Skip to main content

Cody Overbeck Speaks with PhoulBallz.com

Over the off-season, I will post excerpts of some never-before-heard prospect interviews. The first of which is Phillies prospect Cody Overbeck, a 24-year-old third baseman who was an 8th round selection in the 2008 amateur draft out of the University of Mississippi. That year, in 75 games with the short season Williamsport CrossCutters, Overbeck posted a .272 average with 12 homers and 57 RBI. He skipped over Class A Lakewood and began the 2009 season at High A level Clearwater. After struggling a bit in 2009, hitting .230 in 96 games, he bounced back in 2010 with a .302 batting average and a .932 OPS in 56 games to become a Florida State League all-star.

The all-star nod earned Overbeck a promotion to Double A Reading, where he batted .255, slugged 13 homers (24 combined at two levels during the season) and drove in 41 runs in 78 games. Overbeck got off to a slow start at Reading, posting just a .149 average in his first 16 games, but he went on to bat .276 over the final two months of the season with Reading.

Overbeck is situated to become a much talked about prospect going into next season. Depending on what he does in spring training or early in his 2011 campaign, Overbeck could certainly shoot up the prospect rankings very quickly, as his offensive output has already raised some eyebrows.

Check out the media player below to listen to audio excerpts of my interview with Cody from back in July.



___________________________________________________________

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

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

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. ...

Jason Knapp Q&A

PhoulBallz .com was fortunate enough to meet with Phillies prospect Jason Knapp just one day after he caught the attention of the baseball world with his 7 shut out innings, 14 strike out performance against the Indians' Lake County team. - I asked Jason, the Lakewood BlueClaw , for some thoughts about his big game... I had pretty good command of three pitches (fastball, curve, change up). I was on the same page with my catcher, D'Arnaud , and I ended up, ya know, I felt pretty good. - In a great performance like that, how much credit goes to Travis D'Arnaud , the catcher? More than you might expect, definitely. I didn't shake him off once. He told me what to throw and I do what I'm told. And if it works out, a lot of the credit goes to the catcher. - Does the lack of run support (Lakewood has scored 3 total runs in his 3 starts), in your few starts, increase your stress level, or enhance your focus? No, I just try to go out and do my job every outing. Ya know, we...

Eric B Needs to be Cut (and My Name is Rakim)

While the Phillies are on a hot streak this month, one player on the team is not. Eric Bruntlett is 1-for-12 in July. Since the start of May, Bruntlett's apex in batting average has been .167 on June 14th. Bruntlett's ineptitude can be tolerated no longer. Get rid of this guy NOW! Eric B. is the 2009 Endy Chavez. Remember Endy...the guy who in 2005 managed just 2 hits in his final 42 games played as a Phillie? That is about the sort of output the Phillies are getting from Bruntlett, and it's time to fix this void. Julio Lugo was designated for assignment last week by the Red Sox and is expected to become a free agent. The Metropolitans are rumored to be interested. Why wouldn't the Phillies be interested in a guy who could surely outhit Bruntlett? Lugo was hitting .284 through 37 games played this season with Boston. Suspended Lehigh Valley IronPig Pablo Ozuna is eligible to return next Wednesday. Ozuna is batting .294 through 51 games at triple A. Miguel Cairo is also...