High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - A Mizerable Weekend Of Phillies Baseball

Episode Date: June 15, 2026

James Seltzer and Jack Fritz react to the Phillies getting shutout twice in Milwaukee and discuss what options the team has to try and fix a struggling Trea Turner.

Miller Light, the official beer partner of your Philadelphia Phillies, is proud to serve as presenting sponsor of WIP's High Hopes Pod. So whether you're listening to the game, catching off on the latest High Hopes pod or at the ballpark. Remember, it tastes like Miller time, Phillies fans. Celebrate responsibly. This is the High Hopes podcast. High Hope! On the Odyssey app and Sports Radio 94, WIP.

The crowd is singing high hope. I feel a little less alone. is another edition of the I-Ox podcast, sponsored by Miller Light, official partner of the Philadelphia Phillies, tastes like Miller Time Philadelphia, celebrate responsibly, Jack. I know that a baseball series happened

this past weekend in Milwaukee. I know we're going to talk about it. I know that one of the great pitching performances of all time against us, all that stuff. We're going to get into that. But can we just focus on starting with June 20th and everyone should come hang out with us in Reading

for our night at the Redding Fills? It's going to be so much fun. families come. It's a great ballpark. It's a super fun time. We're going. Have fun with us. It's going to be awesome.

We got a link to tickets posted on Jack's Twitter. I'll put up on my Twitter. But Saturday night, we are going to have a freaking blast in Reading. Please coming out with us. Father's Day weekend. It's good way to get it. Yeah, buddy. Take your dads to the Reading game.

That's right. Emily's dad is coming, we think. To coming out with Zoe and all. That'd be great. And just looked at the little forecast. 75 and sunny. I saw, I was like, please don't rain, please don't rain, please don't rain, so hell yeah. 75 and sunny sounds like a good night at baseball down.

Baseball down. Now, Redding is the best. And hopefully Norrie's back. And I don't think Gage Wood's pitching. But there's a lot of good things still happening with the Reddy fighting pills, including Brian Rickon. So, yeah, no, it'll be a great time. And it won't rain.

And we'll throw out the first pitch and we'll see who bounces it and who doesn't bounce it. I haven't picked the baseball since last. Since that pitch, I haven't picked one up. So yeah. Yeah, yeah. My, the last time I threw is to the camera. Oh, yeah, you pushed it. I had 30 pitches and I had probably three more left before.

And like, every time I try to cut something now with a knife, I think I feel my tendon in my elbow. So I don't know if that's a good sign or not. Probably not. Hey, hey, little Tommy, little Tommy for some content. A little TJ baby. Let's go. Yeah, dude.

Jack Rehabs from Tommy John would be it. That's a hell of a video series I think we can put out, you know. Well, if no baseball is next year, I mean, listen, I'll rehab as long as it takes for baseball to come back from Tommy John. I think that sounds like good content. It's 100%. So, yeah, the link's on my Twitter. If you cannot get the link on Twitter, just email the high hopes pod at gmail.com. I'll shoot you the link back and we'll go from there.

So I know not everyone's on Twitter, of course, but if you need the link, just email. us at the high hopes pod at gmail.com. Yeah. And obviously coming out, it's going to be awesome. If you can't get out to Redding, we do have an event, June 24th at Garage,

written out some Philly makeup for the one we were going to do before. So coming out with that too. If you're in the city, that's going to be awesome. We'll talk more about that as we goes on. But June 20th, this weekend coming. And it's in the pod description.

It's Tucker just let me know. Oh, look at the see. Tucker's the best. He's the best. He's the best. He's the best. That's right. he's the best.

All right. Let's talk about not the best weekend. It wasn't a disaster. Like they won one of three. The two losses were just particularly ugly and the win they held on for dear life. But I want to get to Trey. I want to get to what Maddening said.

I want to get to a lot of this stuff. But let's just start because, I mean, you argue. And despite it being against us, I know you had a party. You just had to be like, I can't believe I'm watching what Ms. Roski is doing right now. It is obviously statistics. basically literally one of the great starts of all time.

You had a funny text to me too about like your like back of the day when hitters could actually hit Clemens did this twice. Take me through your your Mizoroski experience. A miserable Mizoroski. No, he was, that was sick. It was unreal. And this is the one thing I hate the pitchers do is after they shove, they say after the game, yeah, I don't really have it in the first three.

I know. I just shut up. Yeah, you threw like four balls in the first. 15 strikeouts on 95 pitches. That's like almost statistically impossible. Yeah, in the first ending, you went 104, 104, 104 to strike out of the side. I think you felt pretty good. It seems like he was, it seems as if he was pitching a little ticked off because of how the Phillies last year called him making the all-star game, basically Savannah bananas-ish.

And I think he kind of took that a little personally, even though they were talking about, not him, they were talking about. the game and things like that. So, but yeah, I mean, I went into it expecting them to get absolutely dominated. We did. We talked about it in the pod. We were like, they're going to get smoked on. Don't even worry about this one. And it was even worse than I thought.

