Win a championship. Go to Disney World. Well, not quite, but close. It’s off to Clearwater for several members of the 2009 BlueClaws SAL Championship team for the 2009 Florida Instructional League.
- OF Anthony Gose led all of Minor League Baseball in stolen bases this year with 76 and hit ..407 in the six playoff games. He was voted the league’’s most exciting prospect, best baserunner, and best defensive outfielder by the league’’s managers.
- 3B Travis Mattair completed his second season with the BlueClaws with an SAL title. Mattair’’s Lakewood teams were 158-118 over two regular seasons and the former 2nd round pick has played more games with Laekwood than anyone in team history.
- 2B Harold Garcia was voted the league’’s best defensive second baseman and added 42 stolen bases this year while forming a potent 1-2 duo with Gose at the top of Lakewood’’s lineup.
- C Travis d”Arnaud hit 13 home runs on the season and .305 in the second half as Lakewood’’s lead catcher. d”Arnaud was a former supplemental first-rounder of the Phillies in 2007 and hit .391 in the playoffs.
- C Sebastian Valle returned to hit 5th for the BlueClaws during the playoffs. He began the year with Lakewood and hit .306 with Williamsport before returning for the playoffs.
- RHP Trevor May went 4-1 with Lakewood during the regular season and won game two of the division series. He did not allow a run in his last 21 innings and gave up just three in his last 37 on the season.
- RHP Jesus Sanchez went 9-2 over his last 15 starts and won game two of the Championship Series. Sanchez is a former catcher who was in his first season as a pitcher this year.
- LHP Matthew Way joined Lakewood in early August and went 4-1 plus he won game one of the Division Series. Way was a 5th round pick this year (Washington State).
- RHP Heitor Correa joined the BlueClaws in early May and won seven games this year. He developed a back injury and did not appear in a playoff game.
- RHP Justin De Fratus was an all-star as a reliever in the first half and moved into the rotation in the second half. Overall, he won 5 games with a 3.19 ERA, though he was injured late in the season and did not play in the postseason.
- LHP Jacob Diekman had an ERA of over 7 in the first half, but after dropping to a sidearm delivery, Diekman pitched to a sub-2 ERA in the second half.
- RHP Austin Hyatt was drafted in the 15th round this year (Alabama) and threw six shutout innings for Lakewood in the postseason (including the final two). He had a 0.66 ERA with Williamsport before joining Lakewood.
The BlueClaws made a couple of moves after the game on Wednesday night, a 4-2 loss to Hagerstown; these additional moves come as Lakewood needed to put two guys on the DL before the playoffs begin next week…as follows: