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Frank Cacciatore, image- Jay Floyd Throughout the season, the Reading Fightin Phils' offense has been one of the biggest stories across minor league baseball. As the team's collection of strong hitters mashed for power and rocked opposing pitchers all season long in the Double-A Eastern League, the team's hitting coach, Frank Cacciatore, has gotten a good look at the best show in the sport. Over the weekend, I sat down with Cacciatore to gain some insight on the likes of the homer hitting duo Dylan Cozens and Rhys Hoskins along with emerging players such as Scott Kingery and Andrew Pullin . He also offered feedback on talented switch-hitter Roman Quinn as well as veteran Jake Fox and plenty more. Cacciatore played in the Detroit organization in the 1970's and has been part of the Phillies' developmental coaching staff since 2008. Read ahead for my full interview with Coach Frank. -Outfielder Dylan Cozens has had an outstanding season, leading the l...

Aaron Brown, image- Jay Floyd The Double-A Reading Fightin Phils are headed to the postseason at the Eastern League's East division champions. All season long, the team has been led by its offense, that has seen the club tally a minor league best 182 home runs heading into action on Monday, the last day of the regular season. This weekend I chatted with outfielder Aaron Brown and starting pitcher Tyler Viza about Reading's offense. Brown, a 24-year-old lefty batter, also spoke about learning from those around him as well as his up and down season while Viza, a 21-year-old right-hander, offered thoughts on four levels of the Phillies' minor league system reaching the playoffs in their respective leagues, plus more. Read ahead for those interview excerpts with both players. AARON BROWN: -It's become quite a rivalry here with Reading and Trenton, with the two teams battling over the top spot in the division, know you'll face each other in the opening ro...

Dusty Wathan, image- Jay Floyd Recently I sat down with the manager of the Double-A Reading Fightin Phils. During the chat, Wathan, who is primed to walk away from this week with Reading's all-time managerial wins record, spoke about his team's power hitting duo, veteran Jake Fox , starting pitcher Nick Pivetta , the wins record and more. Read ahead for that interview. -Last week you got to go along with six of your players to the Eastern League All-Star Game in Akron. What can you share about that? It was a tremendous group of guys. We had a lot of fun. They represented themselves well. It was just a fun time and to have those guys on the field at one time, it’s special to be able to be the manager for that. -Many fans are having a blast online and otherwise watching the power duo of Rhys Hoskins and Dylan Cozens slugging it out for the minor league lead in homers. There's excitement each night following them, seeing what each guy did. Is it...

Ben Lively, image- Jay Floyd TRENTON- Righty pitcher Ben Lively struck out a career-high 12 batters in an excellent performance, helping the Reading Fightins (24-13) win by a score of 7-2 and clinch a series split in a four game set on the road against the division rival Thunder (19-16). In the outing, the 24-year-old gave up four hits while walking four over seven scoreless frames. With the win, Lively's record this season goes to a gleaming 6-0. In eight starts for the first place Fightins, the six-foot-four 190-pounder sports a Double-A Eastern League best 1.53 ERA, an 8.8 K/9 mark and a 0.96 WHIP. The numbers are a nice improvement over his efforts last year that saw Lively post an 8-7 record with a 4.13 ERA, a 7.0 K/9 and a 1.43 WHIP in 25 starts for Reading. The Florida native feels a change of approach is what has helped him improve. "I'm just making more quality pitches early in at bats this year and it's just been helping me a lot," L...

Jake Fox, image- Jay Floyd Prior to minor league camp breaking this weekend, I had a lengthy chat with veteran Jake Fox . The 33-year-old has played around the globe, has spent time in the majors with multiple teams and will be enjoying his third stint with the Phillies. Fox has built a reputation for being an extra coach on the diamond, as he is a cerebral slugger that is able to lead his teammates by example. This week, Jake talked about landing back with the Phillies over a round of golf, spending time last year playing in Korea, the differences between American ball and the game over there, what his next career will be and much more. Read ahead for the full interview. -How was the connection made for a return to the Phillies organization? Had you stayed in touch, or did the team reach out again? Well, it's a very funny story. Obviously, I finished last year in Korea. And, you know, it's was amazing, one of the things that I'm amazed about is when you go ov...

Fox with Reading in 2014, image- Tug Haines Local minor league fans may have been surprised not to see former Phillies farm hand Jake Fox visiting with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats in Reading this week. The faithful Jake Fox Nation barely had enough time to catch on to which organization the veteran had jumped to this season, before Fox switched teams again, ditching the States for Korea. The 32-year-old is the type of player that makes and keeps fans where ever he goes. A one-time 3rd round draft pick of the Cubs, Fox made it to the majors in Chicago and with Baltimore. He has also played in the Dominican Winter League as well as in Mexico, where he was nicknamed "El Sangre" (The Blood), and in the independent Atlantic League. All the while, he's made fans that root for him no matter what uniform he dons, as they travel to see him in different cities when they can. During his second stint with the Phillies' organization last year, the Indiana native pos...

Tug and Jay are back with the latest edition on the PhoulBallz Minor League Podcast. On the 77th edition of the show, the guys talk about Jake Fox 's transition to Korea, Mark Leiter Jr.'s, Brandon Leibrandt 's and J.P. Crawford 's excellent efforts for Clearwater as well as Carlos Tocci posting terrific numbers in the Sally League. Reading slugger Art Charles joins the show for the segment Nine Silly-ass Questions, plus Marlins pitching prospect Ben Holmes (AKA Ben Wetzler) takes time to answer questions about the Phillies reporting him to the NCAA for having an agent represent him at the negotiation table in 2013. 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 . Thanks so much to the thousands of you that listen to each episode. We appreciate you.