It was worse. So the one aspect or part of this team that I think is particularly dreadful. On Sundays, they're dreadful. I think they're four and 12 on the year, made four and 13 now. Is that really, because I anecdotally, I agreed. I was like, as you said it, I'm like, yeah, it does feel like there's four and 13, four and 12. That's, I didn't realize it was that bad. That's nuts.

They suck on Sundays. Thank God. We haven't been doing Sunday pods, man. Oh, I know. Well, dude, if we record it, I was so mad yesterday. Oh, I can only imagine. It was one of those days where it's, it was hot, but it wasn't like unbearably hot. And it's like, I'm sitting inside, watching them just get just dominated by Kyle Harrison.

And I'm like, what am I doing? Go outside. Go outside. Go outside. We got an inflatable. Hang with my kids. Do something productive. No, no.

but I'm just spilling about this freaking all anyway but one one area they're particularly annoying and awful at is the first game on the road after a day off in that city I feel like in that particular scenario they clearly took the foot off the gas on that off day which is fine you're supposed to reset I get it but they just have such a hard time ramping back up so the combination of an off day Thursday where they're a pro I know Keller was out golfing because with Marifield did a video that, which again is fine, I understand it.

It's just then to go get just dominated by Miserra. And not even really show up. I mean, they didn't really show up. Really, that's what I got one hit and 15 strikeouts and a double play. He faced the minimum. He was a Kyle Schwerber single away from a perfect game

with 15 strikeouts. Jack, come on. And it was the first pitch Shwerber hit too, so it was really just try to jump on a fastball. Yes. But Friday was annoying, but it was like, I could explain it away. Miserowski's unbelievable and he's going to win the Salyong. I mean, he's going to probably start the All-Star game, which is a bummer being in Philly. We'll see.

But it seems like it's trending that way, spares with the narratives. But like yesterday, there's two games of series where it felt like they didn't even get off the, didn't even get off the bus. And I get it's the end of a road trip. But these are, that's a show me series against the Brewers. It's a big series against a big series. big team, you know, like a team that you could face in the playoffs, one of the few teams that is definitively been better than you this year in the National League. Like, it's a big one. And I, there's a couple things that Donnie's got to tighten up real quick. I thought, I thought

they were sloppy. I thought the defense really, there's some lapses this weekend. Now, maybe it was just Trey. And it's clear that, to me at least, that at the plate is now affecting him in the field because he was horrendous defensively the series. But, I did not appreciate the way they showed up and played yesterday at all. I thought it was lack of daysical. It didn't look like they were playing inspired baseball. And to not really, like that Brewer's team seems to play with a lot of infectious energy. And you watch them and the energy that they have.

And then you see this team and the kind of malaise and going through the motions. I thought they went through the motions yesterday. I thought they went through the motions on Friday. And that was an incredibly disappointing. heading into the series. Yeah, I don't always pay too much attention to these types of stats, especially because they are pretty small sample sizes. But the Phillies are three and nine against the NFL division leaders,

other than, you know, the Braves and the Brewers and the Dodgers. And that feels right. And it also feels like, look, we know the players get hot, but that feels representative of these teams. Like, I would pick the Braves, the Dodgers, or the Brewers to beat us in a playoff series, and I wouldn't think hard about it. You know, like those teams are. better now. And that's where the Phillies have to get to. And that was a series where, again,

you're not going to be better than the Burroughs because you beat him in a series, but there's a chance to go up against a real team that you're competing with for the National League. And to your point, it's one thing if you lose. It's another thing if you don't show up for two of three games. Like that's, that's upsetting as a fan because it wasn't just another series. It's a series where you felt like you wanted to see your team play against the best. So it was a, to your point, it was a disappointing series, despite not being a disaster and like, oh, they didn't get swept, but it does feel like a, yeah, you know what, I was right not to think this team is quite at the top of the league with those other teams yet because

they haven't proven it. Well, it was annoying too. Like, you have Sanchez versus Kyle Harrison and Kyle Harrison is one of my babies. He's really good. He's a good pitcher. He's on the Fritz list. Yeah, he's a good pitcher. But it was just annoying that like what they did against Sanchez and they're able to score four off them and our guys kind of just laid down.

And outside of the Skeens game and Avaldi on opening day, even though Avaldi has not been the same of Avaldi, like Father Time might finally be catching up to Nathan Avaldi. But I'd still take him to the deadline. Texas Rangers fall out. Yeah, big game. I'll still okay with Nate Avaldi taking the hell for me, you know. Nasty Nate, nasty Nate. But it's just, it's, it's every time there's a pitcher with a, with a pulse that's actually a guy, it feels like they just don't show up. They just, they just are, they accept their fate.

