Game 161 - Plassmeyer Rocked in '23 Debut

2023 Topps Heritage #496

Mets 11, Phillies 4 (Game 2)
Game 161 - Saturday Night, September 30th in Flushing
Record - 89-72, 2nd Place, 15 games behind the Braves

One Sentence Summary:  Michael Plassmeyer was hit hard and Kyle Schwarber connected for his career-high 47th home run in this 11-4 loss to the Mets.

What It Means:  The Phillies still don't know who they'll be facing in the Wild Card Series, beginning on Tuesday, but the field has been narrowed down to the Marlins or the Diamondbacks.

What Happened:  Plassmeyer was added to the roster in an effort to rest arms for the postseason.  In his 2023 debut, he lasted 3 2/3 innings, allowing 10 runs (nine earned) on eight hits, including three home runs.  He also hit three batters.  The bullpen did its job, allowing no further runs over 4 1/3 innings, just one hit and striking out nine.  Schwarber's three-run home run in the fourth brought the Phillies closer, as the score at the time was 8-4.

Featured Card:  Plassmeyer is featured on a unique card within the 2023 Topps Heritage short prints, sharing a space with three other short-term Phillies pitchers.  Plassmeyer appeared in two games last season, while Nick Duron and Bubby Rossman both pitched in only game on July 13th.  That was the Covid series in Toronto, necessitating a bunch of roster moves as the unvaccinated on the team couldn't travel to Canada.  Mark Appel wins the veteran award among this quartet as he appeared in six games in 2022 for the Phillies.

Transaction:  Plassmeyer (lhp) had his contract selected from Lehigh Valley.  Luis F. Ortiz (rhp) was optioned to the spring training complex.  Erich Uelmen (rhp) was recalled and placed on the 60-day injured list to make room for Plassmeyer on the 40-man roster.

2023 Virtual Phillies Wall / 2023 Season Summary Index / 2023 Chachi Set Checklist

Spring Training Game 24 - Phils Romp O's; Appel Released

2023 Topps #259

Phillies 14, Orioles 6
Spring Training Game 24 - Monday Afternoon, March 19th in Clearwater
Record - 12-11-1

One Sentence Summary:  The Phillies banged out 14 runs on 15 hits in this lopsided win over the Orioles in Clearwater.

What It Means:  Let's get this season started.

What Happened:  Rhys Hoskins went 2 for 3 with a two-run home run in the second, and Alec Bohm went 2 for 4 with a solo home run in the seven-run second inning as well.  Nick Castellanos and Edmundo Sosa also had two hits a piece.  The Phillies went with another bullpen game, and minor leaguer Matt Russell struck out the side to end the game.

Featured Card:  See below.

Camp Head Count:  55 - 4 = 51

Prior to the game, Ben Bowden (lhp), Louis Head (rhp) and Max McDowell (c) were reassigned to minor league camp and Mark Appel (rhp) was released.

Hopefully Appel will catch on somewhere and continue playing for one more year, as he had recently announced his intention for this to be his last year in baseball.  Appel pitched 10 1/3 innings last season for the Phillies over six relief appearances, earning a 1.74 ERA.  This is his card from Topps Series One, coming almost 10 years after the Astros had made his their top pick in the 2013 amateur player draft.

List of Departures Grows with Minor League Free Agents

2022 Topps Now #433

On Friday, a lengthy list of Phillies minor league players electing free agency was released, featuring five players who had appeared in at least one game with the club over the past few seasons.  I've added those five to the list of departures below, and the full list can be found here and here.

You can be forgiven if you don't remember the Phillies' careers of Nick Duron or Bubby Rossman.  Both were added to the roster during the away series in Toronto as a result of a number of players being unable to enter Canada due to their vaccination status.  Duron pitched a scoreless inning on July 13th and Rossman entered that game a few innings later.  He didn't fare as well as Duron, allowing a two-run home run to the Blue Jays' Teoscar Hernandez.

Jorge Bonifacio spent all of 2022 in the minor leagues after appearing in seven games for the Phillies in 2021, batting .091 (1 for 11).  Mark Appel appeared in six games this season for the Phillies, making his big league debut nine years after being selected as the first pick by the Astros in the 2013 draft.  Yairo Munoz appeared in 29 games with the Phillies, batting .211, and seeing his playing time decrease significantly with the arrival of Edmundo Sosa.

