The Phillies announced the coaching staffs today for their minor league affiliates and Lakewood will have a new manager in 2012: Mickey Morandini.

Morandini managed Williamsport last year to a 45-33 record in his first year in the system. Lakewood’s manager from 2011, Chris Truby, will head to Clearwater.

Below is the full release.

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LAKEWOOD, NJ – Former Phillies second baseman Mickey Morandini will manage the BlueClaws in 2012, it was announced by the Phillies on Monday. Morandini is joined on the staff by hitting coach Greg Legg and pitching coach Les Lancaster.

Morandini hit .268 over 11 big league seasons, nine of them with Philadelphia. He was the starting second baseman on the club that advanced to the 1993 World Series and an All-Star in 1995.

Most recently, Morandini managed Williamsport in 2011, leading the Crosscutters to a record of 43-33 with a number of players that should be with the BlueClaws in 2012. Morandini had been an instructor at spring training the two previous years and served as the head baseball coach at Valparaiso High School in Indiana.

He becomes the 10th manager in BlueClaws history, replacing Chris Truby, who will move up to manage Hi-A Clearwater in 2012.

Legg returns for his sixth season with Lakewood and fifth consecutive after serving as the first manager in team history in 2001. Legg has been Lakewood’s hitting coach since 2008. Last year, he was the winner of the John Vukovich Award, presented by the Phillies in honor of his 30 years of service to the Philadelphia organization.

Lancaster went 41-28 over seven Major League seasons, five with the Cubs, from 1987-1993. He served as a pitching coach for the Gulf Coast League Phillies in 2011, his first season in the organization.

Ryne Sandberg returns for his second season with Triple- A Leghigh Valley.

(more…)

Two former BlueClaws, Jacob Diekman and Sebastian Valle, were among four players added to the Phillies 40-man roster earlier today. Phillippe Aumont and Tyson Gillies join Diekman and Valle on the 40-man roster, bringing the total to 39.

Diekman, a left-handed pitcher from Nebraska, spent parts of 2008, 2009, and 2010 with Lakewood. In 2009, he had a sub-2 ERA in the second half after switching from overhand to side-arm, and had a 1.90 ERA in 21 games before a 2010 promotion to Clearwater. He spent this year with Reading, where he had a 3.05 ERA and 67 strikeouts in 65 innings. In the Arizona Fall League, he allowed one run in 11 innings with 14 strikeouts.

Valle, a catcher from Mexico, spent half of 2009 and all of 2010 with Lakewood, where he was a part of teams that won two consecutive South Atlantic League championships. He led the BlueClaws in home runs (16) in 2010 and his three-run home run in Game Four of the SAL Championship Series put Lakewood ahead for good in the clincher over Greenville. Last week, he was ranked the 3rd best prospect in the system per Baseball America.

Below – from the Phillies press release:

Aumont, 22, posted a 2-5 record with seven saves in nine opportunities and a 2.68 ERA in 43 combined games for double-A Reading and triple-A Lehigh Valley in 2011. Between both clubs, the 6-foot-7 reliever recorded 78 strikeouts in 53.2 innings and held opponents to a .216 batting average. The Phillies Minor League Pitcher of the Week for April 7-17 of this year, Aumont was acquired via trade from the Mariners in 2009. He was a first-round selection (11^th overall) of Seattle in the 2007 draft. Following the season, Aumont was named the fifth-best prospect in the Phillies minor league system by Baseball America.

Gillies, 23, appeared in only three regular season games for Clearwater in 2011 due to injuries. After the season, he played for Scottsdale in the Arizona Fall League. Gillies, acquired by the Phillies along with Aumont in a 2009 trade with Seattle, was a 25th round selection of the Mariners in the 2006 draft.

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More on the Rule 5 Draft:

Eligibility: Players drafted or signed at age 19 or older are exempt for three years. Players drafted or signed at age 18 or younger are exempt four years. The exemptions were extended a year back in 2006. Everyone else not on the 40-man roster is eligible to be selected.

If Selected: A selected player must be kept on the 25-man active roster of his new team for the entire season, and be active for 90-days (as opposed to on the disabled list). If the player is not on the 25-man roster for the whole year, he must be offered back to his original team for half the $50,000 selection price.

