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OF Nick Williams, image- Jay Floyd With the Grapefruit League season wrapping up, the Phillies are bringing their preseason schedule north this week. Upcoming games will feature a pair of intrasquad contests with the big league roster taking on their organization's top prospects. The brand new concept falls in line with the celebration of Double-A Reading's 50th season of affiliation with the Phillies. The debut game in the series will take place at Reading's FirstEnergy Stadium on Thursday, March 31st at 6:05 PM with another game between the two teams taking place on Saturday, April 2nd at 1:05 PM. The roster set to be made up of the most promising rising minor leaguers includes eight of the top nine Phillies prospects, as ranked by Phillies Nation this year. Futures Team roster: C- Jorge Alfaro , Andrew Knapp 1B- Tommy Joseph , Brock Stassi , Rhys Hoskins 2B- Scott Kingery , Jesmuel Valentin , Angelo Mora SS- J.P. Crawford , Malquin Canelo 3B- Mitch Wa

Aaron Nola, image- Jay Floyd On Easter Sunday, Phillies starting pitcher Aaron Nola took time out of his busy spring schedule to chat with PN's Jay Floyd. In four Grapefruit League starts, Nola has a 1-1 record with a 5.28 ERA with 12 strike outs and four walks in 15 1/3 innings. He also tossed 5 1/3 solid innings in a minor league game on Saturday, allowing five hits while striking out seven and walking two. In this interview, Nola talked abouthow he has progressed through spring training, falling in line to start the team's home opener on Monday, April 11th, how he celebrated the holiday and plenty more. -Happy Easter! Were you or the team able to do anything special for Easter? I just went to eat, but I mean, I guess a couple guys on the team will do something special, but I have family in town, so we just went out to eat by the beach. -That's great. I know your family came up to Philadelphia to see you debut last year and they follow you as closely as

On Friday, Phillies director of player development Joe Jordan took time to chat with Phillies Nation's Jay Floyd about an array of topics out of minor league camp. Jordan, who is entering his fifth season in his role, spoke about recently reassigned prospects, top names and what to expect from them, some injuries and much more. Read ahead for the full interview. Carlos Tocci, image- Jay Floyd -I noticed that Carlos Tocci is playing with group 2, the team that will become the Double-A Fightins. It's common for players to play up a level during spring. Is there anyone that might take a notable jump to open the regular season ?   Well, I mean it's too early to read anything too much into the work groups. I mean, normally, you know, this spring training's no different than any other. You've got guys playing up a level. As we start getting guys back from big league camp you have guys start getting pushed. Really it won't be till that last week till y

Franco, image- Jay Floyd In a contest that ended in a 6-6 tie on Thursday, third baseman Maikel Franco continued his hot spring for the Phillies with a pair of home runs and four RBI against the Tigers in Clearwater. Franco got the scoring started in the bottom of the 1st inning when he launched a two-run blast off of starting pitcher Jordan Zimmermann . With Zimmermann still on the mound in the 4th, the 23-year-old did more damage with another two-run big fly. A 2-for-2 day put Franco's pre-season batting average at .350 through eight games while the two dingers gives him four in the young exhibition season. Starting pitcher Aaron Nola wasn't very sharp as he gave up two earned runs on four hits in 2 2/3 innings of work. He notched four strike outs and issued one walk. Ernesto Frieri pitched the 9th inning for the Phillies, but blew a 5-4 lead, surrendering two earned runs in his lone inning of work.