And I hate, it's like, you can tell early too, where they just, like, I think Harper is the one. Oh, yeah. You can tell early, he's just not into it. Like, he doesn't want to face Kyle Harrison today. And I feel like that that is just, that just trickles down the entire team of like, well, you know, I guess we're not going to hit him. today. And that's, it's the pitchers with a pulse. The guys that are actually something. A guy with the ERA, again, the Phillies trip, the, the Phillies sweet spot. If the pitcher we've never heard of, he's going to shove. Like Ryan Gusto tonight, he's got a 5.69 ERA. Get ready for at least five

innings of two run ball, max, max. And, and then too good, they just, they just don't show up. It's the sweet spot of the, of not too good, a guy you've heard of. that they will absolutely take the task. But the getting shut down by Kyle Harrison, who again, it's really freaking good, but not even really being competitive was the thing that,

I don't know. It makes sense that they're three and nine against division leaders. Yeah, it does, right? That jives. That feels right. It's like, yeah, anecdotally,

I feel like that's how the season has played out. And to your point, Jack, like you're going to face good pitchers in the playoffs, not just good pitchers, good pitchers as focused in lock. in is there going to be every pitch matters and all that stuff. And this team, again, and it's the playoffs and you can play differently, but when they have so consistently in the regular season struggled to Jack, your point, even to get up for

these games, even though like fight against these pitchers, like that's lived in. That's the kind of thing where when you get to the playoffs, why should I assume that they're going to fight then and have, do they have anything to stand on with experience with, with reps in the season where they did it against pitchers? You know, it's, it is, it is a concern. Again, it's, it's, we're still in, you know, early June and all that or mid-June. But that's a concerning thing with the team because obviously the lineup we, is a concerning and, and the, you know, playoff history, you know, that.

But this specific thing of struggling against great pitchers and, and giving up, it seems like against great pitchers in the game, like that is a, a, a harbinger for bad things moving forward. Now, it was a three and three road trip. We always sign up for that. It's just, it's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, hanging a three and three road trip and then there's experiencing a three and three road trip always easy to say much easier to say but then living it living it is the is the one um

and then there's the whole tray situation yeah so let's get to it because i do think that is and it did seem like it came to a head over the weekend obviously with the comments both from tray himself who you know we've heard him like this before where he just sounds like he doesn't even know what to do like he don't he is trying he's doing the cage all stuff but he just doesn't doesn't have answers. And Mattingly looked pretty forthcoming, you know, talked about the potential to bench him for a few games, talked about the potential moving down in the lineup. Also was pretty frank about like, you know, when asked about if you're bench him, and move down, I was like, yeah, but like, you know, it's like we have a ton to fill in when he's

not playing or if he's moved to the line and stuff. So what did you make of Mattingley's comments, Trey's comments, the weekend and kind of what you think they're going to do moving forward because of it. Well, my first thought is, at least there's only seven years left. I know, dude. I know. It's the worst contract in the city, which is crazy, because we got some bad ones. But when you take in the length and the amount of money, it's the worst contract in the city. It's just, it's unbelievable. And it's, in my head, I know the stats, like what his numbers are, but I try not to, I try to avoid looking at them because they're just upsetting. So for, for comparison's sake, at this time in

2023 when he was everyone was like he's horrible horrible horrible he was hitting 252 with a 700 obs he is now 598 219 2 16 that's pretty crazy i knew that his numbers were better before the ovation and obviously after then then now i didn't realize it was that i mean that's almost you know we're getting like 170 points of ops difference like that's massive 180 points that's nuts would die frankly would die for for those numbers right now from trey so I'm okay with playing him through it. It's just he can't be batting two anymore. It's got to be boom tonight.

Like make the switch tonight. It seems like this whole thing is coming to a head. I mean, just a horrendous weekend, a horrendous weekend. I mean, when you're looking, I think there was two times this weekend. He struck out on fastballs right down the middle. And I also talked about like the ones where he didn't like doesn't feel comfortable enough to challenge even, which we had talked about how he's had those misses. Like I'm good.

Right. he is but that that says something because he was challenging in big spots earlier in this season like we talked about like the fact that he is so messed up that he's like I can't even challenge a ball strike call like shows just how lost he is right now yeah well how about how about how about you think a little bit before he go up there and if you see spin going to the outside corner don't swing don't swing don't swing like how about one pitch one spot let's just go back to the basics one if you want to swing first pitch if you want to swing first pitch one pitch one spot you got three strikes kid like you don't have to be in such a rush to make an out so uh one pitch one spot

let's get this back to basics but he he's like in between fastball and off off speed he's late on fastballs early on breaking balls which is like the the worst spot to be in uh as a hitter if they want to sit him for a couple days i'm fine with it like give him a reset let sosa play cool but the more important one is he cannot be batting to he just can't it's got it's it's harper's not going to bat too so it's going to go swarber boom marsh shoreber boom harper marsh and then turner going to bat him fifth uh just to give him a not an important not as important as by the lineup but also down a little bit and maybe just take some of the the weight off of his shoulders because they don't it's not like they have a ton of guys to who are hitting it like

host is not hitting it. It's not like you can like there's an obvious he'll be much better than Trey guy. You know, they've been better, but you know what I mean. And the most concerning part is now it's affecting him in the field. I mean,

he was horrendous this weekend defensively. You know, cost painter. He like, it was, it was all weekend. Just balls at the middle, getting through.

