LHP Milner selected by Indians in Rule 5 draft

Hoby Milner, image- Jay Floyd

As the annual Rule 5 draft approached to wrap up this year's MLB Winter Meetings, the usual anticipation of what possible gem the Phillies could select wasn't there. Instead, the concern about which prospect the team that has been stock piling young talent in recent years could lose to another club was the prevalent feeling.

As things turned out, the Phils lost just a single player in the big league portion of the Rule 5 draft and one additional player in the minor league portion.

Cleveland selected lefty reliever Hoby Milner in the big league phase of the draft while Tampa Bay chose minor league hurler Jairo Munoz in the minor league portion.

Milner, 25, was a 7th round draft pick by the Phillies in the 2012 and has displayed exceptional numbers in recent season after switching from a starting role to the bullpen. Combined with Double-A Reading and Triple-A Lehigh Valley last season, the Texas native sported a 5-4 record with a 2.49 ERA along with six saves while striking out 76 and walking just 15 in 65 innings of work over 49 appearances.

The Indians will need to keep Milner on their 25-man big league roster for the entirety of the 2017 season, or he must be offered back to the Phillies.

Munoz, a 25-year-old righty, pitched in just seven games in 2016, missing time with an arm injury. He sports a 3.26 ERA in 62 career games. The Dominican Republic native was signed as a minor league free agent by the Phillies prior to the 2015 season.

The Phils selected Jorge Flores in the Triple-A portion of the draft. The 25-year-old infielder was originally draft by Toronto in the 19th round of the 2012 draft. In 114 combined games with Class A Advanced Dunedin and Double-A New Hampshire last season, Flores tallied a .211/.280./286 slash line.

Comments

PhoulBallz Interview: Reading second baseman Jesmuel Valentin

Jesmuel Valentin, image- Jay Floyd Switch-hitting infielder Jesmuel Valentin has been a bit of an underrated contributor with the Double-A Reading Fightins. Heading into action on Friday, Valentin was batting .339 over his last 14 games. Overall this season, the 22-year-old is batting .282 with four home runs and 35 RBI in 64 games. Valentin, who plays mostly second base, but dabbles at shortstop a bit also, is the son of former big leaguer Jose Valentin . The Puerto Rico native was a supplementary round pick (51st overall) of the Dodgers in 2012. He was acquired by the Phils as part of the Roberto Hernandez trade in 2014. Recently, I spoke with Jesmuel about his team's success, growing up around the game and more. Read ahead for that full interview. -The Reading team has been great and you've contributed very nicely to the club's success. What are your thoughts on competition in the Eastern League this year? I just came here with the mindset that...

Q&A with Justin De Fratus

Justin De Fratus is a 21 year old right handed relief pitcher with the Lakewood BlueClaws. An 11th round draft choice in 2007, Justin had been a starter in his first two seasons in the Phillies organization. Informed this spring that he'd be switched from the rotation to the bullpen, Justin has excelled and become one of the most reliable pitchers on the Lakewood staff. In 19 games this season, Justin is 2-0, with a 1.83 ERA and 0.89 WHIP over 39 1/3 innings pitched. PhoulBallz.com spoke with Justin De Fratus just last night. Here's how that went down... Justin, South Atlantic League all star selections were announced this week, and you were named to the team. Can I get your reaction to that? How excited were you? Very excited about it. Well, especially this year because I just got moved to the bullpen, so this is a new role for me. So, if anything, it's reassuring that I'm doing my job. It's the first time in my pro career that I've been selected as an all star...

Catching prospect O'Hoppe tabbed to join Phillies

Logan O'Hoppe, image- Jay Floyd Please consider supporting my work and via my Patreon page . For a small monthly fee, your patronage will get you exclusive interviews and other prospect related material as well as early access to all of my other content such as this feature. Thank you. On Friday, the Phillies added a pair of catchers to their 2020 player pool. Minor leaguers Logan O'Hoppe (pronounced Oh-HOP-ee) and Henri Lartigue arrived in Philadelphia to help catch bullpen sessions for the team's collection of approximately 30 pitchers. The call to O'Hoppe was extremely welcome as the 20-year-old had been staying as active as he possibly could, working out with other players that have been been waiting out quarantine due to the current pandemic at his home on Long Island. However, he had been very eager to step back onto an actual baseball field. "I just hope I can play soon. Where ever that is or whatever form that is, that'd be aw...

PhoulBallz.com

Search This Blog