Reading's Cozens displays impressive offense

Dylan Cozens, image- Jay Floyd

Following a three homer effort in which he also added a triple on Wednesday, slugging outfielder Dylan Cozens launched a pair of long balls and another triple to help the Double-A Reading Fightins notch their third straight win with a 12-8 victory over Bowie on Thursday.

The remarkable effort was capped off by Cozens' go-ahead grand slam in the 8th inning. It gave the 22-year-old 12 RBI in the two games and 101 RBI on the season.

As if the power numbers weren't enough, the two triples were hits that many other players might have only gotten two bases on and he even stole a base on Wednesday, giving him 18 in 19 attempts this year.

"It was some of the best two days of my life," Cozens said via text message.

The six-foot-six 235-pound lefty batter was the Phillies' 2nd round draft selection in 2012.

Cozens' teammate first baseman Rhys Hoskins kept pace with two homers of his own on Thursday, his 32nd and 33rd to stay one big fly in front of Cozens for the Eastern League lead.

With a month left in the regular season, Cozens and Hoskins have a solid shot at reaching Darin Ruf's Reading team single-season home run record of 38, which Ruf did in 2012.

According to Cozens, he and Hoskins are not actively egging one another on over the record chase. They're just enjoying the team's winning ways and having fun with their teammates.

For those fans calling for an immediate promotion to the next level or higher for Cozens, it's worth noting that his splits against righties and lefties aren't very balanced (.312/.395/.688 vs righties, .204/.286/.387 vs lefties) and the Phils' brass is likely looking for improvements against left-handers before they are convinced the strapping prospect has mastered the Eastern League.

Remarkably, Cozens and Hoskins weren't the only Reading players to mash two home runs in the team's most recent win. Outfielder Andrew Pullin, who was featured on Phillies Nation in recent days, also went deep twice to give him seven round-trippers since earning a promotion to Double-A.

Third baseman Mitch Walding also hit a homer for Reading in his Reading debut. Walding, who was the Florida State League All-Star Home Run Derby champion, batted .280 with 10 homers and 53 RBI in 100 games for Class A Advanced Clearwater this season.

Thursday's win took Reading's record to 74-37, which is best in professional baseball.

Comments

Division Lead Back to 3 Games

Six shut out innings by the bullpen, a diving catch by Jayson Werth and two homeruns by Chase Utley won the game for the Phillies and got their lead in the NL East back to 3 games over the Metropolitans. It was a surprising effort from the bullpen as Scott Eyre, JC Romero, Jack Taschner, Chad Durbin, Ryan Madson and even Chan Ho Park shut down the Mets lineup in the extra inning victory. It was a risky play by Werth, who could have allowed the winning run to score if he hadn't made the catch on the ball batted by David Wright. It was clutch hitting by Utley, who, with his second homerun of the game, gave the Phillies an 11th inning lead that they would not let up. Huge win for the Phillies! ------------------------- Stats to ponder- Jimmy Rollins in the lead off spot this season- 49 games, .208 avg (47-for-226), .244 OBP, 1 HR, 29 runs. Jimmy Rollins batting any place else in the lineup this season- 7 games, .409 avg (9-for-22), .440 OBP, 3 HR, 6 runs. Carlos Ruiz against the Mets ...

All I Want For "the Holidays" is the MLB Network

Ladies and gentlemen, there are 5 days left till Hannukah, 9 days left till Christmas and 16 days left till the premiere of the MLB Network. It's about time. Those of you that enjoy MLB.com's original programming, it may be a while till your favorite hosts appear on The MLB Network. The announced TV schedule is not similar to MLB.com's online schedule. MLB.com's studios are in NYC, and the MLB Network's studios will be in Secaucus NJ...so that's another bump in the road. Cross overs, while possible, might be less likely. The great internet programming on MLB.com includes morning and afternoon talk shows, a midday fantasy advice call-in show, a lunch time talk show and variety half hour formatted show, and of course the nightly wrap up, as well as other original programming that focuses more on the history of the game. MLB.com's programming started as streaming radio shows, then upgraded to a visual medium when video feeds were provided for the same sho...

Hockey Taking Over CBP

The takeover has begun. As the holiday season approaches and winter becomes more imminent, January 2nd, the date of this season's NHL Winter Classic draws nearer. In 2012, Philadelphia's Citizens Bank Park will play host to the annual regular season hockey contest that is broadcast on national television. The ballpark is otherwise home to Major League Baseball's Phillies. In the upcoming game, the Flyers will take on New York Rangers. It will be New York's first Winter Classic appearance, while the Flyers, who lost at Boston in 2010, will be seeing action in the annual event for the second time. This will mark the fifth year for the NHL's premiere regular season contest, which first took place in 2008 at Buffalo's Ralph Wilson Stadium, home of the NFL's Bills. The process to convert the baseball playing field into an ice rink, in time for the week of hockey events set to take place at CBP, began this week. In addition to the January 2nd regular season...

PhoulBallz.com

Search This Blog