Two former BlueClaws who were eligible and not protected were Jiwan James and Tyler Cloyd. They could be selected in the draft, which occurs in three weeks at the Winter Meetings.

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.

Last week, Baseball America released their annual Top Ten Prospects list for the Phillies organization, and we sat down for a Q&A with the man who made the list, BA’s Matt Forman.

A quick plug… If you’re interested in the minor leagues, prospects and this kind of analysis, I encourage you (if you don’t already) to subscribe to Baseball America and buy the Prospect Handbook, which is released in January and has scouting reports on 900 (930 if you buy directly from BA) of the game’s future stars. You can reach Matt on Twitter @matt_forman for follow-up questions or comments.

1) First, what goes into making a list like this?
The process isn’t too dissimilar from what you would guess it entails: lots of phone conversations with executives inside the organization and several outside the organization as well. One factor that might get overlooked is that Baseball America has a fairly significant history with each of the players that gets ranked, whether they were highlighted in pre-draft coverage, the international scene or individual minor-league Top 20 lists. Those scouting reports and insights are shared among BA’s staff and form the foundation of reporting from which to start. Additionally, I consult my notes from games I’ve attended in person — I watched more than week’s worth of drills/games on the back fields during Spring Training, then saw a handful of games in Clearwater and Lakewood this year. Generally, I try to list 40-50 players for consideration, putting all of their background information and yearly statistics into a spreadsheet. Then the phone calls happen, leading to a thorough back-and-forth with BA editors John Manuel and Jim Callis about ranking the Top 30, which ultimately reflects weighing a player’s potential against the chance that they reach that potential.

2) What strides did Trevor May make from last year to this year?
Good question. If you had to boil May’s progress down to one word, it would be consistency. He did a better job repeating his delivery, which led to a more consistent arm slot and in turn led to quality strikes and improved secondary stuff — that’s ultimately reflected in the staggering numbers he posted for Clearwater in 2011. He has gained greater body control as he has grown into his 6-foot-5 frame. After struggling in the first half of 2010 in the Florida State League, May has rebounded incredibly well, and his success has boosted his confidence level. Aside from consistency and confidence, May added a two-seam fastball to his arsenal and the Phillies introduced a slider in the second half of the season, though he hasn’t used it much in game action. He also started relying more heavily on his changeup. For all those reasons, May was the Phillies’ clear-cut No. 1 prospect, and he profiles as durable, innings-eating No. 2 starter.

3) Did Biddle’s season elevate his projections going forward for scouts?
It would be difficult to answer “No,” just because Biddle has lived up to and exceeded all expectations thus far. What more could you ask of a local, 2010 first-round pick? He signed quickly, impressed during instructional league last year and more than held his own as one of the youngest pitchers in the South Atlantic in 2011 while shouldering a professional workload for the first time. In terms of his overall future potential or projection, scouts likely wouldn’t alter Biddle’s ceiling; that is, he still projects to be a solid No. 3 starter, though his risk level has been reduced and there’s less of a chance that he would ultimately end up in the bullpen. Biddle rarely used his changeup in high school, and that’s been a major point of emphasis in his development: to add a quality third pitch to go along with his fastball-curveball combination. More than anything, scouts inside and outside the organization rave about Biddle’s competitiveness and aptitude.

4) What player was the biggest mover in 2011?
I’ll give you two names: Maikel Franco and Ervis Manzanillo, both of whom Lakewood fans likely got to see this year, though Manzanillo admittedly more. Both were unranked in last year’s top 30 and made their way into the top 15 this year. Franco spent most of the year at Williamsport, save for a short late-season promotion to the Sally where he struggled before returning to the New York-Penn League. Of the position players in the Phillies’ system before the 2011 draft, Franco has arguably the highest ceiling. His only knock is his running speed, which is well-below average, but he’s got the rest of the package — a plus arm and good range at third, plus raw power and a solid approach at the plate for an 18-year-old, though he gets a little pull happy and aggressive at times. Simply put, Franco has impact potential. Manzanillo, on the other hand, is an interesting story because he didn’t start playing baseball until he was 16 in his native Venezuela. And if you were simply grading Manzanillo’s raw stuff, it would compare favorably with Biddle’s, for example. He’s got a live, loose arm, and for someone with his build he has shown good durability. He runs his fastball up to the mid-90s from the left side, which alone gets scouts excited. He needs to work on commanding the fastball and developing the secondary stuff, but that’s not unreasonable given his age and experience in the game. I’ll name two others for honorable mention biggest mover, if only because they were once written off as prospects but re-established themselves this year: former first-round pick Joe Savery, who went from the organization’s hitter of the month in May to its pitcher of the month in August, and former supplemental first-rounder Zach Collier, who spent the year at Lakewood.

