Among the 19 23 players invited to Phillies spring training as non-roster invitees are four former BlueClaws players: Antonio Bastardo (2007), Jason Donald (2007), Tuffy Gosewisch (2007), and Jeremy Slayden (2006).

Bastardo (pictured) burst onto the scene with the BlueClaws in 2007, when he went 9-0 in 15 starts. He is in the top 15 of Baseball America’s top Phillies prospects…Donald hit .310 with Lakewood in 2007, earning a call-up to Clearwater at the All-Star break. He spent 2008 in Reading and played for the US Olympic team…Gosewisch hit .224 with the ‘Claws in 2007 and is one of the best defensive catchers in the system…Finally, Slayden was RF on the 2006 SAL Champion BlueClaws squad, where he hit .310. He’s hit 31 home runs over the last two seasons.

Several other former BlueClaws, including Carlos Carrasco (2006), Lou Marson (2006), Joel Naughton (2007-2008), Drew Naylor (2008), Mike Zagurski (2006), and Sergio Escalona (2007-2008), will be in big league camp as they are on the Phillies 40-man roster.

UPDATE: Also invited, on Thursday, were four more players, including Phillies 2008 first-round pick Anthony Hewitt, an OF who hit .197 with the GCL Phillies last year. I’d say there’s a pretty good chance we’ll see him in Lakewood at some point this year.

Click below to read full bios, courtesy of the Phillies PR staff.

Antonio Bastardo, LHP … Bastardo, 23, combined to go 4-5 with a 2.95 ERA in 19 starts between Single-A Clearwater and Double-A Reading last season. A midseason Florida State League All-Star in 2008, Bastardo allowed two earned runs or fewer in 14 of his 19 starts. He won the Phillies Minor League Pitcher of the Month Award in April (2-0, 1.17 ERA, 5 GS) and also pitched for the Gigantes del Cibao in the Dominican Winter League.

Jason Donald, INF … Donald, 24, spent last season with Double-A Reading where he hit .307 with 14 home runs and 54 RBI in 92 games and was named both a midseason and postseason Eastern League All-Star. In addition to starting for the U.S. team at shortstop in the 2008 All-Star Futures Game at Yankee Stadium in July, Donald was also a member of Team U.S.A.’s bronze-medal-winning team at the Summer Games in Beijing, China. Donald also participated in the Arizona Fall League where he was named to the Top Prospect Team.

Tuffy Gosewisch, C … Also a non-roster invitee to Spring Training in 2007, Gosewisch, 25, spent the 2008 season with Single-A Clearwater where he hit .218 with three home runs and 34 RBI in a career-high 102 games. Following the season he played for Mesa in the AFL where he hit .280 with four RBI in seven games.

Jeremy Slayden, OF … Slayden, 26, spent all of last season with double-A Reading where in 131 games he hit .298 with 17 home runs and 81 RBI. Named an EL midseason All-Star, Slayden finished fourth in the league in extra-base hits (52) and total bases (232) and tied for fourth in doubles (33). He batted .362 during a season-best 18-game hit streak which was third-longest in the EL in 2008. Slayden also played for Mesa in the AFL where he hit .286 with three home runs and 27 RBI in 26 games .

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This entry was posted on Thursday, January 15th, 2009 at 4:22 pm and is filed under Around the Farm, Past BlueClaws, 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.