Skip to main content

De Fratus- One of the Big Boys

By
In 2009, Justin De Fratus was an all-star with the A-Level Lakewood BlueClaws. He performed well all season long in varied roles and helped Lakewood win the championship of the South Atlantic League. Since then, the 11th round pick in the 2007 draft has earned recognition by being named the Phillies prospect with the best control, by Baseball America, this off-season. Today, he got to run with the big dogs.

For some time, coaches in the Phillies system have felt that Justin has what it takes to climb the ladder to pitch in the Majors. Last April, I spoke with Bob Milacki, who was then the pitching coach for Lakewood. Milacki listed De Fratus on a short list of Phillies A-Level pitchers who had what it takes to pitch at higher levels. Milcakci also reaffirmed his confidence in Justin in late July when I spoke with him about the same topic. Phils coaches this spring have liked Justin's abilities enough to have him dress with the big club on three previous occasions. His fourth opportunity was the one De Fratus had been hoping for.

With his family listening to his spring Major League debut via iPhone connection, De Fratus threw two scoreless innings against the Blue Jays. De Fratus faced nine total batters...giving up, walking a batter and striking out one.

The taste of the bigs will be brief for now, but De Fratus, who is expected to begin the season with High A-level Clearwater, will certainly be striving even harder now that he's donned a Phillies uniform on the hill. After today's game, De Fratus spoke of his experience with the big club, "It was a ton of fun. This will serve as a nice reminder of what I am working toward."

De Fratus, a California native, thought one of the highlights of his outing was facing a guy he once admired. "It was cool facing Jose Molina, because I watched him as an Angel for so many years", De Fratus said.

Here's hoping that, as a Phillie, De Fratus gets more opportunities to shut down some Major League veterans that he grew up watching.

----------------------------------

Be sure follow PhoulBallz.com on Twitter HERE. It'll make you feel good.

BallHype: hype it up!
Share on Facebook

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Former Player Proposes Marriage on the Field in Lakewood

By
Three's a crowd, Buster...Image- Jay Floyd For one New Jersey couple a unique meeting at the ballpark led to a new meaning for the term baseball diamond. Brian Parker spotted the woman of his dreams from the bullpen bench at Lakewood, NJ's FirstEnergy Park on July 9th, 2010. The right-handed reliever for the Orioles affiliate Delmarva Shorebirds wasn't summoned to pitch that night, but it didn't stop him from getting up and going through his usual warm up and stretching routines to inch closer to a young blonde Brick Township native that he felt drawn toward. "I was acting like I was staying hot, but really I was just trying to talk to her," Parker, a 19th round draft choice by Baltimore in 2007, stated. "I ended up putting my (phone) number on a baseball and we decided to hang out and throughout that whole next year it was back and forth trips between the both of us." The lady that caught Parker's eye was Kristin VanDeventer, who was ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Rappers in Phillies Caps

By
Weekend greetings to you phine pholks out there. Today's post features pictures of rappers wearing Phillies caps. Why rappers in Phillies caps, you ask? Because... Any other questions? We will start things off properly by going with a highly recognizable hip hop star. 50 Cent stays constantly relavant by consistantly creating radio friendly material to help sell (G) units, while he "keeps it real" by still rapping about the thug life he lived before becoming the 2nd highest earning black entertainer in America. 50 is seen here in a recent interview rocking a throw-back Phillies cap. Next up we'll use a throw-back screen cap from what may be the very first major appearance by a rapper wearing Phillies gear. Chuck D, of legendary rap group Public Enemy, wore a Phillies cap in the music video for rap anthem Fight The Power in 1989. The song was the lead single from the soundtrack for Spike Lee's film Do The Right Thing . Next up we'll go with some home grown tal...
3 comments
Read more

Lidge Shaky, T-Mac Honored in Trenton

By
TRENTON, NJ- Brad Lidge made his second rehab appearance for the Double A Reading Phillies on Thursday night and it didn't go as well as the veteran reliever or the team had hoped. Lidge struggled with his command and turned in a rather poor outing for the club that entered the night in a playoff race, 1 game behind division rival Trenton for the Wild Card spot in the Eastern Division. On the disabled list since spring training with a strained right rotator cuff, Lidge experienced an elbow strain when he was working back from that issue in late May. In his outing against the Yankees affiliate in Trenton, Lidge displayed difficulty with his control as he threw three wild pitches, hit two batters, walked another and gave up a single, all while letting up two earned runs on 28 pitches in 2/3 of an inning. After the disappointing performance, Lidge was composed and focused on some positive aspects, having reached 89 and 90 MPH on scouts' radar guns, according to some reports. ...
Post a Comment
Read more