MLB Power Rankings: Dodgers back on top to open August

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The Tampa Bay Rays have been near the top all season

The Philadelphia Phillies are as high as they have been all season in the latest 2019 MLB Power Rankings. As the month of August opens, that still only leaves them at 14th overall in Major League Baseball.

However, while they rank as middle-of-the-pack in all of baseball, they are the sixth-highest ranked ball club in the National League. That means they statistically come out right about where they are in the standings, as a legitimate NL Wildcard contender.

In taking a look at the landscape of contenders over the final eight weeks of the regular season, the Phillies are likely going to have to beat out the division-rival Washington Nationals and whichever team finishes as runners-up in the NL Central Division, the Chicago Cubs or Saint Louis Cardinals.

The Nationals made a series of moves to shore up their one glaring weakness – the bullpen – at yesterday’s MLB trade deadline. The Cubs added a big bat in Nicholas Castellanos.

In looking ahead at the schedule, the Phillies have just four games left head-to-head with the Nationals. Those will take place in Washington at the end of September in the club’s final road series of the year. Having met 14 times already, the Nationals have taken nine games from the Phillies, who would need a sweep of that final series to gain a 9-9 split.

The Cubs will come to Citizens Bank Park for three games in the middle of August. The Phillies and Cubs have already split four games at 2-2 this season. The Phillies are done with the Cardinals, having won four of six games between the two teams.

My own personal feelings never have anything to do with the MLB Power Rankings published here at Phillies Nation. Instead, the rank is all about actual team performance: results in the standings and statistical breakdowns.

I take what I have found to be key statistical categories and rank each of the 30 teams in Major League baseball on their ability to win ball games and perform on offense, the pitching mound, and in the field. There is never any subjectivity on my part.

The MLB Power Rankings are updated here at Phillies Nation on roughly the 1st and 15th of the month for the remainder of the regular season using the following methodology.

Strained forearm sends Vince Velasquez to the Injured List

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Velasquez suddenly has a strained forearm

The Philadelphia Phillies have been able to build a lead in the National League East Division over the first six weeks of the 2019 MLB season despite suffering numerous important losses due to injuries. Now the club will have to work through one more, and for the first time the starting pitching rotation is involved.

Right-hander Vince Velasquez was placed on the Injured List today with what has been described as a “right forearm strain” by Corey Seidman at NBC Sports Philadelphia.

Velasquez is in his fourth season with the Phillies since coming from the Houston Astros as the lead piece in a big seven-player deal back on December 12, 2015. The 26-year-old (he turns 27 next month) has gone 20-27 with a 4.57 ERA and 1.368 WHIP over 77 appearances, 75 of those starts, since joining the Phillies.

This season, Velasquez was 1-2 with a 3.86 ERA and 1.352 WHIP. He had struck out 32 while walking 15 opposing batters across 32.1 innings over which he had surrendered 26 hits. Velasquez made six starts after coming out of the bullpen in his initial 2019 appearance.

A forearm strain could be anything from mild and minor to a major injury that would cost more than a year. Tampa Bay Rays sensational rookie pitcher Tyler Glasnow just learned that his own forearm strain was minor, but Glasnow will still be missing the next four-to-six weeks.

Per Seidman, the Phillies have brought back lefty reliever Austin Davis from Triple-A Lehigh Valley to bolster the bullpen for now. Davis had been pitching well with the IronPigs, producing a 1.12 ERA while allowing just 10 hits with 19 strikeouts over 16 innings across 11 appearances.

With the Phillies, Davis made one appearance this season back on April 23 in Colorado. He walked three and allowed three hits over two innings that afternoon at Coors Field but managed to keep the Rockies off the scoreboard during a 4-1 loss.

The 26-year-old Davis made his big-league debut a year ago with the Phillies. Over 32 games and 34.2 innings he allowed 35 hits with a 38/12 K:BB.

NBC Sports Philadelphia’s insider Jim Salisbury has reported that prospect Cole Irvin will be promoted to make his big-league debut on Sunday in what would normally have been the next start for Velasquez. However, Tom Housenick of The Morning Call has speculated that Irvin could make his debut on Tuesday at Citizens Bank Park. If that should happen, then Aaron Nola likely gets the Sunday nod.

Pirates ready to see the real Tyler Glasnow

Glasnow ready for his second chance in 2017

It might seem as though Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Tyler Glasnow has been around in the prospect game for a long time. In fact, he has indeed.

He has steadily climbed the MLB Pipeline pre-season rankings. Prior to the 2014 season he was ranked as the 27th overall prospect. In 2015, he moved up to #12, then to #10 in 2016. Finally, prior to this season, Glasnow was ranked as the #9 overall prospect in the game.

For the last three years, Glasnow has been a Top 25 prospect in the rankings as presented by both Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus.

Selected by Pittsburgh with their 5th round choice in the 2011 MLB Amateur Draft out of a California high school, Glasnow turned 24 years old just three weeks ago.

He was called up for his first taste of life in the big leagues in July of 2016. Then in September, Glasnow re-joined the Bucs to finish the season.

Overall in 2016 he appeared in seven games, making four starts. He allowed 22 hits over 23.1 innings while striking out 24 and walking 13 batters. The right-hander threw just 59% of his pitches for strikes.

While it was a largely inauspicious beginning, it was a beginning. Most prospects struggle during their first go-around in Major League Baseball. Glasnow had at least gotten his feet wet. It was hoped the experience would serve him well entering 2017, when he was expected to fill a rotation spot with the Pirates.

For the Pittsburgh Pirates, No News is Bad News

For the Pittsburgh Pirates and their passionate fan base, the 2016 season was one of extreme disappointment. After three consecutive playoff appearances, the beloved Bucs missed the postseason party.

The Pirates struggled to a record of 78-83 last season, good only for third place in the National League Central Division.

In each of the prior three years, Pittsburgh came in second place, with the team repeatedly falling just short of a division crown. The club finished within two games in 2014 and 2015 after falling three games short in 2013.

In 2016, the Bucs fell 7.5 games short of the second-place St. Louis Cardinals. But that was not their biggest concern heading into the offseason. Pittsburgh also finished a distant 25 games behind the eventual World Series champion Chicago Cubs in the division race.

Pirates Pitching Will Determine Return to Contention

The Pittsburgh Pirates missed the MLB postseason this season for the first time in four years and will need to address their pitching depth in order to return.

After a drought of more than two decades, the Pittsburgh Pirates returned to the Major League Baseball postseason as an NL Wild Card team in 2013. 

The Bucs then returned to the playoffs in each of the next two seasons as well, again as one of the NL’s Wild Card clubs.

The Pirates won that Wild Card Game in 2013 over the Cincinnati Reds, but were eliminated in a tough five-game Division Series by the eventual world champion St. Louis Cardinals.

The Pirates were then beaten in the Wild Card Game in both 2014 and 2015. This season, Pittsburgh slipped to their first losing record in four years. 

They finished in third place, 25 games behind the eventual World Series champion Chicago Cubs.

A look at the Pirates lineup reveals that with a couple of tweaks, the club could return to at least that NL Wild Card level of playoff contention. 

Add a legitimate power threat at first base, maybe a better catcher, and you can hit with most teams.

But the real key to any chance of the Pirates returning to the playoffs will be their pitching staff.