Baseball America

Image credit: Tyler Locklear (Photo by Norm Hall/MLB Photos via Getty Images)

The Phillies identification process when it comes to amateur pitching is an interesting one. Over the last several drafts, the organization has stockpiled college arms with below-average strike-throwing abilities but well above-average stuff.

A violation of a pitch count rule might keep Summerville (S.C.) High from playing for a state title.

Image credit: Charlie Condon (Photo by David J. Griffin/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Paul Skenes' performance against the Cubs was dominance at its purest. J.J. Cooper writes fans should not take the moment for granted.

With a 6-4 victory Friday at Duke, North Carolina clinched the ACC championship. It is the Tar Heels’ first conference championship since 2018.

Druw Jones’ pro career has been derailed frequently by injuries, and he started the season struggling. But Jones is on one of the best hot streaks of his career, he went 4-for-5 with his second home run of the season on Friday. It was the first four-hit game of his pro career, and it raised his slash line this year to.275/.372/.412. Perhaps more importantly, it showed that Jones is starting to clean up his swing. He pulled this home run to left center field. A disconnection between Jones’ upper half and lower half had left him largely unable to hit the ball in the air to his pull side this year. Of his eight previous extra-base hits this year, seven had gone to right field and one was hit to center field.

Low-A Rancho Cucamonga outfielder Josue De Paula homered twice on Friday, continuing a hot streak that has seen him hit four home runs in the past three games. After Tuesday’s game, De Paula was slugging.351. He’s now hitting.264/.355/.500. Both of De Paula’s home runs on Friday were examples of his excellent power potential. The first was a line drive that just keep carrying over the right field fence, while his second easily cleared the fence in right center.

A recap of all transactions involving minor league players last week.

We’re over a quarter of the way through the major league season and there are some hitters in Triple-A already with 200 plate appearances so we’re starting to get fairly deep into it. Even the Complex League is starting to find its footing as some hitters have over 50 plate appearances. And before we know it, the Dominican Summer League will begin in a few weeks. Exciting times!