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Last week I spoke with Triple-A Lehigh Valley pitching coach Dave Lundquist.  Among the topics of discussion were promising pitching prospects Enyel De Los Santos, Cole Irvin, Brandon Leibrandy, Drew Anderson, Tyler Gilbert and plenty others. Lundquist pitched in the major leagues with the White Sox and the Padres prior to joining the coaching ranks.  He has been with the Phillies developmental staff since 2008. Read ahead for the full interview... -You've got a couple International League All-Stars on your pitching staff.  Can you comment on those guys and the honor? Yeah, we got De Los Santos, who's been selected to be the starter for that game.  You know, that's a huge honor.  It goes back to his work ethic and what he's done, what he's accomplished all year.  The guy's had, you know, a tremendous first half.  Let him go enjoy that game and pick up the second half where he left off.   Cole Irvin, image- Jay Floyd With Irvin...

On Thursday, the Phillies announced their minor league coaching staff for the 2018 season, including a few big additions.   At the top of the developmental levels, Gary Jones has been hired as the manager of the Phils’ Triple-A affiliate the Lehigh Valley IronPigs.  Jones, 57, spent the previous four seasons as the third base coach for the Cubs.  He has also coaches in the A’s, Padres and Red Sox organizations. Jones makes the third individual that the Phillies have hired away from the 2016 World Series champions this off-season.  John Mallee, the team's new hitting coach at the big league level, held that position with the Cubs for the previous three seasons and new first base coach Jose Flores served as Chicago's minor league field coordinator (virtually a second-in-command of the minors) for a handful of seasons.     Former Phillies infielder Wes Helms will also be added to the IronPigs’ staff as a coach.  Hitting coach Sal R...

Dave Lundquist, image- Jay Floyd Recently, I talked with the pitching coach of the Triple-A Lehigh Valley IronPigs Dave Lundquist.  Among the topics of discussion were well-regarded Phillies pitching prospects Mark Appel, Jake Thompson, Tom Eshelman, Edubray Ramos and much more. Lundquist pitched in the major leagues with the White Sox and the Padres prior to joining the coaching ranks.  He has been with the Phillies developmental staff since 2008. Read ahead for my full interview... -Mark Appel has gotten back on track of late (posting a 2.20 ERA over his last seven games, after two weak starts in May).  What have you seen from him to help him improve? He started out-- he had some good games early and he hit a rough patch.  For me really, he was just trying to do too much.  But he's made some good adjustments in his delivery, calmed himself down a bit and is throwing a lot more strikes.  He has gotten his secondary pitches a lot sharper, able...

This post originally appeared on PhillyLongDrive.com . I recently wrote a feature on Phillies righty pitching prospect Jake Thompson , who has been dominant of late with the Triple-A Lehigh Valley IronPigs. RHP Jake Thompson, with Wed's win, is now 4-0 with a 0.73 ERA in his last 7 starts for the #IronPigs . #MiLB #Phillies — Jay Floyd (@PhoulBallz) July 7, 2016 The feature, which can be read over at PhoulBallz.com , includes comments from both Thompson and his pitching coach Dave Lundquist, with both men describing the what has made the difference in helping the 22-year-old standout get on track and become a hot buzz name among the organization's promising future contributors. Here, I've included some interview excerpts from my time chatting with Jake last week. Read ahead for those exclusive quotes. Jake Thompson, image- Jay Floyd -Offering thoughts on what he does between starts to stay sharp and prepare for his next outing... I’m not a big film guy...

Thompson, image- Jay Floyd ALLENTOWN, Pa- With some less than ideal efforts coming from the Phillies’ starting rotation in recent weeks, Triple-A starter Jake Thompson ’s recent dominance of the International League could have him in line to fill a void at the big league level very soon. In his latest six starts for the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, the 22-year-old, who was acquired as part of last summer’s trade that sent Cole Hamels to Texas, Thompson has tallied a 3-0 record with a 0.85 ERA. It wasn’t all smooth sailing this season for the right-hander that was originally a 2 nd round draft choice of Detriot in 2012. Through four April starts, Thompson was the owner of a 6.16 ERA. Recently, though, he has looked more like the dominant starter that the Phillies assigned to Double-A Reading last year when he led them into the postseason with a 5-1 record and 1.80 ERA in seven regular season starts following the trade. Improvements for the Texas native since that troubling o...

