Prospect O’Hoppe has MLB-level work ethic
Catcher’s hitting prowess benefits from consistent preparation
READING — For a few minutes after home games, Logan O’Hoppe is killin’ Talenti gelato with Double-A Reading teammate Vito Friscia.
Company founder Josh Hochschuler fell in love with the Old World style of combining gelato ingredients for maximum flavor while working in Buenos Aires.
Hochschuler returned to the United States and opened his first Talenti gelateria in 2003 in Dallas.
It was around that time in West Islip, New York, when O’Hoppe was introduced to baseball by his father, Michael. Their bond allowed O’Hoppe to learn the game and grow to love it without parental pressures.
Nearly two decades later, O’Hoppe allows himself the occasional gelato because he has dedicated himself to a system of preparation that has him as the Phillies’ third-ranked prospect according to MLB.com.
“Talenti gelato is my guilty pleasure,” he said. “Vito and I have been crushing it in the room.”
The 22-year-old, a 23rd-round pick in 2018 has also been crushing the developmental chart in all facets of his game as a catcher and hitter.
O’Hoppe was in rookie and short-season ball his first two years as a professional and then in an Australian league in 2019-20 campaign because COVID wiped out the 2020 minor league season. He played in 104 games in 2021, which started in high-A Jersey Shore and ended in Triple-A Lehigh Valley. The 6-foot-2, 190-pounder then had a successful stint in the Arizona Fall League.
After a slow start in cold temperatures during the first few weeks of this season, O’Hoppe caught fire at the plate. He batted .342 with 11 home runs, 25 RBIs, 17 BBs and an 1.172 OPS in a recent 32-game stretch.
There were no swing flaws that forced mechanical adjustments after generating a .220 batting average with only three extra-base hits in his first 14 games.
It simply became gelato weather.
“One thing with O’Hoppe is the routine has never changed,” Reading hitting coach Tyler Henson said. “He has the same routine every day. The good ones have that. They know what makes them feel good, gives them the confidence. [The slumps] will take care of themselves because he’s prepared.
Charlie Morton, which he followed with a five-pitch walk in the third.
The Braves had the matchup they wanted against Schwarber in the seventh inning. Lefty reliever Dylan Lee hadn’t allowed an extra-base hit to a left-handed hitter all season. But Schwarber took him deep for his team-leading 21st homer of the season to forge a 3-3 tie.
It was the continuation of a torrid June for Schwarber, who hit 19 homers in 15 games last June for the Washington Nationals. Entering the game, he was slugging .674 with 10 homers and a .395 on-base percentage this month.
Schwarber might have been in position to put the Phillies ahead if not for a questionable move by interim manager Rob Thomson in the sixth inning (more on that in a bit). But in tying the game, he set up the Phillies for a potentially dramatic late-inning win.
Instead, Olson took Bellatti deep. The Braves added a run against Brad Hand in the ninth inning and came away with the victory.
Par for the course against a bullpen that has let the Phillies down since 2020.
“That happens,” said Schwarber. “Our [bullpen] guys have been pretty locked down here these last couple weeks. That’s a good team over there. They’ve got good hitters, and they took some good swings and things happened.”
Wheels stay on
Zack Wheeler allowed back-to-back home runs in the first inning, an exceedingly rare occurrence for the
Phillies ace.
How rare? Consider: Before Travis d’Arnaud and Matt Olson went deep, Wheeler gave up a total of three homers in 74 ⅔ innings this season. He hadn’t allowed two homers in one inning since April 20, 2021 against the Giants (Buster Posey and Tommy La Stella), or back-to-back dingers since Sept. 26, 2019 against the Marlins (Tyler Heineman and Curtis Granderson).
But Wheeler pulled it together. He gave up only three more hits, piled up 19 swings-and-misses, pitched into the seventh inning, and kept the Phillies in the game.
A curious move
In Harper’s absence, with Nick Castellanos moving back to the DH role, Thomson said he’s committed to giving Mickey Moniak more at-bats.
But not pinch-hitting for Moniak in the sixth inning was puzzling.
Trailing 3-2, with the tying run on third base, the Phillies stuck with Moniak to face Lee. Never mind that Moniak is 0-for-15 with nine strikeouts against lefties as a major leaguer. Or that Lee is deadly against left-handed hitters. Or that righty-swinging Matt Vierling was on the bench. Moniak popped out to end the inning.
Moniak is 4-for-28 with 12 strikeouts in the majors this season and doesn’t have a hit against a curveball. It’s little wonder, then, that the Braves threw 11 curveballs in 15 pitches to Moniak.
Triple threat
A replay review spared the Phillies the ignominy of running into a triple play in the fourth inning.
Braves right fielder Adam
Duvall made a dazzling diving catch on Castellanos’ sinking line drive. Rhys Hoskins broke from first base and got doubled up. The Braves thought they may have also nabbed Schwarber, who was called out by the umpires.
But Schwarber clearly tagged from second base and advanced to third. Thomson challenged the call and got it overturned before the Phillies eventually stranded Schwarber at third base.
“I was a little confused. I was like, ‘What’s going on here? Why are they calling it a triple play?’ ” Schwarber said. “It was like, ‘Whoa! Easy.’ [The Braves] were saying it’s still a triple play. I’m like, ‘No, it’s not.’ ”
It would have been the first triple play turned against the Phillies since the Houston Astros did it in 2004.