5) I know Valle has been pretty young at each level as he’s moved up. How does he project going forward?
Generally speaking, the Phillies like to take it slow with catchers, mostly because they have so much on their plate — no pun intended. On a more serious note, managing a pitching staff, calling pitches, working with umpires and everything else that comes with wearing the tools of ignorance takes some seasoning. Assuming he doesn’t have any setbacks, Valle should spend 2012 with Double-A Reading and 2013 with Triple-A Lehigh Valley, putting him in position for a late-season 2013 call-up at 23 years old. Just about every time someone within the organization talks about Valle, they say how much he’s grown since that time last year. He’s continued improving defensively, and he grades out as a solid-average or better major-league catcher. His power numbers dropped off slightly last year, no thanks to the tough hitting environment in Clearwater, but he has above-average raw power and great bat speed. The biggest question is about his approach — he’s ultra-aggressive and strikes out quite a bit, and he would benefit from tuning everything down a notch. But without question, Valle looks like the catcher of the future and the heir apparent to Carlos Ruiz, who will be 35 come 2014.

6) What kind of role can these power relievers – Aumont, De Fratus, etc have with the Phillies?
Interesting question, because developing homegrown relievers and turning over the bullpen to younger, cost-controlled options should help the Phillies keep their payroll under control. You saw the job Antonio Bastardo and Mike Stutes did last year, and both figure to factor prominently into the future plans. Assuming Ryan Madson resigns (as I’m writing this, there are conflicting reports about Madson agreeing in principle to a four-year deal), he’ll be the team’s closer for the foreseeable future. De Fratus, Michael Schwimer and Joe Savery all contributed at the end of 2011 and could be joined soon by Aumont. Aumont has the best stuff (plus-plus fastball with incredible movement and plus-plus curveball) and highest upside (closer potential) among those relievers, and it would seem he could spend time setting up for and learning from Madson before stepping into his role. De Fratus profiles as a 70-innings-per-year seventh inning reliever for now and could become a set-up guy with time. He didn’t have quite the same precision with his usually pinpoint control last year, which he’ll need to be effective, but his slider continued to improve. As mentioned, Savery has an incredible background and has been on a long journey to the big leagues. His velocity returned almost inexplicably this year back to the 92-94 range he showed as an amateur, and his low-80s curveball has two-plane break. He’s more than just a lefty specialist. Schwimer is a nice middle relief prospect and did a better job of pitching to his velocity last year. Beyond that group, you should keep an eye on former BlueClaw Jacob Diekman, who’s a personal favorite. With a little work on his command, Diekman could carve out a nice career as a lefty specialist, though he’ll be eligible for the Rule 5 Draft this year if he’s not protected on the 40-man roster. I also wouldn’t discount B.J. Rosenberg, who has battled some injuries but is still thought of highly by the organization.

7) How was the Williamsport roster and who impressed among the group that could be in Lakewood in 2012?
Williamsport had a solid group in 2011, obviously just missing the New York-Penn League playoffs, and they had a host of interesting prospects that should move to Lakewood next year. I previously mentioned Franco, who put up impressive numbers in the college-heavy New York-Penn League at 18, which speaks for itself. Lakewood fans also already know Aaron Altherr, the No. 10 prospect on last year’s list, because he spent the early parts of 2011 with the BlueClaws. Altherr is raw but still has an incredibly high ceiling, and he can play all three outfield positions. He’ll play alongside former third-round pick Kyrell Hudson, an outfielder with incredible athleticism and tools. Hudson’s defense in centerfield ranks among the best in the system, and Lakewood fans might have a tough time deciding whether Anthony Gose, Jiwan James or Hudson has been the best defensive centerfielder in recent years. Assuming he’s healthy, expect Perci Garner to pitch at the front of the Claws’ rotation next year. The former second-rounder has a plus fastball, a downer curveball and a developing changeup. For a college draft pick, Garner doesn’t have oodles of experience, but 2011 could truly be his breakout season. Two of Williamsport’s other top pitching prospects, 2011 draftees Adam Morgan and Austin Wright (who made seven starts with Lakewood), will likely head to Clearwater.

