The fine folks at MLB.com sat down with 2010 BlueClaws first baseman Darin Ruf for this interview. Ruf, drafted out of Creighton in the 2009 draft, spent the first month of the 2010 season with Lakewood before being promoted to Clearwater when Jonathan Singleton was sent up to Lakewood.

In Ruf’s last game with Lakewood, he only went 5-5 with a triple and a home run, to finish at .330 in 32 games. This year with Clearwater, he hit .308 including .320 in the second half of the season.

He talks about his season with Clearwater, his time in the AFL, umpiring one summer during college, and much more. Enjoy.

They are winding down play in the Arizona Fall League with just a few more days left this year.

Previously: Intro Post, Week One, Week Two, Week Three, Week Four, Week Five

Anthony Gose (2009): Gose has hit safely in his last six games, going 8-24 over the stretch to raise his average to .261-3-19. He also has added seven stolen bases in nine attempts in what has been a very productive fall for Gose. He’ll probably be in Triple-A Las Vegas next year.

Josh Zeid (2010): Zeid is finishing strong, he threw two perfect innings in his last outing on Monday and has allowed five ER in his last 14 innings after allowing five in his first 17. Zeid has 19 strikeouts in his last 17 innings.

Below are the former BlueClaws with the Phillies prospects with Scottsdale.

Darin Ruf (2010): Ruf is 3-10 since we last spoke and did film a video for MLB.com, which we’ll post here shortly. He’s at .234-3-13 so far in Arizona.

Tyler Cloyd (2009): Cloyd pitched two really good games since our last update…Last Thursday, he gave up a run on four hits in five innings, and then yesterday, in his final appearance, he threw four innings and allowed just two unearned runs for Scottsdale. His final line: 1-4, 4.35 ERA, 31 IP, 37 H, 7 BB, 27 K.

The Arizona Fall League is into its second half of their six week season, so let’s check in on the progress of some of the former BlueClaws that are down in the sport’s top winter league.

Previously: Intro Post, Week One, Week Two, Week Three, Week Four

Anthony Gose (2009): Gose struck out in his lone AB during the Rising Stars Game on Saturday and went 2-5 with an RBI last night. He’s at .253 with 3 HRs and 15 RBIs in the fall.

Josh Zeid (2010): After a bit of a slow start, Zeid has allowed five ER in his last 11 innings though he gave up a run on five hits in just two innings in his last outing on Tuesday. He’s allowed 10 ER in 14 innings with 17 strikeouts over the fall.

Below are the former BlueClaws with the Phillies prospects with Scottsdale.

Darin Ruf (2010): In his first action in six days, Ruf went 2-2 last night for Scottsdale and is 10 for his last 25 overall. Through 17 games, he’s hitting .250 with 3 HRs and 13 RBIs.

Tyler Cloyd (2009): Cloyd has gone four innings in his last two starts, allowing two runs on the 28th and three runs on November 2nd. He’s got 20 strikeouts in 22 innings in Arizona so far.

Two former BlueClaws, Jacob Diekman and Anthony Gose, will play in the Arizona Fall League’s Rising Stars Game, it was announced on Tuesday. Gose and Diekman were teammates with the BlueClaws in 2009 on the team that won the South Atlantic League title.

The Rising Stars game, for the best prospects in the Arizona Fall League, takes place on Saturday night and can be viewed on MLB Network at 7 pm Eastern (5 pm local).

Diekman has been sensational in the AFL, having thrown 7.1 scoreless and hitless innings. Opposing hitters are 0-22 against him.

This follows a season spent with Double-A Reading in which he struck out 83 hitters in 65 innings and held lefties to a .099 batting average (9-91).

Here is a ClawCast from July of 2009 with then BlueCalws manager Dusty Wathan in talking about Diekman dropping down and becoming a sidearmer after he had an ERA over 7 in the first half of that season.

