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Madison Stokes, image- Jay Floyd Selected in the 10th round of this year's MLB amateur draft, corner infielder Madison Stokes was quick to make an impact in his pro career, helping the Class A Lakewood BlueClaws reach the postseason. The 22-year-old righty hitter enjoyed a swift ascent, playing six games in the rookie level Gulf Coast League before earning a promotion to Class A short-season Williamsport.  As a member of the Crosscutters, Stokes sported a .338/.452/.506 slash line in 22 games. Promoted again to Lakewood in early August, the South Carolina native would posted a .260 average with a homer and 11 RBI in 27 contests. Prior to the end of the season, I chatted with Stokes, a University of South Carolina product, about his transition to the minor leagues, his draft experience and more.  Read ahead for that interview. -What experiences did you have prior to the draft that prepared you most for playing pro ball? I think playing in the ACC in that conferenc

Matt Vierling, image- Jay Floyd Outfielder Matt Vierling was a key mid-season addition to the Lakewood BlueClaws lineup that made it to the Class A South Atlantic League finals.  In 50 games, the 22-year-old posted a .293 batting average with 15 doubles, six homers and 25 RBI. A 5th round draft selection this year by the Phillies out of Notre Dame, Vierling posted a .420/.453/.580 slash line in 12 games with short-season Class A Williamsport prior to joining the BlueClaws. Earlier this month, I talked with Vierling, a Missouri native, about his transition from college ball to the minors, heading the the fall instructional league, experiencing New Jersey for the first time and plenty more.  Read ahead for that full interview.  -What experiences did you have prior to the draft that prepared you for pro baseball? Well, going through college at Notre Dame, there's a lot of things in college with the academics and everything and the baseball, playing in a tough conferen

Seth McGarry, image- Jay Floyd Righty reliever Seth McGarry joined the Phillies last year as part of a trade that sent pitcher Joaquin Beniot to the Pirates.  Since joining the Phillies organization, the 24-year-old has been a contributor on the field and behind the scenes. McGarry, who was an 8th round draft selection in 2015 out of Florida Atlantic, had a solid 2018 campaign with the Double-A Reading Fightin Phils.  In 45 appearances the six-foot 180-pounder posted a 2-4 record with four saves, a 3.99 ERA, a .238 batting average against and an 8.6 K/9 mark. Prior to the end of the regular season, I talked to McGarry about his pitch repertoire, his upcoming assignment to the prestigious Arizona Fall League, helping teammates in the Phils organization improve their offerings and plenty more.  Read ahead for my full interview with Seth. -I hear good things about you.  That you're a helper and an educator and you share grips and pitches with other guys to help them imp

Spencer Howard, image- Jay Floyd LAKEWOOD, NJ- Only one team can with the last game and unfortunately it wasn't the home club at FirstEnergy Park on Friday night as the Lexington Legends (Royals affiliate) nabbed a 2-1 victory and, in the process, their second Class A South Altantic League championship. With the bases loaded in the bottom of the 9th, the Lakewood BlueClaws failed to plate a run and fell in the best-of-five series, three games to one. Lakewood's lone run came in the 6th inning on a Jhailyn Ortiz RBI single.  Manager Marty Malloy waved another runner home that was gunned down at the plate. Lexington took the lead back in the top of the 9th on a sacrifice fly by shortstop Cristian Perez, who doubled in the Legend's first run in the 5th.  The sac fly brought home left fielder Brewer Hicklen, who beat a close play at the plate. "We had two plays at the plate, one was our guy being out and the other was their guy being safe and that was the dif

LAKEWOOD, NJ- The Class A Lakewood BlueClaws fell behind early and could not mount a comeback as they fell in game three by a score of 6-3.  The 'Claws not trail the South Atlantic League Championship Series two games to one in the best of five series and will need wins in the next two games of the series or Lexington will prevail as the league champions. On a night when a steady mist kept the grass and the baseballs damp, the BlueClaws struggled in the field.  Five Lakewood errors helped Lexington amass their run total. The 'Claws added a balk, two wild pitches and a passed ball to its collection of miscues on the losing effort. BlueClaws skipper Marty Malloy expressed frustration with his team following the defeat. "Obviously, we're not happy with the way we played.  It was a sloppy game," Malloy said in his office after a meeting with the team's coaching staff.  "It's not something that we've done very often this year.  It was very

