The rosters for the prestigious Arizona Fall League were announced today and feature several BlueClaws (including two current ‘Claws). All will represent the Mesa Solar Sox.

• Manager Mark Parent: Parent, the BlueClaws first year manager, will serve as the hitting coach for Mesa. Parent spent 13 years in the Major Leagues before retiring after two seasons with the Phillies (1997-1998). He managed Seattle’s California League affiliate in 2000 and led Chico in the independent Chico Outlaws in the Golden League from 2005-2007.
• RHP Josh Zeid: A current BlueClaw, Zeid is 7-4, 2.99 in a season split between the starting rotation and bullpen. He is the only current BlueClaws player headed to Arizona. Last year, 2009 BlueClaws SS Troy Hanzawa and OF Steve Susdorf played in the AFL. He was a 10th round pick in 2009 (Tulane).
• RHP Tyson Brummett: He made six starts (3-0, 1.99) with the BlueClaws in 2008 and is currently 1-2, 5.01 with Double-A Reading. He was a 7th round pick in 2007 (UCLA).
• RHP Justin De Fratus: He spent the 2009 season with Lakewood, going 5-6, 3.19. He opened the season with Clearwater and as their closer went 2-0, 1.79 with 15 saves. He is now 1-0, 2.28 in 19 games with Reading. De Fratus was an 11th round pick in 2007 (Ventura College).
• RHP Chris Kissock: He spent 2008 with Lakewood, going 4-6, 4.37 and this year went 6-3, 2.17 and is now 1-0, 3.27 in nine games with Reading. He was a 9th round pick in 2007 (Lewis/Clark State).
• RHP BJ Rosenberg: Rosenberg had 19 saves and a 0.87 ERA with Lakewood last year, including a 28.2 inning scoreless streak. This year he has bounced between the GCL Phillies, Clearwater and Reading and has a 5.24 ERA between the three stops. He was a 13th round pick in 2008 (Louisville).
• C Tim Kennelly: Kennelly spent part of 2006 and 2007 with Lakewood but played prominently with the BlueClaws in 2008 (.275-1-27)…This year, he is batting .277-4-57 with Clearwater. He was signed as an amateur free agent from Australia in 2003.
• 1B Matt Rizzotti: A 2008 BlueClaw when he hit .268-10-49, Rizzotti has skyrocketed up the system this year, hitting .344-19-76 between Clearwater, Reading and Lehigh Valley. He was a 6th round pick in 2008 out of Manhattan College.

Here is the full release from MLB on the league, which enters its 19th season and features seven players from all 30 organizations split among six teams.

Every year Mike Drago of the Reading Eagle surveys media around the farm system and ranks the prospects in the organization from 1-20. He released his survey results yesterday, and as expected the list had a distinct BlueClaws feel to it.

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Matt Rizzotti began the year by hitting in Clearwater. He continued the year hitting with Reading. And now he is hitting in Lehigh Valley. Three levels, about 10 or 12 states, and a lot hits.

He went .358-1-10 with Clearwater and was promoted to Reading on May 13th (when Jonathan Singleton joined the BlueClaws and Darin Ruf went to Clearwater). He then hit .362-16-61 with Reading before a promotion to Lehigh, where he has hit .300 in his first nine games.

Rizzotti is featured in today’s Philadelphia Daily News here.

Rizzotti was signing autographs for kids after a morning game at Class A Clearwater. His line was long, because he was the big new thing in the Phillies’ system, having just smoked through the first month in high-A ball, insulted that the Phillies sent him back there this year- to sign autographs in the midafternoon sun.

“What the hell you doing?” asked Lundquist, the Threshers’ pitching coach.

Rizzotti smelled a rat, because, simply, he was doing what he was supposed to be doing - putting on the good face of the organization.

“We’re waiting for you inside,” Lundquist said.

Great, Rizzotti thought; what’d I do now?

Dusty Wathan, the Threshers’ manager, was sitting behind his desk when Rizzotti walked in. He rolled a baseball across the desk toward Rizzotti.

“Promise me something,” he said to Rizzotti.

“What?” Rizzotti asked as he caught the ball.

“Promise me that’s your last hit in A ball.”

