Skip to main content

Gillies Excited to Represent Canada in WBC

By
Phillies outfield prospect Tyson Gillies is a very skilled player that has had some well documented ups and downs in recent years.  Being traded, bouncing back from several injuries and a return from a suspension have induced plenty of emotion from the lefty batter, but an opportunity to play for his home country of Canada in the World Baseball Classic has the Vancouver native more excited about the game than he's been in some time.

"It's always a dream come true to represent your country, doing something you love," Gillies said from Team Canada's training facility this week.  "The excitement level has been through the roof for everyone out here in Arizona."
 
The 24-year-old, who plays with a hearing impairment, has experienced some considerable injury issues since the Phillies acquired him in the 2009 trade that sent Cliff Lee to Seattle.  A recurring left hamstring ailment, a troublesome foot problem and a concussion that forced Gillies to miss six weeks of action following a collision in the outfield last year have limited him to 106 games in three seasons in the Phillies organization.  Additionally, he was arrested for drug possession in 2010, although those charges were dropped.  And last season, Gillies was suspended by the Phillies for violating team rules following a non-physical confrontation with the Double-A Reading Phillies bus driver.  The arrest and the bus outburst were quite uncharacteristic for the 6-foot-2 205-pounder, as his behavior is typically on the exemplary side among his peers.

Expected to bat lead-off for Team Canada, Gillies, who was recently ranked as the Phils' 9th best prospect, performed well last year, when he was active, posting a .299/.369/.440 line with nine steals in 75 games during the 2012 regular season.

While the World Baseball Classic got rolling last week, the first round Pool D games, which feature Canada and the United States, will begin on Thursday, with each of the aforementioned clubs seeing their initial 2013 tournament action on Friday.

Armed with a solid bat, great speed and sparkling defense, Gillies feels as though the chase for a world championship is extra special because he's doing it along side some Phillies teammates, including his close friend, righty hurler Scott Mathieson, another Vancouver resident that previously spent time in the big leagues with the Phils, and team manager Ernie Whitt, a Canadian Baseball Hall of Famer that is currently the Phillies' minor league catching coordinator.

"Mathieson, Phillippe Aumont, Jay Johnson, Pete Orr and John Suomi from the Phillies!  It's a great bunch of guys and Ernie Whitt has been great also.  He is a players' manager and you can't ask for anything better."

Of course, we wish Tyson and all of his teammates the best as they seek to dethrone two-time defending champion Japan.

More details on this year's WBC can be found here.  Exclusive quotes from Gillies following last season's suspension can be found here.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Patreon Exclusive: Logan O'Hoppe answers Nine Silly-ass Questions

By
Logan O'Hoppe, image- Jay Floyd Phillies catching prospect Logan O'Hoppe was the subject of a recent player feature I posted here three days early.  When I talked with Logan, he was kind enough to not only chat about some serious baseball related topics, he also had some fun with me and answered Nine Silly-Ass Questions! In this interview, the 20-year-old, who was an All-Star with Class A short-season Williamsport last year, offered his thoughts on his experiences playing in Australia last off-season, super powers, some surprising movies he's never seen, teammate Albertus Barber and plenty more.  Read ahead for some excerpts from this Silly-ass interview... -You can 4-for-4 and your team loses, or you can get hit in the groin and your team wins...which do you choose? I mean, if we win, then the whole team has a good night, so I have to go with that one.  That really benefits everybody. -Tell me, if you can, four words to describe Albertus Barber . One,...
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

Is it time to be concerned about Mickey Moniak?

By
Mickey Moniak with Lakewood in 2017 Almost daily I am engaged via Twitter or email or text messages or in person about Phillies prospects. It comes with the gig.  The player that scores the most inquiries is, as should be expected, 2016 top overall draft selection Mickey Moniak . Questions from fans that don't want to seem overly judgmental will ask, “Should we be concerned?” Others, living up to the more stereotypical Philadelphia sports fan reputation, will assert the notion, “He’s a bust!  Somebody didn't do his job right!” For the most part I have responded in defense of Moniak and others, letting people know that the youngster’s skills are real and his coaches stand by them. I’d caution fans that he was young, still a teenager, among the five youngest position players in the Class A Advanced Florida State League (per his team the Clearwater Threshers, as of the end of April), and he just needed time to catch up to the older, more mature pitching at that level....
Post a Comment
Read more