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).

Two 2011 BlueClaws - Maikel Franco and Aaron Altherr - were ranked among the top 20 prospects in the NY-Penn League by Baseball America, who released their annual league rankings yesterday.

Franco, a 3rd baseman from the Dominican Republic, ranked 4th, started the year with Williamsport and made a cameo with Lakewood during the summer. He hit .287 with two home runs with Williamsport, mostly as an 18-year old (he turned 19 on August 25th). With the BlueClaws, he went 8-65 with one home run, an absolute laser over the left-centerfield wall off of a 96 mph fastball from 2nd overall pick Jameson Taillon of West Virginia. Presumably, he will be Lakewood’s Opening Day third baseman next year.

Altherr, an outfielder from Arizona, ranked 20th. He began the year with Lakewood, hitting .211 with one home run in the first half before going to the NY-Penn League, where he hit .260 with 5 home runs. He ranked 15th on the same list last year and entered 2011 as a top ten prospect in the organization as also ranked by Baseball America. Altherr played mostly centerfield with Lakewood (all 39 of his games played were in center), but was the left-fielder with Williamsport (61 games in left vs 11 in center) as Kyrell Hudson (former 3rd round pick who hit .275 with 28 stolen bases) played center. We would expect Altherr to man left and Hudson center for Lakewood in 2012 as well.

Previously: Gulf Coast League Top 20

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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3B Maikel Franco, an 18 year old third baseman from the Dominican Republic, was added to the BlueClaws roster yesterday and he is expected to be in the lineup today.

Franco hit .272 with 2 home runs and hit .415 (22-53) with runners in scoring position. Here are some comments from ‘Cutters manager Mickey Morandini on Franco courtesy of beat writer Mitch Rupert.

“He has all the tools. Once he really learns the strike zone and gets more disciplined there, it’s a great future ahead of him. He deserves this. He’s played his butt off both offensively and defensively.”

“I think he’s ready for it,” Morandini said of the call up. “I know he is defensively. He may not hit fourth there like he does here, so maybe there’s not as much pressure offensively.”

“I know I love him at third base. He’s a very, very solid defensive player,” Cutters starting pitcher Colin Kleven said. “He’s clutch with the offense and he gets big hits. He’s an all-around great player and we’re unfortunate to lose him.”

LHP Austin Wright, who joined the BlueClaws yesterday from Williamsport, makes his Lakewood debut today as the BlueClaws take on Delmarva at Perdue Stadium at 7:05.

This is Wright’s regular day as he last pitched on Thursday (5 IP, 1 R vs Vermont). Incidentally, David Buchanan makes his Clearwater debut tonight as well, on extra rest, as he hasn’t pitched since last Monday in Lakewood. He was to pitch for the BlueClaws on Sunday in West Virginia, but takes Jarred Cosart’s turn in the rotation after Cosart was traded to the Astros.

Here are today’s game notes.

The BlueClaws got a bad break last night when Hagerstown blew a three-run lead in the ninth inning in Hickory, so Lakewood is now three games out of first place with 33 to play.

About Austin Wright…Wright, 22, makes his first start with the BlueClaws and 9th as a pro…Wright, drafted this year in the 8th round out of Ole Miss, opened his career with Williamsport, where he was 2-1, 3.38…He gave up one run in five innings against Vermont on Thursday in his last start and was added to the Lakewood roster on Monday…He has only allowed more than two runs in a start once, on 7/22 at Auburn…His longest outing is six innings, on 7/17 at State College…Wright spent two years at Chipola Junior College (where in 2009 he was a teammate of BlueClaws RHP David Buchanan, promoted to Clearwater on Monday)…Drafted in the 23rd round in 2008 by the Pirates and again in the 23rd round of the 2010 draft by the Red Sox before moving up to the 8th round this year…Originally from Schaumberg, Illinois.

The Delmarva Series…The BlueClaws continue their four-game series with Delmarva tonight…Lakewood took three of four from Delmarva to open the second half and two of three at Perdue Stadium in early July…They will still play 11 more games against Delmarva in the second half and have taken 9 of 14 from the Shorebirds this year…Miguel Alvarez is 13-35 and Jim Murphy is 16-43 against Delmarva this year.

