BlueClaws pitcher Colin Kleven was named Phillies minor league pitcher of the week for the week of May 14-20, it was announced earlier by the Phillies. Lino Martinez won the previous week’s award, the only two BlueClaws to win Phillies minor league pitcher or player of the weeks so far this year.

Kleven gave up just one earned run over two starts (seven innings, one unearned run at Delmarva on May 14 and five innings, one earned run at Greensboro on May 19) and won two games, his second and third wins of the year.

Below, find the full rundown courtesy of Larry Shenk. Read Larry’s blog here.

Players of the Week

**Pitcher: RHP Colin Kleven, Lakewood.  2-0, 0.75 ERA for 2 starts, 12 innings, 9 hits, 2 runs (1 earned), 4 walks, 11 strikeouts. In 4 starts this month, 2-1, 1.96 ERA.  For the season, 3-3, 3.38 ERA, 8 starts.  The 21-year-old was a 33^rd round selection in 2009 out of R. E. Mountain High School in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada, and signed by Tim Kissner.

**Player: INF-OF Carlos Alonso, Clearwater.  Led organization with a .545 average for 6 games, 12 hits, 5 runs scored and 10 RBI. He had multi-hits in each of his last 5 games. Raised his average from .299 to .360. Alonso has started at second base, shortstop, third base and left field.  The 24-year-old was selected in the 32^nd round of the 2010 draft out of the University of Delaware and signed by Paul Murphy.

Team reports below:

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Lakewood left-handed pitcher Lino Martinez was named Phillies Minor League Pitcher of the Week, the Phillies announced on Monday.

Martinez, a 19-year old left-hander from Zulia, Venezuela, threw seven shutout innings in a 1-0 win over Greesnboro on Thursday night at FirstEnergy Park, though he did not factor in the decision. He became the first BlueClaws pitcher to throw seven innings in a game this year. He is the youngest player on the BlueClaws roster.

The minor league hitter of the week is Cody Asche, a 4th round pick last year from Nebraska who went 11-25 with Clearwater. He’s hitting .364 on the season. Asche skipped Lakewood, going straight from Williamsport to Clearwater.

Below the fold, the full minor league review.

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The first of the year, sent over to us from the great Larry Shenk, and headlined by a pair of former BlueClaws.

Players of the Week

**Pitcher: RHP Tyler Cloyd, Lehigh Valley-Reading.  Started 2 games, 1 at each level and was 2-0, 1.50 ERA.  Scheduled to begin the season at Reading, he was called to start the LV season opener on 4/5 because Dave Bush was suspended for a spring training brawl.  Cloyd threw 6 perfect innings, striking out 8, throwing 73 pitches.  He had 5 3-ball counts. He returned to Reading and won his first start there on 4/12, allowing 2 runs on 6 hits in 6 innings. The 24-year-old was an 18^th round selection in 2008 and signed by Jerry Lafferty. It marks the 3^rd time in the last 6 awards that Cloyd has been named pitcher of the week.

**Player: OF Jiwan James, Reading.  Starting in all 3 outfield positions, James hit .364 in 11 games, 12 hits and a club-high 7 runs.  Among his dozen hits were a double, 2 triples and 2 homers.  He stole 6 bases in 7 attempts. His .697 slugging percentage was tops in the organization.  He had a 7-game hitting streak (.444) end on 4/14.  The 23-year-old switch-hitter was a 22^nd round selection in 2007 and signed by Chip Lawrence.  It is the third time in his 4-year minor league career he was won the weekly honors.

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We had a chance to talk with 2010 BlueClaws RHP Jonathan Pettibone (follow him on Twitter @Jon_Pettibone) for a pre-spring training Q&A that you can read below.

Pettibone went 8-6, 3.49 with Lakewood in 2010 (2.41 ERA in the second half) and helped the BlueClaws win their second of two straight Sally League titles. Last year, he went 10-11 with Clearwater but only because of a lack of run support. He had a sparkling ERA of just 2.96, 5th best in the Florida State League. Baseball America ranked him 4th in the system, his highest ranking.

