Phils to Fill Void with Independent Leaguer

Combine Phillies minor leaguer Keoni DeRenne with Babe Ruth and what do you get? Keoni Ruth, of course!

The Phillies are expected to announce on Friday that they've signed Hawaii native Keoni Ruth and will assign him to Class A Lakewood to fill the void left when the organization traded All-star shortstop Jonathan Villar to Houston, along with two other players, for Roy Oswalt on Thursday.

Ruth, who plays multiple infield positions, was drafted in 2006 by the Padres and played as high as Triple A in their system. In 3 season of minor league ball with the Padres, Ruth posted a .277 batting average in 239 games.

DeRenne and Ruth are close friends, as the two are from the same state and train together in the off-season. The addition of Ruth could very well mark the first time that two Keoni's have played for the same professional team at the same time.

Keoni DeRenne told me, in an exclusive interview, that on Wednesday the director of Phillies minor league operations Steve Noworyta asked him about his pal Ruth, who was staying in shape back home in Hawaii, playing independent ball for Na Koa Ikaika. "Keoni is an outstanding guy, not only as a player, but as a person. You always want to have talented guys, but you also want a guy that's gonna be good for the team in the clubhouse," DeRenne said of Ruth. "I told Steve, I'd vouch for him for anything."

DeRenne, who played the 2009 season with the independent York Revolution can easily relate to Ruth's eagerness to join an affiliated club. "He's excited. I know he's hungry. Just like me before, he didn't know if he'd get another chance, so he's anxious to get here and play."

Ruth will be the second independent leaguer signed by the Phillies and sent directly to Lakewood this month, as 25-year-old righty pitcher Joe Esposito was playing for the Long Island Ducks prior to being picked up by the Phillies a couple weeks back.

__________________________________

The is a re-post. Initially the article was removed from the site, at the request of the BlueClaws, until the transaction was official.

Click here to see The Scorpion King's brother interview Keoni Ruth for Hawaii TV.

Follow PhoulBallz.com on Twitter HERE.

Comments

Former Player Proposes Marriage on the Field in Lakewood

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 ...

Rappers in Phillies Caps

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...

Lidge Shaky, T-Mac Honored in Trenton

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. ...

PhoulBallz.com

Search This Blog