8 ) Any players catch your eye that just missed this list?
To piggyback off the previous question and address this one, there are several players who just missed the top 10 and could end up in Lakewood next year — all three are 2011 draftees. Supplemental first-rounder Larry Greene, second-rounder Roman Quinn and fifth-rounder Mitchell Walding have the tools and physicality to handle an assignment to the South Atlantic League, it’ll just be a matter of how aggressive the front office wants to be. It wouldn’t surprise me if that trio starts the year in extended spring training, then joins Lakewood in late May. Another exciting name to watch out for is international signing Carlos Tocci. He’s a long way away from contributing, as he just turned 16 in August, but Tocci has incredible tools and uncanny instincts. If he can add some strength to his stick-figure frame, Tocci has true impact potential — he’s a plus hitter and plus up-the-middle defender. It’s also worth noting Lisalberto Bonilla, who at times looked among the Sally’s top prospects and really burst on the scene at midseason once he was moved into the rotation. Bonillia narrowly missed the top 10 but shows signs of three plus pitches and repeats his delivery well.

9) How do you assess the overall strength of the system compared to the last few years after another big trade?
The system certainly has taken a hit because of the trades, as 17 top-ranked prospects have been traded in the last four years to acquire Joe Blanton, Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay and Hunter Pence. Last year the Phillies were among the top eight systems in baseball, and this year I would guess they’ll fall somewhere in the 15-20 range. Usually the top organizations have at least one blue-chip, can’t-miss player and several others among the top 50 prospects; think Tampa Bay with Matt Moore, Texas with Jurickson Profar or Toronto with Travis d’Arnaud. That’s not slighting Trevor May, but he’s not quite in that elite class. The 2011 draft class, though, could go a long way to replenishing the farm, as scouting director Marti Wolever took handful of toolsy, high-upside players with impact potential in (Larry) Greene, Quinn, Walding and Tyler Greene. It wouldn’t surprise me if one of those players took off like Jonathan Singleton did two years ago at Lakewood, just one year after getting drafted. All that said, I still think there’s plenty of quality depth within the system, and it speaks volumes that I haven’t yet mentioned Cesar Hernandez or Leandro Castro or Julio Rodriguez, who all have a legitimate shot of contributing in the big leagues.

Baseball America released their annual Phillies top ten prospects list this morning with nine of the players on the list having played with the BlueClaws at one point in their careers and six of them having won championships with the BlueClaws.

1. Trevor May (2009-10): May won two titles with Lakewood, was named the Phillies Minor League Pitcher of the Year in 2011 when he fanned 208 hitters with Clearwater.

2. Jesse Biddle (2011): The Phillies first round pick in 2010 had the best ERA in the Sally League in the 2nd half of this season and finished 7-8, 2.98 with 124 strikeouts in 133 innings.

3. Sebastian Valle (2009-10): Played the first half of 2009 with Lakewood and returned for the playoffs but had a starring role in 2010, including hitting the game-winning home run in the championship clincher. This year, Valle hit .284 with 5 home runs with Clearwater.

4. Jonathan Pettibone (2010): He had a 2.3 ERA with Lakewood from mid-June on last year as one of their steadiest pitchers on the championship team. This year with Clearwater, Pettibone picked up where he left off, pitching to a 2.96 ERA despite a 10-11 record.

5. Phillippe Aumont: Aumont was acquired in the December, 2009 Cliff Lee trade. He had a 2.7 ERA splitting the season between Reading and Lehigh Valley and will have a chance to make the big league bullpen out of spring training.