How would you assess your season last year? It seemed like you picked up right where you left off? It was the main goal going in, first making Clearwater, and staying healthy, that was a big key for me, but also just doing like I did in 2010 and continuing to attack the hitters and throw all three pitchers for strikes and let my defense do the work.

Were the hitters a lot different, a lot better, at that level? They’re more patient and they won’t chase your out pitch, slider in the dirt or whatever it is. For me, not being a strikeout pitcher, I kind of just went after hitters and made them put the ball in play and get the out from there.

So as you prepare to make the next jump to Double-A, what would you say would be the most important thing for you to do? It’s really just keeping the same approach. I would say I’ve gone after it harder in the weight room and running. For one, they’re going to expect a bunch of innings (he threw 161 last year, 131.1 in 2010), so I’m preparing myself to stay healthy and get through another full season. I’m excited for the new challenge. We’ve heard that’s the biggest jump (Hi-A to AA), and plus I get to hit.

Did you hit in high school? Early in HS I did, but later on just pitched.

Are you excited to hit? Right now I’m kind of scared (chuckle), but once I get a little comfortable, I’ll be ok.

What’s your offseason throwing plan been like? I picked up a baseball in mid-December and light tossed from there. Then I started throwing bullpens about two weeks ago.

What’s the workout regimen been like? At the end of the year, Shawn (Fscani – Phillies minor league strength and conditioning coordinator) gives us a pretty solid program. I’ll throw in a few of my own workouts but I stay on pace on what they want from me each week. The calendar helps guide you to where you need to be leading up to the end of February..

Two of your teammates, Jonathan Singleton and Jarred Cosart, were traded at the deadline. What was that like? It was different. We kind of had an idea it might be coming, at least someone from our team. It was a little easier because of that. But Cosart was my roommate on the road. We were down in Palm Beach, we got the call and then he left the next morning.

What’s your favorite thing to do in the offseason? Play a lot of golf – I play in the season too.

How have you hit them? Let’s not talk about that (laughter). Not that well lately. I’m about a bogey golfer.

Favorite part of your time in Lakewood? Winning the championship, of course. The whole year in general. Winning both halves, but to top it off on the championship, that was the best.

What’s your typical day like in the offseason? Now I’m pretty busy with throwing, running, hitting, lifting. But before, I enjoyed family and friends that I hadn’t seen in awhile, golfing, and a little ping pong.

Your dad played in the big leagues. Has he talked to you about what to expect as you move up? We haven’t really gotten to that point, but the majority of his career was in the minors. I talked to him a lot after my starts on how I feel or how things are going. But we really haven’t crossed the path of what to expect moving up.

You’ve been moving up a lot of the offseason prospect rankings lately. Is that something you pay attention to? I don’t pay attention to it but of course I hear about it. It’s something I try not to get too involved in. I’m not complaining though.

Twitter. How’d you get involved? Last spring training, a bunch of guys, (Jarred) Cosart, (Jiwan) James, were talking about it. And I gave in. I’m not as bad as Jiwan though (laughter).

Thanks to Jon for a few minutes and we wish him best of luck this season.

This is always one of the books I am most eager-to-open each year – the Baseball America Prospect Handbook, which you can order online through Baseball America. They release their top ten prospects each year and in the fall we did a Q&A with Matt Forman, who handed the Phillies list. Today, however, we go from 1-10, all the way up to 30.

11-20: 11 – Roman Quinn, SS (2nd round pick in 2011); 12 – Lisalberto Bonilla, RHP (2011 BlueClaw); 13 – Carlos Tocci, OF (16 year old signed with Phillies on August 23rd, his birthday); 14 – Cesar Hernandez, 2B (Played last year with Clearwater after skipping Lakewood); 15 – Aaron Altherr, OF (split last year between Lakewood and Williamsport and could be back with the BlueClaws); 16 – Ervis Manzanillo, LHP (2011 BlueClaw); 17 – Julio Rodriguez, RHP (2010 BlueClaw heads to Reading this year); 18 – Kyrell Hudson (3rd round pick in 2009 could open with Lakewood this year); 19 – Harold Garcia, 2B (2009 BlueClaw missed most of last year with torn ACL but could open this year with Lehigh Valley); 20 – Larry Greene, OF (Phillies supplemental first-round pick in 2011).