On the 76th edition of the PhoulBallz Podcast, Jay and Tug chat about the brand new baseball season, running down the hot starts of prospects such as Brock Stassi , Jesse Biddle , Roman Quinn , Zach Eflin , Carlos Tocci , Rhys Hoskins and others. The show also features two exclusive interviews as "El Sangre" Jake Fox talks about leaving the Phillies organization and Temple University product Matt Hockenberry participates in the fun segment Nine Silly-ass Questions. 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 .

On the 73rd edition of the PhoulBallz Minor League Podcast Tug and Jay are joined by lefty pitching prospect Matt Imhof , who was the Phillies' 2nd round draft choice this year. Additionally, the guys talk about the Phils' rebuild mode kicked off by the team trading former National League MVP Jimmy Rollins and what Rollins', as well as other core team members', places in team history should be. Wondering if Cole Hamels is next to go and the organization's cranky fan base are also a topics of discussion. 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 .

On the 72nd edition of the PhoulBallz Minor League Podcast, Tug and Jay are joined by cerebral slugger Jake Fox , who talks about his time in the Phillies' organization this year, his transition to playing with the Somerset Patriots this year, his possible future destination, having a plan at the plate and plenty more. The guys also discuss the postseason success of the Kansas City Royals as well as Phillies playing in off-season leagues. 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 .

Jake Fox, image- Tug Haines Since rejoining the Phillies organization in June, corner infielder Jake Fox has been the driving force of the Double-A Reading offense. The 32-year-old veteran of four big league seasons, having played with the Cubs, A's and Orioles, has dominated Eastern League pitching, posting a .322 average while mashing 20 home runs and driving in 65 runs in 66 games. Two seasons ago, Fox played with Reading and Triple-A Lehigh Valley, batting .230 with five homers in 26 total games as a late-season edition. Prior to signing with the Phillies this year, Fox competed in Mexico, where he sported a .307/.397/.605 slash like in 57 games with Laguna. Fox, who was originally drafted in the third round of the 2003 amateur draft by the Cubs, plays with an extremely cerebral approach. Recently, I spoke with Jake about his intellectual focus toward the game, how he helps the teammates around him and more. Read ahead for that interview. -I've talked to Z...

I spoke with Double-A Reading Fightins skipper Dusty Wathan prior to Friday's home contest against the Binghamton Mets. Topics of discussion included top draft pick Aaron Nola 's pitching restrictions, outfielder Kelly Dugan 's progress, Severino Gonzalez 's season and plenty more. Read ahead for those exclusive comments from Wathan. Kelly Dugan, image- Jay Floyd -Speaking about Kelly Dugan, who entered action on Friday sporting a .330/.423/.481 line in 32 games since the All-Star break... Kelly's been very good. I think he's done a nice job with his swing, he's flattened it out a little bit. He's driving balls the other way better than I've ever seen him. You know, I think he's really learning his swing, becoming a better hitter. I think his power numbers are a little down and some people have voice their concerns about that, not inside the organization, but media. But, to me that's no big deal. To me, he's a better hitt...

Zach Collier, image- Jay Floyd They're calling him "Mr. August". You'd have a difficult time finding a hotter batter in professional baseball right now than Double-A Reading outfielder Zach Collier and the increase in production couldn't have come at a better time. In his last six contests, the six-foot-two 200-pounder has been scorching the ball to the tune of a .417 average with seven home runs and 11 RBI, helping his club notch five straight wins. With veteran slugger Jake Fox (.330 avg, 17 HR, 56 RBI in 54 games) leading the Reading Fightins offense for two months since signing with the Phillies, it was only a matter of time before his outstanding production rubbed off on those around him. For Collier, it was some verbal guidance from the 32-year-old as well as Fox's generous nature with his personal equipment that helped. "He's helped me out a lot, you know, just talking, going over hitting and everything like that. I'm actual...

The PhoulBallz Minor League Podcast is back! On the 68th edition of the show Clearwater starting pitcher Colin Kleven and Reading outfielder Zach Collier phone in. Kleven discusses his season as the Threshers' most consistent pitcher, playing in front of smaller crowds in the Florida State League, his teammates Roman Quinn and J.P. Crawford plus plenty more. Collier chats about the secret to his recent hot streak in which he's slugged five home runs and driven in nine runs in his past six games as well as his suspension for a positive Adderall test and much more. Tug and Jay also discuss the Double-A debuts of Aaron Nola and Jacob Lindgren , Jiandido Tromp 's offensive production with Williamsport and Jake Fox 's big season. 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 .

We're back with another rundown of top performers from the Phillies' developmental ranks, with some less than stellar performers mixed in for good measure. Triple-A Lehigh Valley IronPigs... Tyler Henson with coach Mickey Morandini Infielder Tyler Henson is batting .448 with a home run and eight RBI over his last 10 games played. In 90 games this season, the 26-year-old sports a .282 average with six homers and 36 RBI. 3B/1B Maikel Franco has tallied a .365 batting average with nine doubles, two triples, a homer and 15 RBI in 15 games played this month. Franco went 0-for-2 in last week's All-Star Futures Game. The 21-year-old Dominican has a .236/.286/.370 overall slash line in 96 contests this season. Tyler Knigge let up 10 earned runs over five innings (18.00 ERA) in his most recent four games with the Pigs. The troublesome stretch earned Knigge a demotion back to Double-A Reading this weekend. The 25-year-old sported a 2.69 ERA in his first 11 Tripl...