Aaron Brown, image- Jay Floyd Aaron Brown was a two-way player at Pepperdine, standing out both as an outfielder as well as a pitcher.  The Phillies' 3rd round draft selection in 2014 was slated to play exclusively on the offensive side after signing that year.  After reaching the Double-A level and seeing his batting average come in under .225, he was switched back to the pitching role last year. During the final week of the 2018 season, I talked with the 26-year-old left-hander about the transition and his first full year pitching in the professional ranks. Read ahead for my exclusive interview with Aaron. -It’s been more than a year since your transition from outfielder to pitcher took place. Talk about the past year with the move that you made. Honestly, it was a big opportunity for me to make that transition at the time and I just took full advantage of it. It was towards the end of the year last year. I started my pitching program June 2nd, I believe, when

The Comeback 'Claws were not able to match their tremendous resilience of one night prior when they fell to Lexington in game two of the South Atlantic League finals. It was familiar territory as the Class A Lakewood BlueClaws trailed their opponent by a score of 5-0 in the late innings.  Much like Monday's affair that saw Lakewood pound three straight ninth inning homers to climb back into that contest, they got their scoring started on Tuesday with a Rodolfo Duran roundtripper. That blast came in the 8th inning in game two, but those were the only runs that crossed the plate for the visitors and they fell to the Legends by a final of 5-2.  BlueClaws starting pitcher Kyle Young tossed four innings, allowing a pair of earned runs while striking out two and issuing two walks to take the loss.  Reliever Julian Garcia was tagged for three earned runs over 2 2/3 innings.  James McArthur, this year's 12th round draft pick by the Phillies, went 1 1/3 innings without

Austin Listi, image- Jay Floyd On Monday the Phillies announced that outfielder/first baseman Austin Listi and starting pitcher David Parkinson have been named the organizations top minor league performers and earned this year's Paul Owens Award. 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. The award is given to the organization's most outstanding minor league position player and most outstanding minor league pitcher each season. Listi, 24, was a 17th round draft selection last year out of Dallas Baptist. This year, in his first full season as a pro, the righty batter opened the campaign with Class A Advanced Clearwater. In 58 games with the Threshers, Listi tallied a .344 average with nine home runs and 45 RBI. Promoted to Double-A Reading in mid-June, List would notch a .281 average with nine home runs and 39 RBI in 65 game

On Monday night in Lexington, Lakewood had mustered just a lone hit entering the ninth inning and trailed 5-0.  Five straight hits, three of them consecutive home runs, tied the game, buying the visitors new life and the chance they needed to lock down an extra-inning victory and take charge in the best-of-five South Atlantic League Championship Series. With the game on the line, the BlueClaws' power (the club's 95 regular season home runs were the largest single season total in team history) was on display in the top of the 9th Following base hits from pinch hitter Josh Stephen and first baseman Jake Scheiner, catcher Rodolfo Duran mashed a deep fly ball for a three run homer that put the BlueClaws within two runs at 5-3.  Slugging right fielder Jhailyn Ortiz then slammed a fly ball the opposite way that hit near the right field foul pole for a round tripper.  Then a third straight big fly from shortstop Nick Maton tied the contest at 5-5. Madison Stokes, image-

For the third straight season, the Triple-A affiliate of the Phillies, the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, came out on the losing end to the Yankees affiliate, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Railriders. Following a dramatic walk-off win on Friday night in which catcher Nick Rickles got the game-winning hit in the bottom of the 13th inning to force a game 4 in the best-of-five series, the IronPigs were just one out away from pushing the series to the maximum. Closer Pedro Beato was on the mound facing Railriders center fielder Shane Robinson.  Former Phillies prospect Quintin Berry pinch ran at second base.  With Berry in motion, Robinson stroked Beato's pitch up the middle.  Pigs' shortstop Dean Anna fielded the ball, threw to first base too late to make the out.  An aggressive Berry made the most of the moment, darting toward home and scoring to tie the game at 2 runs apiece. The IronPigs failed to mount any offense in the bottom of the 9th. Moving into extra innings for the seco