BlueClaws Transaction…3B Maikel Franco has been transferred to Lakewood from Williamsport…Franco, who turns 19 on August 26th and is now the youngest BlueClaw (three weeks younger than Domingo Santana) was hitting .274 with 2 HRs and 28 RBIs with Williamsport…Franco was 19-56 (.339) since July 16th and hit .222 with the GCL Phillies after he signed as an amateur free agent last year (from Azua, Dominican Republic)…3B Steve Singleton, who was 8-43 with Lakewood after signing as a free agent from the Twins on July 21st, was sent to Reading.

One to Go…Jim Murphy homered on Friday and now with 21 home runs on the season, is just one away from tying the single-season franchise record set in 2001 by Juan Richardson…His total is the second highest in franchise history, breaking a tie with Ryan Howard, who hit 19 home runs in the 2002 season…Murphy has now hit 35 home runs as a BlueClaw (also the most in franchise history), including 14 in 2009…He is one off the league lead behind Asheville’s Corey Dickerson.

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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Julio Rodriguez won his 11th game of the year last night, allowing just one run over seven innings in a win at Port Charlotte (for Clearwater)…Rodriguez is now tied with Craig Westcott of San Jose for the MiLB lead in wins.

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Colin Kleven, a hard-throwing 20 year old from British Columbia, threw seven shutout innings for Williamsport last night.

Also included in Kleven’s effort were 15 ground ball outs of the 21 batters he retired, and that brought a smile to Morandini’s face.

“That is absolutely big, especially on this field,” Morandini said. “It is a slow infield and they didn’t square him up too much tonight. When you are getting ground balls like that, it means you are keeping the ball down, changing speeds and that made him real effective tonight.”

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Great line from Reading manager, and 2010 BlueClaws manager, Mark Parent on Joe Savery, who has given up hitting and is back pitching again:

“Most pitchers are so worried about themselves 24/7 I don’t know how they stay married in the first place,” Parent said in both a serious and kidding way. “When they go out to the other side, play defense, it becomes a team-oriented game and you kind of get out of yourself.”

Before Friday’s game in Greenville, we sat down with Phillies minor league pitching coordinator Gorm Heimueller for a new ClawCast which you can listen to in full by clicking here.

Here’s a brief snippet:

On Jesse Biddle, changeup: I saw him in spring training working on it. He was very frustrated at times, which all young pitchers do. he’s not a first round pick if his change-up is his best pitch. His number one priority is still command his fastball and after that go the off-speed pitches.

On 2010 BlueClaw Jonathan Pettibone: He was very steady and consistent. He knows his ability and he’s gotten a lot stronger. He’ll get better and all of those guys (in Clearwater)…are very young. They’re all good young arms. With Jon, he picks things up very well and has a great pitchers body and he’ll continue to throw well.

On the new guys: The draft this year hasn’t gotten that many pitchers, more position players. Two lefties, Adam Morgan in the 4th round and Austin Wright in the 8th round. They have nice arms. Ryan Duke here has done a good job. I try not to evaluate too much. I just want to watch them from the spring and this summer and get them ready for next year.

Monday, Lisalberto Bonilla was named South Atlantic League Pitcher of the Week. Tuesday, he won his first game of the year and on Wednesday, he was named Phillies Minor League Pitcher of the Week.

Here is the weekly Phillies minor league review from Larry Shenk at the Phillies.

Players of the Week

**Pitcher: RH Lisalberto Bonilla, Lakewood.  Made 1 start and wasn’t involved in the decision, a 1-0, 10-inning BlueClaws win over Hagerstown on Wednesday.  Pitched 9 innings, allowed 5 singles, 0 walks and fanned a career-high 12.  Threw 107 pitches, 77 for strikes and had 3, 3-ball accounts. He was also named the MiLB.com pitcher of the week in the SAL. In 17 games at Lakewood (5 starts), he has a 1.49 ERA for 54.1 innings with 54 strikeouts.  The 21-year-old was signed as an amateur free agent out of Samana, Dominican Republic, by Sal Agostinelli and Bernardo Perez, 12/19/08.

**Player: 1B-DH Darin Ruf, Clearwater.  Hit .632 in 6 games (12-19) with 3 doubles, 6^th-7^th homers and 8 RBI.  Ended the week on an 8-game hitting streak.  Six-game RBI streak ended Sunday.  Batting .403 in 17 2^nd-half games, 4 homers, 15 RBI.  For the season, hitting .311 in 81 games with an organization-high and FSL-leading 29 doubles; 7 homers, 50 RBI, matching his career high set a year ago at Clearwater. The 24-year-old was selected in the 20^th round in 2009 out of Creighton University and signed by David Seifert.

