One of the intriguing sub-plots of Phillies Spring Training is replacing retired lefty releiver Scott Eyre, and three former BlueClaws are in the mix to do just that.

You’d have to consider Antonio Bastardo (2007) to be the favorite. He was on the post-season roster and even got a key strikeout of Jason Giambi against the Rockies. Bastardo, 24, dominated the SAL here in 2007, going 9-0, 1.87 over 15 starts with the BlueClaws. He made his big league debut in 2009.

He was here for parts of two years, but last summer Sergio Escalona (2007-2008) jumped straight from Double-A Reading to the big leagues, where he gave up seven runs in 13.2 innings. Escalona was a starter in 2007 but went 5-1, 3.43 out of the pen in 2008 before a promotion. Funny stuff from how Escalona was told of his promotion (by Reading manager Steve Roadcap):

Sergio Escalona (BlueClaws 2007-2008) was called to FirstEnergy Stadium in Reading early in the morning where Steve Roadcap was waiting.

“He said, ‘What were you doing last night? I heard the police had to go to the stadium,’” Escalona said. “I said, ‘No, I was home, watching TV, a movie, with my family.’

“He said, ‘I don’t know — the police are coming.’”

Roady was kidding of course, as Escalona was called up to the big leagues, where he got his first win on Sunday.

Last, but not least, Mike Zagurski (2006). A key reliever on the 2006 champion BlueClaws, Zagurski made his big league debut on May 25th, 2007, just months after wrapping up his season in Low-A (he has made the fastest jump ever from Lakewood to Philadelphia, and received a bobblehead doll in 2008). But he missed 2008 with an elbow injury and made it up to Reading in 2009.

Good luck to all three.

Share This Post!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 16th, 2010 at 3:51 pm and is filed under Phillies, Spring Training. 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.