Dave Lundquist, image- Jay Floyd Last week I chatted with the pitching coach for the Triple-A Lehigh Valley IronPigs Dave Lundquist. Topics of discussion included his team's All-Star catcher Andrew Knapp , reliever Edubray Ramos , righty David Buchanan and plenty more. Read ahead for that interview. -Feedback I've gotten on Andrew Knapp has included his skills at leading a pitching staff and being a good leader. Have you seen growth from him in this aspect of his game? One thing here, with some older pitchers, you gotta learn each pitcher a little bit and he's doing good. He gets to evaluate the pitches from inning to inning and prioritize certain things and stay within the game plan, so a lot of that is getting better. Doing a good job there and he's getting to learn some veteran pitchers that have been around and see some different sequences, so it's good for him. -News about Mark Appel 's season ending elbow surgery is disappointing for t...

Zach Eflin, image- Jay Floyd Right-hander Zach Eflin was the key target when the Phillies traded away former National League MVP Jimmy Rollins last off-season. With a solid repertoire and a proven track record of being a strike thrower, the 21-year-old is one of the most promising hurlers in the system. Selected with the 33rd overall pick in the 2012 draft by San Diego out of Hagerty High School in FL, Eflin made his professional debut that same year as a member of the rookie level Arizona League Padres. He would post a 0-1 record with a 7.71 ERA in four games (three starts) as an 18-year-old. After making minimal impact upon his minor league debut, Eflin came back strong in 2013, tallying a 7-6 record along with a 2.73 ERA, a .239 batting average against and a 6.5 K/9 mark in 22 starts with Class A Fort Worth. In 2014, as a 20-year-old, Eflin sported a 10-7 record with a 3.80 ERA and a 6.5 K/9 in 24 starts for Lake Elsinore in the Class A California League. Last year, ...

Over the weekend I chatted with Double-A Reading pitching coach Dave Lundquist, who spoke about his staff. Among the topics are new addition Jake Thompson , standout starter Zach Eflin , team saves record holder Stephen Shackleford the injured Ben Lively (shoulder strain) and more. Read ahead for all the exclusive remarks from "Lundy"... Jake Thompson, image- Jay Floyd -Since being acquired in the deal for Cole Hamels , Jake Thompson has gone 3-0 with a 1.80 ERA in three games started. In his latest out, he kept the team in it and earned a win despite walking five. If I asked him, he probably wouldn't like his output, based on the walks. What are your thoughts on his latest effort? They never want to see that, but you’ve got a situation where a guy can command four pitches and the misses, the fastball was moving a little too much off the plate. But, you have a guy that’s able to find a way to limit the damage to just two runs on a solo home run and you do...

During the Double-A Reading Fightins' recent road series in Trenton, I sat down with the team's pitching coach Dave Lundquist to chat about his pitching staff. "Lundy", who pitched in the big leagues with the White Sox and the Padres, is in his eight season coaching in the Phillies' organization after spending three years in the Pirates' system. Lundquist spoke about his group of well-touted starting pitchers including specific comments on Zach Eflin , Jesse Biddle and recently promoted righty Aaron Nola . He also shared some thoughts on his bullpen hurlers and how a player like Tyler Knigge , who gets moved up and down between levels could be impacted by the movement, among other things. Read ahead for that full interview... Lively, image- Jay Floyd -We talked back in April about the group of five starters you entered the season with that included Tom Windle , Jesse Biddle, Zach Eflin and Ben Lively . Almost halfway into the season, what can you sh...

On the latest television episode of Phillies Nation, Pat and Corey discuss the opening week for the Phils, including the good and the bad. Rachel jumps in with trending topics and the weekly fan question. The guys offer their weekly Draft Kings fantasy baseball picks and Jay Floyd brings viewers a feature on top pitching prospect Aaron Nola . Check out the media player below for my segment on Nola and click here to see the full episode online. New editions of Phillies Nation debut each week on The Comcast Network on Tuesdays at 6 PM and replay throughout the week on TCN and Comcast SportsNet.