21-30: 21 – Perci Garner, RHP (2nd round pick in 2010 likely joins Lakewood this year); 22 – Austin Hyatt, RHP (2009 BlueClaw heads to Lehigh Valley this year); 23 – Mitchell Walding, SS (Phillies 5th round pick in 2011); 24 – Leandro Castro, OF (2009-10 BlueClaw); 25 – Joe Savery, LHP (made Phillies debut in September, never played here); 26 – Austin Wright, LHP (2011 8th round pick went 1-2, 2.67 in seven BlueClaws starts); 27 – Zach Collier, OF (played here in 2009 and 11); 28 – JC Ramirez, RHP (acquired in Cliff Lee trade from Seattle); 29 – Adam Morgan, LHP (3rd round pick in 2011 from Alabama went 3-3, 2.01 with Williamsport); 30 – Michael Schwimer, RHP (made Phillies debut in September).

(Yes, my desk is a little messy. Yes, that’s my Atlantic-10 Tournament pamphlet – Go Fordham! Yes, that’s my Big Brown bobblehead doll).

We had a chance to speak recently with 2011 BlueClaws RHP David Buchanan, who began the year with Lakewood, started the All-Star Game, and was promoted to Clearwater in July.

Previously: Catching Up With Jesse Biddle.

Buchanan, a 7th round pick in 2010 from Georgia State University, went 11-5, 3.38 with the BlueClaws this year and then finished up 3-2, 3.70 in six starts with Clearwater.

“Overall, I think I had a good year,” Buchanan said. “I learned a lot, had a lot of fun, faced some good hitters and saw a lot of different things I can take into next year.”

He noted that “I had some success, I failed, and I experienced a lot.” Buchanan had a 1.97 ERA through May but had an ERA over seven over his next eight starts.  It was a start in Greenville on July 14th where he felt his season turned around.

“I was going through a tough stretch. I’d get to the 2nd inning, give up a few hits and someone squares one up, and suddenly it’s a four-run inning. For some reason that 2nd inning was killing my whole start. That game, I calmed myself down, got a big ground ball and got out of the inning.”

Buchanan, who grew up in Peachtree City, GA, outside Atlanta, had 15 friends and family members at that start (about three hours from home), just as he did in Charleston, SC on May 7th, when he became the first BlueClaws pitcher in four years (Carlos Monasterios) to throw a nine inning complete game.

A week later, he faced Greenville again, allowing one run over seven strong innings to earn the win (Brad Ligde pitched a scoreless 8th and Ryan Duke the 9th). Buchanan came back with eight shutout innings on July 25th in what would be his final start as a BlueClaw. Two weeks after his turning point start in Greenville, he was a Thresher.

“I was ecstatic. I was looking forward to that all year,” he said. “I got caught up a bit in that and had a few bad outings but I let it all go and said whatever happens, happens and started to pitch my game again. It’s only the first step of many but I was ecstatic to go up there.”

On the transition, he said that “I wasn’t nervous because I knew that wouldn’t help me but the biggest thing was to go there and be confident. I still need to realize that me being the pitcher, I had the advantage.”

Asked what he took most out of his season, he said “You have to remember that no matter what level you’re at, you can still get hitters out. A lot of times we get caught up pitching to the hitter’s name or their place in the order. When big leaguers came down to rehab, you expect them to go 4-4 with 4 home runs, but anybody can get anybody out. No matter who you’re facing, stay within yourself and pitch to your strengths.”

This has been an exciting few days for Buchanan, as his new favorite team, the Phillies (obviously) are now a win away from a spot in the NLCS. It’s been a little tougher on some family members, Georgia natives, after the way their hometown Braves saw their season end last week.

David went to all three games in Atlanta last week between the Braves and the Phillies with his sister Sarah and her boyfriend James. David says he was wearing red, but admitted that “Two years ago, I would have been rooting for the Braves.”

