Lakewood Blueclaws vs. Hagerstown Suns: 5/27/12

Clyde and I battled Memorial Day beach traffic to make it down to FirstEnergy Park in Lakewood, New Jersey to watch the  Low-A affiliates of the Phillies and Nationals.

Hagerstown (Nationals):

Brian Goodwin - As 1st round supplemental pick out of junior college last June, Goodwin was advanced enough to handle full season ball right away. So far, in 51 at-bats he has compiled a line of .275/.406/.529 with 3 stolen bases. On Sunday, he did a little bit of everything, going 2-3 with a double, and a walk. He already has solid gap power which, coupled with his speed, should allow him to rack up extra base hits. If he continues to excel in low-A, Goodwin has a chance to move up in the second half of the season and could move quickly through the rest of the system.

Cutter Dykstra - A 2nd round pick in 2008, Dykstra went 3-4 with a double and stolen base. He did not get many attempts at second base so it was hard to judge his defense.

Matt Skole - The current SAL homerun leader and 2012 5th round pick went 0-2 with 3 walks (one intentional) and 2 strikeouts. As the walks indicate, he showed solid plate discipline, however most of the pitches he faced were well out of the zone. He has a strong arm at third base and made some nice defensive plays.

Lakewood (Phillies):

Aaron Altherr - The first word that comes to mind upon seeing the 6'5" 190 pound Altherr is "lanky". In his first at-bat, Altherr laced the first pitch he saw into right-center field, then with an exceptional combination of speed and baserunning instinct, he effortlessly rounded first and hustled to second on a ball that would have been a single for most players. He finished the day 2-5 with the aforementioned double and a strikeout. Altherr had trouble laying off pitches out of the zone and will need to tone down his aggression in order to grow as a hitter.

Kelly Dugan - A 2nd round pick back in 2009, Dugan went 1-3 on Sunday, crushing a homerun well over 400 feet to right field. So far he has hit .270/.368/.490 with 4 homeruns in 100 at bats.

Don't forget to follow @baseballstalker on Twitter for live updates throughout the season.

Brewers Catchers

2010 was a rough year for Brewers catchers, 28 year old George Kottaras and rookie Jonathan Lucroy combined to have one of the roughest years in the majors. While their struggles are reflected in their surface stats, both Kottaras and Lucroy's underlying numbers appear promising.

Kottares produced an abysmal .205/.305/.396 line with 9 homeruns in 250 at-bats in 2010. While his surface stats leave little to be desired, Kottaras produced a strong 13% walk rate which falls nicely in line with his 12% career mark. In addition, his .193 isolated power increased from .151 in 2009. To top it off, he sported an 82% contact rate. Ultimately, George Kottaras possesses a trifecta of impressive underlying skills which should lead to a much stronger offensive 2011. with only 312 career major league at-bats, Kottaras should continue to progress with time.

After a mid-season call up, Lucroy went on to hit .253/.300/.329 with 4 homeruns in 277 at-bats, a season even worse than Kottaras'. Similar to Kottaras, Lucroy's underlying stats suggest his offensive potential is greater than he showed in his rookie season. His 85% contact rate is quite strong and fully supported by his minor league numbers. He has never hit for a lot of power, only surpassing a .200 ISO once in the minors (High A in 2008), chances are his power will never be more than league average. Lucroy's plate discipline was below average in 2010, however his minor league numbers suggest he should be able to develop above average plate discipline. While he'll never hit for much power, Lucroy's plate discipline and contact skills will help become an above average offensive contributor in short order.

During their brief major league careers Kottaras has proven to be a better hitter against righthanded pitchers, while Lucroy has been stronger against lefthanders. This gives the Brewers the perfect opportunity platoon the two to ensure they get the most possible production out of their catchers. Neither catcher will ever be an all-star, but both will preform a lot better offensively in 2011.

James Loney

Since bursting onto the scene in 2007 with a line of .331/.381/.528 James Loney's production has regressed big time. To be fair, the expectations placed on Loney were lofty and very few players are able to live up to that sort of hype. Now, 3 years later, as a 26 year old coming off the worst season of his career Loney is running out of opportunities to prove he can become a successful major league 1st baseman.