Several BlueClaws were honored by the league’s managers in a Baseball America survey for the league’s Best Tools.

Most Exciting Prospect: Jonathan Singleton
Best Defensive 1B: Jonathan Singleton
Best Fastball: Jarred Cosart
Best Outfield Arm: Lendro Castro
Best Infield Arm: Jonathan Villar

Elsewhere…

Domonic Brown won Best Batting Prospect and Most Exciting Player in the Eastern League, while Tuffy Gosewisch was named Best Defensive Catcher…Former BlueClaws pitcher Kyle Drabek was named Best Pitching Prospect and Best Breaking Pitch (he’s with AA New Hampshire)…In the Florida State League, Anthony Gose, since traded to Toronto, was named Most Exciting Prospect, Fastest Baserunner and Best Defensive Outfielder, all three of which he received last year while with the BlueClaws.

Here are the results from last year.

Clearwater pitcher Austin Hyatt was promoted to Reading today. Just got the official email from Tommy Viola, R-Phils PR maven.

He is 5-1 with a 1.35 ERA over his last 11 starts and at 24 certainly a logical choice to go to Reading. The Phillies got him last year in the 15th round out of the University of Alabama.

Full line: 11-5, 3.04, 121 IP, 100 H, 35 BB, 156 K.

He was Lakewood’s set up man in the playoffs last year, pitching in all five BlueClaws playoff wins.

Vance Worley and Tim Kennelly were named Phillies Minor League Pitcher and Player of the Month for July.

The 22-year-old Worley was 3-0 with a 0.93 ERA in four starts last month. He began the month at Reading, was promoted to the majors and optioned to Lehigh Valley. In 29 minor league innings, he allowed 20 hits, three runs and three walks. He struck out 22.

He didn’t allow a run in his last 24.0 innings (AA, MLB, AAA). Worley pitched one scoreless inning (two strikeouts) with the Phillies against the Rockies on July 24.

Last month, Kennelly led all Phillies minor leaguers with a .388 average (40-103), hitting safely in 22 of 29 games. He had six doubles, a triple and two home runs. He drove in 20 runs. He also drew four walks and struck out just eight times.

Kennelly began the month hitting .213. He ended at .278.

The 23-year-old was signed as an amateur free agent out of Australia in 2003 by Jim Fregosi Jr. and Kevin Hooker. His father, Michael, was a member of the Australian PGA for 16 years.

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Jonathan Mayo on MLB.com takes a look at some of the prospects that were traded at the deadline:

4. Anthony Gose, OF, Blue Jays: The toolsy outfielder didn’t have to go far. Even though he went from the Phillies to the Astros to the Blue Jays in one day, he simply moved from Clearwater to Dunedin in the Florida State League and went 4-for-13 with a homer and steal in three games.

5. Jonathan Villar, SS, Astros: Villar is kind of like the infield version of Gose — toolsy, but with a ways to go. The Astros felt that it was time to move him up one rung, so after having spent all year in the Class A South Atlantic League with the Phillies, Villar is now playing in the Class A Advanced California League, where he had a 4-for-4 game in his second game in the organization.

Three BlueClaws, including current Lakewood shortstop Jonathan Villar, have been traded by the Phillies to the Houston Astros as part of a deal to land coveted starting pitcher Roy Oswalt.

The Phillies announced the deal on Thursday afternoon.

Villar, 19, was hitting .272 with Lakewood and was fourth in the South Atlantic League with 38 stolen bases. He entered the season as the 20th ranked prospect in the system per Baseball America.

He is the sixth active BlueClaw to be traded (2004, Javon Moran and Joe Wilson for Cory Lidle; 2006, Andy Barb in a package for Jamie Moyer; 2007, Michael Dubee for Tadahito Iguchi; 2009, Jason Knapp in a package for Cliff Lee).

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Jiwan James went 12-26 last week as part of his franchise-record 24-game hitting streak and was named Phillies Minor League Player of the Week for his efforts. Jonathan Villar and Jonathan Singleton have won the award for Lakewood this year, and pitchers Ebelin Lugo, Nick Hernandez and Matt Way have won on the pitching side.