6. Freddy Galvis (2008): The slick-fielding shortstop had his best offensive season this year, hitting .273 with Reading and .298 with Lehigh Valley. He will probably start 2011 in Lehigh Valley again but with Jimmy Rollins a free agent, he would be considered a top internal candidate if Rollins departs.

7. Justin De Fratus (2009): De Fratus has blossomed since moving full-time to the bullpen in the last two years and made his big league debut in September. He went from Clearwater to Reading in 2010 and Reading to Lehigh Valley in 2011. He’ll have every chance to be in the Phillies Opening Day bullpen next year.

8. Brody Colvin (2010): Colvin thrived with Lakewood in 2010, pitching to a 3.39 ERA (low 2s after mid-May) but had a 4.71 ERA with Clearwater this year. He was passed on this list by May and Pettibone from their placing last year.

9. Jiwan James (2010): Lakewood’s every-day centerfielder on the 2010 championship team, James went to Clearwater this year and had a solid season, hitting .268 with 31 stolen bases. He’ll go to Reading in 2012.

10. Maikel Franco (2011): Just 18 for most of the season, Franco played with Williamsport and joined the BlueClaws for three weeks in August.

Domonic Brown had been the top prospect each of the last three years, but is no longer eligible. Carlos Carrasco was the top prospect on this list the two years before that.

The Phillies have made an addition to their front office, adding Joe Jordan in the role of director of player development. They announced the move today in a release. Todd Zolecki has the story on Phillies.com.

Jordan, who was with the Orioles for the past seven seasons, was responsible for drafting catcher Matt Wieters, outfielder Nolan Reimold and pitchers Zach Britton and Brian Matusz.

Prior to joining Baltimore, Jordan spent eight years with the Montreal Expos and Florida Marlins. He replaces Chuck LaMar, who resigned last month. LaMar carried the title of assistant general manager, although Jordan will not assume that additional role.

We look forward to seeing Joe at FirstEnergy Park this year.

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.

Two 2011 BlueClaws – Maikel Franco and Aaron Altherr – were ranked among the top 20 prospects in the NY-Penn League by Baseball America, who released their annual league rankings yesterday.

Franco, a 3rd baseman from the Dominican Republic, ranked 4th, started the year with Williamsport and made a cameo with Lakewood during the summer. He hit .287 with two home runs with Williamsport, mostly as an 18-year old (he turned 19 on August 25th). With the BlueClaws, he went 8-65 with one home run, an absolute laser over the left-centerfield wall off of a 96 mph fastball from 2nd overall pick Jameson Taillon of West Virginia. Presumably, he will be Lakewood’s Opening Day third baseman next year.

Altherr, an outfielder from Arizona, ranked 20th. He began the year with Lakewood, hitting .211 with one home run in the first half before going to the NY-Penn League, where he hit .260 with 5 home runs. He ranked 15th on the same list last year and entered 2011 as a top ten prospect in the organization as also ranked by Baseball America. Altherr played mostly centerfield with Lakewood (all 39 of his games played were in center), but was the left-fielder with Williamsport (61 games in left vs 11 in center) as Kyrell Hudson (former 3rd round pick who hit .275 with 28 stolen bases) played center. We would expect Altherr to man left and Hudson center for Lakewood in 2012 as well.

Previously: Gulf Coast League Top 20

H/T to Phuture Phillies for the heads up…Baseball America puts out their annual top 20 prospects by league, and yesterday they released their report on the Gulf Coast League.

The only Phillies player on the list was LHP Ethan Stewart, a 47th round pick in 2010 from New Mexico Junior College, who ranked 16th.

Stewart made his pro debut in 2011 and went 4-4, 3.62 in 11 starts (54 Ks in 54.2 innings) and then gave up two runs in nine innings with Williamsport at the end of the season.

Only three 2011 draftees made the list, in part because many sign much closer to the August 15th deadline, too late to make a major impact.

He’s 6-5, 210 from Canada.

Last year, Jesse Biddle and Aaron Altherr were both on the GCL Phillies top 20 list and both opened the season with the BlueClaws.

Forgot to pass this along yesterday but if you were looking for the rosters for the upcoming Florida Instructional League, Larry Shenk from the Phillies (read his blog here) sent these over.

