Eastern League's Showcase

The Double A Eastern League All Star Game took place Wednesday night in Trenton. The evening included a homerun derby that pitted prospects like the Twins' Rene Tosoni, Boston's Lars Anderson and the Phillies' own Michael Taylor against the likes of two local high schoolers. Mike Fassl, a New Egypt High School senior, won the contest by besting Toronto's Brian Dopirak (19 homers so far in the regular season) 1-0 in the final round. And yes they got 10 outs. The entire Derby was difficult to watch. Futures Game MVP Rene Tosoni put up a goose egg (zero) in the first round. Michael Taylor laid on some drama, going 9 outs into his session before blasting one out to left-center. He ended his round with 1 total homerun. The Indians' Carlos Santana put down his guitar to participate in the derby as well, and slugged just a single shot also. Fassl's father, Mike Sr., was his pitcher for the event.

In the game itself, the Southern Division won the game, led by Miguel Abreu, who was named the game's most outstanding player, or whatever they call their MVP honor. Abreu, the second baseman, had two hits, 2 steals and scored twice, including the go ahead run for the Southern All Stars. Joe Savery started the game for the Southern Divisioners, and he threw a scoreless inning to start the team off properly. Reading's Vance Worley was the winning pitcher, as he pitched a scoreless 7th, and was still the pitcher of record when the team went ahead for good in the top of the 8th inning on a Jason Delaney (Indians) RBI hit. Michael Taylor drove in an insurance run in the 9th inning with a single, and when a second runner, Reading CF Quintin Berry, was waived home, Berry was gunned out by 5 feet, by CF "Goose Egg" Tosoni.

Here is how the Reading players fared-

Taylor...1-for-4, 1 walk, 1 run, 1 RBI, 1 K

Berry...1-for-1, 1 walk, 1 SB

Neil Sellers...0-for-2, 2 K's

Savery...1 inning, 1 hit allowed, no walks or strikeouts

Worley...1 inning, 1 hit, 1 walk, 1 strikeout, got the Win

Former Trenton Thunder broadcaster and assistant GM, T-Mac, was in attendance to report for MyPHL17 and to conduct some pregame ceremonies

Yankees GM Brian Cashman was in attendance and is seen here chatting it up with with 19 year old prospect Jesus Montero

Michael Taylor is seen here not doing so hot in the homerun derby with pitches from Lakewood coach Bob Milacki

Comments

PhoulBallz Interview: Reading second baseman Jesmuel Valentin

Jesmuel Valentin, image- Jay Floyd Switch-hitting infielder Jesmuel Valentin has been a bit of an underrated contributor with the Double-A Reading Fightins. Heading into action on Friday, Valentin was batting .339 over his last 14 games. Overall this season, the 22-year-old is batting .282 with four home runs and 35 RBI in 64 games. Valentin, who plays mostly second base, but dabbles at shortstop a bit also, is the son of former big leaguer Jose Valentin . The Puerto Rico native was a supplementary round pick (51st overall) of the Dodgers in 2012. He was acquired by the Phils as part of the Roberto Hernandez trade in 2014. Recently, I spoke with Jesmuel about his team's success, growing up around the game and more. Read ahead for that full interview. -The Reading team has been great and you've contributed very nicely to the club's success. What are your thoughts on competition in the Eastern League this year? I just came here with the mindset that...

Catching prospect O'Hoppe tabbed to join Phillies

Logan O'Hoppe, image- Jay Floyd Please consider supporting my work and via my Patreon page . For a small monthly fee, your patronage will get you exclusive interviews and other prospect related material as well as early access to all of my other content such as this feature. Thank you. On Friday, the Phillies added a pair of catchers to their 2020 player pool. Minor leaguers Logan O'Hoppe (pronounced Oh-HOP-ee) and Henri Lartigue arrived in Philadelphia to help catch bullpen sessions for the team's collection of approximately 30 pitchers. The call to O'Hoppe was extremely welcome as the 20-year-old had been staying as active as he possibly could, working out with other players that have been been waiting out quarantine due to the current pandemic at his home on Long Island. However, he had been very eager to step back onto an actual baseball field. "I just hope I can play soon. Where ever that is or whatever form that is, that'd be aw...

Weekend Preview: Phillies at Yankees

The Phillies (22-17) head up to New York to take on the Yankees (24-17) in their new digs this weekend. It should be a fun Memorial Day weekend at the new Yankee Stadium. A record 75 homeruns have been hit at Yankee Stadium in the first 20 games there. The Phils haven't visited the Bronx since 2000. Read on for pitching match ups, game times, and plenty more notes. Friday, 7:05pm. Brett Myers (3-2, 4.50 ERA) vs. AJ Burnett (2-1, 5.02 ERA). Myers has had one career start against the Yankees. He won that game, in June 2006, by throwing 6 2/3 innings, striking out 11 and giving up just 2 earned runs. Myers is 3-0 on the road this season. Burnett has a 5-7 record in 16 career games against the Phils with a 4.57 ERA and 2 complete games. Burnett at home this season has no record in 4 starts, with a 4.15 ERA. Greg Dobbs is 4-for-6 in his career against Burnett with a double and 2 RBI. Matt Stairs is 2-for-8 off Burnett...both hits are homeruns . Saturday, 4:10pm. "Jay" Hap...

PhoulBallz.com

Search This Blog