Players of the Week

**Pitcher: RHP Vance Worley, Reading Phillies.  Was 1-0 for 1 start, 8 scoreless innings on Sunday at Trenton.  He allowed 3 hits, walked 1 and struck out 3 in stretching his scoreless streak to 17 innings and his winning streak to 4 in a row.  In Sunday’s game he retired 17 hitters on 4 pitches or less. At one point, he retired 12 in a row.  98 total pitches, 74 for strikes.  He’s 9-4 on the season after starting 0-2.  The 22-year-old was a third-round selection in June 2008 out of Long Beach State U.; he was signed by Tim Kissner.

**Player: CF Jiwan James, Lakewood BlueClaws.  Hit .462 in 6 games (12-26) with 2 doubles, 1 triple.  Saw a club-record 24-game hitting streak end with an 0-for-3 in the second game Sunday’s doubleheader in Kannapolis. Was hitting .213 when the streak began on May 30. Had just 18 hits in the first 17 games but went 16-28 in the next 7 games.  A 21-year-old switch hitter, James was a 22^nd round selection in 2007 out of Williston (FL) High School. He was signed by Chip Lawrence.  He was a pitcher (0-4) in his first pro season before switching to centerfield last year at Williamsport. He missed all of 2008 with a right biceps injury.

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Our friends in Clearwater sent up an issue of Threshers Times, the Clearwater gameday program, which featured an interview with 2009 BlueClaws CF Anthony Gose.

What adjustments have you had to make as the season has gone on?
Just relaxing more has been teh biggest thing. Also, begin more prepared mentally and just playing the game and letting things happen instead of making things happen. I just do what I can do and let everything else take its course. Finally, being more selective at the plate and making sure I get a good pitch to hit and have a good at bad.

You could have been drafted as a pitcher. What made you go as an outfielder?
I don’t like pitching. I’ll go out and mess around, throw breaking balls, fastballs and change-ups, but to be on the mound once every five days and not play isn’t for me.

This part was cool:

What was your off-season like?
I did five weeks of deer hunting, a lot of fishing, a few weeks of squirrel hunting, and rabbit hunting.

If I wasn’t playing baseball, I would be a…
Professional hunter on tv.

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The last part made me think of Big Jim Fulton from the classic movie Celtic Pride.

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Here are Gose’s stats for the year. His OPS and walks are up compared to last year, while he has been caught stealing a bit more.

Good article in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer by Bob Brookover where he goes “Around the Farm.” Click here to read.

He ranks his own personal top ten:

With all those prospects gone, here’s one man’s opinion of the latest top-10 prospect list, with each player’s position and current team: 1, OF Domonic Brown, Lehigh Valley. 2, RHP Jarred Cosart, Lakewood. 3, 1B Jonathan Singleton, Lakewood. 4, OF Anthony Gose, Clearwater. 5, SS Jonathan Villar, Lakewood. 6, C Sebastian Valle, Lakewood. 7, P Justin De Fratus, Reading. 8, P Phillippe Aumont, Clearwater. 9, P Matt Way, Reading. 10, 1B Matt Rizzotti, Reading.

All of those guys except Aumont (acquired in the Cliff Lee trade) played with the BlueClaws or are currently (Cosart, Singleton, Villar, Valle) playing with Lakewood. We would add Brody Colvin somewhere on the list. (Over his last ten starts, Colvin is 3-1, 1.71…12 ER in 63 innings, though the BlueClaws have scored a whopping 22 runs while he’s still been in the game).

There’s more in there, well worth the read.

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Nice game by Vance Worley last night for Reading. He threw a complete game shutout and hit a home run.

“I told [pitching coach Bob Milacki] in the seventh inning I was finishing tonight’s game,” said Worley, 3-0 with a 2.57 ERA in his last three starts. “He came up to me and was like, ‘How are you feeling?’ and I said, ‘I’m finishing the game.’ “

Five BlueClaws (three former and two current) are listed in a new top 100 prospect ranking done by Baseball America’s John Manuel. Domonic Brown (2008) tops the list, with Kyle Drabek (2007) ranking 23rd. Travis d’Arnaud (2009), Jonathan Singleton (2010) and Jarred Cosart (2010) are listed among the “26-50,” which were put in alphabetical order. Here is the full list.