Departures - 2022-2023 Offseason

• Johan Camargo - inf (10/7/22) - Elected free agency.
• Michael Kelly - rhp (10/14/22) - Elected free agency.
• Chris Devenski - rhp (11/6/22) - Elected free agency.
• Kyle Gibson - rhp (11/6/22) - Elected free agency.
• Brad Hand - lhp (11/6/22) - Elected free agency.
• Corey Knebel - rhp (11/6/22) - Elected free agency.
• David Robertson - rhp (11/6/22) - Elected free agency.
• Noah Syndergaard - rhp (11/6/22) - Elected free agency.
• Zach Eflin - rhp (11/7/22) - Elected free agency.
• Jean Segura - 2b (11/7/22) - Elected free agency.
• Mark Appel - rhp (11/11/22) - Elected free agency.
• Jorge Bonifacio - of (11/11/22) - Elected free agency.
• Nick Duron - rhp (11/11/22) - Elected free agency.
• Yairo Munoz - inf (11/11/22) - Elected free agency.
• Bubby Rossman - rhp (11/11/22) - Elected free agency.

New Additions - 2022-2023 Offseason

• Luis Ortiz - rhp (11/9/22) - Claimed off waivers from the San Francisco Giants.
• Andrew Vasquez - rhp (11/9/22) - Claimed off waivers from the San Francisco Giants.

Introducing the 2023 Chachi Set Design

On Labor Day afternoon, Topps released the first images of its 2023 baseball card set on social media.  As has been my recent tradition, I'll wait until Topps makes their presentation of the next year's flagship set design before releasing the first images of the next year's Chachi custom Phillies card set.  I'm generous, not needing much attention, and I like for Topps to have their time in the spotlight for a little bit.

For those of you new to the Chachi set of cards, they're named after our late, great first dog Chachi, and not (directly) the character from Happy Days or the weird actor who played him.  Here's a page with links to details on the genesis of the set, as well as a launch pad to view all prior year base cards from Chachi sets dating back to 2005.  To date, I've used old Topps designs as the basis for my Chachi sets, and I'm getting closer to eventually breaking that pattern.  But not yet.

As I write this, we're six cards away from a complete 1965 Topps set, which will forever be known as my lockdown set as it helped keep me sane during the pandemic years.  We started collecting the set in December 2019, a few short months before the world was turned upside down, and I'd like to think we'll complete the set in either late 2022 or early 2023.  With this set and its iconic design taking up so much space in my brain in recent years, I thought I'd pay tribute to it by using it for the design of my 2023 Chachi cards.  This is the first Topps set from the 1960s I've tackled with a Chachi set, and you can expect to see all the usual inserts in 2023 - Fan Favorites, 1965 Topps Missing Links and Friendly Encounters.  What you won't see are many action shots.  I'm going to try to stay true to the original, using only cropped shots or posed photos.

I'm excited to spend 2023 and one more year with the 1965 Topps set, and I hope you are too.

Here's a look at what could come next in the Chachi set lineage, and I'm a little surprised I'm anxious to tackle another set from the 2000s.  The 2022 Chachi set has been a lot of fun so far, and I'm hoping to need to figure out how to design postseason cards in the style of the 2000 Topps set.

1969 - Not a great design, but I'm going to spending more time with this set in the coming years, so it's now a possibility.
1972 - The only flagship set from the 1970s I've not used yet.
1984, 1987, 1989 - Topps has spoiled these designs for me, due to overuse in recent years' insert sets.
2001, 2003, 2006, 2008 - Over the past few years, I've really come to appreciate the designs of the 2006 and 2008 sets.
Other Future Candidates - 1981 Donruss, 1981 Fleer, 1982 Donruss, 1983 Fleer, 1985 Fleer, 1987 Donruss

Memory Lane
2014 Chachi Preview #1 (8/8/13)
2015 Chachi Preview #1 (8/15/14)
2016 Chachi Preview #1 (8/11/15)
2017 Chachi Preview #1 (8/10/16)
2018 Chachi Preview #1 (8/7/17)
2019 Chachi Preview #1 (8/20/18)
2020 Chachi Preview #1 (8/2/19)
2021 Chachi Preview #1 (8/7/20)