Every year the fine folks at the Reading Eagle do a Phillies farm system minor league prospect survey, taking votes from media around the organization. This is what the group come up with:

1. Trevor May, RHP Clearwater, 21
2. Sebastian Valle, C Clearwater, 21
3. Jesse Biddle, LHP Lakewood, 19
4. Freddy Galvis, SS Lehigh Valley, 21
5. Phillippe Aumont, RHP Lehigh Valley, 21
6. Brody Colvin, RHP Clearwater, 21
7. Justin DeFratus, RHP Lehigh Valley, 23
8. Julio Rodriguez, RHP Clearwater, 20
9. Michael Schwimer, RHP Philadelphia, 25
10. Jiwan James, OF Clearwater, 22
11. Jonathan Pettibone, RHP Clearwater, 21
12. Austin Hyatt, RHP Reading, 25
13. Aaron Altherr, OF Williamsport, 20
14. Joe Savery, LHP Lehigh Valley, 25
15. Harold Garcia, 2B Reading, 24
16. Dave Buchanan, RHP Clearwater, 22
17. Carlos Rivero, 3B Reading, 23
18. Cesar Hernandez, 2B Clearwater, 21
19. Lisalberto Bonilla, RHP Lakewood, 21
20. Zach Collier, OF Lakewood, 20

That’s a pretty good list (the number on the right is their age). A few notes:

• Jesse Biddle is the only one on the list who is in his teens. When Baseball America does their poll in a few months, it won’t be that way, but people were hesitant to vote on people they haven’t seen play yet, or are unproven at the lower levels, which makes sense.
• Everyone on the list except for Aumont, Savery and Rivero have played for the BlueClaws.
• No surprise at all Trevor May is number one. He’s had a tremendous season with Clearwater (3.45 ERA, .215 opponents BA and a whopping 197 Ks in just 143 innings pitched, wow).
• Sebastian Valle got off to a blazing start, hitting .357 to the all-star break, and though he’s only at .227 in the second half, a catcher that has power and is improving defensively is a major asset.
• Vance Worley, Mike Stutes, and Domonic Brown were not eligible for obvious reasons.
• Great run for Jonathan Pettibone this year with a 3.00 ERA to move up.
• Good to see people taking notice of BlueClaws RHP Lisalberto Bonilla, who has been excellent (and is slated to pitch game one of the double-header tomorrow.

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Nice article on Trevor May in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer:

“I believe this year as opposed to last year I made a lot of improvement mechanical-wise in being able to repeat things and also staying on a solid routine,” May said. “You have to find a work ethic that works for you. I also felt like this year I was able to make strides in dealing with adversity.

“I was really able to settle down when I got in trouble. I think you can see that by the fact that I have pitched more innings in 25 starts this year than I did in 27 last year.”

As much as he hated being demoted to Lakewood a year ago, May learned a lot from his second stint near the Jersey Shore.

“It was kind of a wake-up call,” May said. “I learned that I needed to throw more strikes and I needed to stay in the bottom half of the strike zone. You can get by with some things in the lower levels that you can’t get by with the higher you go.”

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And another great one by Matt Gelb in the Inquirer on Vance Worley:

Six years ago – before Vance was Vanimal, before he wrote angry messages to himself inside his hat, before he transformed from middling non-prospect to one of the best rookie starters in Phillies history – he was an unassuming freshman with a buzz cut. He asked Chris Aquino, then a junior catcher for Long Beach State University, if he would catch a bullpen session before the school year even started.

Aquino had never before been asked to do that. When they were done Worley said, “Thank you.” But Aquino was disturbed.

That should cover it for now. Hopefully we’ll have more later.

“Every time you got into your balance point and you separated,” he said to Worley, “you gave me this big smile right before you delivered the ball.”

BlueClaws 2B Carlos Alonso, who is 15-32 with 11 walks over his last 12 games, was named Phillies Minor League Player of the Week for the week ending Sunday.

Below, find the full story from the great Larry Shenk.

Players of the Week

**Pitcher: RHP Scott Mathieson, Lehigh Valley.  Was 1-0 in 2 starts, 11 total innings, 5 hits, 1 run, 4 walks, 12 strikeouts.  Picked up a win on Monday, 1 run, 4 hits, 7 innings and had a no decision on Sunday, 0 runs, 1 hit, 4 innings. Returned to starting role on June 19 and is 1-1 with a 2.27 ERA for 8 starts, striking out 45 in 35.2 innings.  He was last in a starting rotation on a regular basis in 2006.  The 27-year-old was selected in the 17^th round in 2002 and signed by Tim Kissner.