And at least you could say when he's gone through his offensive slumps that it hasn't really affected them in the field. Well, well, now it is. So he is clearly lost, clearly. need some kind of reset.

I would move him down to give me a couple days, but we've finally reached the, the breaking point, it seems like, on the tray situation, because that was an awful weekend of baseball. Yeah. And I'm with you. I think you have to do both things. Honestly,

I would move him down the line, but I would give him a couple days off. I know he's talked about, you know, he always wants to be in the cage, always wants to be going. Like, I think sometimes you just have to tell someone like,

hey, man, get away. Like, honestly, like, not only are we giving you two days off. One of them, you're not even coming to the ballpark. Like, stay home or whatever. I know they, you know, but whatever, you know, like, maybe if you don't stay home, like, you're sitting on this bench, don't even think about it.

You're knocking in. You're not pinch hitting. Like, take a day. Take a couple days because look, look, it worked for Bome. And that doesn't work for everyone, but that, that was a really important reset for Bome. Like, he has been different since those two days off. I think they have to put him down the line no matter what immediately. But I would do both, Jack.

I would give him a couple days off. And then when he comes back, I put him in like the seven o'clock. Isn't it refreshing that Maddenly is honest about it? Yeah. I was pretty shocked at how honest he was with his comments about it. Yeah, that's good. It's good because it had the other way it wasn't working. So try it this way. And I always go back to this when we talk about struggling players. And I think this was one of Thompson's like flaws in a way is not only with like numbers,

righty, like being too regimented with that. Yeah. being too rigid. But, you know, one of the things that I think analytics is brought and that is hurt from an aspect like this is everything is about like winning the game, like win probability. And I know the numbers would say that losing Trey like doesn't actually affect if you're going to want to lose ballgame. But in a manager's head, they're like, I can't sit one of my best players.

Yeah. Because it's going to cost me a win. But it could also help get the player back. So like the old example I always think of and use. I mean, Charlie sat Jimmy for an entire series up in or down in Tampa or after he made an error in Tampa and just needed to get him off his feet. And again, it happened with Bome. It might have to happen with Trey. It's an old school thing with baseball, but it's it can work and everything else hasn't worked.

So letting him play through it, letting him swing a thousand times in the cages, hasn't worked at all. So get him off his feet for a couple days. And maybe just maybe you can get the, a version of Trey Turner that is closer to the usual version of Trey. Or at least better, right? Whatever this is.

And it's a great point. Like, we talk about this all the time, but I think, you know, I don't think it's a bold statement. But, you know, baseball, the most mental game of all the games, that the game where you have to,

you know, be so okay with failure, be so used to failure, you know, that the three out of ten and you're, you know, an all-star. So I think that it's so, so much harder when these guys get in these mental spirals or these holes where they're struggling and they don't know what's wrong and they can't figure it out where I think more so than in any other sport, getting them away from it does matter. Like, it's not going to always work, obviously, but I do think that you have to, you have, look, we know, I think in any job, even if you, we have jobs we love. Like, after a long run with no days off and you're talking about the same things or whatever, like, I've no, a day off, I come back, I'm like, I can't wait to talk.

I'm so refreshed. This is exciting. And obviously, it's a different thing than playing baseball. But I do think there is something to a mental reset, a refreshing type thing when you're going through something. And it may seem that trait with the way he is, with the intensity and the, you know, the cage of all that, that he might not be able to turn it off and I hope he can. But I do think they should at least try because something has to happen for him from a mental

confidence perspective. Well, because they're not going anywhere without him. I mean, he's just, he's super important, crazy, especially with Garcia going down. Like, he, we'll get to that. He is, like, they do not have right-handed options. And certainly the money you're paying him and what he's done in the past, like, as sad as it is, like, Trey Turner turning it around. is like their best hope of a big time right-hand and bad doing something for them, you know?

I agree. I agree. The biggest move of the trade deadline might be another bat and trade turn. Yeah. Yeah. So we'll say, but it does certainly feel like we have reached the point with Trey. Yeah, I agree. When the stakes rise and the lights get bright, that's when you find out who can really swim.

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watch on YouTube or listen on Apple, Spotify, and everywhere else you get podcasts. All right, let's get to the Garcia thing because we did the pot on Thursday. The news about the injury actually came out like Friday afternoon or Friday during the day or whatever, so we haven't gotten a chance to really talk about it here.

it sucks obviously look I know a lot of people of course he hasn't been great this year and all that but it did feel like he was finally getting a little momentum offensively starting to turn it around obviously has been their best defensive player probably this season period MJT I guess you know what I mean so solder yeah but like he's been right there he's been he was playing gold glove outfield um it's a bummer it sucks for for him and as a part like you know he just if nothing else we talked about how much

We love the energy and what he brings from that perspective every day. So sucks for him. Your thoughts on the loss, but also, you know, a team that already had an incredibly light hitting and not deep outfield asked to add some depth to find new guys. Rincona's called up. We'll talk about that. The Bob Nightingale tweet about, say, a Suzuki and who's the other guy in the tweet?