2022 Chachi Preview #1 (8/13/21)

2023 Chachi Preview #1 (9/7/22)

2022 Chachi #45 Mark Appel

#22
Mark Stewart Appel
Relief Pitcher

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'4"  Weight:  215
Opening Day Age:  30
Born:  July 15, 1991, Houston, TX
How Obtained:  Acquired from the Houston Astros with Vince Velasquez, Brett Oberholtzer, Tom Eshelman and Harold Arauz for Ken Giles and Jonathan Arauz, December 12, 2015
Major League Teams:  Philadelphia Phillies 2022

First Phillies Minor League Card:  2016 Choice Reading Fightin Phils Top Prospects #2
First Phillies Card:  2016 Bowman Scouts' Top 100 #BTP-45
Newest Card Added:  2022 Topps Now #433
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (0):  N/A

12 - Appel baseball cards in my collection per The Phillies Room Checklist as of 7/17/22.

Complete Chachi Checklist
2016 Chachi Almost #14
2017 Chachi Almost #13
2022 Chachi #45

2022 Virtual Phillies Wall / 2022 Season Summary Index / 2022 Chachi Set Checklist

2022 Chachi #44 Yairo Munoz / 2022 Chachi #46 Oscar Mercado

Game 76 - Punchless Phils Fall Again

2016 Topps Heritage Minor League
1967 Topps Stickers #13

Braves 4, Phillies 1
Game 76 - Wednesday Night, June 29th in Philadelphia
Record - 39-37, 3rd Place, 8 games behind the Mets

Post-Vacation Catch-Up Post 5 of 11

One Sentence Summary:  The Phillies went quietly into the night as the Braves cruised to an easy 4-1 victory.

What It Means:  Fortunately things would start to pick up, but at this point the loss of Bryce Harper was being felt as evidenced by a punchless offense.

What Happened:  Rhys Hoskins, on his way to Player of the Week honors, had a double and a solo home run, with the rest of the line-up contributing two singles.  Ranger Suarez left in the seventh inning.  He gave up four runs on six hits while striking out seven and he'd land on the injured list a few days later with lower back spasms.

Featured Card:  Mark Appel made his big league debut, pitching a scoreless ninth inning and striking out Adam Duvall.  It's been a long, strange trip for Appel who retired from baseball and didn't appear in any professional games between 2018 and 2020.

Transaction:  Darick Hall (1b) was rewarded with a promotion to the majors thanks to his scorching few months at the plate with the IronPigs.  He went 0 for 4 in his big league debut, but bigger things were on the horizon for Hall in the coming week.  Johan Camargo went back on the injured list with a right knee strain and James McArthur (rhp) was recalled and placed on the 60-day IL to make room for Hall on the 40-man roster.  Hall switched from uniform #88 to the more appropriate #25.

2022 Virtual Phillies Wall / 2022 Season Summary Index / 2022 Chachi Set Checklist

Game 34 - 2017 Choice Lehigh Valley IronPigs #9 Mark Appel

Braves 8, Phillies 7 (12 Innings)
Game 34 - Saturday Night, May 8th in Atlanta
Record - 18-16, Tied for 1st Place, 1 1/2 games ahead of the Braves

One Sentence Summary:  The Phillies suffered a brutal 12th inning loss as the bullpen couldn't hold leads in the 9th, 11th and 12th innings.

What It Means:  The five game win streak is over, and hopefully the Phillies can take the series tonight with a Sunday Night Baseball victory.

What Happened:  The Phillies led 3-1 going into the bottom of the ninth inning.  Jean Segura had homered in the first, and Alec Bohm added an RBI-groundout.  In the second, Andrew McCutchen added an RBI single but then the Phillies offense completely shut down for the middle innings.

Hector Neris recorded two outs to start the ninth before a walk and a pinch-hit home run from Pablo Sandoval tied the game up.  In the 10th, Brandon Kintzler worked in and out of trouble with the Phillies once again taking a lead in the 11th on a Nick Maton RBI double.  In the bottom of the 11th, the Braves tied the score again when Didi Gregorius had a throwing error allowing Cristian Pache to score.

Finally, the Phillies took a 7-4 lead in the 12th on a pair of Braves errors and an RBI single from J.T. Realmuto.  In the nightmare bottom of the 12th, Enyel De Los Santos loaded the bases before surrendering a game-tying, bases clearing double to William Contreras, which was momentarily bobbled by left fielder McCutchen.  Matt Moore entered and allowed the game-winning single to Ehire Adrianza.

