Walks. They are the bane of existence for pitching coaches and managers. And pitchers are not very fond of them either. It seems that by the time pitchers reach Triple-A a low percentage of the pitches they throw should be balls, which certainly means that when two International League teams meet, there should not be 23 walks. It may seem that way, but the Syracuse Mets and Lehigh Valley IronPigs did just that when they met recently.

Of the 11 pitchers that pitched in the game, nine of them issued at least one walk and seven of them issued more than one walk. Vinny Nittoli of Syracuse, and previously of the Phillies, and Lehigh Valley’s Ben Bowden combined to pitch one inning in the game and between them, walked five. Four times in the game – twice by each team – a walk forced home a run.

In the six-game series, the two teams combined to walk 73 batters, 46 of which were walks issued by IronPigs pitchers. Lehigh Valley currently ranks 10th in Triple-A baseball in most walks issued and Syracuse is 13th. The game itself was a display of bad pitching during which getting hitters out consistently was a battle. Lehigh Valley scored a franchise record 10 runs in the third inning to take a 12-0 lead. In the fifth inning, starter Drew Hutchison left with an apparent injury after walking the first two batters he faced in the fifth. Taylor Lehman came on and walked the next hitter to load the bases and before long it was a 12-5 game. Then just an inning and a half and six walks later, it was 12-11 going to the bottom of the seventh. All this with just one solo home run being launched by Syracuse. Lehigh Valley was able to escape with a 14-11 win.

Walks are a problem that plague the Phillies pitching staffs throughout the minor leagues. The Reading pitching staff ranks 14th in Double-A baseball in walks, while High-A Jersey Shore 10th in walks as a pitching staff and the Clearwater Threshers are sixth in Single-A ball in issuing the most walks.

Amazingly, Pigs pitchers also struck out 60 batters in the series with half of them coming in two games. The strikeout numbers were surprising because the Mets rank fifth in the International League in fewest strikeouts by hitters as a team and the Lehigh Valley pitching staff is 23rd in strikeouts in the league.

Two other Phillies minor league pitching staffs – Reading and Jersey Shore – rank in the lower half of their particular level in strikeouts. Reading is 21st and Jersey Shore 17th in strikeouts by their pitchers. At Clearwater, pitchers may be issuing a lot of walks, but they are also picking up a lot of strikeouts, with the Threshers staff 6th in strikeouts among all 30 Single-A teams.

CLOSING IN… Weston Wilson has 25 home runs with Lehigh Valley this season and is closing in on the IronPigs franchise mark for most home runs in a single season. The record of 29 in a season was set in 2017 by Rhys Hoskins in his first and last year of playing minor league ball. The following season, Hoskins was in Philadelphia. That was during the time of pundits and fans discussing who was the better home run hitter and all-around player between Rhys Hoskins and Dylan Cozens. Time settled that debate.

WHAT’S IN A SONG… Noah Song is a guy you would like to see succeed. He was drafted by the Red Sox out of the Naval Academy in 2019. Song requested a deferral of his military service and while that was being considered, he was able to pitch in the minors in 2019 and had good numbers in seven starts in short season ball for the Red Sox. The deferral was denied, and Song went off to serve in the Navy. The Phillies took Song in the Rule 5 draft last December even though his military service was not completed, but this time, the Navy allowed a deferral, possibly because Song was diagnosed with a back strain. He went on a rehab assignment and was inconsistent at best, so the Phillies designated him for assignment, leaving his MLB future up in the air.

UP NEXT… The Lehigh Valley roster and those of the other Phillies minor league teams could have some deletions by next week when we next check on the IronPigs. The trade deadline could see the Phillies offer up some prospects for players able to help the club in Philadelphia.