49 players have gone From The Shore, to the Show in the 12-year history of the BlueClaws (link). #1? Ryan Howard, who made his big league debut on September 1st, 2004. #49? Tyson Brummett, who was called up to make an appearance for the Phillies on October 3rd last year, getting the final two outs of the final regular season game of the season.

The next player to make his big league debut will be the milestone #50, but while in years past there have been a few guys that are on the short-list entering the season (for example, last year Freddy Galvis [Phillies] and Lendy Castillo [Cubs] both made Opening Day rosters and debuts before Tax Day), this year, there are no obvious early-April candidates.

One of the reasons for that, of course, is that 10 former BlueClaws made big league debuts last year, compared to five in 2009, six in 2010, and three in 2011. Those 10 included two Cubs (Castillo and Adrian Cardenas), a Tiger (Quintin Berry), and a Blue Jay (Anthony Gose). #50 could be…a Met.

One player that we know for sure will make his debut this year, and almost certainly before the All-Star break, is Travis d’Arnaud, the catcher on the 2009 BlueClaws championship club. Traded to Toronto for Roy Halladay, and to the Mets for RA Dickey, he’s already been traded for two Cy Young winners before reaching the big leagues. d’Arnaud had a strong camp, hitting over .340 in 35 at bats, and while he will open the year in Triple-A, he’ll be back soon.

“I know people talk about control and ‘Super Two’ and all of that. If John Buck gets hurt tomorrow, Travis d’Arnaud is the frontline catcher,” Mets GM Sandy Alderson said.

If he hits like he did last year in Las Vegas (he’s familiar with Vegas, as last year, that was Toronto’s AAA affiliate – now it’s the Mets AAA affiliate), where he hit .333 with 16 HRs in 279 at bats, he’ll be up by Memorial Day.

We know that d’Arnaud will be up in the big leagues. We know when he will be up in the big leagues (early June-ish). What we don’t know is whether or not he will be #50. That depends on the situations of the other people on this list.

Jonathan Pettibone, a BlueClaws RHP in 2010, shot through Reading and up prospect lists last year, and threw very well in Lehigh Valley (2.55 ERA in seven starts) at the end of the season. He’ll start in Lehigh, but figures to be one of the first guys called, along with Tyler Cloyd, if the Phillies need a starter. In fact, the release of Aaron Cook yesterday is a big boost for Pettibone:

“Aaron’s a proven guy, but the decision was made, and I think it had a lot to do with the fact that the guys that we plan on having in the rotation at Triple-A are guys we think are going to be ready soon,” said Phillies minor league director Joe Jordan.

Pettibone will almost certainly make his debut this year. The question is when.

If I had to guess who would be #50, I would certainly take one of these two players. However, there are a few other candidates that could, in theory, be up this year.

Jesus Sanchez, a BlueClaw in 2009 when he was just learning how to pitch, had a superb year last season with the Brewers, pitching to a 1.6 ERA between AA and AAA with 64 strikeouts in 71.2 innings pitched. He made five appearances in big league camp before getting sent down, and if he repeats that effort, he’ll be back.

Jarred Cosart, a BlueClaws RHP in 2010, is a big part of the Astros future. He was acquired from the Phillies in the Hunter Pence trade in 2011 and made it as high as AAA last year, where he had a 2.60 ERA in 27.2 innings. He got sent down a few weeks ago, but he’ll be back, and could debut this year.

“He’s a guy that’s going to be a big part of our future,” Astros Assistant GM David Stearns said of Cosart. “He knows that and we know that.”

When the Phillies acquired Michael Young to play third base, they sent Lisalverto Bonilla, a 2011 BlueClaw, to the Rangers. Bonilla spent most of last year in AA Reading, where he had a 1.64 ERA and 46 strikeouts in 33 innings. He is expected to start the year with AA Frisco.

Trevor May, a BlueClaw in 2009 and 10 was traded to Minnesota (with Twins Opening Day starter Vance Worley) for Ben Revere in December. Last year, he had a 4.87 ERA in Reading with 151 strikeouts in 149 innings pitched. A return to Double-A or an assignment in Triple-A awaits May to start 2013.

D’Arby Myers, a BlueClaws OF in 2009, is a longshot but earns a mention after getting into five spring training games with the A’s this spring. He hit .305 last year between Clearwater and Reading and will likely play in AA with Oakland.

Here’s a blast from the past: 2007 BlueClaw Darren Byrd, who was a teammate of Sanchez in AA with Milwaukee last year, pitching to a 2.59 ERA with 71 strikeouts in 73 innings. He was traded to the Athletics last week and will open in the minors.

Thanks to BlueCalws SuperFan John Staniscia for his help with this list. Read his blog here – the best way to track former BlueClaws.

