Phillies Prospect #42: Alex Concepcion

Alex Concepcion may have struggled a little at Clearwater, but he's making solid strides in his march up the ladder. He's one of the more promising players from the Phillies efforts in the Dominican Republic.

Acquired: Signed as an amateur free agent out of the Dominican Republic.

B: R T: R  /  Height: 6' 1"  /  Weight: 180 lbs

Birth Date: September 27, 1984

2007 Team/Level: Lakewood (Low - A) 20 g / Clearwater (high - A) 13 g

Games/Games Started in 2007: 33 g / 11 gs

Repertoire:  Alex Concepcion isn't the fanciest of pitchers. He generally just relies on mixing his pitches and having good control. His fastball touches the high-80s and he mixes in a curve and slider that are both about average, with the slider being a little more advanced at this point. His change-up also is average, but he's learning to disguise it better than he did earlier in his career.

Pitching Style: For Concepcion, it's all about control. When he does struggle, he tends to be wild high and can get himself into trouble. He was okay at the lower levels, but now that he's progressing, he's finding out what good hitters do to mistakes from pitchers. Even when he's on, he tends to allow a lot of flyballs, which isn't what a pitcher on the path to Philadelphia wants to be doing. In his minor league career, he's averaged a 3:1 strikeout to walk ratio and with the exception of his stint at Clearwater last season, it's been better than that over the past couple of seasons. The Phillies don't let young pitchers throw too many innings early on, but it appears that Concepcion will have the ability to pitch a decent amount of innings as he progresses.

Projection: The Phillies like Concepcion as a starter, but there just wasn't room for him in the rotation at Lakewood last season, so he worked out of the bullpen until he got to Clearwater where he started 10 of the 13 games he pitched in for the Threshers. This will be an interesting season for Concepcion, because even if he does start the year at Lakewood, it's likely that he'll be back at Clearwater before all is said and done and watching how he handles the better crop of hitters will be something to see. He's moved relatively quickly since coming to the states, but he may slow down a little now that he's moving up in the world. He just turned 23 last September, so there's time to let him develop a little, which is what the Phillies like to do with a lot of their younger pitchers.

Alex Concepcion's career stats

YEAR/TEAM	W	L	ERA	G	GS	CG	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	KO	WHIP	OPP AVG
2003 Dominican	2	1	3.31	9	7	0	32.2	28	12	12	0	10	38	1.16	.224
2004 Dominican	4	4	3.25	11	11	1	55.1	49	26	20	1	24	57	1.32	.236
2005 Gulf Coast League	0	0	4.91	7	0	0	11.0	9	2	7	0	7	20	1.45	.225
2006 Batavia	6	6	3.76	14	13	1	83.2	73	38	35	8	17	72	1.08	.232
2007 Lakewood	3	1	3.83	20	1	0	40.0	38	19	17	2	17	44	1.38	.252
2007 Clearwater	3	5	6.31	13	10	1	67.0	73	48	47	8	22	60	1.42	.279
TOTALS	18	17	4.26	74	42	3	289.2	270	150	137	19	97	291	1.27	.245

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