Loney's biggest problem has been his obvious lack of power, his slugging percentage has dropped every year since he entered the league and now sits at .395, the second lowest mark in the majors this season. Even though he plays a position where power is a premium, Loney could still provide offensive value if he had strong on-base skills. Unfortunately his 8% walk rate is not nearly high enough to offset his sleight power.

On the upside, Loney does possess excellent contact skills, his 87.5% contact rate in 2010 was exactly in line with his career numbers. However, his batting average sat at .267 in 2010. Once again, this number would be fine if he his walk rate was around 12-15%.

At an extremely basic level, offensive players can help their team in two general ways: get on base, or hit for power. If a player can't hit for power (like Loney) then he needs to make up for it by getting on base. If he does not walk or hit, then there are very few ways left for someone like Loney to get on base.

Loney is an above-average defender, unfortunately he plays first base where defense has little value--certainly not enough to offset his recent offensive ineptitude.

There is still hope for James Loney, at 26 years old he is just entering his prime. Dodgers manager and former hitting coach Don Mattingley has said on plenty of occasions that he believes the young first baseman can develop into a star. It looks like Loney will get another year to prove he can live up to the hype. Should he fail, he will soon find out that free agency isn't very kind to light hitting 1st basemen who can't get on base or play gold glove caliber defense.

Tim Alderson

Eric Hosmer and Jeff Locke

Mike Moustakas

Danny Duffy

Wilmington Blue Rocks vs. Lynchburg Hillcats: 7/28&29/09

We headed down to Delaware to see the Wilmington Blue Rocks (Royals A+) face the Lynchburg Hillcats (Pirates A+). The Blue Rocks are especially prospect-laden with 1st round picks Mike Moustakas and Eric Hosmer anchoring a potent roster with includes 6 of The Royals top 15 Prospects.

Lynchburg:

Jose De Los Santos - The Hillcats lead-off hitter went 5-10 with a run and a stolen base over the two game series. As a 24 year old in A+, he probably won't amount to much in the big leagues but he showed solid contact skills, and good speed.

Matt Hague - The Pirates 23rd best prospect according to Baseball America, Hague went 2-9 with a stolen base and two strikeouts. He lined out hard and just missed a homerun to dead center but the stolen base isn't really evidence of his speed; the Wilmington catcher was absolutely horrible throwing out runners.

Jeff Locke - The prize of the Nate McLouth trade, pitched a gem took a perfect game into the 6th inning before giving up a homerun which ended up being his only blemish as his final line was 6 inning pitched, 7 strikeouts, 1 hit, 1 earned run, and no walks. He had an excellent 3 pitch mix highlighted by his superb changeup which he would throw in any count. His fastball had good movement but seemed to lack velocity and his curveball had sharp, almost slider-like break at the end, but thrown considerably slower. He had excellent control of all of his pitches and kept almost every hitter off balance.

Wilmington:

Eric Hosmer - The 3rd overall pick in the 2008 draft went 0-8 with no strikeouts. It was a rough series for Hosmer who grounded out in all but one of his at-bats. On the upside, he is one of the youngest players in the league at only 19 years old, so he has plenty of time to develop into the star that he was touted to be. He made a bunch of excellent plays at first base and should be a perennial gold glove candidate.

Mike Moustakas - The Royals top prospect 3-7 with a homerun and a double. Moustakas' most noticeable characteristic is his muscular frame, he couples his strength with a nice, compact swing which should allow him to hit for both power and average. Jeff Locke made him look silly in his first at-bat which ended with Moustakas flailing on one knee. He had a top-notch arm from third base and made a few nice defensive plays.

Danny Duffy - After being perfect through the first three innings Duffy fell apart in the fourth and left with an injury. His line ended up at 3.1 innings, 5 hits, 4 earned runs, 1 walk and three strikeouts. Over the first three innings he was absolutely dominant, his fastball sat in low 90's with good movement, his curveball was excellent and sat in the low-to-mid 70's with sharp 12-6 break, and his changeup had nice fade to it and fooled a batter so bad that his bat flew into the the dugout. As a lefty with three potential plus pitches Duffy could be a potential ace, check out the video in the post above above of him striking Matt Hague.

Videos of Moustakas and Hosmer will be available soon.

Whats New

Hey Everybody!

We are now on Twitter! you can follow us at www.twitter.com/baseballstalker. We'll be at baseball games all day tomorrow (7/29) tweeting away so make sure to check it out.