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Here’s the Phillies Minor League Week in Review as provided (as always) by the great Larry Shenk. Read his “Phillies Insider” blog by clicking here.

Players of the Week

**Pitcher: RHS Trevor May, Clearwater. 1-0 for 1 start, 8 innings, 2 hits, 1 unearned run, 1 walk, season-high 12 strikeouts.  Victory was his 4^th straight, improving his season record to 4-2, 3.54.  Leads all Phillies minor league hurlers with 80 strikeouts (61.2 innings).  The 21-year-old was selected in the 4^th round of the 2008 draft out of Kelso High School (WA) and signed by Dave Ryles.

**Player: 1B Jeff Larish, Lehigh Valley. Hit .478 in 6 games, 11 hits including 3 doubles, 1 triple and 4 homers.  Drove in 12.  Triple, 2 homers and 7 RBI came in 12-2 romp on Monday at Gwinnett.  For the season, he’s hitting .265 in 48 games, 12 homers and 31 RBI.  The 28-year-old was signed as a minor league free agent on 11/22/10.

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Here’s the rundown from the minor league spring training games on Tuesday. Sorry for getting this up late. But better late than never as they say. On we go:

Lakewood (Loss 3-0)

• Mario Hollands, a lefty out of UC-Santa Barbara, threw 4.2 shutout innings yesterday, one hit, one walk, 8 Ks. He appears to be ready to go. Looking at it this way, if he goes Monday and then Saturday, that sets up up to start Opening Day on April 7th.
• Not much going on offensively, but two hits for Kyrell Hudson and Miguel Alvarez.
• We’ve talked about the potentially crowded OF. Yesterday: Kelly Dugan played LF, Hudson played CF, Alvarez played RF and Anthony Hewitt was the DH. Day off for Domingo Santana.

Clearwater (Tied 8-8)

• Jonathan Pettibone went four innings, his longest outing of the spring, and allowed three runs on three hits against the Yankees.
• Bryan Morgado, a left out of Tennessee, threw two shutout innings. He’s one who could be with the BlueClaws this year too.
• Adam Buschini and Stephen Batts split 3B with Buschini going 1-4 with two runs and Batts going 3-4 with 2 RBIs.
• Leandro Castro, D’Arby Myers and Jeremy Barnes also had two hits apiece. Cameron Rupp, a potential 2010 BlueClaw, caught this game.

Reading (Win 13-2)

• The R-Phils pounded out 20 hits in this game, three by Michael Dabbs and Freddy Galvis.
• Two hits apiece for: Korby Mintken, Darin Ruf, Cody Overbeck, Travis Mattair, Aaron Altherr (who had been playing in the Lakewood games).
• Mattair also hit his first home run of the spring.
• Austin Hyatt allowed two runs (one earned) over four innings and Edgar Garcia and Joe Esposito each threw two scoreless innings of relief.

Lehigh Valley (Win 1-0)

• The lone run was a solo home run by 2010 BlueClaws catcher Sebastian Valle.
• Nate Bump threw four shutout innings, two for Mike Stutes.

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More Notes…Gauntlett Eldemire, a 6th rd pick last year out of Ohio U, has been playing with Williamsport this spring. Yesterday he hit a 3 run home run. Because he missed the entire 2010 season (pro season, he played his college season) with an injury, he might not start the year with Lakewood but we wouldn’t at all be surprised if he’s not with Lakewood at some point this summer. Definitely a name to keep an eye on.

Here’s out last positional grouping of potential 2011 BlueClaws, the relief pitchers. We’ve looked at starters, infielders, and outfielders, and today we round out a potential roster. Obviously not everyone on this list will be here (we listed nine for probably seven spots and that doesn’t include some potential starters who could be relievers), but these are a few of the guys we’ll look for when the spring training games start.

Note: The Road to Lakewood is presented by Viridian Energy. Click here for information about how you can “Go Green” and save money on your electric bill. It’s fast, it’s easy, and you save, all with Viridian Energy…Power with Purpose.

Previously in this Series: Road to Lakewood, The Infield, Road to Lakewood: The Outfield, Road to Lakewood: Starting Pitchers.

