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Ottto Kemp, image- Jay Floyd With an extra-inning victory over first-half division champions Hudson Valley on Sunday, the Class A Advanced Jersey Shore BlueClaws clinched the team's first playoff appearance since 2018, winning the second-half division title. Key performers in the BlueClaws' clincher were righty hurler Jason Ruffcorn, who threw three innings of relief to earn the victory and third baseman Otto Kemp, notched three hits, a walk, two stolen bases and plated the game winning run in the 11th inning on a sacrifice fly.  On top of that, Kemp, who turned 24-years-old on Saturday, made an absolute game-saving defensive play to help the club hold their lead in the bottom of the 11th frame. One of Jersey Shore's most consistent performers all season long has been right-handed reliever Cam Wynne.  The Phillies' 20th round draft pick in 2021 out of Nebraska.  In 34 appearances, one start, the 24-year-old tallied a 1-1 record with one save, a 2.44 ERA and a .190 batti...

Justin Crawford w/ junior reporter Evan At the age of 19, outfielder Justin Crawford has played his way into the conversation of being considered as one of baseball's top prospects. The son of four-time MLB All-Star Carl Crawford, Justin has looked every bit as impressive as his position as the 17th overall draft selection last year would have most fans thinking he should be.  He opened the season with Class A Clearwater where, in 69 games, he notched a .344/.399/.478 slash line.  And since mid-August when he was promoted to Class A Advanced Jersey Shore, the younger Crawford has posted a .300/.364/.440 line.  He's also stolen 44 bases in 52 attempts overall. And while the BlueClaws enter the final week of the regular season 1/2 game out of first place in their division, I spoke with Justin Crawford about the team's hopes of making the postseason for the first time since 2018. I also asked Justin about the similarities and differences between his skillset and his father...

Baron Radcliff, image- Jay Floyd Lefty batting outfielder Baron Radcliff has been on a roll of late for the Class A Advanced Jersey Shore BlueClaws. In seven August contests thus far, the 23-year-old is batting .375 with a home run, nine RBI and four walks.  The son of former pro baseball player Vic Radcliff and D1 basketball standout Nikki Keyton Radcliff, Baron was the Phillies' 5th round draft selection out of Georgia Tech in 2020. Listed at six-feet-four, 228 pounds Radcliff projects as a power hitter and at the plate he resembles a familiar Phillies slugger, namely Ryan Howard.  Recently, I spoke with Baron about his approach at the dish, his offensive battles, learning from his parents, hobbies and plenty more. Read ahead for excerpts from that interview and visit my page on Patreon to support my work and access the complete version of this piece along with so much more exclusive content.  - Your pose when you step to the plate, how often do you hear about who t...

Taken with the Phillies' second round draft pick (49th overall) last year, outfielder Ethan Wilson has landed among the top prospects in the organization. A co-freshman of the year in 2019, with South Alabama, Wilson has been on the radar of some big league teams for quite a while.  In his junior season last year, Wilson batted .313 with seven home runs and 30 RBI.  When his collegiate season was through, the lefty hitter quickly debuted in the minors.   In 30 games with Class A Clearwater last year, Wilson tallied a .215 average with three homers, 17 RBI and two steals. Listed at six-foot-one, 210-pounds, Wilson opened the 2022 campaign with Class A Advanced Jersey Shore.  The 22-year-old has been slow to start offensively, but confidence and poise are not a problem for this strong, promising individual. On the base paths, Wilson is quick and can contribute with his feet.  Defensively, the Alabama native will likely play left or right field moving forward....

A third round draft pick in 2020, Arkansas junior Casey Martin was quickly signed by the Phillies and consideration as one of the organization's top infield prospects quickly began.  The organization's belief in his ceiling is likely evident in the signing bonus he got, which was reportedly $1.3 million, considerably more than slot money dictated by his 87th overall draft position ($685K). The righty hitting Martin tallied a .311/.393/.545 slash line with 30 homers, 24 steals and 112 RBI in 143 games through his college career as a Razorback.  Reports had him falling in the draft as a result of an injury to the hamate bone in his left hand prior to his 2020 season.  Prior to a procedure to repair the ailment, Baseball America projected Martin as a top ten draft pick. In 15 games in 2020 primarily as the Arkansas clean up hitter, before the season was halted due to the Coronavirus pandemic, Martin notched a .271 batting average with a pair of home runs, 10 RBI along with s...

Talented 21-year-old infielder Luis Garcia remains worthy of being regarded as one of the Phillies' top prospects. After the team signed Garcia for a reported $2.5 million (second highest international signing in Phils history) in July of 2017, Garcia participated in the Florida Instructional League as a 16-year-old later that year. The Dominican Republic native would make his official professional debut in 2018. In the short-season Rookie level Gulf Coast League, Garcia led the league in batting average with a .369 mark.  Additionally, he posted a .433 on-base percentage with an impressive .921 OPS. The five-foot-11 175-pounder was named to the GCL’s post-season All-Star roster and was rated by Baseball America as the best prospect in the GCL at the time he played there. In 2019 Garcia played the entire season with Class A Lakewood at the age of 18.  There, he would struggle considerably at the plate.  In 127 games he tallied a .186 batting average with 14 doubles, three...

Producing like an All-Star for the Class A Advanced Jersey Shore BlueClaws, right-hander Dominic Pipkin is enjoying a lot of success on the mound this year.   A ninth round draft pick in 2018 out of high school in Pinole, California, the 21-year-old sports a 4-1 record with a 4.53 ERA, a 1.29 WHIP along with a 10.4 K/9 mark through 13 games. Recently, I spoke with Pipkin, who was fresh off of back-to-back scoreless starts at the time.  He shared some insight on his production to date this year, updating his pitch repertoire, the organization's piggyback rotation with pitchers and more.  Read ahead for that interview.   -What are you thoughts on your season so far?  Are you producing at a level you would have hoped for? I’ve had a tremendous year so far, I’m hoping I can keep playing as well as I am. -Much of the Phils' minor league system works with a "piggyback" rotation for the starting pitchers, where one turn a pitcher would start, the next turn the sa...

