MLB.com put out their annual top 100 prospect listing (link here) and there are seven former BlueClaws on the list, all from the last three years, and six of those players helped the BlueClaws win at least one South Atlantic League title.

Below, find bios and notes on these players:

25. Travis d’Arnaud, Catcher, Blue Jays - MLB Says - The Blue Jays got d’Arnaud in the Roy Halladay deal and he has steadily improved into one of the better all-around catching prospects. Agile and fairly athletic, he also has an above-average arm, giving him all he needs to be a fine defensive catcher, especially as he learns more of the nuances of the craft. He has excellent makeup and leadership skills. His excellent bat speed should continue to allow him to hit for average and power, which really started happening in 2011. If things continue to progress, he could give J.P. Arencibia a run for his money in Toronto soon.

With Lakewood - He hit .255 - 13 - 71 in 2009, helping the BlueClaws to the Sally League title, before being included in the Roy Halladay trade that December. This year, with AA New Hampshire, he was the Eastern League MVP and won another championship with OF Anthony Gose.

44. Jonathan Singleton, First Baseman, Astros - MLB Says - Singleton has a special bat from the left side of the plate. He should hit for plenty of average, and the power started to come in 2011, with much more on the way. He has a good game plan at the plate with excellent discipline. The Phillies moved him to left field to avoid the Ryan Howard roadblock but put him back at first after a while, where he is much more comfortable defensively. The trade to Houston in the Hunter Pence deal erases that issue.

With Lakewood - He hit .290 - 14 - 77 after joining the BlueClaws from extended spring training on May 13th of 2010. He homered in his first at bat, hit two on the day the BlueClaws clinched the first-half title, and hit cleanup on Lakewood’s second straight championship team. He was traded to Houston in the Hunter Pence trade in July of 2011.

54. Trevor May, Starting Pitcher, Phillies - MLB Says - May is starting to develop into a more complete pitcher and not just a thrower. The fastball is up to 95 mph and it has plenty of sink. May has no trouble maintaining velocity deep into his starts. He complements his fastball with an above-average curve and a changeup that shows glimpses of being above-average as well. While he still walks a good number of hitters, he lowered his walk rate considerably and showed better overall command.

With Lakewood - He went 4-1, 2.56 in 2009 and returned on July 4th, 2010 to go 7-3, 2.91 down the stretch and was the workhorse starter on two different BlueClaws championship teams. This year, he was third in the minors with 208 strikeouts while pitching for Clearwater.

57. Anthony Gose, Outfielder, Blue Jays - MLB Says - Gose is an exciting player to watch thanks to his considerable tools. The best one, of course, is his plus plus speed, which he uses to be a major basestealing threat and to be an outstanding defensive center fielder. He also has one of the best outfield arms in the Minors as a former high-school pitcher who could dial it up into the mid-90s. He did draw more walks in 2011 and started turning his raw power into production, but his strikeout rate is still too high, especially if he’s going to be a top-of-the-order catalyst.

With Lakewood - He set the franchise stolen base record with 76 in 2009, stole 45 in the Florida State League in 2010 and 70 more this year with New Hampshire. Gose hit over .400 in the 2009 Sally League postseason at Lakewood’s leadoff hitter and catalyst. He was traded to Houston in the 2010 Roy Oswalt trade and was immediately flipped to the Blue Jays where he was re-united with Travis d’Arnaud.

61. Jarred Cosart, Starting Pitcher, Astros - MLB Says - Cosart shook off the injury bug that hampered him in 2009 and 2010 to have a fully healthy 2011 season, albeit one interrupted by the trade. He has electric stuff, with a plus fastball that touches the upper 90s. His curve, while inconsistent at times, can be nasty, and he’ll even show glimpses of an excellent changeup. He’s lean and projectable.

With Lakewood - Went 7-3, 3.79 in the first half of 2010 with Lakewood before getting hurt, though he did help the BlueClaws to a first-half title. The hard-thrower was traded to the Astros in the Hunter Pence trade at the deadline in 2011.

78. Jesse Biddle, Starting Pitcher, Phillies - MLB Says - A strong and durable southpaw, Biddle has the makings of three above-average to plus pitches in his arsenal. He’s shown the ability to run his fastball in the low 90s. He has a changeup that could be plus when all is said and done, and although his curve is inconsistent, it’s tighter and has a harder break than when he was in high school. He needs to improve his command, not rare for such a young arm, but he did lower his walk rate in the second half of 2011.

With Lakewood - Biddle had a 1.97 ERA after the all-star break and went 7-8, 2.98 on the year, his first full season after being drafted the previous June. He was also named the South Atlantic League All-Star Left-Handed Pitcher at the conclusion of the season.