We've also redone the site a little bit--be sure to check out the prospect videos on the right-hand side.

New game summaries involving top prospects Mike Moustakas, Eric Hosmer, Danny Duffy, Jesus Montero and more should be up by Saturday along with a few new articles next week.

Thanks!

Portland Sea Dogs vs. Trenton Thunder: 7/18/09

We decided to go to the game at the last minute on Thursday and missed the first inning, but we were treated to an excellent pitching performance by Junichi Tazawa.

Trenton:

Reegie Corona - The speedy shortstop went 2-4 with a double and made a few nice defensive plays. He has excellent range and a pretty good arm, If he can continue to develop at the plate he could be a solid big leaguer.

Portland:

Junichi Tazawa - Tazawa went 5 innings giving up 5 hits and 1 run while striking out 4 and walking none. His fastball sat between 90-91 mph throughout the game and ramped it up to 93 a few times with good movement. His curve was an absolute gem, sitting around 72-75 mph with excellent depth. He also showed a pretty nice mid-80's splitter, but most impressive, was his feel for pitching, he showed excellent command of his pitches, and 3 out of his strikeouts ended with the batter flailing on one knee.

Josh Reddick - We missed Reddick when we saw Portland earlier in the year as he was on the DL. He didn't disappoint, going 1-3 with a double, two walks, and an RBI, His double banged off of the wall in left center and came excruciatingly close to being a homerun.

Miguel Abreu

Jesus Montero

Eastern League All-Star Game: 7/15/09

Yesterday Clyde and I attended the Eastern League All-Star Game at Waterfront Park in Trenton. After a lackluster Homerun Derby, the actual game was delightful, The Southern Division ended up winning 4-3.

Northern Division:

Rene Tosoni - Coming off a Futures Game appearance where he was awarded MVP honors over the weekend, Tosoni a disappointing game a the plate going 0-4 with a walk a run scored, and a strikeout.

Lars Anderson - Boston's top prospect played the second half of the game going 0-2 with a strikeout. He looked uncomfortable both in the Homerun derby (where he hit only 1 homerun) and during the game where he seemed off-balance a lot. He smoked a ball that would have been a double if not for an excellent defensive play by the center fielder.

Jesus Montero - Montero who was an injury replacement, played the second half of the game and showed that despite only being 19 years old he could handle the best that AA had to offer, going 2-2, with one of his hits being of the infield variety. He runs very well for his size and appears athletic. Unfortunately, he still looked very poor defensively, runners were a perfect 4-4 in stolen base attempts against him in only 4 innings behind the plate.

Most of his throwing problems seem to stem from a varying arm angle, sometimes he correctly cocks his arm behind his head before releasing the ball, generally resulting in a good throw. Other times he almost seems to wind-mill the ball to second base, usually resulting in the ball bouncing before it reaches the second baseman or flying into the outfield. I don't think his throwing troubles are due to lack of talent, just inconsistency.

Zach McAllister - The starter for the North, McAllister pitched 1 inning and gave up 1 hit. He seemed to command his pitches well, and breezed through the inning.

Southern Division:

Miguel Abreu - The All-Star Game MVP went 2-4 with 2 stolen bases and 2 runs. He ran very well and also got excellent jumps on his stolen bases He also made two nice defensive plays at second base. There have been some questions about his plate discipline and he's old for his level at age 24 but contact skills and speed could get him to the big leagues.

Carlos Santana - Santana went 0-1 and got hit by a pitch in his only two plate appearances of the game. He showed off some pop in the homerun derby hitting his only two homeruns well out of the stadium.

Nick Weglarz - Weglarz went 0-2 with a stolen base and fielder's choice. He showed off better speed than I expected; he will never much of a regular base stealing threat but he's certainly not a base-clogger.

Michael Taylor - The first thing I noticed about Taylor is that he's absolutely jacked, but despite all of his muscle mass, he still runs well--similar to Elijah Dukes. Taylor went 1-4 with a walk and a strikeout. He hit a long fly ball his first time up which brought the left fielder all the way back to the warning track.

Beau Mills - Of all of the players, I was most excited to see Mills who hit a monster shot last time he was in Trenton. It's a shame he wasn't in the Homerun Derby as I believe he would have won easily. Mills ended up going 1-4 with a walk and a strikeout, he was also caught stealing.

