Skip to main content

Knapp and Pinto honored as Paul Owens Award winners

Knapp 1
Andrew Knapp, image- Jay Floyd
The Phillies announced the honorees for the annual Paul Owens Award this year, with catcher Andrew Knapp and pitcher Ricardo Pinto being named as the top performers in the organization's developmental ranks.

Knapp, began the 2015 campaign with Class A Advanced Clearwater where he posted a .262 batting average with two home runs and 28 RBI in 63 games en route to being named a Florida State League All-Star. Promoted to Double-A Reading in late June, Knapp would really turn things on offensively, collecting a .360 average along with 11 homers and 56 RBI in 55 games. Knapp was the Phils' 2nd round draft pick out of Cal in 2013.

Phillies Nation recently aired a feature on Knapp. That video can be viewed by clicking here.

Pinto, a 21-year-old righty, tallied a 15-4 record with a 2.97 ERA and a 6.5 K/9 mark in 24 combined starts with Class A Lakewood and Clearwater this season. For the Venezuelan, 2015 was just his second season pitching in North America.

Earlier in the season, it appeared as thought Reading outfielder Roman Quinn was well on his way toward winning the Paul Owens Award, as he sported a .306 average with four homers, 15 RBI and 29 steals through 58 games prior to being sidelined with a hip/quad injury in June. The 22-year-old is slated to play for Licey in the Dominican Republic this off-season to make up for lost time.

Instituted in 1986, the Paul Owens Award is named after the man who spent 48 years in the Phillies organization as a scout, farm director, general manager, manager and senior advisor.

In other news, Phillies minor league outfielder Aaron Brown will be playing in Australia this off-season. Brown tallied a .257/.324/.406 slash line in 110 games for Clearwater this season. The 23-year-old was the organization's 3rd round pick out of Pepperdine last year.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Mike McGuire Living a Dream With Favorite Team

LAKEWOOD, NJ- Every young ballplayer grows up wishing he could play for his favorite team. Mike McGuire has an opportunity to do just that after signing with the Phillies organization in July. McGuire was a 43rd round draft pick taken by the Cleveland Indians in the 2008 amateur draft out of the University of Delaware. Early scouting reports liked McGuire's abilities, despite some arm trouble. He advanced as far as High A Level Kinston last season. While there, he posted an 0-3 record with a 5.46 ERA in 9 games, 8 of which were starts. The Indians weren't happy with McGuire's efforts this spring and released him. McGuire caught on with the Sussex Skyhawks of the independent Can-Am League, where he stayed in shape and pitched against other formerly affiliated minor leaguers. As a starter with the Skyhawks, McGuire went 3-4 with a 5.29 ERA in 8 outings. From there, just as all players in those independent leagues hope for, the 24-year-old McGuire got noticed. The Phillies wer...

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. ...

Harry's Plaque Has Misprint

At the ballpark today for the first time since Harry Kalas was inducted into the Phillies Wall of Fame on Friday, I noticed an error in the text on his plaque. Verbage on the plaque reads like this... Voice of Phillies baseball on radio and TV for 39 seasons. Teamed with Richie Ashburn from 1971 until 1997. Harry was on the air for all of Mike Schmidt's 548 home runs, five Phillies no-hitters, seven National League Championship Series, three World Series, the first and final games at Veterans Stadium and the Citizens Bank Park 2004 opener. Received the prestigious Ford C. Frick Award in 2002 for "Major Contributions to Baseball" and was inducted into the broadcasters' wing at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. His calls were legendary, especially his signature home run call, "Outta heeere." On October 29, 2008, he brought utmost joy to Phillies fans: "The 0-2 pitch, swing and miss , struck him out. The Philadelphia Phillies are 2008 Worl...