Spencer Howard, image- Jay Floyd LAKEWOOD, NJ-- Leaving his coaches struggling for words and forcing his tough guy manager to admit he was tearing up, Friday was the best day of Lakewood pitcher Spencer Howard 's life. The right-hander was electric, dominating division rival Kannapolis (White Sox affiliate) in a nine-inning complete game no-hit shutout that clinched a Northern Division Championship and a trip to the South Atlantic League Championship Series for the Class A Lakewood BlueClaws. Howard, a second round draft choice of the Phillies last year, struck out nine, walked one, hit a batter and tossed a wild pitch, but held the Intimidators without a hit or any runs, in an outing that was as impressive a performance as you could see. Waves of emotions came over everyone at FirstEnergy Park.  Some expressed their joy with excitement and cheering.  Others, like BlueClaws manager Marty Malloy , felt a little different. "I'm just at a loss for words," M

Just as both teams had done on the previous night , the Triple-A Lehigh Valley IronPigs and the Class A Advanced Clearwater Threshers dropped their respective postseason contests on Thursday. The IronPigs face elimination from the International League playoffs after falling behind 0-2 in the best-of-five opening round to divisional rival Scranton/Wilkes Barre. For the Railriders, 23-year-old lefty Nestor Cortes tossed eight innings of one-hit ball to help shut out the IronPigs by a score 3-0 on Thursday. Catcher Andrew Knapp collected the only safety for the Pigs in their losing effort. Left-handed All-Star Cole Irvin took the loss, going seven innings, allowing two earned runs on six hits while striking out six and walking only one. For the Threshers, unfortunately, the loss ended their 2018 run, as they lost the last two games of the best-of-three series, after winning the opener on Tuesday, to lose in the opening round of the Florida State League playoffs. Clearwater

In minor league playoff action on Wednesday night, Lakewood was the lone Phillies affiliate to come out victorious out of three teams that played. In their Class A South Atlantic League divisional series opener, the Lakewood BlueClaws recorded a 4-2 victory by plating a run on a wild pitch and another on a clutch single by infielder Jose Antequera in the 9th inning to break a 2-2 tie at Kannapolis. Righty reliever James McArthur tossed two scoreless frames to notch the win.  Zach Warren struck out the side to record a save. Lakewood will return home needing a win to lock down the best-of-three series on Friday with a trip to the SAL championship series on the line.  Game three is slated for Saturday night, if necessary. Class A Advanced Clearwater, needing a win to lock down a divisional series clinch, after winning game 1 on Tuesday, fell on the road at Daytona by a score of 6-5. Despite take a 4-0 lead in the top of the 1st inning, thanks to RBI hits from catcher Henri La

Matt Vierling, image- Jay Floyd LAKEWOOD, NJ-- For the BlueClaws club that won the first and second half South Atlantic League Northern division titles, the destination for their bus following the season finale on Monday didn't make a difference. Confidence among this bunch has been high all season long, which is no surprise considering the Class A Lakewood team notched the most wins in their franchise's history and sported the league's best record at 87-51. It came down to the last day of the regular season to determine where the Class A BlueClaws would open the 2018 postseason. For West Virginia (Pirates affiliate), it was a "win and get in" scenario.  A win on Monday would lock them in as the dvision's Wild Card entrant.  However, a WV loss opened the door for Kannapolis (White Sox affiliate) to sneak in with a victory of their own. Thus the journey to Kannapolis, NC for the opening round of the Sally League playoffs got rolling on Sunday evening

Jose Pujols, image- Jay Floyd Following a pair of up and down years, Phillies outfield prospect Jose Pujols has taken strides to improve his approach as well as his outlook and the positive results have been apparent.   Two seasons ago he looked like a promising slugger who made improvements. Last year he moved up a level and appeared to struggle. This year he’s returned to resembling a talented player on the rise and he's focus on staying on that path. Pujols, signed as an international free agent at the age of 16 in 2012, was always promising, but showed he could be a powerhouse during his first year of full-season baseball in 2016. As a member, then, of the Class A Lakewood BlueClaws, the six-foot-three 175-pounder set that club’s single-season home run record at the time with a mark of 24. Overall in 128 games in the South Atlantic League that year, Pujols tallied a .241 batting average with 82 runs batted in. He would move up to Class A Advanced Clearwater last