(Photo Credit: BaseballBetsy.com)
Jesse Biddle’s been in Big League Camp for about 2 weeks now. He’s getting advice and support from everyone from Roy Halladay and Ryan Howard to Kevin Frandsen and Cliff Lee. From what we can gather, he’s learning an immense amount about the game and what it means to be in a major league dugout.
On Tuesday, he started and threw two innings in the annual intra-squad Continue reading
The Phillies reported yesterday that Jesse will be one of the starting pitchers to take the mound tomorrow afternoon in Clearwater in the Phillies intra-squad game that will kick off spring training games for 2014. Ethan Martin will start as well. Other pitchers to get innings will be David Buchanan, Justin DeFratus, Luis Garcia, Jeremy Horst, Cesar Jimenez, Shawn Camp, and Kenny Giles.
As the interview, above, with Chuck Bushbeck shows, Jesse’s been ready to go and Continue reading
Jesse Biddle on the mound in the Futures Game.
Last week Jesse got a lot of press. You’ll find some of the choice coverage at the video links and article archives sections of this website. In part it was a slow sports week in Philly. But it was also a special time for eight young Phillies’ farm system players on the edge of possibly breaking through very soon. They were taking part in a weeklong set of activities called the Phillies Prospect Education Seminar. They learned a lot about what goes into being a major leaguer behind the scenes. The main focus of the week, though, was media relations training.
So you will find a bunch of stories and videos here and online from last week Continue reading
Field of Dreams (yes, the real one)
Minor league players learn the ropes the hard way more often than not. Jesse Biddle had a storybook season, just not the story he wanted. His March spring training outings were definitive and astounding. He threw four innings for the Phillies AAA team, facing off against R.A. Dickey, and left the game up 4-0 with five strikeouts, three hits, and one walk. He was named Player of the Month in the EAL and Pitcher of the Month by the Phillies for April. But he had contracted whooping cough, and by the beginning of May he was in the throes of that illness and it would dog him all season. In July Continue reading
Franco pumping up his pitcher before the game. (Source: Reading Fightin Phils)
July was an oddly cruel month for Jesse Biddle. Although he was the winning pitcher for the USA in the Futures Game, the month seemed to take a lot out of him. He maintained his lead in strikeouts for the EAL, but Jesse’s July ERA overall was 7.11 and he had a 1-3 record in five games pitched. You have to expect that all players hit a wall sometime during the season. The question is whether they figure out how to power through that wall.
Jesse did just that in August, beginning with a face-off against A-Rod in Trenton (walk, HR, K), and then four straight six inning outings where anyone watching could pretty easily say the kid was systematically busting down that frustrating July wall. In five August games, Jesse has allowed only nine runs Continue reading
Franco pumping up his pitcher before the game. (Source: Fightin Phils)
Yesterday was International Left-Handers Day. It was also Jesse’s uncle’s birthday — Uncle Jesse turned 54! So it was kind of interesting watching Jesse Biddle hit 95 on the stadium gun in the first inning of the Reading Fightin Phils’ game against the Binghamton Mets (B-Mets to Mets fans). He threw 19 pitches in that first inning — 15 strikes and 4 balls — two of which were beautiful edge catching curveball strikes that apparently the ump didn’t like. The Reading faithful let the dude know about those mistakes properly.
Jesse took a two-out come-back liner off his left hip in the second. That seemed to temporarily take him out of his rhythm. He battled and was fully recovered by the 4th pretty much mowing down B-Met hitters with his swing-and-miss 91-93 mph fastball, mixing in curves, sliders, and change-ups to keep hitters off-balance. He also reached base once on a 2nd inning fielder’s choice Continue reading
You never cease to run into weirdness in baseball games if you pay attention. Jesse’s outing in Harrisburg last Thursday was certainly a night of weirdness. I talked to a scout during the game who had an accurate radar gun on Jess. Most stadium guns get bad readings on lefties who pitch from the far left side of the rubber. The gun for Metro Bank Stadium showed fastball speeds of 91 mph. The scout said Jesse was consistently 93-94 mph…which explains a lot of the swings and misses we witnessed all night long.
The thing is, it was one of those nights he struggled with command. He Continue reading
(Photo credit: paul.hadsall)
The minor league season is a long 142 games of baseball in five months. That schedule takes its toll on every player — both physically and mentally. Prior to last night, Jesse Biddle’s last two outings were pretty difficult. On July 23 he didn’t make it through the first inning. On July 28 he couldn’t make it through the second. Yes, Jesse is dinged up and feeling the effects of a long season. And, yes, the craziness of all-star week in the middle of the month probably left him a little drained. But there’s a month left in the season. No time for excuses.
Last night Jesse Biddle got to pitch against Alex Rodriguez three times before a full house at the Trenton Thunder’s Arm and Hammer Park. Rodriguez was doing a rehab stint with the Yankee’s AA affiliate. Jesse also had to pitch against an always dangerous Thunder lineup. #54 Continue reading
There is something about all-star games. They’re meaningless. The level of competition is rarely about grit and intensity. You’re there to watch great players be great. It doesn’t matter what level we’re talking about, from Little League to High School or all the professional levels.
If you watched the Futures Game on Sunday afternoon you got a taste of what we’re talking about here. It was the top 25 USA minor leaguers vs. the top 25 World minor leaguers (mostly Latin players). Jesse Biddle got credit for the win. He was supposed to pitch Continue reading
Source: Reading Eagle, Jeremy Drey
Today, Jesse Biddle is in New Britain to be part of the Eastern League All-Star festivities with teammates Seth Rosin, Albert Cartwright, Jr., and Jim Murphy. He will not play in tonight’s game since he’s slated to start for Reading tomorrow (Thursday). He and Maikel Franco will be in New York City over the weekend to play in the Futures Game (nationally televised at 2:00 PM, Sunday on ESPN2).
After that, there’s no telling what Jesse’s schedule will be for the rest of Continue reading