pick in the 2016 MLB Amateur Draft out of the University of Oregon.

Irvin went 14-4 with a 2.57 ERA and 1.054 WHIP this season for the IronPigs. He allowed 135 hits over 161.1 innings across 26 appearances, 25 of those as starts, with a 131/35 K:BB ratio.

For his outstanding season, Irvin was selected as the International League Pitcher of the Year and made the start in this year’s Triple-A All-Star Game. He was also named to Baseball America’s all-star team.

His contributions were not only relegated to the field. For the second straight year, Irvin was recognized as one of the Phillies minor league community service award recipients.

Phillies bring Hector Neris back to their bullpen mix

Former closer Neris returns to the Phillies bullpen mix

The Philadelphia Phillies made an interesting roster move on Tuesday afternoon in preparation for their two-game series with the Boston Red Sox at Citizens Bank Park.

Hector Neris, who began the season as the Phillies closer, was recalled from the AAA Lehigh Valley IronPigs. Sent down was infielder J.P. Crawford, recently activated from the disabled list.

Crawford clearly needs playing time after spending most of the last two months recovering from a broken left hand. The injury was suffered back in mid-June when he was hit by a pitch from Saint Louis Cardinals hurler Luke Weaver.

At that point in the season, Crawford had been playing a lot of third base, with Maikel Franco struggling badly. While Crawford was out, Franco heated up and has now apparently become entrenched at the hot corner.

While the Phillies could have demoted Scott Kingery, they instead chose to keep the struggling infielder with the big club. Kingery can play second, third, and short. That versatility was certainly a factor in their decision.

Both Kingery and Crawford could likely benefit from two or three weeks of everyday playing time at the AAA level. Crawford needs it to regain his timing after being off for two months. Kingery needs it to regain his confidence and stroke after looking over-matched for much of his rookie season.

Rosters will expand in a little more than two weeks. It is a near certainty that Crawford will be among the first group of players brought to Philadelphia to help the team during the stretch run of September baseball.

Neris was horrendous during the first three months of the 2018 season with the Phillies, surrendering 11 home runs among the 35 hits that he yielded over 30 innings.

However, with the IronPigs, Neris got back to dominating. In 19 games he allowed just nine hits over 18.2. innings with a 31/7 K:BB ratio. More importantly perhaps, he allowed no long balls.

“…more consistent command of the fastball…the splitter has been consistent in and in-and-out of the zone,” said IronPigs pitching coach David Lundquist per Philly.com’s Ben Pope. “His timing and his delivery is really good right now, and he’s been getting more swing-and-miss.”

The Phillies are hoping that the 29-year-old right-hander has gotten his confidence back and his pitching repertoire squared away. If so, Neris has the talent to provide a dynamic presence to the back-end of the Phillies bullpen over the final seven weeks.

Originally published at Phillies Nation as "Hector Neris returns, J.P. Crawford sent to AAA Lehigh Valley"

Phillies acquire all-star catcher Wilson Ramos at the non-waiver trade deadline

Ramos was voted he AL All-Star starting catcher this year

As the 2018 MLB trade deadline was approaching on Tuesday afternoon, the Philadelphia Phillies finalized a deal to acquire nine-year veteran catcher Wilson Ramos from the Tampa Bay Rays.

Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports first broke the news early on Tuesday afternoon via Twitter that club was “deep into talks” with Tampa regarding the soon-to-be 31-year-old native of Venezuela.

Phillies general manager Matt Klentak and his counter-part with the Rays, Erik Neander, worked to hash out the details as the afternoon rolled along.

As those initial details began to leak, Jonathan Mayo of MLB Pipeline tweeted out that the Phillies would not be surrendering any top prospects.

Ramos is currently on the 10-day disabled list due to a hamstring issue. It was reported last week that Ramos was able to complete catching drills at Tropicana Field on Thursday, and was scheduled to catch a live bullpen session on Saturday.

The injury caused Ramos, voted by fans as the starting catcher on this year’s American League all-star team, to miss the mid-summer classic.

Jonathan Mayo

✔@JonathanMayo

I am told the Phillies will not be giving up a member of their Top 30 prospects list.

MLB Pipeline

✔@MLBPipeline

#Phillies reportedly acquire Wilson Ramos from the #Rays. Here's a look at what the @Phillies have to offer in terms of prospects: http://atmlb.com/2FMrrYR 

2:57 PM - Jul 31, 2018

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Klentak later spoke to the press and revealed that the Phillies had acquired Ramos and cash considerations in exchange for a player to be named later and/or further cash considerations. 