Joe Savery - The Southern Division starter matched his counterpart in McAllister giving up 1 hit over 1 inning. Unlike McAllister, Savery flashed a disgusting changeup a few difference times. His commanded appeared to be solid and his fastball looked strong.

Bowie Baysox vs Trenton Thunder: 6/3/09

On a cloudy Wednesday night, Clyde and I headed over to Waterfront Park to watch the Baltimore's AA affiliate, the Bowie Baysox, take on the Yankees AA affiliate, the Trenton Thunder. Contrary to The Weather Channel's beliefs, the rain held off and we were able to get the entire game in.

For the first time in my 30+ trips to Waterfront Park, the wind was blowing out. If you haven't read our Trenton Thunder write-ups before, you should know that strong winds blowing off the Delaware River usually keep the baseball in the yard. This coupled with rather deep dimensions makes it quite a struggle to hit homeruns.

Bowie:

Mike Costanzo, 3B - The former Phillies prospect had a solid night going 1-4 with a double and a strikeout. He also hit two long fly balls to left field, which may have been homeruns in some stadiums. Unfortunately the 25 year old third baseman will need to make more contact if he wants to see the majors; he struck out 159 times in 483 at-bats last year.

Unfortunately, Costanzo was the only notable player on the Baysox. They only managed 3 hits all night. Aside from Jake Arrieta and Brandon Erbe who pitched on previous days, Bowie had literally no prospects on their team.

Trenton:

WIlkin De la Rosa, P - This was my third time seeing de la Rosa pitch this season, and it was easily his most impressive start. In 6 innings he let up 2 hits, walked two, and punched out 8 batters, while allowing no runs and picking up the win. He generated a lot of groundballs as evidenced by his 5:3 groundout to airout ratio. There were a few times where he dialed his fastball up into the mid-90's and completely overpowered batters. His breaking ball and changeup both looked sharp as well.

Jesus Montero, C - The 19 year old made his first ever appearance in AA, after annihilating A+. He went 1-4 with a walk and an RBI on the night, singling his second time up, absolutely rocketing a ball between the shortstop and third baseman. Montero made a few nice blocks behind the plate, and played a bunt perfectly, but his throws to second were both slow and inaccurate, at 6'5 there are some concerns whether or not he can stay at catcher down the road. He was stuck out by Robert Valido, a shortstop who pitched an inning for whatever reason, with the bases loaded, other than that he had a great debut, especially when you consider most of his competition is 3 or 4 years older.

Colin Curtis, OF - Curtis who is a fringe prospect, hit a long homerun to right-centerfield his first time up. He went 1-3 with the homerun, RBI, and a strikeout before having to leave the game after being hit by a pitch.

Edwar Gonzalez, OF - He went 2-4 with a triple, 3 RBI, and a run. He also hit a long flyball to right field that would be gone in most ball parks.

Kanekoa Texeira, P - Texeira pitched 3 shutout innings, giving up 1 hit, striking out 2, walking none and getting the save. All of his outs (strikeouts aside) came via the groundball.

Trenton won 8-0

Tommy Hanson Called Up

Last night Atlanta Braves fans and fantasy baseball owners around the country got their wish, when top prospect Tommy Hanson was finally called up to the majors. Since the Braves do not feel Tom Glavine get the job done, it's finally Hanson's time to make an impact in the major leagues. Everyone was wondering when he would be called up because he has been so dominant in the minor leagues.

2008 A+: 3 - 1/0.90 ERA/0.65 WHIP/40 innings/49 SO/11 BB/11.03 K/9
2008 AA: 8 - 4/3.03 ERA/1.13 WHIP/98 innings/114 SO/41 BB/10.47 K/9
2009 AAA: 3 - 3/1.49 ERA/0.86 WHIP/66.1 innings/ 90 SO/17 BB/ 12.21 K/9

Hanson pitched extremely well in A+ and AA in 2008, but in 2009 he took it to another level. His K/9 and K/BB went up and, his ERA and WHIP dropped dramatically. Moving up to AAA did not slow him down at all, he actually improved, so the Braves are hoping that his next transition goes as smoothly as the one from AA to AAA.