Featured Card:  The featured card for this game evolved as the game progressed, with Phillies starting pitcher Vince Velasquez initially getting the nod for his strong start, allowing a run on two hits over 5 1/3 innings.  Then the card was going to be Maton for his clutch hit in the 11th, followed by Realmuto for his big hit in the 12th.  Neris, De Los Santos and Moore ruined those plans, so I'm going with a card for former #1 pick Mark Appel.

Appel came to the Phillies in the December 2015 Ken Giles trade with the Astros, and after a series of setbacks and injuries, he stepped away from the game in 2017.  Yesterday, he made his return to baseball, pitching 2 2/3 innings for the Reading Fightin Phils, allowing a run on three hits.  I'm rooting for Appel and I'm happy to see him back.

2021 Virtual Phillies Wall / 2021 Season Summary Index / 2021 Chachi Set Checklist

Phillies Minor League Free Agents & Chachi Almost Cards

2017 Chachi Almost #18

2017 Chachi Almost #20

2017 Topps Update #US171

On Tuesday, Baseball America published a list of 572 new minor league free agents and the list included 16 players from the Phillies organization.  Players in red below saw time with the Phillies over the past few seasons.

RHP:  Michael Mariot, Colton Murray, Miguel Nunez, Jesen Therrien
LHP:  Cesar Ramos
RHP/LHP:  Pat Venditte
C:  Wilson Garcia, Chace Numata, Nick Rickles
1B:  Jake Fox, Brock Stassi
2B:  Angelo Mora
3B:  Harold Martinez
SS:  Hector Gomez
OF:  Christian Marrero, Herlis Rodriguez

Both Mariot and Murray spent time in the Phillies bullpen during the 2016 season, but neither got the call all season long in 2017.  Stassi provided a feel-good story coming out of spring training, as the 27-year-old rookie made the Phillies' opening day roster.  In 51 games, he hit .167 with a pair of home runs and he earned baseball cards in the Topps Heritage High Numbers and Topps Update sets for his efforts.

Moving On - 2017-2018 Offseason

• Henderson Alvarez - rhp (10/4/17) - Outrighted off 40-man roster and elected free agency.
• Ty Kelly - 2b-of (10/4/17) - Outrighted off 40-man roster and elected free agency.
• Kevin Siegrist - lhp (10/4/17) - Outrighted off 40-man roster and elected free agency.
• Pedro Beato - rhp (10/13/17) - Elected free agency.
• Andres Blanco - inf (11/2/17) - Elected free agency.
• Clay Buchholz - rhp (11/2/17) - Elected free agency.
• Hyun Soo Kim - of (11/2/17) - Elected free agency.
• Daniel Nava - of (11/2/17) - Elected free agency.
• Pedro Florimon - inf-of (11/6/17) - Outrighted off 40-man roster and elected free agency.
• Jesen Therrien - rhp (11/6/17) - Outrighted off 40-man roster and elected free agency.
• Michael Mariot - rhp (11/6/17) - Elected free agency.
• Colton Murray - rhp (11/6/17) - Elected free agency.
• Brock Stassi - 1b (11/6/17) - Elected free agency.

2017 Chachi Almost #16

2017 Chachi Almost #21

2017 Chachi Almost #24

I also wanted to clear out my draft folder of a bunch of Chachi Almost cards.  I make cards during spring training of every player on the 40-man roster as well as each non-roster invitee if a good photo becomes available.  These cards wait patiently all season to perhaps become official Chachi cards, but if the player doesn't get the call the cards join the Chachi Almost insert set.  Mark Appel, Dylan Cozens, Elniery Garcia, Scott Kingery, Logan Moore, Shane Pullin, Roman Quinn and Alberto Tirado should all be in the mix when the Phillies head to Clearwater in February.

Hector Gomez, Mariot, Murray, Chace Numata and Cesar Ramos will be moving on.

2017 Chachi Almost #13

2017 Chachi Almost #14

2017 Chachi Almost #15

2017 Chachi Almost #17

2017 Chachi Almost #19

2017 Chachi Almost #22

2017 Chachi Almost #23

2017 Chachi Almost #25

2016 Bowman Scouts' Top 100 #BTP-45 Mark Appel

Phillies 9, Braves 0
Spring Training Game 19 - Tuesday Afternoon, March 14th in Clearwater
Record - 9-8-2

One Sentence Summary:  Jared Eickhoff pitched a fantastic game and Brock Stassi (once again) led the offense in this 9-0 win over the Braves.