The GM also revealed that Ramos was not expected to return from the DL until at least mid-August, and might not be available to the Phillies until September 1st.

Ramos was originally signed by the Minnesota Twins as a teenage amateur free agent out of his native Venezuela back in 2006. He broke into the big leagues with Minnesota in 2010, and then was dealt to the Washington Nationals that year at the trade deadline.

With the Nationals, Ramos became a regular for the first time the following season. He finished fourth in the 2011 NL Rookie of the Year voting, then made the NL all-star team in 2016. Ramos also was awarded the NL Silver Slugger Award for catchers at the conclusion of that 2016 campaign.

Phillies to send rookie Enyel De Los Santos to mound on Tuesday night

Rookie Enyel De Los Santos take mound Tuesday night

Thanks to a congested schedule leading up to the MLB All-Star break, the Phillies had some tough organizational decisions to make and questions to answer regarding their starting pitching rotation.

The club chose to answer those questions by giving yesterday’s start to Drew Anderson and tomorrow’s start to Enyel De Los Santos, both promoted from the AAA Lehigh Valley IronPigs.

The two youngsters were sandwiched in between Aaron Nola and Zach Eflin, each of whom will go this evening at the start of a four-game series with the host New York Mets. Those two will get the nod for an increasingly rare throwback, a good old-fashioned twi-night doubleheader.

Anderson was immediately sent back to AAA after the 24-year old’s first big league start resulted in a 4-1 loss to the host Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park. He allowed four earned runs on eight hitters over five innings during which the right-hander threw 94 pitches, 64 of those for strikes. Anderson struck out four and walked one, getting no help from a Phillies offense that generated just four hits.

“Drew came up and did a great job for us,” manager Gabe Kapler said per Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports. “He gave us five strong innings. He gave us a chance to win it. We didn’t score a lot of runs, so that matters. Obviously, the spotlight will be on the start, but it’s not the only thing that happened today.”

Now on Tuesday night at Citi Field against the struggling Mets, it will be a chance for De Los Santos to show what he’s got in what will be the 22-year old pitcher’s big league debut. So exactly who is De Los Santos, you might ask?

Born and raised in the baseball hotbed of San Pedro de Macoris in the Dominican Republic, De Los Santos was originally signed by the Seattle Mariners as a 19-year old international free agent. He made his pro debut in 2015 with the Mariners organization. Following that season he was traded to the San Diego Padres as part of a deal for Joaquin Benoit.

Over the 2016 and 2017 seasons, the right-hander rose through three levels of the San Diego minor league system. Last off-season, the Phillies acquired him in a straight-up trade for shortstop Freddy Galvis.

Assigned by the Phillies to the AAA IronPigs, De Los Santos has been nothing short of fantastic. He went 9-3 over 16 starts, allowing just 72 hits over 95.1 innings with a 1.98 ERA and 1.080 WHIP.

Phillies farm director Joe Jordan described him as follows in a piece last week by Jim Salisbury for Baseball America:

“He’s big, physical and mean on the mound. It’s a pretty good package . . . He really seems to know who he is on the mound and he gets after it.”

For this strong first half performance, De Los Santos was selected to a pair of all-star teams. This coming Wednesday he was due to start in the Triple A All-Star Game. He was also named as a pitcher with Team World for the upcoming MLB All-Star Futures Game.

J.P. Crawford becomes latest phenom promoted by Phillies

Crawford becomes latest Phillies phenom given a shot in 2017

At first blush, 2017 would appear to be yet another in a recent string of Philadelphia Phillies lost seasons. It has been six years since the last winning Phillies club. This will be the team’s fifth straight season finishing last or next-to-last in the NL East Division.

Any outsider who simply peers at the standings and sees their 52-85 record, the worst in Major League Baseball, could be excused for not realizing that something more is going on here. But it is.

While the Phillies are indeed 33 games below the .500 mark, a glance at their game results table reveals improvement. The club has registered a 23-25 mark since dropping the first two games out of the MLB All-Star break in mid-July.

On August 10, Rhys Hoskins was promoted from AAA Lehigh Valley. The 24-year old natural first baseman was hitting for a .284/.385/.581 slash line at time with the IronPigs. He would ultimately be named both the Rookie of the Year and the Most Valuable Player of the International League.

Three days after entering the lineup as a left fielder, Hoskins registered his first big league hit. A day later, he drove his first two big league home runs out of Citizens Bank Park.

The show was on. In 105 plate appearances over 25 games, the rookie has hit for a .307/.419/.750 slash. He has also bashed a dozen homers, driven in 25 runs, scored 22 times, and become the team’s cleanup hitter. Hoskins was named the National League Rookie of the Month for August.