In his prime, Hanson could have as many as four plus pitches in his mid 90's fastball, 12-6 curve, changeup and slider. He only began using a slider midway through last season, but it improved rapidly over the second half and throughout the Arizona Fall League; now it may be his best pitch. With such a vast and advanced repertoire and control that took a giant step forward in 2008, should have less trouble than most young pitchers do as rookies. He doesn't induce a ton of groundballs, but that will play fine in Atlanta.

Hanson should be up for the rest of the year, and there is little doubt that he can succeed against major league hitters. The 22 year old is Atlanta's the future ace and his career begins on Saturday against the Brewers. He has the talent to be a perennial all-star and possibly even more.

Rising Stars - Brett Wallace

With the 13th overall pick in the 2008 amateur draft, the St Louis Cardinals, feeling the need for an impact bat and heir to Troy Glaus at third base chose 3rd baseman, Brett Wallace out of Arizona State. Going into the draft, Wallace had the reputation of an extremely polished hitter who could move quickly through the system. So far he hasn't disappointed, Posting a line of .282/.376/.426 with 7 home runs and 23 RBI to date, split between AA and AAA.

Wallace has had some problems with strikeouts in the past, but he has strong enough contact skills and plate discipline that his whiffs won't be a problem and may decrease as he becomes more acclimated with pro ball. In his prime he should hit for both excellent power and average; he has an excellent chance to be a .300/.400/.500 hitter with 30-40 home runs and at least 100 RBI.

The 22 year old has struggled mightily with his defense at the hot corner. At some point in his career, he will need to move to first base, which could be tough as it is occupied by arguably the best player in the game in Albert Pujols. He is also a below average runner and may have trouble keeping the agility needed to play third base in the short-term.

None of Wallace's numbers are eye popping, but we have to take into account his success at AAA when most of his peers are still at A+. The Cardinals' current 3rd baseman, Troy Glaus, is still recovering from off season surgery and his replacements have been sub-par to say the least. Wallace may get called up this season if Brian Barden and David Freese, don't shape up. If Brett Wallace produces, Glaus, Freese, and Barden will all be looking for new jobs next winter, and the Arizona State product will have the job locked down for a long time.

Kendry Morales: All-Star?

After defecting from Cuba in 2005, Kendry Morales looks like he's finally becoming the player everyone thought he would be. The 25 year old is currently on pace for 25 homeruns and 100 RBI, with a little luck he could be on his way to his first all-star game. Here is his line to date:

175 AB / .280/.332/.503 / 8 HR / 30 RBI / 7.9% BB% / .303 BABIP

None of Morales' peripheral stats are way out of line; his .45 BB/K rate is a hair below average but nothing to be too worried about. His .306 BABIP is right in line with the major league average and his .503 SLG shows he's been hitting with some power.

While he's been old for every level, Morales' track record is outstanding. He has never hit below .300 at any minor league level. Morales has also shown solid power as he has hit at least 15 homeruns at every level. His walk rate has been inconsitent, but he has never had contact troubles.

Morales' only noteworthy flaw has been his inconsitency, he goes though tremedous slumps and hot streaks, but the Angels have stuck with him through thick and thin. The season is only 1/4 done, and we still don't know how well he will translate his talent to full major league campaign, but either way Kendry Morales should be an above-average contributer with the potential to be even more if he can improve his consistency.

Zach Duke?!?

Ten starts into 2009 and Zach Duke is cruisin' . The 26 year old who is 5-4 with a 2.75 ERA, appears poised to make the first all-star game of his career. Yes, that's right, the same Zach Duke who went 18-37 in the years after his magical 2005 season when he burst onto the scene, going 8-2 with a sparkling 1.81 ERA in 14 starts. Here are his '09 numbers to date:

72 IP / 5-4 / 2.75 ERA / 42 SO / 17 BB / 1.11 WHIP / .268 BABIP / 75.9% LOB%

One of the driving forces behind his fantastic ERA has been his K/9 rate. While its still pathetic, it's sitting a 5.3 which is up from his 4.6 career K/9. Duke has kept his walks in line with his career numbers, at around 2.4 per 9 innings. The outlier is his .5 HR/9 rate which will be extremely hard to maintain for an entire season.

Duke has a discouraging batted ball trend that will not bode well with his low HR/9 rate. After inducing 51.1% groundballs in 2006, Duke's GB% has dropped each year and now sits at 45.5% for the '09 campaign. His flyball rate has increased each year from a tidy 26.4% in 2005 up to 35.5% in 2009--and more flyballs means more homeruns.