“The plan was to drop him down to get lefties but he didn’t lose velocity and he’s been able to get righties out too…If you have a guy throwing 90 mph from the side with a curveball that he can throw for a strike. You don’t see that every day.”

Gose, meanwhile, who was traded at the deadline last year, first to Houston and then to Toronto five minutes later, helped AA New Hampshire to the Eastern League title this year. In the Fall League, his first trip there, he is batting .250 with three home runs and six stolen bases. Gose led the Eastern League in steals this year after leading the Florida State League last year and the South Atlantic League the year before that.

Here are the full rosters for the Rising Stars Game, which include Bryce Harper (Nationals) and Mike Trout (Angels) as the offensive headliners and Gerrit Cole (Pirates), the first pick in the 2011 draft.

The winning team gets a cash prize, which is unique.

The Arizona Fall League is into its second half of their six week season, so let’s check in on the progress of some of the former BlueClaws that are down in the sport’s top winter league.

Previously: Intro Post, Week One, Week Two, Week Three

Anthony Gose (2009): Gose had a tough week since our last update, going 2-17 with seven strikeouts, but has still had a strong fall. He has 13 RBIs and six stolen bases in 20 games to go with his .250 batting average.

Josh Zeid (2010): Zeid had his best week last week, throwing a scoreless inning on Wednesday and again on Monday. He’s struck out 12 in 10 innings but has allowed seven runs on 13 hits.

Below are the former BlueClaws with the Phillies prospects with Scottsdale.

Darin Ruf (2010): Ruf hit another home run, his 3rd, last Thursday, and went 5-12 over the last week. He’s at .216 so far with three home runs and 11 RBIs.

Tyler Cloyd (2009): Cloyd made his fifth start of the fall on Friday night and earned the win, allowing two runs over four innings. He’s fanned 16 hitters in 16 innings but is 1-2, 5.50 so far.

We’re about halfway home in the Arizona Fall League, so let’s check in on the progress of some of the former BlueClaws that are down in the sport’s top winter league.

Previously: Intro Post, Week One, Week Two

Anthony Gose (2009): Since our last post, Gose has played in four games. He’s hit safely in all four, going 7-17 with two doubles and a triple. He also stole three bases in as many attempts in Thursday’s game. He’s at .290 with three home runs and 13 RBIs so far, having scored 11 runs in 15 games. So far, so good.

Josh Zeid (2010): He gave up one run in three innings last week, the one a solo home run to Leonys Martin, a Rangers Cuban outfielder. Zeid has allowed six runs in seven innings so far, with seven one-inning appearances as he moves back to the bullpen full time (he had made some starts with Reading earlier in the year before the trade to Houston).

Below are the former BlueClaws still with Philadelphia. All are playing for Scottsdale.

Darin Ruf (2010): Ruf, who was promoted to Clearwater in 2010 when Jonathan Singleton joined the team, is just 6-35 so far but does have two home runs, including one on Saturday. Ruf has five RBIs in his last four games.

Tyler Cloyd (2009): Cloyd started the game last Saturday and gave up four runs, three earned, over five innings, with six strikeouts and one walk. He did allow two HRs in that game, one to Michael Choice of the A’s, a former #10 overall pick. In four starts, Cloyd has allowed nine ER in 15 innings, though he’s fanned 15 and walked just three.

Jake Diekman (2008-10): Diekman has done a great job so far, having thrown 5.1 shutout, and hitless innings. He walked three in his first outing, on October 5th, but one in four outings since then. Also of note, most of the damage has been done against right-handed hitters, who are 0-14. Diekman is a side-arm lefty who held lefties to a sub-.100 batting average this year in Reading. Of the 16 outs he’s recorded, six are on strikeouts, eight on groundouts, and just two are on fly outs.

BJ Rosenberg (2009): BJ made two appearances last week, allowing two runs over two innings (taking the loss) on Wednesday, and then throwing a scoreless inning last night. He’s allowed three runs in five innings so far.