Coordinators: Mike Compton, field; Gorman Heimueller, pitching; Steve Henderson, hitting; Doug Mansolino, infield.

Staff: Mickey Morandini, manager; Frank Cacciatore, hitting; Carlos Arroyo, pitching; Les Lancaster, pitching; Mark Parent, instructor; Dusty Wathan, instructor and Brett Gross, video rep

Pitchers: Gabriel Arias, Jesse Biddle, James Birmingham, Lisalberto Bonilla, Ranfi Casimiro, Lendy Castillo, Brody Colvin, J. Dygestile-Therrien, Percival Garner, Ken Giles, Steven Inch, Ulises Joaquin, Jay Johnson, Colin Kleven, Ervis Manzanillo, Lino Martinez, Adam Morgan, Hector Neris, Ramon Oviedo, J. C. Ramirez, Yacksel Rios, Braden Shull, Ethan Stewart, Joshua Warner, Austin Wright.

Catchers: Francisco Diaz, Logan Moore, Chase Numata, Cameron Rupp, Robert Stumpo.

Infielders: Cody Ashe, Albert Cartwright, Edgar Dugan, Maikel Franco, Gustavo Gonzalez, Tyler Grene, Cesar Hernandez, Harold Martinez, Roman Quinn, Brock Stassi, Alejandro Villalobos, Mitch Walding.

Outfielders Aaron Altherr, Zach Collier, Gauntlett Eldemire, Tyson Gillies, Larry Greene, Kyrell Hudson, Jonathan Knight, Brian Pointer, Carlos Tocci, Jiandido Tromp.

Bold means they played here this year.

Gillies missed the year with an injury and is tuning up for the Arizona Fall League. Jay Johnson will probably leave early to play for Team Canada. Tocci is a 16 year old from Venezuela who just signed for nice money.

Players reported yesterday. Games start on Monday and go through October 15th – Monday through Friday at 1 and Saturday at 10.

The Lehigh Valley IronPigs, born in 2008, did not have a winning record at any point in franchise history, until Opening Day 2011, when they defeated Scranton 7-2.

Tonight, five months and 145 games later, they open the Governors Cup (International League Championship Series) looking to bring home a title for the Phillies organization for the 6th straight year (06 – Lakewood, 07 – Clearwater, 08 – Phillies, GCL Phillies, 09 – Lakewood, 10 – Lakewood, GCL Phillies).

Jeff Schuler of the Morning Call has a story today on Rod Nichols, the IronPigs pitching coach and the first pitching coach in BlueClaws history (2001). That year, Greg Legg was the manager and Jeff Manto, the team’s second manager, was the hitting coach.

Nichols tutored four future big league pitchers that year: Yoel Hernandez, Taylor Buchholz, Robinson Tejeda and Eude Brito.

“He’s by far the favorite pitching coach I’ve ever had the chance to play for, and 90 percent of the guys would probably say the same thing about him,” said Scott Mathieson, who will start Tuesday night’s opener at Huntington Park. “Rod’s the guy. He’ll never say anything about it, but he’s helped a lot of guys succeed. I know he helped Madson out a lot, working on him being a closer, and Myers wanted to come down here and work with him a few years ago when things weren’t going too well.”

Nichols has a knack for staying positive no matter how things are going on the field, for boosting the confidence of his pupils.

“Confidence is a big part of pitching, and Rod has a good rapport with his guys,” Sandberg said. “The conversations work both ways with him. … He provides a lot of positive reinforcement.”

Columbus hosts games 1 and 2 tonight and tomorrow while Lehigh Valley will host games 3-4-5 beginning Thursday night (obviously four and five are if necessary).

Here is a preview courtesy of our buddies Matt Provence and Jon Schaeffer with the Pigs.

Let’s Go Pigs!

In case you missed this over the weekend…on Saturday, Lehigh Valley finished off Pawtucket in a three-game sweep with a 3-1 win in Rhode Island.

Here is the Lehigh story from the Morning Call.

“To get the momentum at our place and come up here to a place that hasn’t been too friendly to us this year and wrap it up, that’s great,” IronPigs manager Ryne Sandberg said.

