Luke Leftwich, Phillies Organization

[lawdog]

Luke Leftwich, a seventh round pick in 2015, is now with the single-A Lakewood Blueclaws. I watched him last night start against the Greensboro Grasshoppers. He pitched four innings, gave up one run and struck out six. I was impressed with his poise and pitch selection. His fast ball is high 80's, but he mixes it up very well with off-speed pitches. Good control. The highlight was when they loaded the bases on him with no outs, and he struck out the side. Did not get a chance to speak with him, but sat behind home plate and cheered him on. BTW what a beautiful downtown venue Greensboro has, if you get in the area.

[woffordgrad94]

He could be pitching in Spartanburg if the Phillies were still here...

Anyway, I LOVE going to minor league baseball. And the SAL is a nice baseball league. There are also teams in Asheville, Columbia, Augusta, and Charleston. We have a great facility in the Upstate As well in Flour Field in Greenville, which is modeled to look like a minature Fenway Park. The SoCon tourney will be there this year. Maybe when Lakewood comes to Greenville I will get a chance to see Luke pitch.

[lawdog]

In fact, Greensboro took a hard look at Greenville's park before building, and was greatly influenced by it. Greensboro's has a Wrigley feel to it, with the downtown as a backdrop. Greensboro leads the league in per-game attendance, slightly ahead of Greenville.

It was built on the site of an old county building, which was rebuilt elsewhere; the stadium and new relocated county building wound up costing the taxpayers almost nothing.

[lawdog]

Recent article by Phillies sports writer:

A good way to determine if prospects are for real is go to the MLB.Com Top 30 Prospect List and then go to the MiLB Top Five Leader category list by levels. If prospects are on the MiLB list they are having a good season. If not, they better get hot in the second half and finish strong.

Today, the first half of the Sally League ends and two Phillies prospects find themselves on the Top Five List for the Low A level but only one of them is on the Phillies Top 30 List.

Perhaps the hottest pitcher right now in the minor leagues is Luke Leftwich of the Blue Claws. He won his seventh game last night. Below is what the Lakewood game story said about him:

“Leftwich was dominant again for the BlueClaws. Leftwich, named an All-Star on Friday, threw five scoreless innings with eight strikeouts. In his last three starts, he’s thrown 20 scoreless innings with no walks and 27 strikeouts. He heads to the break with an ERA of 2.00 and leads the league with 88 strikeouts this season.”

The 22- year-old was a seventh round draft pick in 2015. His numbers at low A have improved dramatically from Williamsport last season where went 2-2 after the draft. In his last ten starts he has pitched to a 1.66 ERA, going 7-2 for Lakewood, a team that otherwise has struggled much of the season.

On the Top Five Low A Leader Board, Leftwich leads in strikeout with 88 and is tied for the second most in wins with seven.

[lawdog]

Just got promoted to high-A Clearwater.
http://blog.blueclaws.com/leftwich-trom ... threshers/

[boulder3m]

Does the Clearwater team play in the stadium where the Rays have Spring Training?

[lawdog]

Will he be a third generation major leaguer? Grandpa thinks so. http://www.philliesnation.com/2016/06/l ... r-stories/

[lawdog]

Last night for Clearwater, Luke pitched two innings of relief, allowing no runs or hits and striking out six. While Luke has room to grow, he also does some very good things and has promise for the majors, especially given how weak the Phillies are. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLEeziU ... e=youtu.be

[lawdog]

Luke has been pretty steady all summer,and has been chipping away on his ERA, which is 2.81 on the year and 1.06 in the last ten games.

Gave up no earned runs last four outings. http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?pl ... g/2017/ALL

[lawdog]

At AA Reading, Luke has excelled as a short reliever ... in ten appearances so far this year, has been very successful in nine.

[lawdog]

In his last six outings (nine innings), Luke has given up O runs.

[lawdog]

Luke’s ERA in last ten outings at AA Reading is 1.42.

[lawdog]

As the season winds down at AA Reading, Luke's ERA is 4.12 as a short reliever. He has had a good summer, but was hit hard in several games in July. He is a solid prospect and we may see him move up at the end of the season or early next year. It appears his chance to make it to the bigs is very good, just gotta keep grinding.