Oh, Adele. Yeah. So like the options for trade. out there. What do you make of the whole Adolus, you know, now that we know the prognosis, the whole situation. Yeah. By the way, real quick.

There's like a, say, like, say, uh, and Adele are not moving until July 31st. No, I know. It's just not happening. People were like, oh, say it was scratch. No. The Cubs, first I was surprised that they actually did. Me too. Yeah.

The Cubs are contending. Like, you know. Yeah. Now pitching stats is horrendous, but whatever. Um, yeah. So obviously, I feel bad for Adolus is on a one year deal. And, and I will miss him in right. field greatly. Yeah, just phenomenal right field. I don't think the defensive metrics are actually

too kind to him, but the eye test. Oh, I test. He jumps off the screen and we've seen so many throws from him, like whether he got the guy or not that are just the best outfield throws we've seen in years here, you know? Yeah. And he was kind of starting to figure it out of the plate a little bit hopefully. So definitely that sucks for him 100%. Now, they really just got a treadwater for a month and like maybe rinkones can can flash pop do something i wish he was hitting better at triple a before they they made the call um but i'm also glad they gave him a shot rather than uh reyes and kemp again even though ray has only came up once but whatever so so i wish he was i guess performing a little bit better at triple a he's kind of coming back from the injury but you know i think i actually

think being up here and being around shore another lefty with pop and his patient will actually help him in a way i know he didn't mean the first game of the his career is against Ms. Virovsky, so you can't really... Tough spot, yeah. Chalk that up as anything. And then the Derek Hill trade, you know, I think that trade personally is more about the international slot money and going out and spending it on another player,

just like Channing Park a month ago. So I believe it's more about that than Derek Hill, but Derek Hill, he's a guy. Just a guy's 780 OPS career against lefties did get, what, two hits over the weekend. And... He's a major league bench player. He's a guy, you know, to bring in.

Also, a body. I'm so in on the, have you seen him, he has a toothpick in the outfield. Oh, dude, you know, I love the toothpick guys. I'm fully in on it. Yeah, totally. So a big, huge fan of that. There's a vibe with that.

He did make an error out there, which is disappointing because he's supposedly a great defensive player, but whatever. So I think he is more, I think that's more about Crawford than anything. So I think he's going to obviously play a lot against left-handed pitching. And Crawford, they've, kind of put on the shelf against left-handed pitching. The one thing to wear the Adoli's injury is like, at least it will give them clarity, you know, from the same point of needing and making.

Yeah, we talked about trading for an outfielder even with Garcia healthy that they might have to be. Yeah, exactly, sure. But the one thing that I could just feel my bones, I was saying this actually at Tony's place was like Stott-Bom and Adolese are going to have a really strong, month and a half. They're going to convince themselves that they don't need another bat. We're fine. And we're going to sit the deadline being like, go get a bat. And they're like, no, we're good. We're good. So at least from that standpoint, it would force,

it's going to force them to go get a bat. Now, all they have to do is really tread water for the next, again, month and a half. And they'll be fine. And again, maybe Rincolns can provide something. Maybe he goes off. Maybe it surprises me. Kylie McDaniel had, had Rincona's their third best prospect, which is... Wow. Really? Which is not true.

But he's a real, I think he's like the eighth best prospect in the eighth, tenth. So he's a real player. But I just didn't think he was super, super ready. And I wish he was playing a little better at Lehigh Valley. But hey, here's the helping. Hey, you know, we didn't have much choice in the matter, you know. All right. Anything else from the weekend before we get to the bag that stuck out to you?

Well, that's kind of all in the bag. Yeah. All right. Let's do the bag. Let's bag it. Yeah, it's kind of a little in there. That's what's a bag. All right.

So, Painter. Yeah, Painter. By the way, that's that, I'm not sure you saw it, but the records of starters,

the Phillies, when the players start, one and seven during the Painter games. He has been clearly when he starts their worst results, pitcher by far. Yeah. The shame of the Painter Outing was,

like, he was actually allowing soft contact, and like kind of he worked 12 pitch inning that was good the swings off the pitches it wasn't like they were gearing up and blasting balls foul and the Brewers are really

really solid offense I mean that's not that's not a push over offense no definitely not so because early it was early it looked like the things that they've been working on which is getting him down on the mound being more downhill

keeping the ball down fix fixing his four seam shape. I mean, he was 99 and like, like really letting it go and trying to be more explosive. And they, and they weren't squaring them up. It's just like the Bowers. I'm so stuck on Painter because on one hand,

I'm like, there was some meaningful changes. And I didn't think, I thought the swings were like not, they weren't smoking them besides the Bowers ball. After it, things changed a little bit. So I'm like, okay, I can give you some leash here. But then on the other hand, I thought he gave up in the outing. I thought that after the home run, he was just like, he looked kind of broken on the mound. And then the next inning, he was 93 to 95, just clearly upset, bad body language, all that stuff.

