PhoulBallz Interview: Jersey Shore BlueClaws manager Chris Adamson

On Thursday, I spoke with Class A Advanced Jersey Shore BlueClaws manager Chris Adamson. In the one-on-one interview, the man known as "Tank" talked about the origins of his nick name, the team's offensive struggles as well as several of his players including Victor Santos, Josh Hendrickson, Adam Leverett, Hunter Markwardt, Jonathan Guzman, Vito Friscia, Logan O'Hoppe and others.

Full audio of the interview is available exclusively on my Patreon page, Patreon.com/PhoulBallz.

Below are a couple of excerpts from the interview, where Adamson offers his thoughts on a pair of his standout hurlers, right-hander Victor Santos and left-hander Josh Hendrickson.

I asked about Santos...the 20-year-old Domincan Republic native sports a 1-1 record with a save, a 0.73 ERA, a 1.05 WHIP and a 10.9 K/9 mark in six relief appearances this season. Adamson had the following to say-

He's really impressive. I didn't actually have a hole lot to do with him during spring training and I've just loved every second of him being around. Obviously, his work on the mound has been unbelievable. For such a young guy, his pitchability is crazy. He's not necessarily running it up to 96, 97 miles an hour, but he's just going out there and pitching. He's landing three pitches for strikes every time he goes out there and he's pitched in some big spots at the back end of games in some of those high leverage situations. He's just been really reliable and he's a guy that we know can compete in the zone with multiple pitches and it's just really cool to see a guy that's so young just go out and show no fear and embrace contact, and early contact at that, and then he's obviously missing bats with just how good his stuff is. It's just really cool to see him- he worked really, really hard last year, he's in really good shape and just to see him have some success is really cool.

I also brought up Josh Hendrickson...the 23-year-old, who was a 38th round draft pick in 2019, holds a 0-1 record with a 3.06 ERA, a 0.79 WHIP and a 12.2 K/9 mark in five outings. Adamson stated-

He's been great. His ability to pitch to both sides of the plate have been really impressive too. He's not a super high velocity guy, but he's been executing pitches particularly on the inner half to right-handed hitters. It's been really impressive and it's opening up the outer third for his secondary stuff, which is continuing to develop. His slider is continuing to develop and just his mindset; he's going out there and he's trusting his stuff and how prepared that he is. It's amazing when you're willing to embrace contact early in counts, the strike outs actually go up as well, 'cause quite often you're pitching ahead of guys, which is a big deal. A number of times we've gotten in trouble this year is when we've found ourselves falling behind in counts and having to throw fastballs in fastball counts. So, just to see him have some success with pitches that are continuing to develop is really exciting and I'm really happy for him.

For the complete audio of this interview head on over the Patreon.com/PhoulBallz!

Drabek Preparing For Next Step

The transition has been easy for Kyle Drabek. In December, he was part of a package of young prospects that was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays for ace pitcher Roy Halladay. Now, as though nothing has changed, he's right back where he was last season...the star prospect on the pitching staff of a team in the Double A Eastern League. Drabek has often stated that he wanted to stay in the Philadelphia organization, who drafted him in the first round of the 2006 amateur draft. The 22-year-old thought after the midseason trade rumors, that surrounded him possibly going to Toronto last year, passed with no action that all the turmoil was over and that he could simply relax and focus on getting to the big leagues with the Phillies. That wasn't the case, as the deal eventually came to fruition over the off-season. In the Blue Jays system this season, Drabek doesn't have to worry about being dealt. He only has to concern himself with opposing batters and working on his secondary pit...

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. ...

Rappers in Phillies Caps

Weekend greetings to you phine pholks out there. Today's post features pictures of rappers wearing Phillies caps. Why rappers in Phillies caps, you ask? Because... Any other questions? We will start things off properly by going with a highly recognizable hip hop star. 50 Cent stays constantly relavant by consistantly creating radio friendly material to help sell (G) units, while he "keeps it real" by still rapping about the thug life he lived before becoming the 2nd highest earning black entertainer in America. 50 is seen here in a recent interview rocking a throw-back Phillies cap. Next up we'll use a throw-back screen cap from what may be the very first major appearance by a rapper wearing Phillies gear. Chuck D, of legendary rap group Public Enemy, wore a Phillies cap in the music video for rap anthem Fight The Power in 1989. The song was the lead single from the soundtrack for Spike Lee's film Do The Right Thing . Next up we'll go with some home grown tal...

PhoulBallz.com

Search This Blog