What It Means:  Eickhoff is apparently ready for the season to start.

What Happened:  Eickhoff threw five shutout innings, striking out five and allowing just three hits. Stassi hit his fifth home run of the spring.  Roman Quinn had two hits and scored twice while Tyler Goeddel added a two-run triple.

Tommy Joseph was hit by a pitch on his left hand in the first inning, and he's now day-to-day with a bad bruise.

Featured Card:  I'm saving up my Eickhoff cards to feature in regular season posts, so here's a card of pitching prospect Mark Appel.  This is his first official Phillies card from last season's Bowman release.

Camp Head Count:  54 - 3 = 51.  Appel was optioned to minor league camp prior to this game in what could be a temporary demotion.  Appel, the number one pick by the Astros in the June 2013 draft, has struggled at times in his professional career and I'm hoping this is the season he makes it to the Majors.  In four games this spring, Appel allowed five earned runs in nine innings pitched (5.00), striking out 10 and walking four.

Pitchers Ricardo Pinto and Nick Pivetta were also optioned to the minors.

Phillies Overhaul 40-Man Roster

2016 Choice Lakewood BlueClaws #1

2016 Topps Heritage Minor League #64

2016 Choice Reading Fightin Phils Playoff #23

2016 Grandstand Clearwater Threshers #9

On Friday afternoon, in the biggest 40-man roster overhaul in recent memory, the Phillies dropped three players and added 11 in preparation for the upcoming Rule 5 draft.  Over the past seven offseasons, the most prospects added to the 40-man roster in November prior to this was five.  Here's a look at the 11 players added, their 2016 clubs, and a few brief notes.

• Drew Anderson (rhp) - Lakewood/Clearwater - Struck out 78 in 70 innings and pitched the first four innings of a combined Threshers no-hitter in July.
• Mark Appel (rhp) - Lehigh Valley - Acquired from the Astros in the Ken Giles trade and missed most of the season with a shoulder injury.
• Dylan Cozens (of) - Reading - Co-winner (with Rhys Hoskins) of the 2016 Paul Owens Award for the best Phillies position player in their minor leagues.
• Elniery Garcia (lhp) - Clearwater - 12-4 with a 2.68 ERA in 20 games.

2016 Topps Heritage Minor League #183

2016 Choice Reading Fightin Phils Top Prospects #14

2016 Topps Heritage Minor League #13

2016 Grandstand Reading Fightin Phils #23

• Andrew Knapp (c) - Lehigh Valley - Hit .266 with 8 home runs and 46 RBIs in 107 games.
• Ben Lively (rhp) - Reading/Lehigh Valley - Winner of the 2016 Paul Owens Award for the best Phillies pitcher in the minors.
• Ricardo Pinto (rhp) - Reading - Represented the Phillies on the World Team in the 2016 Futures Game.
• Nick Pivetta (rhp) - Reading/Lehigh Valley - Acquired from the Nationals for Jonathan Papelbon, went a combined 12-8 with a 3.27 ERA in 27 starts.
• Alberto Tirado (rhp) - Lakewood/Clearwater - Acquired from the Blue Jays (with Jimmy Cordero) for Ben Revere.
• Jesmuel Valentin (inf) - Reading/Lehigh Valley - Hit .269 in 125 games.
• Nick Williams (of) - Lehigh Valley - One of the top prospects in the organization, hit .258 with 13 home runs and 64 RBIs for the IronPigs.

2016 Choice Lakewood BlueClaws #24

2016 Choice Reading Fightin Phils Playoff #21

2016 Choice Lehigh Valley IronPigs #2

To create some room for all the additions, the Phillies designated David Buchanan and Cordero for assignment and announced that Elvis Araujo was claimed off waivers by the Miami Marlins.