I thought this was a good article by Matt Gelb about the Phillies and their players from Nebraska. Click here to read.

Several former BlueClaws are mentioned, including Darin Ruf, Tyler Cloyd, and Jake Diekman.

Why Nebraska? Scouting director Marti Wolever used to live there, for one:

“It’s a big advantage to scouting the area where your boss lives,” said Dave Seifert, the Phillies’ Midwest-area scout. “The few days he’s home, he’s going to get out and see that area’s guys. That’s a huge advantage. I don’t know any other scouting directors that live in Omaha.”

Seifert’s coverage area spanned nine states in 2012. He said he spent four weekends from last March to May in Nebraska. The reason is Wolever; if Seifert can recommend a player Wolever has seen even just once, he may be more inclined to use a late-round pick on that name.

–

Unrelated to this article, but related to Ruf – He is believed to be the only BlueClaw to play for a Jesuit school (Creighton). We mention this because the recently elected new Pope is the first-ever Jesuit Pope. That’s your fun fact of the day.

Ashley Marshall of MiLB.com has written an excellent article on park effects in various Minor League ballparks. You can read the full article here. This is a topic that we have talked about sometimes on this blog and frequently on BlueClaws game broadcasts, how pitching at FirstEnergy Park is a significant advantage for pitchers. This certainly re-affirms that long-standing belief of coaches, scouts, and other observers.

First, see below for the numbers:

Where the Numbers Come From:

((Runs scored at home + runs allowed at home)/(Home games)) / ((Runs scored on the road + runs allowed on the road)/(Road games))

What the Numbers Mean

A park factor of 1.000 is considered neutral and represented an equal number of runs/homers/hits at home as on the road. A factor over 1.000 favors hitters, while a factor under 1.000 favors pitchers.

FirstEnergy Park is considered to be the second best park for pitchers in the South Atlantic League, especially so when it comes to home runs. Asheville’s McCormick Field is three times more likely to yield a home run than FirstEnergy Park in Lakewood.

Generic player X hits 7 home runs on the road in 208 bats against an average ballpark mixture. If he had the same 208 at bats in Lakewood, he would in theory hit just 3.5 home runs in those games, while hitting 11 if he had those same 208 at bats in Asheville.

That’s a general example. Let’s look at two recent BlueClaws players.

Maikel Franco, 2012

• He hit seven home runs in 254 home at bats last year. Using these park effects, he would have hit 13.5 home runs in a league average ballpark. Adding that to the seven he hit on the road and suddenly he is a 20 home run player. He would have hit 21 home runs with a home schedule in Asheville, bringing his season total to 28.

Jim Murphy, 2011

• This is an interesting one to pick because in 2011, Murphy hit 22 home runs, tying the BlueClaws single-season franchise record. Of those 22 home runs, he hit 11 in 234 home at bats, or one every 21.3 Lakewood at bats. Against a league average ballpark, that’s 20 home runs at home, 31 total. In Asheville, that’s 33(!) home runs at home and 44 total. One home run every seven at bats sounds a little goofy and not realistic, but it does illustrate pretty well how much this ballpark favors the pitchers.

Jonathan Singleton in 2010 had roughly the same home run rate at home (7 in 185) as on the road (7 in 191) and this exercise would add a bunch to his total as well.

The point of the exercise is to keep these numbers in mind when looking at power numbers for this ballpark, and also when analyzing pitcher performance as well.

For what it’s worth…

• Clearwater has the 4th best offensive park (of 12) in the Florida State League.
• Reading has the 4th best offensive park (of 12) in the Eastern League.
• Lehigh Valley has the 4th best pitchers park (of 14) in the International League.

They did not break down the NY-Penn League but Williamsport is considered an extreme pitchers park.

Read the article and bookmark it as the season gets going in a few weeks.

This from MiLB.com as part of a Black History Month series on the minor leagues. We pass this along because it has to do with New Jersey’s place in baseball history – specifically Jersey City’s Roosevelt Stadium. One excerpt:

After spending Spring Training with the Giants in 1950, Monte Irvin found himself headed to Jersey City again, telling reporters as he packed for a return to the Minors, “I’ll be back.”

That April in Jersey City, he found the confidence that would carry him through the rest of his Major League career.

“In Jersey’s stadium, with its 420-foot wall [in center field], he smashed towering Ruthian flies over the scoreboard,” Baseball Digest‘s Charles Dexter wrote in 1951 of Irvin’s 1950 stint in Jersey City.

Indeed, sell-out and near-sell-out crowds of close to 25,000 packed Roosevelt’s seats and aisles that spring to see Irvin devastate International League pitching — he hit 10 home runs and put together a .510 batting average over 18 games. By mid-May, New York was in seventh place and couldn’t ignore Irvin’s success. He was promoted and remained a staple in the Giants lineup for the next five seasons.

