Phillies provide encouraging update on top-ranked prospect Aidan Miller originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
There’s a lot happening down on the farm for the Phillies.
Philadelphia has seen breakout candidates at the plate since the start of the Minor League season. And Gage Wood dominated his way into a two-level promotion to Reading.
But the club’s top-ranked prospect still has not played a game in his fourth professional season.
There was a great deal of anticipation for Aidan Miller’s campaign entering the year, with the possibility of a midseason callup to the big leagues if everything clicked. Instead, the soon-to-be 22-year-old has been working through a back injury, something he also dealt with a year ago.
Miller went down during Spring Training, which kept him out of Grapefruit League action and has delayed his season at Triple-A Lehigh Valley. It had earlier been believed that Miller was doing everything except swinging a bat, but Mattingly said on May 6 that the shortstop prospect was not participating in baseball activities.
There has at least been some progress.
“Aidan Miller is beginning to do light baseball activity,” Mattingly said Thursday.
Asked if that included swinging, Mattingly kept it broad.
“Light baseball activities,” he said. “So we’re moving in the right direction.”
It is clearly a slow play for the organization with the former first-round pick. There is no obvious reason to rush him, especially with Bryson Stott and Alec Bohm both swinging the bat better lately.
Last year between Double-A and Triple-A, Miller slashed .264/.392/.433 with 43 extra-base hits and 59 stolen bases in 116 games. In the final two months, he posted an OPS over 1.100 and racked up 22 extra-base hits in his final 36 games.
SCHWARBER OUT AGAIN, REALMUTO SITS
For the second straight day, Kyle Schwarber is out of the lineup with an illness.
Mattingly mentioned the possibility of Schwarber pinch-hitting Wednesday, but said Thursday there was no real chance that would have happened.
“Yesterday really was no shot,” Mattingly said. “Today, maybe. He didn’t feel great, but we may have a shot to hit.”
Schwarber was feeling a little better, just not enough to start. Temperatures around first pitch were expected to hover around 95 degrees before cooling into Memorial Day Weekend, and the Phillies had no reason to force it.
J.T. Realmuto will sit as well.
It’s just a day of rest for the Phillies’ catcher. At 35, the Phillies want to keep him fresh behind the plate throughout the season, and Mattingly’s player perspective goes into that decision.
“He’s getting a little older,” Mattingly said. “I just don’t think him catching five, six days in a row at this point in the season makes a lot of sense. We’re going to try to keep him stronger through the course of the season.”
Realmuto has pushed to play through a lot over the years, and Mattingly knows that part of him.
“I know he wants to play, and he wants to be in there every day, and we appreciate that,” Mattingly said. “But sometimes you have to save guys from themselves and try to give them days here and there, especially when they make sense.”
Those days also keep Rafael Marchán and Garrett Stubbs involved. That depth showed up Wednesday, when the Phillies’ next-man-up mentality helped power an eighth-inning comeback victory behind Bryson Stott’s go-ahead homer.
PHILS GO FOR ANOTHER
When the Phillies beat the Pirates at PNC Park, it was their sixth consecutive series win.
That came after they had lost six straight series under Rob Thomson.
The Phils will hand the ball to Jesús Luzardo Thursday night against Cincinnati as they look for their seventh straight series victory.
The left-hander was lights out in his last outing in Boston, firing six scoreless innings against the Red Sox as he went toe-to-toe with former Phillie Ranger Suárez.
He issued just one walk in that start, which is usually the biggest indicator of how his outings will play out. Luzardo has walked three or more batters in three starts this year. In two of them, he allowed five earned runs. In the other, he did not complete the fifth inning.
Mattingly has seen the same trend. When Luzardo’s innings start to get away, it is often less about stuff and more about tempo.
“For me, he always looks the same,” Mattingly said. “I just think sometimes he speeds up. Instead of slowing down a little bit and making pitches, it gets to be, ‘I’m competing,’ and he’s competing harder. To me, [that’s] not as good.”
Even through his struggles, Luzardo’s underlying metrics remain strong. The strikeout stuff is there, and he gives the Phillies immense upside in a rotation that already features Cristopher Sánchez, Zack Wheeler and Andrew Painter, who has improved a great deal recently.
The Phillies will oppose Reds righty Chase Burns, who has posted an eye-opening 1.87 ERA in nine starts and is firmly in the National League Cy Young conversation. Burns routinely runs his fastball into the triple digits and will be a tough opponent for the Phillies.
Mattingly still likes the way his club should think each night.
“Our guys should expect to win,” he said. “We’ve got good players. We’ve got good starting pitching on an everyday basis. Those guys, for the most part, keep us in a game and give us a chance.”
The Phillies have been playing like it lately.
Now they get another chance to keep the run going.
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