So on that hand, I'm like, does he need to be sent down for a little bit of a reset? So ultimately, they got to decide which is more, which is better for Andropan? Like if they feel like he's broken, then you're not broken. But if they feel like he's really going through it and can't pull his way out of it, then I have no problem sending him down. And people will say they have no one down there. And okay, I mean, it's not like there's Mick Able from last year. But also, I don't care if painters coming up here and doing this.

Like, you got to, you got to help him as well. A bullpen game is, it would be fine compared to, you know what I mean? And the one guy that I am intrigued by that is pushing in AAA right now, I'm not doing the Allen Ron Health thing, although I think he'd be okay, is Chuck King, who we talked about in spring training. He started at Redding for a couple starts, then came out to Lehigh Valley. He's starting. He threw against a pretty good Scranton-Wilkesbury lineup with, like, George Lombard

in it yesterday, Saturday. He threw five innings, five and a third, actually, of shutout baseball. He's allowed one-earned run in his last three starts, but he's only going like four or five. So, like, there's, now he would have to add to the 40-man on that, blah, blah, blah, blah. So, like, maybe Chuck can get me semi-interesting. Like, it's a power fastball with pretty good sink and it's change up off of it, a pretty good slider. I don't know.

But, like, I thought there were some signs of life with Painter, and then I thought there was, oh, no, they got to get them out there. Yeah. Yeah. So, I don't know which one is right, to be honest with you. But I think they're going to keep giving them every opportunity. I just, that's another one where it kind of feels like we're getting to a breaking point. Yeah, totally agree.

And I do think, yeah, we don't know Painter personally as a person and as a, you know, an athlete, a competitor. I think that's it. Call they're going to have to make. Like what, what is the best path for him? Because ultimately, to your point, you know, from a winning games perspective, I don't think you could, you know, bringing a doing a bullpen game or something like that is going to be that much worse. Like, obviously, they lose a lot of the games that Painter starts, obviously.

but ultimately, you know, Painter's development matters more than a couple of those games in here. So whatever they think is is the best for his development based on who he is and what they have there. I think, you know, that's the route they should go. Yeah. I mean, there's four pressure points with the Phillies right. Well, five, actually. It could be actually, if you add in right field. It's Turner.

It's Painter. And then there, the last two here, Nola. Mm-hmm. I've seen that one coming. Just four and a third. Will Aaron Nola pitch into the seventh inning again this year? No, no. They do win games he starts ironically a fair amount, but yeah, it's, you know, it's a problem.

Yeah, oh, it's a problem. You can say that. You could say that. I just, he is one of the least inspiring pitchers. Yeah. He is. He's so uninspiring. Yeah.

And then, and then so that's the third fresh point. And the fourth pressure point, and this is another thing that I need swapped tonight, is the Brad Keller, Ryan Kirkering, swap to motion has that. I mean, Kirkcoring's been great. I mean, just great. Gell, by the stat that he has the lowest average exit velocity against the baseball this year. No way, really? I get every pitcher. Wow.

That's stunning. It is stunning. After what we watched on Friday. Yeah. Like, I'm actually blown away by that. Like he's obviously been really good and, you know, I test. That stat blows me away. Yeah.

Yeah. Now, yeah, it's great. So, and I, I'm still skeptical of Kirkcoring always and putting in. Especially when the playoffs come. We'll have to see how he handles it and all that. And being in a high leverage spot, like we've seen him in high leverage spots and he hasn't always come through. But he's earned it.

He deserves it. He's pitching with an edge. He's pitching with some, some gusto, some stones. So I've been really, really. I'm, first of all, happy for Ryan Kirkring. Yeah, I think everyone should be, you know. I mean, he's a kid who went through a really tough, tough moment with an entire city, you know, you know, letting down an entire city, a fan base. You know, I'm very impressed with how he's bounced back.

Again, you know, he needs to sustain it. But him coming back like this and looking Jack, the best he's ever looked, like he's never looked this good before. That is, it's impressive. Yeah. And I really just think that what has. happened in L.A. could have been the best thing for his career. I mean, I think he's got him got him to lock in physicality-wise, getting better shape, allowed him mentality-wise to unlock to another level.

So, and with Keller, I couldn't believe he's still out there. Now, maybe they're down a couple guys in the bullpen, and he, and, and Matt and Lee just was like, ah, I'll open a prayer, I guess. Okay. Do you think that, there wasn't a camera on him? Do you think he has eyes closed for the last? he's just like go loose please yeah probably i would i felt yeah i was sitting there on my me too buddy he was brutal yeah Keller i just i can't believe he's these this um now maybe

there's still a good bullpen pitcher in there 100 percent but when he came up with the cubs last year he started in all these low leverage spots and then worked his way into the high leverage And he is still learning how to be a high leverage reliever. He was a start over seven years at the big league level. And just now is transitioning to being a high leverage bullpen guy. So maybe if they swap those roles, have him be the sixth inning guy, seventh inning guy, fifth inning guy, that it gets his feet underneath him, can settle in. And then if he starts pitching better, start working his way back into the high leverage rolls.