2016 Chachi Departures #5

Elvis Araujo Chachi Checklist

2015 Chachi New Additions #1
2015 Chachi #37
2016 Chachi #34
2017 Chachi Departures #5

Memory Lane

2009 Additions - Quintin Berry, Yohan Flande and Jesus Sanchez
2010 Additions - Cesar Hernandez, Matt Rizzotti, Harold Garcia, Freddy Galvis and Justin De Fratus*
2011 Additions - Phillippe Aumont, Jake Diekman, Tyson Gillies and Sebastian Valle
2012 Additions - Zach Collier, Ethan Martin, Trevor May and Jonathan Pettibone
2013 Additions - Aaron Altherr, Kelly Dugan, Tommy Joseph and Rob Rasmussen
2014 Additions - Jesse Biddle, Adam Morgan and Nefi Ogando
2015 Additions - Jimmy Cordero, Roman Quinn and Edubray Ramos
2016 Additions - 11 prospects

*Somehow I skipped 2010 and didn't do a post.

16 Who Were Almost Phillies

2016 Chachi Almost #10

2016 Chachi Almost #11

2016 Chachi Almost #12

2016 Chachi Almost #13

Beginning in Spring Training, whenever I come across a cool photo of a newer player or coach in a Phillies uniform, I set it aside and eventually create a Chachi card.  I also make it a point to create Chachi cards for anyone added to the team's 40-man roster, or anyone who played for the Phillies in a prior season who is still with the organization.  This way, when an Alec Asher or a Roman Quinn gets the call to the big leagues, their Chachi card is ready to go.  The Phillies Room and the Chachi card creation process runs like a well-oiled machine, the envy of custom card creators throughout the land.*

These are the 16 remaining cards I created this year for players (and one coach) who didn't suit up for the Phillies in 2016.

Will Venable (of) - The final outfield spot on the opening day roster came down to Venable or Cedric Hunter, with Hunter getting the nod.  Venable requested and was granted his release in June to allow him to sign with the Dodgers.  In 12 games with the Dodgers, he went 1 for 18 (.056).

Angelys Nina (inf) - Nina was released by the IronPigs on the same day Venable was let go.

Reinier Roibal (rhp) - Roibal appeared in 19 games for the IronPigs and Fightin Phils, and was released by the Double-A team in late June.

Edward Mujica (rhp) - The former big league All-Star was an All-Star for the IronPigs before requesting and being granted his release in mid-July.  He spent the rest of the season with the Royals and Twins organizations.

2016 Chachi Almost #14

2016 Chachi Almost #15

2016 Chachi Almost #16

2016 Chachi Almost #17

Mark Appel (rhp) - The top prospect's season ended in late June when he had elbow surgery.

David Buchanan (rhp) - After starting 15 games for the club last season, Buchanan didn't make it back up to the majors in 2016.  In 26 starts for the IronPigs, he went 10-9 with a 3.98 ERA.

Jimmy Cordero (rhp) - A member of the 40-man roster, Cordero lost most of the season to a shoulder injury.

Matt Harrison (lhp) - Get used to seeing this card again in the style of the 2017 Chachi set. Harrison will most likely never pitch for the Phillies due to ongoing back issues, but he has a guaranteed contract and a spot on the team's 40-man roster.

2016 Chachi Almost #18

2016 Chachi Almost #19

2016 Chachi Almost #20

2016 Chachi Almost #21

Mario Hollands (lhp) - Hollands last pitched for the Phillies in 2014 and he's spent the last two seasons recovering from Tommy John surgery.

Gregory Infante (rhp) - A non-roster invitee, Infante spent the bulk of the season in Double-A.  He last pitched in the majors with the White Sox in 2010.

Gabriel Lino (c) - A back-up catcher, Lino split time in 2016 between Clearwater and Reading.

John Mizerock (coach) - The team's assistant hitting coach in 2014 and third base coach in 2015, Mizerock was a coach for the Rooke-A Williamsport Crosscutters in 2016.

2016 Chachi Almost #22

2016 Chachi Almost #23

2016 Chachi Almost #24

2016 Chachi Almost #25

Logan Moore (c) - Another back-up catcher, Moore played for both Lehigh Valley and Reading this season.

Brock Stassi (1b) - Stassi appeared in 117 games for the IronPigs in 2016, hitting .267 with 12 home runs and 58 RBIs.

Darnell Sweeney (inf/of) - Like Buchanan, Sweeney seemed to be poised to be a major part of the team's plans in 2016 but like Buchanan he never got the call to the big club in 2016.  In 118 games with the IronPigs, the versatile Sweeney hit just .233.

Nick Williams (of) - Williams hopes to be a part of the team's starting outfield in 2017.  In 125 games with the IronPigs, he hit .258 with 13 home runs and 64 RBIs.

*Maybe.  But probably not.