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Sunday morning, the Phillies began trimming some players they deemed expendable from minor league camp. Outfielder Brian Gump (pictured, center, celebrating Lakewood's 2010 South Atlantic League championship with coach Greg Legg and Kyle Lafrenz ), who posted a .239 average with 9 HR and 52 RBI in his three professional seasons, was among the collection of players that Philadelphia parted ways with. Gump, a 26th round draft selection in 2009 out of UC Santa Barbara, worked hard this past off-season to increase his strength and stamina. Often used as an extra man, Gump entered spring training this year with a focus on showing the Phillies that he was deserving of a shot as an everyday player. On his personal blog today, Gump wrote, "Adversity breeds greatness, so I've got to battle on and see where this takes me." The 24-year-old earned the nickname "The Jewelry Man" as he put together a nice collection of rings by winning three championships (one with ...

Keeping the rust off during the off-season is a struggle for some players. Phillies infield prospect Alan Schoenberger didn't have that problem. The switch-hitting Schoenberger spent his North American off-season in the Summer heat, down under, playing in the inaugural season of the new Australian Baseball League. Schoenberger, who is 22 years old, returned home to his native Queensland to take part in the Australian Baseball League as a member of the Brisbane Bandits. The ABL had previous incarnations that failed. The current version debuted in 2010 as a new entity that is jointly owned by Major League Baseball (75%) and the Australian Baseball Federation (25%). Australian players all learned of the reinvention of the ABL back in June, while many were playing for their Major League affiliated clubs in the United States. Schoenberger and others were all very excited to learn about professional baseball in this capacity returning to their homeland. It gave them all something to loo...

Sure, free agency and the Hot Stove can provide plenty of news at this time of the year, but there are actual games being played...somewhere. Let's take a look around the varying "Winter" leagues that are going on all over the world, to review how players with current Phillies ties are performing. In the Dominican Winter Baseball League... Domonic Brown was a member of the Escogido Leones, but left the team last week. After struggling in 9 games for the Leones, Brown's Winter league stint was cut short. He went 2-for-29 (.069 avg) with 1 double and 8 strike outs. 2010 Phillies rookie hurler David Herndon has looked sharp thus far out of the bullpen for the Cibao Gigantes. In 6 games, Herndon has thrown 6 2/3 innings and held opponents to a .167 average without allowing a run. Phillies lefty reliever Antonio Bastardo is also a member of the Gigantes relief corp. In 7 games, Bastardo, a native of the DR, has a 0-1 record with 7 strike outs and 1 walk in 9 innings. He...

LAKEWOOD, NJ- On Saturday night in game 3 of the Northern Division playoffs, Lakewood starting pitcher Jonathan Pettibone took charge early and led his team back to the South Atlantic League Championship. From the start, Pettibone's command was on point and his fastball was a notch faster than normal, coming in at 94 MPH on the FirstEnergy Park radar gun. Pettibone's battery mate Sebastian Valle fed off the energy from his pitcher and slammed a 2-run homerun in the bottom of the 1st inning that scored Michael Dabbs, who singled. Jeremy Barnes also drove in a run in the 1st, when he slapped a single that plated Leandro Castro. Pettibone held opposing batters to just 1 hit while striking out a career high 9 batters over 7 innings, leading the defending league champs to a 6-0 victory and clinching a return to the finals. "The early run support definitely helped my confidence," Pettibone said after the game. "I just tried to go out there and pitch the best I could to...

LAKEWOOD, NJ- In a game where minimal news worthy occurrences took place for the home team, the item most worth reporting turned out to be something that didn't happen. Pitcher Brody Colvin, who was named the starter for game 1 of the playoffs by manager Mark Parent this week, failed to back up third base on a triple by Augusta designated hitter Alexander Burg. Parent has a strict rule for pitchers...if they neglect their duties of backing up throws to the bases, their outing is done as soon as a reliever is ready to enter the game. It took reliever Luke Wertz just one at bat (Juan Martinez, who walked) to get loose, at which point he took over for Colvin. "It's a rule. You put your head down and start thinking about your own stuff...there's a place to be and a place to go and Colvin wasn't there," Parent stated after the game. "We're still developing people and that's just a rule of mine." Tuesday night's start against the Giants affili...

Alan Schoenberger was signed by the Phillies as an amateur free agent in 2006. In his first 3 seasons as a professional, Alan struggled to produce offensively, posting a low .201 batting average. In 2010, however, Alan has had a break out season and delivered a .281 batting average with a .751 OPS in 68 games thus far with the Phillies' A Level affiliate the Lakewood BlueClaws. This past weekend I spoke with Schoenberger, a native of Australia, and found out how he first became interested in baseball, how he turned his fortunes around at the plate this season and much more. Check out the media player below to listen to the full interview. ______________________________________ Follow PhoulBallz.com on Twitter HERE .