So again, that kind of feels like it's at a break. point as well. I think Turner and Keller are the big ones from the weekend that feel like they've reached a breaking point. And then Painter, we're monitoring and Nola, we have to just live with. Yeah, Nola is what it is. But I think the first three, you're right. They're fascinating moves to be made to try and adjust things, adjust the people.

It's a great point. I think all those things are top of fine right now for the Phillies. So that's kind of, kind of it for the take bag. So I actually have one more thing I want to get to you. So good. I'm happy you did this real quick, though. Shout out to Reepies on the road. Today's show is sponsored by Miller Light and Reepies on the row on second street.

Check out Reepies on the row for every Phillies game. Enjoy $3 million dollar Millieck Trouss. It's a great deal along with their 15 foot LED video wall. Miller Lights for Phil's when celebrating responsibly. All right, Jack, I forgot to get this before and now with the take bag a little light there. I could end with this. But did you see Ken Rosenthal's story that just came out a little bit ago? I saw the headline.

I didn't get to read it. Okay, well, I just want to throw a couple things at you. You can read the full thing later, but I did find it interesting. Rosendahl was able to reach out by text message, Rob Thompson, get Thompson on the record with some stuff. You know, nice stuff in Topper. He's watching every game and he can and still rooting for the team and all that. You know, his bummed, he's fired, but he gets it.

The real interesting part, I want to read the contrast of two quotes to you. And the Schwabber one is quick, but it feels like, you know, he said, you feel responsible. I told him I was sorry. Like, I believe that. I believe Kyle felt bad. Here's the Bryce Harper quote. And look, it's not the worst thing ever, whatever,

but when you contrast it with Schwerber and contrasts with the, you know, just listen to how Harper talked about it and what he brings up and where he goes. It is, it's just a little weird. All right, here's the Harper quote from the article. It's usually the hitting coach to tell you the truth. He's the first one to fall. And a lot of clubhouses across baseball, it usually happens that way. So I'm happy, obviously, that Klong is still here.

He's a very calming voice in this clubhouse. But they made the decision to take out Topper. Obviously, if we would have played well, he'd be sitting in that manager's office right now, and we wouldn't even be here talking about it. It's our fault for that happening. But there's nothing we can do about it. Now we've just got to move on and play good baseball. He has the our fault.

It's happening on there, which I think is, thank God, because I think without that, it reads very differently. But it does, like, I don't know how you read this and don't say, like, Bryce Harper wanted Kevin Long to stay and didn't really care as much about whether Rob Thompson said that's my take one. Not that he doesn't care about Topper or whatever but with his comments after

when they asked him about it the Topper thing and those were weird too. I don't know that Bryce Harper is super upset about Topper being on. That's at least my reason. Yeah, I can't tell it's like one of these. He's a 15 year vet or whatever and he's like just very careful with his words. Well and also like this is what happens.

Yeah, just be honest about it. Like I wish there was a, I wish there was audio of it because I could see him being like, I could see him kind of chuckling and being like, it's usually the hitting goes. Yeah, yeah. It's possible. Yeah, like obviously being written. It's just right. The way when I read that to you without the intonation from him, it feels weird, right? It's a weird quote to hear. Yeah. I don't think he's, I don't think he's losing sleep over. I agree. I agree. But, yeah. All right. Real quick, mind only minute. Come on, man. Yes. So I thought. Come on, man. I thought that Gage Wood's start this week for Redding was a wake-up call from the standpoint of, like, overall, he pitched fine. He was good. But it was the third inning, third inning. The, I think is the Rumble Pony's. No, maybe.

I forget. Anyway, the, um, great name. They did finally start squaring up the fastball a little bit. Now, it wasn't like home runs, but it was more hard contact than I think we're. used to off of the fastball. And he was throwing it in two one counts. He was throwing it in, in traditional hitters counts, which is not what is pitching anymore.

No one actually throws two one fastballs anymore. So I think he was, I think that his off speed was kind of spinning on night. He didn't have a great feel for it, missed a lot of spots, a lot of base hits on it. He went back to the old well with the fastball, and the fastball finally against double a hitters. They get squared up. All this is fine. This is, this is part of natural. It's just, I think he needs that.

Like he needs that little bit of wake up of my fastball cannot just eat all the time, especially at the big league level. I need to work on my secondary pitchers because that's, that is key. So I thought it was a bit of a wake-up call, which I don't think is the worst thing in the world. If Painter keeps struggling, I'm going to need to see Gage in AAA. Oh, buddy. Just in case. Just in case.

