Today in BlueClaws History + a Look Back
January 6, 2003…Gavin Floyd becomes the first current or former player to grace the cover of Baseball America.
Floyd, remember, was the “prospect star” on the 2002 BlueClaws team, not his now-more-well-known teammate Ryan Howard. He went 11-10 on the 2002 BlueClaws with a 2.77 ERA and 140 Ks in 166 innings pitched.
His presence on the cover in this issue was because Baseball America was unveiling their 2003 Phillies top ten prospect list, as follows:
- Floyd
- Chase Utley
- Marlon Byrd
- Taylor Buchholz
- Cole Hamels
- Ryan Madson
- Anderson Machado
- Ryan Howard
- Elizardo Ramirez
- Zach Segovia
Utley was drafted in 2000 and would have been an original BlueClaw, but because he was polished as a college player, he was one of the few guys to skip Lakewood and went straight to Clearwater in 2001.
Byrd and Madson were on Piedmont (in Kannapolis) in 2000, the year before the BlueClaws existed. With Brett Myers, they made the playoffs and Madson and Myers lost games two and three 1-0 to Delmarva in the first round under manager Greg Legg. Legger said last year that was the toughest playoff exit for him, 1-0 with two big leaguers in his rotation.
Buchholz was with Lakewood in 2001, and threw the first pitch in BlueClaws history.
Hamels went 6-1, 0.84 in 13 starts with Lakewood in 2003 before a promotion to Clearwater.
Howard didn’t really blow up as a prospect until he hit .304 with 23 home runs in the Florida State League in 2003.
Machado and Ramirez never played with Lakewood.
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January 27th, 2011 at 1:57 pm
[...] was here in 2002, made a cover of Baseball America, and pitched one of three no-hitters in BlueClaws history. However, he lost his, 1-0 to Lexington, [...]