AFL Update: Josh Phegley in, Jason Bour out

Mark Gonzales reports Josh Phegley will not play in the AFL and will be replaced by Jason Bour. No reason was given for Phegley’s leaving.

Gonzales has a couple of minor-league coach updates too. First, Pete Rose Jr. will coach the Bristol Sox. Second, Ernie Young is leaving his post as the Kannapolis Intimidators’ coach to coach the West Michigan Whitecaps (Detroit’s low-A affiliate) and he is expected to be replaced by Tommy Thompson.

UPDATE: CSN’s Kevin Czerwinski has more regarding Josh Phegley. He says “blood tests revealed that his condition had not improved enough for him to continue playing.” Phegley battled ITP syndrome throughout the season.

Best of luck to Josh.

FutureSox looks at the defense of the Sox catching prospects

FutureSox:

It is really hard to evaluate the defensive ability of a catcher, especially for us when we don’t see the players often enough if ever. Defensive statistics like UZR have become popular, but don’t apply to catchers. Since the White Sox have three catchers that were in our top 11 prospects, I wanted to keep track of whatever catching stats I could. Take a look at the results.

I tracked the basics (steals, caught stealings, errors and passed balls) and matched the baserunning statistics to each pitcher. This also allows us to see which pitchers are able to hold runners and which are easy to run on. Obviously, it’s barely more than a month into the minor league season, but let’s take an early look. …