News & Notes: 40-man Additions, Developmental Coaches

Jon Pettibone took great strides in 2012

On Tuesday, several additions to the 40-man roster were announced by the Phillies, as outfielder Zach Collier as well as pitchers Trevor May, Jonathan Pettibone, and Ethan Martin were all added.

Collier, was a supplementary round draft choice by the Phillies in 2008. The lefty hitting California native performed extremely well in the recently wrapped up Arizona Fall League. To read my interview with Zach from last weekend, which includes more info on the 22-year-old, click here.

May, a righty hurler, had an up-and-down 2012 after entering the regular season ranked by many outlets as the Phillies’ top prospect. May posted a 10-13 overall record along with a 4.87 ERA and a 9.09 K/9 mark with Double-A Reading this year. The 23-year-old was a 4th round draft pick in 2008.

Pettibone had a strong 2012 campaign following a troubling start that saw him post a 1-3 record and a 4.78 ERA in his first six outings. In the 13 starts which followed that difficult stretch, Pettibone tallied an 8-4 record with a 2.74 ERA. The 22-year-old was then promoted to Triple-A Lehigh Valley in July, where he went 4-1 with a 2.55 ERA in seven starts for the IronPigs, down the stretch. Pettibone was a 3rd round draft selection in 2008.

Martin was acquired from the Dodgers in the Shane Victorino deal this past July. The 23-year-old was excellent for Double-A Reading for their Eastern League playoff push, posting a 5-0 record with a 3.18 ERA and a .206 batting average against in seven starts.

Additionally, minor league coaching assignments were announced for the upcoming 2013 season.

Triple-A Lehigh Valley will have Dave Brundage as its manager, as was previously unveiled by the organization. Sal Rende will be the IronPigs’ hitting coach for the third straight season and Ray Burris, who previously coached in the Detroit system, will be the pitching coach.

Double-A Reading will have Dusty Wathan as the skipper for the second straight year, while frank Cacciatore returns as hitting coach and Dave Lundquist, will serve as pitching coach after four seasons with Clearwater..

Class A Advanced Clearwater will again be managed by former big leaguer Chris Truby, while John Mizerock, who has big league coaching experience with the Royals, will serve as hitting coach and Bob Milacki will be the club’s pitching coach.

At Class A Lakewood, former Phillies All-Star second baseman Mickey Morandini will return as the manager, while Greg Legg will be back as the hitting coach. Former big league reliever Aaron Fultz has been promoted to Lakewood’s pitching coach after spending his first season as a pro coach with the short-season Williamsport Crosscutters.

The manager at short-season A level Williamsport is yet to be announced. The club's previous manager Andy Tracy has replaced Steve Henderson, who was promoted to the big league coaching staff, as the organization's roving minor league hitting instructor. Les Lancaster and Lino Connell, who were with Lakewood in 2012, will round out the Crosscutters' coaching staff.

The staff of the Gulf Coast League Phillies will be made up of Roly deArmas as manager, Steve Schrenk as pitching coach, along with Ramon Henderson and Rafael DeLima rounding out the group. This upcoming season will mark deArmas' tenth year as skipper of the GCL Phils.

In other news, former Phillies prospects Jarred Cosart and Jonathan Villar have been added to the 40-man roster by the Astros. The righty hurler Cosart was sent to Houston in the Hunter Pence trade, while Villar, a shortstop, was part of the package that got Roy Oswalt in return.

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