Brian Bass went all nine for Lehigh Valley. “I told Rod [Nichols, the IronPigs' pitching coach] I won’t come out,” Bass said with a smile. “He said he’d give me three hitters — I guess I needed four — but that’s all right. I got through it.”

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And here is the Reading story from the Republican-Herald.

“We’ve been resilient all season,” Reading manager Mark Parent said. “We just ran out of time tonight. It’s been a fun year, though.”

Reading forced the late-inning tie with a run in the seventh on Michael Spidale’s two-out RBI single that scored Tim Kennelly.

Cisco entered in the eighth to record the final two outs before coming back in the

ninth. Cisco gave up a leadoff double to Mike McDade, who was 3-for-4 on the night, before the one-out homer to Perales.

“It’s in those spots where one mistake can cost you, and it cost us tonight,” Parent said. “(Perales) hit a back-door breaking ball out.

“Cisco has been a great guy to have all year and he’s been the most reliable pitcher we’ve had. He’s been tremendous.”

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Lehigh Valley plays Columbus (Indians) in the International League Championship Series beginning Tuesday in Columbus. Lehigh Valley hosts games 3-4-5.

If you were wondering about Columbus (roster here), all of the players that the Phillies sent in the original Cliff Lee deal in 2009 (Marson, Carrasco, Donald) are in the big leagues (except of course Jason Knapp who is injured).

However, the Clippers do have…Nick Johnson! He is batting .201.

LAKEWOOD, NJ – Congratulations to former BlueClaws RHP Trevor May (09-10) and SS Freddy Galvis (08), named winners of the annual Paul Owens Award for the best pitcher and player, respectively, in the Phillies minor league system for 2011.

May, a 4th round pick in 2008 from Kelso, Washington, went 4-1, 2.56 with Lakewood in 2009 and after starting 2010 with Clearwater, he returned to the BlueClaws and went 7-3, 2.91.

May also helped the BlueClaws win South Atlantic League Championships in each of his two seasons with Lakewood, allowing just one earned run over 22.2 playoff innings covering four starts.

This year with Clearwater, went 10-8 with a 3.63 ERA in 27 games. He struck out 208 batters in 151.1 innings (12.37 SO/9.0 IP), third-most in all of minor league baseball, and held opposing hitters to a .221 average. May is the first Phillies minor leaguer with at least 180 strikeouts in a single season since Mark Davis had 185 for Reading in 1980.

He entered the year as the 4th ranked prospect in the system per Baseball America.

Galvis, a 21 year old from Punto Fijo, Venezuela and considered an outstanding defensive shortstop, was the South Atlantic League post-season All-Star shortstop with Lakewood in 2008. He hit .238 with 3 HRs and 42 RBIs with the BlueClaws that year.

This year, he hit a combined .278 with 28 doubles, five triples, eight home runs, 43 RBI, 23 stolen bases and 78 runs in 137 games between double-A Reading and triple-A Lehigh Valley this season. The switch-hitter was selected as an Eastern League midseason All-Star before being promoted to Lehigh Valley on August 2, where he batted .321 in his first 29 games for the IronPigs en route to being named Phillies Minor League Player of the Month for August.

“We’re very happy with the seasons that both Freddy and Trevor had,” said Phillies assistant general manager Benny Looper. “At only 21 years old, Freddy rose to the challenge of triple-A ball and improved his batting average. His defense was right where we expected it to be and his instincts on a baseball field are tremendous for a player of his age. Trevor’s strikeout totals in the Florida State League were very indicative of his progression in our minor league system. Both young men have very bright futures.”

Instituted in 1986, the award is named for the late Paul Owens, who spent 48 years in the Phillies organization as a scout, farm director, general manager, manager and senior advisor.

The Phillies contributed to this story

- BlueClaws -

The BlueClaws wish the best of luck to both Reading and Lehigh Valley, our fellow Phillies affiliates, who start their post-seasons on Wednesday night.

Here is a preview of the Reading/New Hampshire series from the R-Phils official site, and here is one for Lehigh Valley/Pawtucket.

Let’s take a look at some of the former BlueClaws on each of the two rosters.

