Skip to main content

Halladay an Inspiration to Young Prospects


Nick Hernandez

CLEARWATER, FL- For most Phillies minor leaguers, the season ended weeks ago. For a few dozen of them, this month is set aside for additional training and work. One of those players is 22-year-old lefty pitching prospect Nick Hernandez, who was sidelined for much of this season with a shoulder injury. As a result, Hernandez, a South Atlantic League All-star with the Lakewood BlueClaws this year, is putting in extra time in Clearwater Florida, to increase his 2010 innings total.

After Wednesday's instructional league exhibition game, Hernandez and ten teammates, including Jarred Cosart, Jacob Diekman, Derrick Loop, Mike McGuire and Jake Borup, went out to a local Florida establishment to view the Phillies playoff opener against the Reds, on television.

Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay went on to make history in game 1 of the National League Division Series. Making his very first career postseason appearance, Halladay shut down the Cincinnati Reds, hurling a no-hit, no-run game. It was just the second no-hitter in MLB postseason history. Halladay's command was tremendous as he threw first-pitch strikes to 25 of the 28 batters he faced.

Much like Phillies phans throughout the Philadelphia region, even the Phillies' prospects are confident in their parent club's abilities. Especially, those of the ace hurler, Halladay. "When the Phillies got their first run, we all looked at each other and said, 'That's ball game! Game's over!'," Hernandez stated, inferring that he and his prospect peers knew Halladay wouldn't allow the Reds to post anything except zeroes on the scoreboard that night.

In a location full of disappointed Tampa Bay Rays fans, the group of Phillies endorsers stood out a bit, while Halladay was attempting to re-write some chapters in baseball history books. "We were high-fiving in there. We were chest bumping. We started hitting our tables anytime he got two strikes," the 12th round 2009 draft pick Hernandez told PhoulBallz.com in an exclusive interview. "As the game went on, we didn't do anything to jinx him, so we all kept our mouths shut, but we all knew what was going on."

The excitement level carried over to the ballpark Thursday morning. Pitchers met for an 8:15 meeting, and naturally the first subject everyone spoke of was Roy Halladay. The Phillies instructional group played split squad games later in the day, sending a team to Dunedin to face the Toronto instructional team. Shortly after many guys jokingly asked one another, "Who can be like Doc today?", the Phils pitchers held the Blue Jays without a baserunner over 9 innings, after a hit led off the game.

"He inspired us. It really did. He hits his spots, he commands well, he carries himself on the mound a lot better than some other guys do, he's very professional, he works hard, he does all the little things right that a pitcher needs to do," Hernandez said. "We learn from (watching) him. He does things on the mound that not too many guys can do."

Halladay spoke with Phillies minor leaguers in spring training. Many of those players took something out of their limited time with the man often regarded as the best in the business. But, while a brief speech and some questions & answers are memorable, nothing can galvanize quite like a momentous effort that people will be talking about for generations.

"It's something special. Something I know (we'll) never forget," Hernandez stated.


Roy Halladay shutting down the Reds

________________________________________________________

For unique updates and stats follow PhoulBallz.com on Twitter by clicking HERE.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Justin De Fratus Interview Excerpts- May, 2011

Armed with a 2-0 record, 3 saves and a 2.95 ERA in 15 games this season for the Double A Reading Phillies, Justin De Fratus continues to make strides toward his goal of reaching the Major Leagues. Ranked as a top 10 prospect within the Phillies system last off-season, the 23-year-old De Fratus was in camp with the Phillies during big league spring training. In 3 games with the Phils during the Grapefruit League season, De Fratus allowed 4 earned runs in 4 innings and took a loss. He did strike out an impressive 5 batters in those 4 frames, however. Drafted in the 11th round of the 2007 amateur draft, De Fratus stood out as a force in relief last year for both the High A Clearwater Threshers and the R-Phils. In 49 combined games at the two levels, De Fratus posted a 3-0 record with 21 saves and a 1.94 ERA. De Fratus continued his excellent 2011 by pitching for Team USA in the Pan-American qualifiers held in Puerto Rico, helping the Americans finish with a 9-1 record. He also posted out...

Bubby Rossman's long awaited MLB debut

Eight years after he initially signed a professional contract with the Dodgers and a five-year stretch playing away from affiliated ball, Bubby Rossman became a major leaguer on Wednesday. Added as a substitute for pitcher Kyle Gibson, who is restricted from travel to Canada for the Phillies' series in Toronto, due to his medical inability to be vaccinated from COVID-19, Rossman took the mound for the first time in the majors. Rossman, who was a 22nd round draft selection in 2014 had pitched in 200 professional games before his one-inning outing in the Phillies' 8-2 loss to the Blue Jays. In 27 appearances with Double-A Reading this year, the 30-year-old right-hander has performed well, tallying a 2-2 record with a save, a 3.32 ERA and a .200 batting average against.   The embedded video below features a media session with Rossman from prior to opening day this year, in which the California native discusses his journey through independent baseball and back to affiliated ball w...

Series Preview: Braves at Phillies, August 6-8

The Braves (62-46) travel to Philadelphia to begin a three-game series with the Phillies (49-59) on Monday night at Citizens Bank Park. In the past month, the two clubs have faced each other in two separate series, with the Braves winning all six of the contests. Atlanta’s recent dominance over the Phils is the opposite of how things went last season, when the Phillies handed the Braves six losses toward the end of the 2011 season. Those defeats shut the door on Atlanta’s postseason hopes. Read ahead for notes on the pitching the match ups and additional statistical information on this series. Monday, 7:05 PM. Ben Sheets (3-1, 1.46 ERA) vs. Vance Worley (6-6, 3.63 ERA). In 9 career starts against the Phillies, Sheets has a 3-4 record with a 4.50 ERA. Ty Wigginton is 12-for-36 (.333 avg) with 2 doubles and 2 HR in his career against Sheets. The righty Sheets was the Brewers' 1st round draft pick in 1999. In his last 5 starts, Worley has a 2-1 record with a 4.06 ERA. In 9 home s...