In 1951, one year after his ferocious tear with Jersey City, Irvin became the first African-American to lead a league in RBIs, with 121. At the end of that season, along with Willie Mays and Thompson, he formed part of the first all-black outfield in Major League history when Thompson started in right field in place of the injured Don Mueller in a World Series game.

But all this Major League history created by Thompson and Irvin didn’t originate in New York … it began on the other side of the Hudson River.

“What a wonderful stadium,” Irvin told The Jersey Journal. “It was the class of the International League and better than many [Major League] stadiums. I had a lot of thrills there.”

Click here to read the full story.

This was sent over to us by our buddy Todd a couple of days ago.

You may have heard of Billy Hamilton, the speedster in the Reds farm system that stole 155(!) bases last year.

Roman Quinn, who could well be the BlueClaws SS this year (and stole 30 to lead the NYPL last year), might be as fast, according to this Fangraphs post from Mike Newman of Scouting the SAL.

In a foot race, I’d place my money on Roman Quinn over any prospect not named Billy Hamilton. Heads up, it would be close — very close.

[snip]

On the surface, comparisons to Billy Hamilton are difficult to ignore. Quinn is lightning quick, is considered to be suspect as a long term shortstop and is learning to hit from the left side to maximize his speed. The body type is different as Quinn is a few inches shorter, but his being more compact helps the up-the-middle infield profile.

[snip]

Roman Quinn is a sleeper, but not for long. As he begins to post gaudy stolen base totals in full season baseball, he’s bound to gain momentum much like Reds Billy Hamilton. Quinn may never steal as many bases as Hamilton, but his all-around game has the potential to become more well-rounded due to defensive projection and cleaner swing mechanics from the left side. This time next season, he’s my bet for top prospect in the Phillies organization.

Quinn was #2 on the Phillies top prospect list from Baseball America, behind only Jesse Biddle, and he’ll be one to watch this summer at FirstEnergy Park.

On a relatively obscure winter Friday, the Pirates made the announcement of their 2013 minor league coaching staffs. Normally this wouldn’t really catch our eye, but we were excited to see that Keoni De Renne, who was with the BlueClaws in 2010, will manage one of their entries in the Dominican Summer League.

De Renne bounced around the Phillies minor league system in 2010, playing for Lakewood, Clearwater, Reading, and Lehigh Valley (from a July 27, 2010 post):

The Keoni De Renne Eastern Tour…IF Keoni De Renne has rejoined the BlueClaws, his third stint with the team this year…He began the season with the BlueClaws before going to Reading for two weeks (where he was the only R-Phil to get a hit off Stephen Strasburg)…He then went to Clearwater, was sent to extended spring training, then was re- activated by Clearwater…In early June, he was sent to Lakewood again, where he finished the half…On June 21st, it was back to Clearwater…In early July, he was sent to Reading and then Lehigh Valley, before re-joining the BlueClaws…Overall he is 24-78 (.308) and has played with four Phillies affiliates this year.

We wish Keoni the best of luck in his new role, which he begins after serving as a player/coach for the GCL Pirates last year.

Obviously you knew this already but we just wanted to share our best wishes and congratulations to Travis d’Arnaud, 2009 BlueClaws catcher, who was traded from Toronto to the Mets, a deal completed on Monday which sent RA Dickey to the Blue Jays.

d’Arnaud has now been a centerpiece of two trades for Cy Young winners (he was sent to Toronto in the Roy Halladay trade in December, 2009) and he hasn’t even played a Major League game, though that will surely change quickly.

In this Daily News article, Andy Martino talks with d’Arnaud’s Lakewood manager, Dusty Wathan.

“He didn’t take his offense to his defense,” Wathan recalls. “That is when you can tell when a guy is young that he is going to be a good catcher.”

That’s similar to what he told us in this podcast from way back in August of 2009. Remember, he hit just .207 in the first half but d’Arnaud then hit .302 in the second half and led the BlueClaws to the SAL title.

d’Arnaud becomes the 5th former BlueClaw to be traded this off-season (Trevor May and Vance Worley from Philadelphia to Minnesota; Lisalverto Bonilla from Philadelphia to Texas; and Jason Donald from Cleveland to Cincinnati).

49 BlueClaws have gone “From The Shore, To The Show,” and d’Arnaud would be the first player to make his big league debut with the Mets.

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Before Saturday’s game, Greg Giombarrese sat down with new Phillies Director of Player Development Joe Jordan for a new interview. Jordan was hired from the Orioles in October, and talked about his transition to the Phillies, some players that have c

aught his eye thus far, draft philosophy, and much more.

Click here to listen or use the player below: