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It's time, once again, to travel around the globe as we review how Phillies talents are performing in off-season and winter leagues.  Be warned that news is becoming quite limited, as the closer things get to spring training, the less there is to report.  In the Caribbean Leagues, teams have begun playing in their second wave of the season, as the top four teams from the Dominican and Puerto Rico leagues as well as the top five from the Venezuelan Winter League meet in a round robin style stretch of contests in their respective leagues, with the top two advancing to each league's finals.  Shortstop Freddy Galvis (pictured) has been steadily batting lead-off with Zulia during their run in the VWL’s round robin semi-finals. In eight contests in the semi’s, the 23-year-old is batting .353 with 11 RBI. Galvis has seemed rusty in the field this month, after taking some time off at the close of the regular season, committing four errors in his first six round robin game...

It's another edition of our weekly off-season league review. Read ahead, as we take a tour around the globe for a look at Phillies talents including Antonio Bastardo , Raul Valdes and plenty of others, who are participating in various winter league action.  Venezuelan League- Second baseman Cesar Hernandez (pictured, left) ended his VWL regular season batting .226 with a home run, 16 RBI and 14 steals in 44 games for Margarita, as his team did not advance to the semi-final round.  The 22-year-old switch-hitter batted a combined .291 with two homers and 57 RBI in 133 games for Double-A Reading and Triple-A Lehigh Valley during the 2012 regular season. Shortstop Edgar Duran , also with Margarita, batted .240 with a home run and nine RBI in 36 games.  In 121 games for Class A Advanced Clearwater in 2012, Duran, 21, sported a .253/.310/.357 line. Shortstop Freddy Galvis wrapped up his regular season with a 10-game hitting streak, during which he posted ...

Once again, the weekly minor league wrap up is back, taking a look at each of the Phillies' four full season minor league clubs.  This time around, we'll take a look at the hot and cold lists from each team. Class A Lakewood BlueClaws 15-25, 6th place out of 7 (14.5 GB) in South Atlantic League Northern Division. Who’s hot- 1st baseman/3rd baseman Harold Martinez (pictured left), through action on Saturday, has strung together a stretch of 7 games where he has gone 10-for-24 (.417 avg) to boost his season batting average 58 points. Martinez, 22, was the Phillies’ 2nd round draft selection out of the University of Miami last year. Right-handed reliever Matt Campbell has been a solid contributor out of the Lakewood bullpen. Since joining the club in late April, the 24th round draft pick from last season has a 1-1 record with 2 saves and a 1.46 ERA while striking out 12 batters in 12 1/3 innings pitched. Campbell has thrown more than 1 inning in 5 of 6 of his outings...

While Monday didn't bring much luck for the big league Phillies, as they continued to have difficulty scoring runs and dropped their home opener to the Miami Marlins, a couple of the organization's minor league clubs didn't have much trouble making their marks against a trio of pitchers with some considerable big league ties. The Double-A Reading Phillies handled Toronto left-hander Brett Cecil , who has 66 Major League starts under his belt. Cecil went 6 2/3 innings, allowing 11 hits and 5 runs (4 earned) while taking the loss for the defending Eastern League champions New Hampshire Fisher Cats. The newly slim starter, who dropped 30 pounds over the off-season, is working on pitching with his "new body" and needs to improve the sharpness of his pitches, according to New Hampshire pitching coach Tom Signore. The veteran baseball man stressed the importance of Cecil getting himself right, in an interview with PhoulBallz.com's Jay Floyd this past weekend. "...

Jeremy Barnes , who split his 2011 season between the Class A Lakewood BlueClaws and the Class A Advanced Clearwater Threshers, underwent surgery last week to repair an abdominal tear and a tear in his left groin. Barnes is projected to have a quick recovery and will be ready for baseball action in time for the start of spring training next year. In 122 combined games this year, Barnes, a multi-positional infielder, posted a .260 batting average with 28 doubles, 10 homers and 55 RBI. The 24-year-old Barnes, who was selected in the 11th round of the 2009 draft out of University Notre Dame, spent the majority of last off-season in the Philadelphia area training locally at Power Train Sports Institute, with Phillies outfielder Raul Ibanez . Barnes, who had his surgery in Philadelphia, plans to do the same thing this winter. While at Notre Dame, the right-handed hitting Barnes, who stands 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighs 190 pounds, wore the same jersey number, 20, that Phillies relief...

LAKEWOOD, NJ- Minor leaguer Jeremy Barnes is starting out the 2011 season with the same team he was with last year, but if you ask Barnes, he'd tell you that he has absolutely made progress. Barnes, an infielder with the Class A Lakewood BlueClaws, spent his winter in the home town of his MLB parent club, the Philadelphia Phillies, working on improving himself as an athlete. Barnes was selected in the 11th round of the 2009 amateur draft out of the University of Notre Dame. As a member of the Fighting Irish, Barnes had his first connection to the Phillies organization even before he was drafted. While there, he wore the same jersey number, 20, that Philadelphia reliever Brad Lidge once sported while on the Notre Dame baseball team. Barnes, who turns 24-years-old this week, has been an all-star in each of his two professional seasons. In 2009 he batted .287 with 4 homers and 27 RBI in 55 games to become an all-star for the short-season Williamsport Crosscutters of the New York-Penn ...

This piece I wrote was previously seen on Chicks Dig the Long Ball earlier this week. If you paid close attention to certain national analysts this season, you probably heard them talk or write about how deep the Phillies low minor league teams are with great prospects. The Phillies’ Class A affiliate, the Lakewood BlueClaws, won the club’s second straight South Atlantic League title and became the first club since Savannah in 1994 to repeat as league champions. They also became the very first team in league history to win their division in the first and second halves and then go on to win the league championship. Lakewood was loaded with prospects this season. One, short stop Jonathan Villar, was held in high enough regard that he was part of the collection of players that was sent to Houston in a trade for Roy Oswalt in July. The Phillies had plenty of home grown talent come through their system in the 2000s. Ryan Howard, Carlos Ruiz and Cole Hamels are all current Phillies stars wh...

LAKEWOOD, NJ- In a game pushed back one day due to rain, it took until the very last at bat to decide who would have the advantage heading into the final day of the South Atlantic League Postseason, as the Phillies affiliate, the Lakewood BlueClaws, played host to the Red Sox affiliate, the Greenville Drive. The team affectionately known around the region as "The Cardiac 'Claws" locked down their 14th walk-off win of the season when mid-season All-star Jeremy Barnes singled to drive home the go ahead run that gave Lakewood a 2-1 win. In the home half of the 9th, Jiwan James led off with a single and was moved over the 2nd on a Michael Dabbs sacrifice bunt. Slugger Jonathan Singleton was intentionally walked, to set up a force play with one out. Lakewood catcher Sebastian Valle then flied out, setting the stage for Barnes' shining moment against Greenville reliever Dennis Neuman. "To have a walk-off hit in a game like this is huge. This is the highlight of my seas...

A 16-5 run helped the Lakewood BlueClaws overcome a 4 1/2 game deficit in the standings to the Hickory Crawdads in the Northern Division standings, since May 30th, and win the first half title for the second straight season. Lakewood led Hickory by a game headed into Sunday's action and needed to win, or for the Crawdads to lose, in order to lock down a spot in the 2010 postseason. Both occurred, as the BlueClaws were led by slugging first baseman "The Boss" Jonathan Singleton and starting pitcher Brody Colvin in a 6-3 defeat of the White Sox affiliate Kannapolis Intimidators and Hickory suffered an 11-8 loss to Greenville. Singleton stretching prior to a game over the weekend The 18-year-old Singleton gave Lakewood an early 4-1 lead with a 3-run homerun, his 8th of the season, in the first inning. He added a nice cushion for the 'Claws when he smashed his second homer of the game in the 5th inning, putting Lakewood up 6-2 at that point. Singleton's home OPS thro...

Jeremy Barnes is a second baseman with the Phillies Class A affiliate Lakewood BlueClaws. Drafted in the 11th round in 2009 out of Notre Dame, where he wore the same jersey number Brad Lidge wore there- 20, Barnes played shortstop last season in rookie league Williamsport, but has converted to second base this season. In 53 games thus far in 2010, the right-handed hitting Barnes is batting .296, with 17 doubles, a triple, a homerun, 8 steals and 22 RBI for Lakewood. Earlier this week, the 23-year-old Barnes was named to the SAL Northern division all-star team. I spoke with Jeremy about that, among other things. Read on, for that interview... Jeremy, you've had some solid success thus far in the 2010 season and just got the all-star nod this week to represent Lakewood in the South Atlantic League all-star game. Can I get you to talk about that sort of recognition this early in your pro career? Well, I mean, anytime you make an all-star team it's a big honor. Especially, since th...