Bradley Blanks: Bradley was undrafted out of University of South Carolina Upstate back in 2008. He played Independent league ball in Evansville after graduating for one year, took a year off of baseball in 2009, then started back in Independent ball in 2010 for the Windy City Thunderbolts. The Phillies noticed him and signed the 25-year-old to a contract last July. He reported to Williamsport where he pitched in relief in 16 games, going 4-1 with a 2.71 ERA and 1 save.

Jacob Borup: The Phillies nabbed Jake with the 23rd pick last June as a redshirt sophomore out of Arizona State. He has started and pitched in relief in his career, but we have him with the relievers here (guess). He was a starter at ASU, and then he went 2-1 with a 2.68 ERA in 16 appearances (4 starts) last year with Williamsport. Great read on Borup from the ASU student paper who has a pretty interesting back story. He graduated Mountain View High School in Mesa, AZ in 2005. Jake redshirted his first year as a Sun Devil, following his freshmen year he headed to Charleston, WV to complete a two year Mission through the Mormon Church. He returned to school, pitched well for two years, and the Phillies took notice selecting him in the 23rd round.

Garrett Claypool: Garrett was a 32nd round pick by the Oakland A’s in 2009, decided to return to UCLA for his senior season, and it turned out to be a smart move. He had his best season as a collegiate going 8-3 with a 2.29 ERA and limiting the opposition to a .174 batting average, best on the team and second-lowest among Pac-10 pitchers, and the Phillies nabbed him in the 11th round last June. He reported to Williamsport and went 3-3 with a 3.18 ERA in 12 appearances (4 starts). He also struck out 45 over just 34 innings for the Crosscutters. Here is a profile on the 6’2, 170 pound righty over on PhuturePhillies.com. Garrett is another young guy with experience starting and relieving and we did put him in the starter list too. He was throwing in the high 80’s at UCLA, but was up to 92-93 in Williamsport.

Juary Gomez: Gomez is a very raw 20-year-old out of Aragua, Venezuela. After two seasons with the Phillies Venezuelan Summer League team, he came to America last season and dominated. He started out with the Phillies Gulf Coast League team and pitched to the tune of a 0.66 ERA in 27.1 IP over 20 appearances. Juary also closed out 17 games and collected 9 saves. He made one appearance for Williamsport late last season and could certainly come right to Lakewood this year.

Matt Hutchison: Matt was picked by Philadelphia in the 25th round last June out of UNLV. He started and closed for the Rebels, going 6-4 with 4 saves and a 4.46 ERA as a senior. Beginning with the GCL Phillies, he threw 34.1 innings over 13 appearances with a 2.36 ERA and a 4-0 record. He made a few appearances with Clearwater at the tail end of the season. Matt is a 22-year-old native of Lancaster, CA. Here is his UNLV bio.

Chase Johnson: The Phillies nabbed Chase in the 21st round of the amateur player draft back in 2009 out of South Mountain Community College. He is a big, bulky righty who just looks like a closer at 6’5”, 245 pounds. In 2009 with the GCL Phillies, he threw 29.2 innings over 15 appearances, striking out 35 and finishing with a 3.94 ERA. Then he followed that up by spending 2010 as the closer for the Williamsport Crosscutters. In 26 appearances he threw 29 innings, posted a 2.79 ERA, and collected 15 saves. With experience the past two years closing out games, he very well could anchor the back end of the BlueClaws bullpen in 2011.

Eric Pettis: We had Eric with the starters, but we’ll put him here too…Almost immediately after being drafted by Philadelphia in the 35th round out of UC Irvine last June, he was thrust into the starting rotation for Williamsport. He started 5 games, pitched in 20 games total and finished the regular season a dazzling 8-0 with a 1.37 ERA (67 Ks and 7 BBs in 59 IP). Williamsport got knocked out on the last day (Sunday before Labor Day), and on the bus home, Chris Truby told Pettis he was coming to Lakewood for their playoffs, and he appeared in three of the seven playoff games. Here is a great interview with Eric over at PhuturePhillies.com and one with BlueClaws Blog in which he talks about Tweeting. His 2011 is kind of a mystery. He could be in Lakewood’s rotation or bullpen (he pitched in the pen to limit his innings), or he could be in Clearwater’s bullpen too. Considering how dominant he was with Williamsport, it wouldn’t be shocking if he skipped Lakewood this year.

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