The bottom line is Duke has some fatal career trends that, with a little more time, will most likely prove to be the undoing to a brilliant first quarter of baseball. When you throw in a .267 BABIP which is nowhere close to his career .324 mark,you can be almost certain that Zach Duke will revert to his former ways, maybe worse.

A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

This year there have been many outstanding pitchers and one who is flying under the radar is Randy Wolf. Last night Wolf had another very good outing for the Los Angeles Dodgers, as he picked up the win going 7 innings against the Chicago Cubs allowing one earned run, one walk, and striking out 7. Wolf only allowed 2 extra base hits and only 2 fly ball outs, meaning that the rest of the outs were via groundball or strikeouts, which is a fantastic sign. Going in to last night's game this is what he has done.

2009: 10 GS/62.2 IP/2-1/3.02 ERA/1.12 WHIP/50 Ks/19 BBs

Before last nights game Wolf ranked 10th in the NL in ERA and last night he lowered it even more. He uses big slow curveball, to set up his 90 MPH fastball and vice versa, which leaves batters off balance and leads to more strikeouts. He is an extreme flyball pitcher (45.6%), but that should play fine in the vast outfields of Dodger Stadium. Wolf's true improvement in 2009 has been his control. His BB/9 rate (2.73) is his lowest since 2004 and his K/BB ratio (2.63) is his best since 2002, which is great to see and can point to a possible breakout.

Wolf should certainly break the 10 win mark this year with about 150 strikeouts; and if he can stay healthy, the 32 year old will be extremely valuable in the Dodgers hunt for the playoffs. At this point in his career, he is by no means an ace but, Randy Wolf can go out every five days and give his team an excellent chance to win.

A Healthy Back Means a Better Feliz

Going into the 2008 season, the Philadelphia Phillies made a very good move in acquiring Pedro Feliz. The Phillies were in desperate need of a third baseman and Pedro fit perfectly. He is a great defensive third baseman, who also was hitting 20 homeruns consistently at the pitcher friendly AT&T Park in San Francisco. Here are his numbers as a Giant, starting in 2004, his first full major league year.

2004: .276/.305/.485/22 HR/72 Runs/84 RBI/33 BB
2005: .250/.295/.422/20 HR/69 Runs/81 RBI/38 BB
2006: .244/.281/.482/22 HR/75 Runs/98 RBI/33 BB
2007: .253/.290/.418/20 HR/61 Runs/72 RBI/29 BB

Feliz has never been one to hit for average but the power has always been there and he has never played half of his games in a hitters park. The Phillies were expecting great defense and good power from him in 2008, but the power was not exactly at the same level as in years past. Here are his 2008 numbers with the Phillies.

2008: .249/.302/.402/14 HR/43 Runs/58 RBI/33 BB

His SLG%, OPS, and homerun totals were his lowest since the 2002 season. The reason his runs and rbis were down were because of where he batted in the lineup. In San Francisco, Feliz batted in either the 3, 4, or 5 spot and was protected by Barry Bonds or driven home because of Bonds.

Another problem in 2008 was his back. Most of the year he had an injured back, but decided to play through it and opted to wait to undergo surgery. Also, Pedro Feliz's BABIP (.258) was his lowest since 2003. Even though his power numbers were down, his back was hurting him throughout the year, and his BABIP was lower than usual, Feliz had his best OBP since 2004, his best BB% (7.2%) ever, and his best BB/K ratio (.61) ever. Those are excellent signs to see in a hitter and now that Pedro had the off season back surgery, he is putting his new plate discipline together with his old power and the results are showing in 2009.

2009: .307/.373/.433/2 HR/19 runs/ 25 RBI/17 BB

Yes, it's still not even half way through the season, but it is already obvious that the back surgery has helped considerably. His BABIP so far is .341, which is well above his career average, so it should come down, but everything so far points to a very good 2009 for Feliz. He should get back to his 20 homeruns due to his healthy back and the hitter friendly Citizens Bank Park. Also, Pedro is showing off his new plate discipline by having a 10.2 BB% and .89 BB/K ratio, which are his highest percentages by far and if he can keep that up he will exceed the expectations that the Phillies had for him when they signed him after the 2007 season. This is looking like a career year for Pedro Feliz and he will play a big part in the success of the Phillies the rest of the way.