Reading
RHP Tyson Brummett (2008) – Former UCLA Bruin won the playoff clincher on Labor Day and was 4-8, 4.52 with Reading this year.

RHP Mike Cisco (2008) – Had a great year in the pen with a sub-2 ERA and has allowed 2 ER in his last 20 innings entering the playoffs.

RHP Tyler Cloyd (2009) – Game one starter was an All-Star with Lakewood before getting promoted at the All-Star break…Cloyd is 6-3, 2.78 with Reading this year.

LHP Jacob Diekman (2008-2010) – Lefty specialist is heading to the Arizona Fall League this year and held lefties to a batting average of just .099 this year.

RHP Joe Esposito (2010) – Joined the BlueClaws from the Long Island Ducks last year and is 5-5 as a starter with Reading.

RHP Austin Hyatt (2009) – Dominated in the playoffs for Lakewood two years ago and led the R-Phils with 12 wins this year. He’ll start game three on Friday night in Reading.

RHP Chris Kissock (2008) – Went 3-7, 4.82 with Reading this year out of the bullpen.

RHP BJ Rosenberg (2009) – He did not allow an ER with Lakewood from Memorial Day until a promotion straight to Reading on August 6th. He’s been a starter and a reliever with Reading, going 5-7, 4.28 and will likely come out of the pen in the playoffs.

C Tuffy Gosewisch (2007) – Caught the last eight games of the year to help Reading make the playoffs. A great defensive catcher, Gosewisch hit .247 with a career high 13 home runs this year.

C Tim Kennelly (2006-2008) – Gosewisch’s backup hit .215 with three HRs this year. One of several Australians in the system.

SS Troy Hanzawa (2009) – Slick-fielding shortstop spent most of the last two years with Clearwater but joined Reading about 10 days ago.

1B Matt Rizzotti (2008) – Former Manhattan College Jasper hit .295-24-84 with Reading this year and the 24 HRs were a career high. Was an Eastern League post-season All-Star.

3B Steve Singleton (2011) – Was with Lakewood for only 11 games before going to Reading in early August…He hit a grand slam in his first at bat with the R-Phils.

OF Derrick Mitchell (2008) – Hit a career high .265 and a career high 19 home runs this year with Reading.

OF Mike Spidale (2006) – Spidale, who won a batting title with Lakewood in 2006, led Reading with a .326 batting average this year, third best in the Eastern League.

Also – manager Mark Parent (2010) and pitching coach Bob Milacki (2009) both won championships with the BlueClaws.

Lehigh Valley
RHP Chance Chapman (2008) – Has bounced around the system this year but went to Lehigh for good on August 15th where he is 2-2, 5.29.

RHP Justin De Fratus (2009) – One of Lakewood’s best pitchers in 2009, De Fratus starred with Clearwater and Reading last year, Reading this year before moving to Lehigh Valley, where he is 2-3, 3.73 with 7 saves and will anchor the back of the bullpen with Phillippe Aumont and Mike Zagurski.

RHP Scott Mathieson (2004) – Has come back from multiple arm surgeries and moved into the IronPigs rotation in July. He’s 2-2, 3.28 on the year.

LHP Mike Zagurski (2006) – Fan-favorite with Lakewood in 2006, he made his big league debut in May of 2007. This year, he’s 4-0, 2.65 with Lehigh Valley, adding in 11 saves. He appeared in four games with the Phillies.

SS Freddy Galvis (2008) – Nobody has ever questioned his fielding but Galvis has had a great year at the plate, hitting .273 with Reading and .298 with Lehigh Valley, where he has been for 33 games. He wont’ turn 22 until November.

OF Domonic Brown (2008) – Top prospect has settled into the IronPigs OF so he can play every day, though he was sick and missed some time at the end of the regular season. Hitting .261-3-15 with the Pigs this year.

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Also, Reading is playing New Hampshire with C Travis d’Arnaud (BC 2009), who hit .311-21-78 this year and OF Anthony Gose (BC 2009), who hit .253-16-59 and stole 70 bases, second most in Minor League Baseball. Both were post-season All-Stars in the Eastern League this year. d’Arnaud was the league MVP.