80. Brody Colvin, Starting Pitcher, Phillies - MLB Says - Despite the rough 2011 season, Colvin still has pure stuff, and a projectable pitcher’s body, that would be the envy of many a pitching prospect. His fastball is plus at times, up into the mid-90s with good sink that generates ground balls. Both his curve and his changeup have the chance to be very good secondary pitches, and he’s shown a better feel for the offspeed pitch in the past then many his age. His command suffered in 2011, something that will have to improve for him to move forward.

With Lakewood - He was 6-8 with the BlueClaws in 2010 but had an ERA of just 3.38 and was the only Lakewood starter to make every turn that year. His ERA after May 15th was below 2.50.

Just cleaning out the notebook with some leftover quotes from the Winter Tour last Wednesday.

Mickey Morandini
“Lakewood is such a great environment. I know the players really enjoy playing in front of big crowds which we have here and I’m really looking forward to Opening Day.”

“I love everything about coaching. I love teaching the kids and I love seeing them grow into better and better players. I’ve been friends with Ruben for a while and now with my kids being older it made sense for me to start getting back into the game of baseball.”

“I’d love to manage in the bigs, but right now my job is to send Charlie the most polished players I can send him. People ask me what type of manager are you? I’ll say that I’m patient, and will be able to give the kids plenty of time to develop. The most gratifying part for me is to see the kids in April and see how much they’ve gotten better by September.”

Ruben Amaro
“We are very fortunate to have the support of all the people in this room and I applaud all of you for your support.”

“I believe Jimmy (Rollins) is the most consistent shortstop in baseball…If things didn’t work out with Jimmy we were ready for Freddy Galvis, who may still get an opportunity to play Major League Baseball this year.”

“We like to shoot for a guy that may be more high risk/high reward type of player than most teams.”

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You see some photos of the event on Facebook here.

Also within the next week or so we’ll start with our position by position looks at guys that might be with the BlueClaws in 2012.

Here are a couple of stories from the Winter Tour last night in Lakewood.

Mike McGarry of the Press of Atlantic City talked to Mickey Morandini and Jesse Biddle.

Morandini thought of becoming a coach or manager right after his retirement, but he had three young sons.

“When I retired, I told my wife I wanted to manage one day, but I had a 7-year-old, 4-year-old and 1-year-old,” he said. “I didn’t have time to go back on the road.”

Now, his boys are 17, 14 and 11, leaving him time to pursue a second baseball career.

(snip)

Biddle said Morandini is easy to get to know.

“He’s a really, really good baseball guy,” Biddle said. “He played the game the right way, so he can coach the game the right way.”

Biddle might have to sneak a favor from Morandini during the season. Biddle’s father, David, probably wouldn’t mind an autograph from his favorite player.

“I don’t know what the ethics are on that,” Biddle said with a laugh, “but my dad would be thrilled.”

Zach Berman of the Philadelphia Daily News talked to Charlie Manuel and Ruben Amaro about some of the spots open in the Phillies bullpen.

“If I was coming to spring training and I was a candidate for our bullpen,” Manuel said last night at the Phillies Winter Caravan, “I’d be hyped-up about making the team.”

Manuel offered the stories of Michael Stutes and Antonio Bastardo, key relievers from last season, who “came out of nowhere” and “were like icing on the cake.” He also mentioned how important it is for those two to continue progressing this season to prove that their reliability in 2011 was more than beginner’s luck.

(snip)

“Right now, we’re focusing on that low-hanging fruit, guys who haven’t signed yet, some guys who have some experience,” Amaro said. “We’re likely, probably not going to do a major-league deal, but it’s possible under the right circumstance. We do have some space on the roster. As far as our payroll’s concerned, we’re up against it, very close to being maxed out right now. We’ll see how it goes when we get closer to spring.”

Here is a Philly.com video talking to Manuel and Amaro. Look for some additional media later on and we’ll link it up here.

Phillies manager Charlie Manuel was one of the guests at the Phillies Winter Tour stop in Lakewood last night. We had a chance to talk with Manuel, who last year became the Phillies all time winningest manager and will enter his 8th season at the helm this year.

“I look back and it’s going by too quick- it has all gone by too fast. Time just seems like it flies by especially when you get a little age on you. I’ve been in the game all my life, and I’ve been very fortunate with the talent I was able to work with and very fortunate to get back to the big leagues as a manager.”

“We had a great season last year that ended in a tough way. It was special and then all of a sudden it seemed like we were out. Our goal every year ever since we won was to get back to the World Series and win it. I was talking to Halladay and a few of our players and we still feel like we’re ready to go [in Spring Training] and get started.”