Colby Shreve (2010-11): Like Rosenberg, Shreve has thrown just five innings and allowed three earned runs (four total). His only appearance last week was four perfect hitters on Thursday.

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Also…Read the Daily News’ David Murphy on Anthony Gose here.

Here’s a quick interview with 2009 BlueClaws centerfielder Anthony Gose thanks to the fine media folks at the Arizona Fall League:

Two weeks are in the books down in Arizona at the Fall League and let’s take a look at the former BlueClaws and how they’ve been playing.

Previously: Intro post, Week One

Anthony Gose (2009): Through 11 games he’s at .244-3-8 and had a pair of two hit games earlier this week. Gose is one of the priority guys down there, judging by his playing time. No steals yet, but he did throw out Bryce Harper from centerfield trying to score on a single.

Josh Zeid (2010): After allowing two runs last Tuesday, he threw scoreless innings on Thursday and Saturday. This is Zeid’s second year in the AFL (this time with Salt River), first with the Astros (he was in the Hunter Pence trade at the deadline).

Among the Phillies prospects, all playing for Scottsdale…

Darin Ruf (2010): Ruf is 2-18 in limited action, homering in his first AB two weeks ago.

Tyler Cloyd (2009): Cloyd pitched yesterday and gave up five runs in four innings while striking out six. In that game, Anthony Gose went 0-3 against Cloyd. The two were teammates with the BlueClaws in 2009.

Jake Diekman (2008-10): Diekman has been very good, throwing four shutout innings over his four Arizona outings. He had a scoreless inning behind Cloyd yesterday.

BJ Rosenberg (2009): BJ has only pitched twice so far, allowing one run in two innings. His last outing was on Friday when he gave up the run.

Colby Shreve (2011): Shreve ran into some trouble on Friday, allowing three runs, two earned, in 2/3 of an inning which included four walks. That was his third AFL outing.

Other Notes: Rob Segedin is off to an 11-34 start. We saw him with Charleston this year and he is from Old Tappan, NJ.

Here is your best place to follow the AFL, on MLB.com…Phillies prospect Tyson Gillies is blogging about the AFL here (Gillies, if you remember, was acquired in the trade that sent Cliff Lee to Seattle)…Josh Zeid is blogging here (though he hasn’t posted since our last update a week ago).

With one week in the books in the Arizona Fall League, let’s take a look at the former BlueClaws down there and how they are playing. Here is our intro post from last week.

Anthony Gose (2009): The centerfielder got off to a great start for Phoenix, hitting home runs in his first two games. He’s 5-22 with 2 HRs and 5 RBIs so far. Gose, of course, is now a Blue Jays prospect.

Josh Zeid (2010): Playing with Salt River, Zeid gave up three runs in his first inning last week and then threw a scoreless inning on Saturday.

Darin Ruf (2010): He’s 1-8 in two games but the one was a two-run home run in his first AFL at bat on Thursday.

Tyler Cloyd (2009): Cloyd threw two perfect innings with two strikeouts in his debut on Wednesday and in theory could pitch next later today.

Jake Diekman (2008-10): Diekman has pitched twice, throwing a scoreless inning on Wednesday (in which he walked the bases loaded) and then got the last four outs on Saturday for his first save.

BJ Rosenberg (2009): BJ threw a 1-2-3 inning in his debut on Thursday.

Colby Shreve (2011): The only 2011 BlueClaw playing in the AFL this year, Shreve has appeared in two games, allowing a home run in one inning on Thursday and throwing two scoreless innings last night.

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The AFL is considered very much a hitters league, and PhuturePhillies explains why.

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Note: Zeid is blogging again, click here for his first post in which he notes the following…

I want to thank the the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks for opening up their facilities to us and letting us use their Major League facilities. It is a state of the art facility with a movie theater, a gigantic weight room, and a clubhouse with 8 leather couches and 6+ flat screens ranging from 47- 60+ inches. We are extremely spoiled in there but it makes bonding with brand new teammates much easier.