The minor league regular season gets under way on Thursday with the Triple-A Lehigh Valley IronPigs hosting the Pawtucket Red Sox and the Double-A Reading Fightins hitting the road to take on the Portland SeaDogs. This week, I spoke with IronPigs pitching coach Ray Burris as well as Fightins pitching coach Dave Lundquist, who each commented on several of their respective teams' hurlers. Read ahead for these exclusive quotes about the Phillies' top pitching prospects at the upper levels of the developmental ranks. Burris, image- Jay Floyd Ray Burris- -On LHP Adam Morgan , who missed the entire 2014 season following surgery to repair his throwing shoulder, and his potential to live up to being an early round draft pick... I'm confident (that he can). I think he feels that way now, because he understands and knows how his delivery is supposed to work. When you have that knowledge inside of you and when you throw the ball incorrectly, you know that didn't f...

Adam Loewen, image- Jay Floyd With a considerable level of anticipation that the Phillies will experience some turnover with their pitching staff leading to next season, it feels as though fans and media alike have begun to say goodbye to certain hurlers. Who replaces those arms promises to be the focus of the team's offseason. A candidate to fill a void in the Phillies' rotation next is former big leaguer Adam Loewen , who the Phillies acquired earlier this season as a free agent. Loewen, a left-hander, has been to the majors twice. His initial ascension to the big leagues was as a pitcher with the Baltimore Orioles after he was selected as the fourth overall draft pick in 2002, two places before Zack Greinke and three spots prior to Prince Fielder . He last pitched in the majors in 2008 as a 24-year-old. After suffering a stress fracture in his throwing elbow, having a four-and-a-half inch long titanium screw surgically inserted into the joint and dealing with la...

It's Episode 70 and the guys are joined by pitcher Adam Loewen who participates in the inaugural edition of the new segment, "Nine Silly-ass Questions".  The episode also features exclusive interviews with Reading pitching coach Dave Lundquist and Double-A reliever Colton Murray.  Jay and Tug also chat about 2014 season highlights including Kenny Giles, Maikel Franco, Willians Astudillo and Hoby Milner while other topics include Kyle Kendrick as well as the Paul Owens Awards won by Luis Garcia and J.P. Crawford. Use the media player below to stream the full episode, or simply download it by clicking HERE . You can also check out previous episodes and subscribe on iTunes .

Aaron Altherr, image- Tug Haines Top Phillies draft pick Aaron Nola tossed a gem of an outing in Trenton on Friday night, in what will be the final appearance of his first pro season. Over five innings, the 21-year-old allowed just four hits and surrendered no runs while striking out two and walking none. He notched the win, as the Reading Fightins downed the Thunder by a score of 3-0. In 12 professional outings, since he was selected 7th overall in this year's MLB amateur draft, Nola tallied a 4-3 record with a 2.93 ERA while striking out 45 and walking 10 in 55 1/3 innings combined between Double-A Reading and Class A Advanced Clearwater. After the game, I spoke with Reading pitching coach Dave Lundquist and Nola himself about the outing and more. I also spent time chatting with Nola's backstop Logan Moore about his season as well as his pitching staff. Additionally, I chatted with outfielder Aaron Altherr about his time with the big league club this year. Read ahe...

Dave Lundquist and Jesse Biddle, Image- Jay Floyd Over the weekend, I spoke with Double-A Reading Fightin Phillies pitching coach Dave Lundquist. A former big leaguer with the White Sox and Padres, "Lundy" has been coaching in the Phils system since 2008. The 40-year-old spoke openly about nearly his entire pitching staff including top prospect Jesse Biddle , David Buchanan , Mike Nesseth , Seth Rosin , Austin Wright as well as Brody Colvin . Read ahead for that full interview... - Jesse Biddle came out in Trenton over the weekend and had somewhat of a bounce back effort, following a pair of poor outings. He says it's not a good result unless he wins, but overall it's gotta be a positive step for him, right? Absolutely. If you look at his last two outings, two-thirds of an inning and then an inning and a third, to come out (on Friday) night and really to have the command, much, much better than he's had. The confidence level was much highe...