He's at 40 innings pitch now, 40 innings pitch now. believe his cap is 80 and if he feels if he feels fine then they'll extend it past 80 but i don't think they they necessarily want to but i think they're leaving themselves some room there if they if they do need to um but i thought it was a wake-up call overall again he was he was fine a lot of strikeouts a lot of whiffs but i do think getting that fastball hit around a little bit maybe woke him up and said okay let's let's start honing in on the other pitches yeah makes sense. Cato reviewer is disgusting.

And I just, I've talked about the first without so much to where I was like, no, no, no, don't be one of these lefts. He says no idea where the ball is going. Like, please. He knows where the ball is going. He might end up being a reliever, which is fine.

I'm fine leaving him as a starter for now. It's just, I think he could be a upper level type reliever if they wanted to be. He's just, it's. such a tough look on left hand of hitters. And he's got a good enough feel for a change up to where he can get righties out. It's just he's he's exactly what we thought. He's many less explosive hater and smaller, smaller Andrew Miller.

Love it. That's what he is. And right now it goes gauge Ramon, Marquez, and Obermiller. Like it's those three. Those are the three prize pitching prospects that we have. And I think, I think Ramon's starting to get on some. radars. Ramon was good. He had a he struggled early and then settled in and generated a ton of whiffs on his change up per usual. I can't wait to see him go up another level because I think I want

to see how hitters adjust to his change up. It's just he's bullying low way with that. But I think Ramon's starting to get on on prospect watch. I'd be shocked if he wasn't a top 100 guy at the end of the year. And then I think the the Kate Obermuller hype will start to build now as he is that's what three straight great outings by him. Again, it's like three innings, six k. back outings of that, no runs. I mean, one run last time, but it was on a balk. So at least three innings, six cases. That's a lot of strikeouts.

That is, yeah, dude, I mean, yeah. You get two an inning? That's pretty good. And then Matthew Fisher, again, another good outing, three innings, five case, three shutout innings. So he's still pitching in the FCL. I wonder how long he's there until they just given some clear water starts. That feels like an August, like last couple weeks of the season,

get his feet let there for next. year he'll be up there uh and then marty gair is it was up the 102 and i think he struck out his last two outings he struck out six and ones in scoreless endings so like so like yeah three strikeouts three strikeouts two scoreless that that that's about as good as you can do with that yeah up to 102 um yeah so him so the reliever prospects like him and and pawn are the guys Pond, I feel is like a trade candidate. Well, obviously, Alex McFarland's like the baby boy. And I would love him to be in the big league soon, but they don't have a spot for him.

Who cares? But Pond, Gare and McFarland are really, really interesting bullpen pieces. Pond's also up to 100. He's in Redding now continuing his ascension. But the hitting is really slowed down. Like Griffin hit a home run this week, which is good. But he's kind of cooled off. A lot of the guys have kind of cooled off a little bit.

but the pitching really feels like it's starting to ramp up to what we thought heading into the year. And then last thing real quick, we'll start to work these into the minor league minutes because we are less than a month from the draft. Oh, uh-oh. Uh-oh.

It's early. It's actually not that early. We've been doing a lot of work on this. But I think, I think, my two favorite guys are my two favorite guys are Archer Horn and Rocco, Mascarco. Both great names.

Archer horns is an unbelievable. Unbelievable. The R-E, dude, all-time name. And then Rocco Manascoco is a dope name. I think I like Rocco more. So are they positions? Both short stops. Okay.

Although Rocco, so Rocco Manascoco is a, is like an 80 grade defender. Like, he is the best defensive shortstop in the class at 17. Like when he's drafted, he's going to be at 17. Wow. Which is huge from development. Like Dante Norrie was 19 when they drafted. I know it was high school. but high school yeah no no yeah it's changed yeah it matters yeah so he's me he's

he's reclassified to this class he's 17 which you love he's also 6-2 so he's got a lot of frame yeah that's cool so he's 6-2 he's an 80 grade shortstop he can stick there he is a switch hitter even though he's a little bit better from the left side but it might end of just ultimately being a left-handed hitter who cares um but he is a really really exciting profile um so like on most scouting services he's kind of down like the 50s but i think he's legitimately in play at 36 and then Archerhorn is a Stanford commit so he's going to be a little harder to sign away but uh like if you dream on him he's gunner Henderson so you got a you got a dream on him but he's got like those two guys because I need a prep shortstop more than life

itself um are the two are the two right now as we as we get close to the draft there's going to be a lot of things that change but uh if you want to go and start digging in some grindsum Fave, Rocco Manuscalco and Archer Horn are the other two guys right now. Yeah, I need a bat. I need bats. Need sick bats. Yeah. All right.

Again, June 20th, Reading, it's going to be awesome. We'll be back on Thursday after the Marlon series, two or three. We're good with, you know, we're not greedy. Two or three. We'll tell you more about it. But again, June 20th, Reading, it's going to be super fun. So get your tickets coming out with us. We'll be back on Thursday after the Marlin series.

Until then, he's for some seltzer. Thank you.