A number of former BlueClaws will kick off play in the prestigious Arizona Fall League tonight. The league runs through November 19th and is an annual fall showcase for some of the best prospects in the game.

Phillies prospects, which had been playing with Mesa over the past few years, will this year play for Scottsdale.

Here are the headquarters for the AFL on MLB.com. You can follow them on Twitter here.

Below, a quick note on the former BlueClaws who will be participating in this year’s AFL, first with the Phillies prospects:

Pitchers
Tyler Cloyd (2009): Cloyd was Lakewood’s best pitcher in the first half of 2009 (he was promoted to Clearwater at the All-Star Break. He went 7-3, 3.05 with Lakewood that year. He opened 2011 with Clearwater before getting bumped up to Reading and went 9-4, 2.77 between the two stops. He was an 18th round pick in 2008 out of Nebraska-Omaha.

Jake Diekman (2008-10): Diekman’s career turned around after he had a 7.09 ERA at the All-Star break in 2009 and then became a side-armer. In the second half of that season, his ERA was 1.24 and this year with Reading, he struck out 83 hitters in 65 innings and held lefties to a .099 batting average (9-91). Note he shortened Jacob, which he was known by when he played with Lakewood.

BJ Rosenberg (2009): A 13th round pick in 2008 from the University of Louisville, BJ had a stretch in 2009 of 30 innings without allowing an earned run, from Memorial Day through August 6th, when he was promoted straight to Reading, which doesn’t happen often. He had an injury-plagued 2010 but this year had a solid season with Reading (5-7, 4.28), split between the bullpen (2.27 ERA) and rotation (5.62 ERA). Have to think that he’ll be a reliever going forward into 2012 but we’ll see.

Colby Shreve (2010-2011): You sometimes see current year BlueClaws get to play in Arizona, as Troy Hanzawa did following the 2009 season. Shreve spent last year and most of this year (5-5, 2.75) with Lakewood before getting a jump to Clearwater in August (1-1, 3.55 in seven games). His season turned around when he was moved from the rotation to the bullpen, and he noted that he could really let it loose back there. Pitching coach Steve Schrenk helped him develop a cutter as well. He was a 6th round pick in 2008 from the CC of Southern Nevada who missed two years (Tommy John Surgery) and made his pro debut in 2010.

Position Players
Darin Ruf (2010): Ruf smoked the ball for a month with Lakewood in 2010 (.330-4-17 in 32 games), including a 5-5 game in Greenville on May 12th last year. He was promoted after that game to Clearwater (when Jonathan Singleton came up to Lakewood) . He’s been in Clearwater ever since and had a great season in 2011, hitting .308 with 17 HRs and 82 RBIs. Here is a Q&A with Ruf from January.

Other Phillies
There are two Phillies prospects who will be in Arizona who did not play with Lakewood:

Cody Overbeck: This infielder hit .277-24-72 between Reading and Lehigh Valley this year. He skipped Lakewood after being a 9th round pick in 2008 from Ole Miss (would have been here in 2009)

Tyson Gilles: This outfielder came over to Philadelphia in the Cliff Lee trade (from Seattle) but has only played in 31 games in two years due to injury (three this year). Now healthy, this is essentially his season, rather than him winding down his season like everyone else.

Non-Phillie BlueClaws
Anthony Gose (2009): Lakewood’s all-time stolen base leader also became the all-time stolen base leader with AA New Hampshire (he stole 70 this year) and has led his league in steals the last three years. Gose, of course sent to Houston and then Toronto during the Roy Oswalt trade last year, won his third minor league title this year when New Hampshire won the Eastern League crown. He had previously won with Lakewood in 2009 and the GCL Phillies in 2008. He’s playing for the Phoenix Dirt Dogs. His New Hampshire teammate Travis d’Arnaud is not here, by the way.