1. Domonic Brown (BlueClaws 2008)
Brown is hitting .364 in 15 games with Lehigh Valley and has already hit four home runs with the IronPigs. He was promoted from Reading, where he hit .317 in the first half of the season.

23. Kyle Drabek (BlueClaws 2007)
Drabek, who was traded to the Blue Jays as part of the Roy Halladay swap…He’s 8-2, 3.20 with Double-A New Hampshire this year and threw a no-hitter last week.

X. Jarred Cosart (Current BlueClaw)
Cosart became just the third current BlueClaw to be selected to the Futures Game, though he won’t be able to participate (on disabled list). He is 7-3, 3.79 this year with Lakewood.

X. Travis d’Arnaud (BlueClaws 2009)
The starting catcher on the 2009 SAL Champion BlueClaws, d’Arnaud is batting .281-6-33 with Hi-A Dunedin with the Blue Jays. Four of his six home runs have come against Clearwater (two off Heitor Correa).

X. Jonathan Singleton (Current BlueClaw)
Lakewood’s first baseman, just 18 years old, is batting .339-10-48 in just 51 games with the BlueClaws this year. Since joining the SAL on May 13th, he leads in OPS, RBI, home runs and is 4th in batting average.

First off, Harold Garcia and Matthew Way were named Phillies Minor League Pitchers of the Month for June. Garica hit safely in all 26 games (as part of his FSL record 37-game hitting streak) and hit .370 in June. Way, pitching for Lakewood, won all four of his June starts with a 1.32 ERA.

It’s the second player of the month for the BlueClaws (Josh Zeid won in April).

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Of more note, just got the official email from Reading about some moves around the system:

• RHP Michael Schwimer (5-3, 3.60, 11 saves) goes from Reading to Lehigh Valley.
• 2B Garcia, who was hitting .335 with Clearwater and played for Lakewood last year, goes to Reading (no surprise); he got one day off after his hitting streak ended (at 37, breaking the league record by one) and now gets his deserved promotion.
• RHP Justin De Fratus (2-0, 1.79, 15 saves) with Clearwater goes to Reading. He was with Lakewood last year and gets his deserved promotion.

Good luck to all three players!

Lakewood had a ho-hum 5-2 win over Greensboro last night, their 50th win of the year, but there were a lot more notable events that happened around the organization from last night…

• Congrats to Harold Garcia, who picked up a first inning RBI single to give him his 37th straight game with a hit, breaking Joe Altobelli’s Florida State League record from 1951.
  “Breaking the record here is more emotional for me because people kept telling me this is where he played,” said Garcia in the Daytona-Beach News Journal. “I read about him on the computer. I saw he played in the big leagues and was a good player and manager.”
• Congrats to Kyle Drabek, 2007 BlueClaws pitcher, who threw a no-hitter last night for New Hampshire in the Double-A Eastern League.
  “You keep looking at the scoreboard and keep seeing the zeros,” he said to the New Hampshire Union Leader. “I was as composed in the seventh and eighth innings as I was when I first started the game, but I got a little nervous in the ninth. The crowd was great with their support, but I was freaking out there a little bit.”
• Jeff Schuler of the Morning Call recaps here JA Happ’s rehab outing andn another big game by Domonic Brown for Lehigh Valley last night.

Also, BlueClaws day game today with the first pitch at 12:30.

The BlueClaws are 49-30 and with a win today, get to 20 games over .500 for the first time, and get to 50 wins quicker than any time in franchise history.

The 2009 version, which went onto win the league title, won their 50th game in the team’s 82nd game (which would be Tuesday).

Further, the BlueClaws would be the 4th team in Minor League Baseball (Altoona, AA, Pirates; Lake Elsinore, A+, Padres; Trenton, AA, Yankees) to get to 50 wins.

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Rotation for Greensboro series (today’s notes here):

RHP Brody Colvin (4-6, 4.22), 1.76 ERA since May 13th
RHP Colby Shreve (2-2, 3.71)
RHP Trevor May (—), first start with Lakewood, 5-5, 5.01 with Clearwater
RHP Jonathan Pettibone (3-2, 4.77)

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Good luck to Harold Garcia tonight, who with a Saturday home run tied the FSL record at a 36-game hitting streak, as he looks to break Joe Altobelli’s record tonight.