**Player: 2B Carlos Alonso, Lakewood.  Hit .529 in 5 games, with a club-high 9 hits.  Included were a double and his 1^st home run on Sunday; drove in 5 runs.  Over the last 10 games, he’s batting .471.  For August, .386.  He began the season at Williamsport (.429, 14 games) before promotion to Lakewood on July 9. The 21-year-old was selected in the 32^nd round in 2010 out of the University of Delaware and signed by Paul Murphy.

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2009 and 2010 BlueClaws pitcher Trevor May, who leads the Florida State League in strikeouts with 178 (in 131.1 innings pitched) threw seven shutout innings (in a seven inning game) to beat Tampa yesterday and he talked afterwards to MiLB.com in an article you can read here.

Clearwater swept a double-header from Tampa yesterday and moved into sole possession of first place in the Northern Division, second half-standings. May talked about a possible trip to Double-A for the end of the season:

“In my opinion, I’m probably going to be in Double-A to start next year either way,” he said. “I could see it not happening simply because we just moved into first and we’re in a playoff push. There are only four, maybe five, more starts in the regular season. It could be a get-your-feet-wet thing, or I could stay for the playoffs. Either way, I’m happy with this year and excited to build on it.”

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May, as noted in the article, is 5-2, 2.83 in the second half. That’s a theme for him. He went 4-0, 2.04 in the second half of the 2009 season with Lakewood and after joining Lakewood in July last year was 7-3, 2.91. He is trying to win his fourth championship (GCL, Lakewood, Lakewood) in four years in the organization (he was a 4th round pick in 2008).

Congratulations to BlueClaws RHP Colby Shreve, who has been promoted to Clearwater.

Shreve, who had allowed one earned run in his last 23 innings pitched, threw two shutout innings on Monday and earned the save in his final Lakewood appearance. He was 5-5, 2.75 with Lakewood this year, split between the starting rotation and the bullpen.

Mike McGuire, who had six saves and a 2.67 ERA with Lakewood last year, has joined the BlueClaws from Clearwater. Here is a interview we did from last year with McGuire.

A couple of quick notes from the pharm last night including a couple of nice debuts.

• Austin Wright gave up one run over six innings in his first start with Lakewood, earning the win and picking up right where David Buchanan left off. Speaking of…
• In his first start with Hi-A Clearwater, Buchanan gave up three runs (two earned) over six innings with Clearwater and got the win, his 12th of the year between Lakewood and Clearwater.
• In that game, Clearwater hit five home runs including one by Darin Ruf, Travis Mattair and Jeremy Barnes.
• One other Clearwater note we neglected to mention…Trevor May became the Threshers single-season strike-out leader over the weekend. Congrats to a two-year two-time-champion BlueClaw.
• Domonic Brown hit a home run off top Yankees prospect Manny Banuelos for Lehigh Valley (Brown had a 21 game AAA hitting streak snapped on Monday – a streak that spanned an off-season and three call-ups).
• In that game, Freddy Galvis (2008 BlueClaw) and Carlos Rivero each went 1-4 in their first games with Lehigh Valley.

And outside the Phillies organization…

• Jonathan Singleton hit his first Houston home run for Lancaster last night in Bakersfield. Unfortunately they lost 20-7 in a game that only took 3:04.
• Jarred Cosart threw six shutout innings in his Double-A debut with Corpus Christi in the Astros organization. Unfortunately, Josh Zeid gave up four runs in 1.2 innings and took the loss.

“I was mixing up all three pitches, but from the beginning, I was using my fastball,” Cosart said. “My fastball command was good — I was able to move it in and out, and they were swinging. It’s always good when you’re able to show one or two pitches early from a pitcher’s standpoint, so hitters don’t see it all.”

With LHP Austin Wright scheduled to make his BlueClaws debut tonight, and Ryan Duke having picked up his fourth save of the year on Sunday, we thought it would be instructive to take a look at some current year draftees and how they have helped the BlueClaws. By current year of course we mean they pitched with the BlueClaws the year they were drafted.