Josh Zeid (2010): Zeid makes his second trip to the AFL, first as an Astro and he’ll play for Salt River. With Lakewood last year, he threw 8 perfect innings in the SAL Championship Series to help the BlueClaws win a title. This year, he was double-jumped straight to Reading where he was 2-3, 5.65. A part of the deal which brought Hunter Pence to the Phillies, Zeid went to AA Corpus Christi and appeared in 14 games, allowing 18 runs in 16 innings. He was a 10th round pick in 2009 from Tulane.

Other Notes
The Scottsdale team that the Phillies prospects will play on has both Bryce Harper of the Nationals and Mike Trout of the Angels, arguably the two best prospects in all of baseball, which means that they’ll play in front of the biggest of the crowds down there. Josh Zeid faced Harper last year in Harper’s first pro at bat.

Joe McEwing, considered to be a rising managerial prospect, is managing Mesa this year and top overall pick Gerrit Cole (Pirates, UCLA). Also on that team is White Sox prospect Jake Petricka. BlueClaws fans may remember Petricka and David Buchanan matching zeros in the second game of the season (April 10th) this year in Lakewood. It was the first game of a double-header and while the starters were long gone, Kannapolis won 2-0 in 16 innings. Lakewood didn’t get a hit off Petricka until the 6th inning. The man who accounted for the scoring, hitting a two-run home run, was Mike Blanke, one of the Mesa catchers.

The good folks at Scouting the Sally have a write-up (read here) on BlueClaws pitcher Julio Rodriguez.

Julio Rodriguez was one of the two best pitchers I saw in the Sally this season. I wish I had seen him pitch more than 3 innings so I could compare him better to the other top pitching prospect I saw, Braves prospect Arodys Vizcaino. I am very surprised, even after his electric second half, an extremely positive write up by Kevin Goldstein, and a good winter ball start for Carolina in Puerto Rico, that Rodriguez isn’t viewed as a top prospect among Phillies fans. In most systems, this guy is a top 15 prospect, even cracking the top 10 in a few organizations. I don’t know the Phillies system like I know the Mets and Braves systems since I’m a Mets fan.  Being transplanted in the south, I have the opportunity to catch several Braves minor league games every season on various levels.

Why isn’t the Phillies bloggersphere isn’t jumping all over this kid yet? Rodriguez is young, projectable, and has a couple of pitches to work from already.  In my mind, he’s top-15 in the Phillies system with definite room to grow.

Good call. We agree. As noted here, I put Rodriguez seventh in the organization in a Reading Eagle survey from late August.

We’ll find out on Monday where he is ranked by Baseball America.

Mesa, the club with Phillies prospects, did not advance to the Arizona Fall League Championship Game (which you can watch on MLB Network tomorrow night).

Now that their AFL season is complete, let’s take a look back at these player and what could be in store during 2011.

Offensive Players
Tim Kennelly, UTL: .293 (12-41), 4 RBIs, 3 BB, 7 Ks
- Probably to Reading, useful because he can play so many positions
John Mayberry, OF: 0-2 and injured
- Hurt on Opening Day, will be in big league camp and probably in Lehigh Valley’s OF
Matt Rizzotti, 1B: .333 (21-63), 12 RBIs, 22 BB, 15 Ks
- Really a great six weeks for him, though he did miss some time with injury. Note the +7 walks to strikeouts. Probably Lehigh Valley’s first baseman