“I’ve been around Jimmy [Thome] for about the first 15 years of his career. When I look at him-for him to hit 600 home runs- I’d sit around and talk to [Cleveland Indians General Manager] John Hart and [Assistant General Manager] Danny O’Dowd about what he’s going to do and I’d say that he was going to hit close to 500 home runs. Everything about his career has been great and as good of a player he is, he might be a better person. Thome is a guy who can walk through our clubhouse and have a positive impact.”

If you missed this on the main site, I thought I’d re-post here for those of you that read this blog through your Google RSS feeds (if you don’t but want to, you can sign up below).

We announced last week that new BlueClaws manager and former Phillies second baseman Mickey Morandini will be joining us on January 25th.

Then yesterday, we announced that 2011 BlueClaws LHP and top Phillies prospect Jesse Biddle will also be joining us.

Charlie Manuel and Ruben Amaro were in the original release. All the details can be found here. Hope to see you there.

The event is at Woodlake Country Club, $40/head. It’s a really fun night.

Austin Hyatt and BJ Rosenberg, both members of the 2009 BlueClaws, will head to spring training this year as non-roster invitees.

Both spent this year with AA Reading, where Hyatt went 12-6, 3.85 as a starter and Rosenberg went 5-7, 4.28 split between the bullpen and the starting rotation.

They were never formally teammates with Lakewood, as Rosenberg, who was drafted in the 13th round in 2008 from Louisville, was promoted (straight to Reading) in early August. He did not allow an earned run after Memorial Day (28.2 consecutive innings). He was also a non-roster invitee last year.

Hyatt, who was drafted that year from Alabama in the 15th round, joined Lakewood for the final five regular season games (he appeared in just one) and the playoffs. That post-season, he appeared in four games (four of the five BlueClaws wins) and threw six shutout innings.

Todd Zolecki of Phillies.com has the rest of the 15 non-roster invitees announced in November:

Right-handers Dave Bush, Scott Elarton and Brian Sanches; left-handers David Purcey, Pat Misch and Raul Valdes; catchers Steven Lerud and Tuffy Gosewisch; infielders Pete Orr, Kevin Frandsen and Hector Luna; and outfielders Scott Podsednik and Luis Montanez.

Gosewisch, of course, is another former BlueClaw, who was here in 2007. He hit .247 with 13 HRs and 66 RBIs this year with Reading.

Best of luck to those players.

By the way, Opening Day in Lakewood is just 98 days away and assuming a Valentine’s Day report date, you’re looking at just 40 days until pitchers and catchers (I say this as we got our first snow dusting here at the Shore this morning).

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.

In 2003, Charlie Manuel was in his first season as special assistant to Phillies then-General Manager Ed Wade. In his role, he went around to see a number of prospects at the different minor league parks and included were a few trips to Lakewood to see Cole Hamels.

After Hamels pitched six shutout innings last night and earned the win as the Phillies moved up two games to one over St. Louis in their best-of-five National League Division Series, Manuel said the following (via the Philadelphia Inquirer):

“He keeps his cool whether some people realize it or not,” manager Charlie Manuel said. “He’s gutty. And he’s been gutty ever since I’ve known him . . . Even when I saw him in Lakewood, I knew he had that. I like him out there in any situation.”

Click here to see a game-by-game of Hamels with the BlueClaws (pdf file).

Assuming that Manuel did not see any of his road starts, he saw one of three starts in Lakewood (Hamels made 13 starts with the BlueClaws in 2003 but only three of them were in New Jersey).

May 24 vs Lake County (W): 6.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 12 K
June 8 vs Hagerstown (W): 7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 13 K
July 15 vs Delmarva (W): 6 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 11 K

The July 15th game was indeed exactly what it looks like, six perfect innings against Delmarva in what turned out to be his final home start (he was promoted to Clearwater two weeks later). He came out of that game early due to pitch count.

Victor Menocal came in and gave up a hit to the leadoff man in the 7th inning, Delmarva’s Gera Alvarez, who was a coach this year with West Virginia. Alvarez scored the only Shorebirds run in a 5-1 BlueClaws win.

In three starts in Lakewood, Hamels went 3-0, threw 19.1 shutout innings, gave up five hits and three walks and struck out 36 hitters.

This is what Ryan Howard said (via the article linked above) about Hamels yesterday:

“Cool, calm, had that San Diego attitude, that air going,” Howard was saying at his locker after yesterday’s 3-2 gut check gave the Phillies a 2-1 Division Series lead. “He was a movie star. Hugo Boss.”

