Former Lakewood BlueClaws pitcher Kyle Drabek has been named to the team representing the United States in the 2009 All-Star Futures game, a game that showcases the minor league talent in and pits a US-based team against a team of future stars from around the world.

The Futures game was started in 1999 as a way to highlight the future talent may one day shine in the Major Leagues. Currently the series is split, with the US team winning five games and the World winning five games. Past MVPs of the Futures Game have included Alfonso Soriano, Jose Reyes and Grady Sizemore.

Drabek joins a host of other former BlueClaws to be featured in the game.

Adrian Cardinas - 2007
Carlos Carrasco -  06-08
Jason Donald - 2008
Gavin Floyd - 03-04
Greg Golson - 2008
Ryan Howard - 2003
Scott Mathieson - 2005

Virtually every star in the Major Leagues has played in the game, and six of the seven BlueClaws players to play in the game have made it to the Show.

Drabek earns his entry into the game by how well he has pitched this season. With Single-A Clearwater, Drabek went 4-1 with a 2.48 ERA and struck out 74 in 62.1 innings. Since his promotion to Double-A Reading, the results have been largely the same, 4-0 with a 2.43 ERA and 26 Ks in 33 innings. Drabek spent 2007 with the BlueClaws and went 5-1 with a 4.33 ERA. He missed almost a full year from Tommy John’s Surgery.

The Phillies are also represented on the World team as Yohan Flande was selected to participate as well. Flande played with the GCL Phillies and earned a trip directly to Clearwater where he has been dominant. This season, Flande is 7-1 with a 2.52 ERA in 82 innings.

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This entry was posted on Friday, June 26th, 2009 at 9:54 am and is filed under Around the Farm, Clearwater Threshers, Past BlueClaws, Reading Phillies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.