Pitchers
Tyson Brummett: 1-1, 3.79, 19 IP, 13 K, 2 BB
- A very solid fall for Brummett, who pitched in Reading this year and will likely be in Lehigh Valley’s rotation.
Justin De Fratus: 0-0, 0.00, 7 IP, 3 H, 11 K, 3 BB
- Great fall capped a great year for De Fratus, who is a lock to be on the 40-man roster next year, has a shot to make the big league bullpen and at worst will be in Lehigh Valley.
Jacob Diekman: 0-0, 2.945, 3.2 IP, 14 H, 4 BB, 3 K
- He was a late addition to the Arizona Fall League roster and struggled. Clearwater or Reading for Diekman next year
Chris Kissock: 1-0, 2.38, 11.1 IP, 11 H, 2 BB, 5 K
- Solid fall for Kissock, who pitched for Clearwater and a bit for Reading this year. He probably returns to Reading in 2011.
BJ Rosenberg: 0-1, 8.53, 12.2 IP, 18 H, 8 BB, 10 K
- It was a weird year for BJ, who battled injuries on and off. He obviously didn’t have the best fall but was still working his way back. He probably starts 2011 in Reading.
Josh Zeid: 3-0, 3.86, 14 IP, 11 H, 1 BB, 12 K
- A very good fall for Zeid, who pitched with the BlueClaws in 2010, and finished his time with Mesa the way he finished his time with the BlueClaws. The Phillies have had older (four-year) college pitchers skip levels before (BJ Rosenberg skipped Clearwater in August of 2009 and Michael Schwimer skipped Lakewood at the start of 2009) and certainly Zeid jumping straight to Reading would seem to be a possibility.

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Michael Taylor was the other former BlueClaw in Arizona. He hit .278 with 2 HRs and 15 RBIs, though his two home runs were the first two games that he played.

Here are a few day’s worth of updates from down in the Arizona Fall League, with the Phillies representatives playing for Mesa.

Monday: In an 8-3 loss to Scottsdale, Matt Rizzotti, the only Phillies farmhand to play, had a rough day, going 0-5 with three strikeouts.

Tuesday: Rizzotti and Tim Kennelly each went 1-3 on Tuesday as Mesa scored six runs in the 9th inning to beat Surprise. BJ Rosenberg gave up three runs in the 8th inning and Chris Kissock threw a shutout 9th inning to earn the win. Pirates prospect Andrew Lambo hit a walk-off grand slam.

Wednesday: Rizzotti was the only Phillies farmhand to play, coming in the game in the 7th inning and walking in his only two plate appearances.

Thursday: Rizzotti went 2-3, raising his average to .377, while Kennelly went 1-4 and played RF in a 6-5 loss to Surprise. Tyson Brummett threw three shutout innings to start the game and Jacob Diekman gave up a run in the 9th inning.

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Michael Taylor is batting .271-2-15 playing for Scottsdale.

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The regular season runs through next Thursday (11/18).

2010 BlueClaws pitcher Josh Zeid was one of a handful of players to go from A-ball to the Arizona Fall League, where he went 3-0 with a 3.86 ERA in four starts and threw a shutout inning in the Rising Stars Game.

Having reached his innings limit, Zeid has finished his time in Arizona and we spoke to him Monday afternoon while he was driving on I-10 in New Mexico on a 30-hour drive to Clearwater.

How was the competition compared to what you had been facing? It’s like facing an all-star team every game out. If you have an off-day at all, even an off-pitch, they’re going to hit it a long way. I saw some pretty long home runs, but it was a lot of fun.

How was the experience for you having come from a level where you were one of the older guys to one where you were one of the younger and more inexperienced players? They let me know every day that I was younger or had less experience, not negatively, but they said that it was a great honor to be invited from Lo-A…I was the same age as some of the guys who had played in Double-A, which was a little sad, but you have to trick yourself into believing you can get these guys out. If you can, you can be successful at any level.

What was the Rising Stars experience like? The day I found out they were shutting me down for the year, I found out I made Rising Stars and that would be my last outing. I had a pretty good year, but I was Lo-A, senior sign. Most of the other guys that were on the team were older, or higher picks, so it meant a lot. It was cool, national television, that’s always a little scary. But it was a lot of fun. I faced the guy who hit the game winning home run, which kind of stunk, there was a cash prize for the winning team, $500. We were pretty down. We had bases loaded in the top of the 9th, but they got out of it. And they won in the bottom of the 9th.

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