A few quick BlueClaws-related items from maybe the best three hour period in the history of the regular season:

Congrats to Justin De Fratus on getting his first Major League win.

Sort-of on point, the Phillies won their franchise record 102nd game on the day that Charlie Manuel became the franchise’s all-time wins record by a manager with 646. He had this gem of a line:

“I remember when we lost 10,000 games and some people acted like I was there for all 10,000,” Manuel said. “Now that I’m the winningest manager, I might let someone else brag, but I’ll definitely smile and take credit for it.”

–

We’ve referenced this article before but think about this: Former BlueClaw Michael Bourn, now with the Braves, and Carl Crawford, now with the Red Sox, experienced the two worst collapses in the history of baseball, with their games finishing about 45 minutes apart last night.

The two are great friends, having played Little League baseball together in Houston. Now they go home and will have something to commiserate about until February.

Per Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer, 2006 BlueClaws pitcher Mike Zagurski has been traded to Arizona for a player-to-be-named later.

Zagurski was with the BlueClaws in 2006 and made his MLB debut on May 25, 2007, becoming the fastest player to go From the Shore to the Show.

We bobbled him the next year as part of the Made the Phillies series, and the picture is of Zagurski with the bobblehead doll the night it was given away (July 29th, 2008).

Why now? As Gelb explains:

The 28-year-old had no options remaining, which meant the Phillies would have to keep him on the roster coming out of spring training in 2012 or cut him loose.

Good luck to Mike.

By the way, since Zagurski was acquired after September 1st, he is not eligible for the Diamondbacks post-season roster. So no, he can’t face the Phillies in the playoffs. The Phillies know all about this, with Sparky Lyle in 1980 a prominent example of the rule.

Justin De Fratus became the 39th former BlueClaw to appear in a big league game when he threw a shutout inning last night in a 5-0 Phillies loss to St. Louis.

De Fratus, the first member of the 2009 championship BlueClaws to make his big league debut, went 5-6 with a 3.19 ERA with Lakewood that year and was a member of the mid-season South Atlantic League All-Star team.

This year, De Fratus started with Reading and went 4-0, 2.10 and was promoted to Lehigh Valley, where he was 2-3, 3.73. He was officially added to the Phillies on Friday night after Lehigh Valley’s season came to an end in the Governors Cup Finals.

He had 21 saves and a 1.94 ERA between Clearwater and Reading in 2010 and played in the prestigious Arizona Fall League. De Fratus was originally an 11th round pick in 2007 from Ventura College (CA).

In addition to becoming the 39th former BlueClaw to play in a Major League game, he is the third to debut this year, following Mike Stutes (2008), who debuted with the Phillies in April and Michael Taylor (2010), who debuted with the Athletics on September 2nd.

Here is the full Shore to the Show list.

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 -

Phillies RHP Joe Blanton, who has been out since May 14th, will make a rehab appearance for the BlueClaws tonight in Hagerstown, his first rehab outing this year.

Blanton, you may remember, threw two 1-2-3 innings on April 20th for the BlueClaws last year. This is the seventh time a Phillies player has rehabbed this year with Lakewood and the BlueClaws are 6-0 in those games (1-0 with JC Romero, 2-0 with Shane Victorino and 3-0 with Brad Lidge)…Lakewood is 21-10 all-time with a Phillies rehab player, and this is believed to be the first time a Phillies player has rehabbed on the road.

–

Lakewood scored 10 runs last night in a 10-1 win over Hagerstown. In the process, they scored the same amount of runs they scored in a five game series against Hickory over the weekend (1-4). They did it without cleanup hitter Jim Murphy, who was placed on the disabled list earlier in the day.

–

Winner Winner…With last night’s win, the BlueClaws have clinched a winning record for the 11th half in the last 12…They had a winning record for 10 straight halves snapped in the first half this year, when they went 33-35…The BlueClaws have had a winning record in each of the last five seasons and will extend that to six with one win in their final four games.

Getting a Chance…With Jim Murphy sidelined (hand), Jeff Lanning made his first career start at first base (he played one game at third base with Beloit-Twins, Midwest League in 2009) and went 3-5 with his fifth home run of the season on Thursday night…Entering this series, Murphy had played first base in all but four BlueClaws games this year.

Carlos Crushing…Since starting 2-15 with the BlueClaws, Carlos Alonso is 45-128 (.351) and is 7-13 in his last four games…Since July 20th, he is batting .352 with an OPS of .952…In that stretch, he has walked 25 times and struck out just 11, while driving in 21 runs…Alonso was a 35th round pick last year from the University of Delaware.

Lendy Castillo will pitch for Lakewood after Blanton. Here are today’s game notes.

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.

–

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.”

–

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.”