2007: RHP Brian Schlitter (17th round, College of Charleston)
- Went 0-1, 3.80 in 16 games with Lakewood that year and he ended up getting traded to the Cubs for Scott Eyre at the 2008 trading deadline
- He ended up making the big leagues in 2010 with Chicago, claimed by the Yankees and the Phillies on waivers and awarded back to the Cubs. He hasn’t pitched this year

2008: RHP Vance Worley (3rd round, Long Beach State)
- Went 3-2, 2.66 with Lakewood in 2008 as the team made a playoff run that fell just short
- Made his Phillies debut last year and this year is 7-1, 2.33 with the Phillies

2008: RHP Mike Stutes (11th round, Oregon State)
- Went 5-1, 1.48 in seven starts with Lakewood in 2008 forming a late-season 1-2 punch with Worley
- Both he and Worley made their 2009 debuts with Reading becoming the first players in 10 years to start their first full-seasons with Reading
- This year he made his Phillies debut and is 5-1, 3.18

2009: LHP Matt Way (5th round, Washington State)
- Went 4-1, 3.11 with Lakewood in 2009 plus started Game One in both the SAL Northern Division Championship Series and the SAL Championship Series
- Split last year between Lakewood & Clearwater
- Has missed all of 2011 with an injury

2010: RHP Eric Pettis (35th round, UC-Irvine)
- Joined Lakewood for the post-season after pitching to a 1.37 ERA with Williamsport
- This year, he opened with Lakewood and is now with Clearwater, where he has a 3.10 ERA and 3 saves in 25 games

2011: RHP Ryan Duke (25th round, Oklahoma)
- Threw seven shutout innings for Williamsport and has four saves in seven games with Lakewood, having allowed two runs in 7.1 innings pitched.

2011: LHP Austin Wright (8th round, Ole Miss)
- Went 2-1, 3.38 with Williamsport before joining the BlueClaws, where he will debut today.

RHP David Buchanan, who led the South Atlantic League in wins with 11, has been promoted from Lakewood to Clearwater, it was announced Monday.

LHP Austin Wright has been promoted to Lakewood from Williamsport to take his place on the roster.

Buchanan (11-5, 3.38), was first in the South Atlantic League in wins with 11 and 10th in the league in ERA through Sunday. He was the Northern Division starting pitcher in the All-Star Game, when he threw a scoreless inning on June 21st.

On May 7th, he threw a nine-inning complete game in a 5-1 win at Charleston, becoming the first BlueClaws pitcher to throw a nine-inning complete game since Carlos Monasterios in 2007 (Lisalberto Bonilla threw nine innings vs Hagerstown on July 6th).

Buchanan won his last two starts and allowed just one ER in his last 15 innings with Lakewood.

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Here is the weekly Minor League review as sent over by the great Larry Shenk.

–Note, not included in last week’s report was Travis Mattair’s two home run game for Clearwater on Tuesday night, a game that also included Julio Rodriguez win his minor-league leading 13th game of the season.

Players of the Week

**Pitcher: RHS Austin Hyatt, Reading.  Was 2-0 for 2 starts, 2 runs, 8 hits in 13 innings.  Walked 4 and struck out 16.  Victory was his third in a row and improved his record to 9-5 for 20 starts.  ERA is 4.02 for 112.1 innings with 125 strikeouts.  In 3-plus minor league seasons, he is 24-10.  The 25-year-old was selected in the 15^th round in 2009 out of the University of Alabama and signed by Mike Stauffer.

**Player: CF Jiwan James, Clearwater.  Batted .400 in 7 games with an organization-high 12 hits, 6 runs scored and 5 doubles. Had doubles in each of his last 4 games. Drove in 5 and stole 2 bases (20 for the season). Hitting .339 post-All-Star Game, boosting his average from .261 to a season-high .287. The 22-year-old was selected as a pitcher in the 22^nd round in 2007 and signed by Chip Lawrence.  He was 0-4, 7.71 ERA at the Gulf Coast League in 2007, didn’t play at all in 2008 (right biceps injury) and converted to an outfielder at Williamsport in 2009.

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