Thanks to the always-highly-touted-by-PhoulBallz baseball blogger Baseball Betsy , this weekend we got a firm look at the Phillies' workout groups at the start of minor league camp. The group listings will change throughout spring as certain players move down from big league camp and others are simply released. Noteworthy among the initial groupings are outfielder Jhailyn Ortiz with the 4th group as well as the returns of outfielder Samuel Hiciano and infielder Carlos Alonso . Ortiz, a Dominican native, was a big international signing last year.  The Phils invested $4 million in the powerful teenage outfielder last summer.  He was ranked among the top international free agents by MLB.com in 2015. Hiciano, a 22-year-old Dominican, missed the entire 2015 campaign after injuring his ankle with three days left in spring training last year.  He has posted a .262/.327/.428 slash line in three seasons at three levels.  Alonso underwent season-ending left knee surgery earl

In his first start of the Grapefruit League season, right-hurler Aaron Nola surrendered four earned runs in two frames to take the loss, as the Phillies fell to Toronto by a score of 9-6 on Saturday. At the contest in Dunedin, the Blue Jays tagged the 22-year-old for four runs in the first inning, all before he recorded an out. Designated hitter Troy Tulowitzki started things off with his first home run of the spring campaign, a solo shot. Left fielder Michael Saunders launched a 3-run shot a few batters later. He would finish with three hits and five RBI on the day. Nola would finish with a walk and four hits allowed while striking out none. It's certainly not panic time for fans of the Phillies' top draft selection from 2014. He posted a 6-2 record with a 3.59 ERA in 13 big league starts as a rookie last season. Having a rusty outing early in spring against one of the top teams in baseball isn't anything to worry about for Nola or Phils fans. It's worth

Jake Fox, image- Jay Floyd Prior to minor league camp breaking this weekend, I had a lengthy chat with veteran Jake Fox . The 33-year-old has played around the globe, has spent time in the majors with multiple teams and will be enjoying his third stint with the Phillies. Fox has built a reputation for being an extra coach on the diamond, as he is a cerebral slugger that is able to lead his teammates by example. This week, Jake talked about landing back with the Phillies over a round of golf, spending time last year playing in Korea, the differences between American ball and the game over there, what his next career will be and much more. Read ahead for the full interview. -How was the connection made for a return to the Phillies organization? Had you stayed in touch, or did the team reach out again? Well, it's a very funny story. Obviously, I finished last year in Korea. And, you know, it's was amazing, one of the things that I'm amazed about is when you go ov

On Friday in Clearwater, the Phillies blew a sizable lead, walking six batters in the 8th and 9th innings combined, but did not quit and held on to lock down a shocking win over the Braves by a score of 12-11. Early on, third baseman Maikel Franco was the top offensive performer for the Phils, as he went 2-for-3 with a home run and four RBI. The strong effort takes Franco's spring average to .364. Expect to see a lot of this from @MaikelFranco7 this season: https://t.co/A4CunZ2MWv #SpringTraining pic.twitter.com/OAIpSyQt4O — MLB (@MLB) March 4, 2016 Flame thrower Luis Garcia struggled, as he was charged with four earned runs on five hits and two walks in one inning pitched. Hector Neris loaded the bases in the ninth and walked in a run before the team called on youngster Edubray Ramos to close out the game, clinging to a 9-8 lead. Ramos would walk home the tying run and then a Darnell Sweeney throwing error, his second miscue of the day, allowed two more runs to score,

In Grapefruit League action on Thursday, the Phillies earned a win and lost a game, as a split squad was successful on the road and had difficulty plating runners at home. In Tampa, the Phils downed the Yankees by a score of 13-4, led on offense by first baseman Darin Ruf , who had two hits and drove in three runs. Also in Tampa, third baseman Maikel Franco launched a home run, plating two runs, as he went 1-for-2 with a walk on the day. Catching prospect Jorge Alfaro notched two safeties, recorded two RBI and threw out a potential base stealer. Outfield prospect Roman Quinn was 2-for-5 with a triple and two RBI. On the mound against the Yankees, lefty Adam Morgan allowed two hits and two earned runs in a pair of innings. Alec Asher struck out four, walked two and let up an earned run in two frames to earn the win. Also, Mark Appel , a key prospect returned in the Ken Giles swap, walked four, allowing an earned run in two innings. Daniel Stumpf threw two scoreless inn