Friscia, image- Jay Floyd What's up with that Vito Friscia guy?  Well, he's a 24-year-old righty batting catcher that was drafted by the Phillies out of Hofstra University in 2019 with the team's final selection, 1200th overall, in the 40th round. But what's his deal?  Friscia opened the season with Class A Advanced Jersey Shore, where, in 16 games, he notched a .264 batting average with a pair of home runs, five doubles and seven RBI.  Last week, when Triple-A Lehigh Valley needed a reserve backstop, Friscia was promoted to fill their void.  When Rafael Marchan returned from a short stint in the big leagues, Friscia was assigned to the Double-A Reading roster.   Is he just a backup catcher?  For now, it seems that's his role.  But check out this quote from BlueClaws skipper Chris Adamson from earlier this month when I asked him about which player stood out to him as a guy that deserved recognition, but may not be getting it. "Vito Friscia is a ...

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 t...

We're more than a week into the minor league season and there are some players performing at a level that is what one may expect based on a guy's previous performance and reputation.  There are also players widening eyes and tilting heads...some in a good way...others not in a good way.   Here's a list of names doing well, as should be expected...we'll call this list an excited "OH, FOR REAL?!" Left-hander Damon Jones is doing Damon Jones things with Triple-A Lehigh Valley.  Two appearances, 3 1/3 innings, one hit allowed, zero runs, one walk surrendered, five strike outs.  The Phils' 18th round pick from 2017 has a 3.29 career ERA, a .218 batting average against and an 11.1 K/9 mark in his professional career to date. Matt Vierling is off to a great start.  In eight games with Double-A Reading, the righty hitting outfielder sports a .310 average with two homers and two stolen bases.  He was a 5th round draft selection by the Phillies in 2018. ...

This weekend over on Patreon.com/PhoulBallz I've featured some exclusive quotes from around the Phillies minor leagues.   Among the latest on the Patreon page, are Double-A Reading manager Shawn Williams talking about pitching prospect Francisco Morales among other topics, righty pitching prospect Ben Brown discussing his return to the mound following Tommy John surgery and right-hander Mark Appel sharing thoughts on his return to professional ball after taking a leave of absence a few years ago.  Additionally, you find the latest on injured pitching prospect Erik Miller .   Please consider joining the Patreon site and contributing toward my work in order to gain access to exclusive content like this all season long.  

Ben Brown, image- Jay Floyd LAKEWOOD, NJ- In the inagural contest under their new moniker and their initial contest as a Class A Advanced level club, the Jersey Shore BlueClaws were victorious, as they downed the Hudson Valley Renegades by a score of 6-2 on Tuesday night. Starting pitcher Ben Brown, who underwent Tommy John surgery in the summer of 2019, tossed four scoreless frames, striking out six and walking one.   After the Renegades took a 1-0 lead on an RBI double by third baseman James Nelson off of reliever Tyler McKay in the top of the 5th inning, the BlueClaws did not wait long to clap back.   A looping opposite field single by right fielder Jhailyn Ortiz plated two runs to give the BlueClaws the lead.  Catcher Logan O'Hoppe launched a homer in convincing fashion, plating Ortiz, to pad the home club's lead. Jersey Shore's third and fourth batters in the lineup lead the offense again in the 7th inning when Ortiz plated another run on a single and O'Hop...

With the minor league season set to get started on Tuesday, May 4th, the Phillies' four full-season teams unveiled their initial rosters today. Of note is the absense of rising infield prospect Kendall Simmons, who is apparently sidelined with an undisclosed injury.  The middle infielder was active in spring training action in recent weeks, but was contributing as a designated hitter.  He's likely being kept at the Phillies' complex in Florida in order to focus on recovery and limit unnecesary travel. Also, as reported recently on my Patreon page , pitcher Albertus Barber got a late start to his spring season due to an unspecified nerve issue.  He's healthy, but needs to ramp up his efforts in order to get game-ready before he joins a team. One of the Phils' most promision pitching prospects, Erik Miller, is also absent from these lists.  No word yet on what the situation is with this hard throwing 24-year-old, who was ranked as the organization's 5th best prosp...

I invite you to visit Patreon.com/PhoulBallz in order to support my work and get access to material like this before anyone else and get access to interviews as well as other exclusive content you can't get anywhere else.  Luis Garcia, image- Jay Floyd Despite a down season in 2019, Phillies infield prospect Luis Garcia is still one of the organization's most promising prospects. After the team signed Garcia for a reported $2.5 million (second highest international signing in Phils history) in July of 2017, Garcia participated in the Florida Instructional League as a 16-year-old later that year. The Dominican Republic native would make his official professional debut in 2018. In the short-season Rookie level Gulf Coast League, Garcia led the league batting average with a .369 mark.  Additionally, he posted a .433 on-base percentage with an impressive .921 OPS. The five-foot-11 170-pounder was named to the GCL’s post-season All-Star roster and was rated by ...

The BlueClaws has long claimed to be the Jersey Shore's baseball team and on Wednesday they made it official, as the Phillies' Class A affiliate re-branded itself.  Changing their name from the Lakewood BlueClaws to the Jersey Shore BlueClaws, the team made the announcement at Asbury Park's Convention Hall. Per a release from the team: "This is truly a banner day for the BlueClaws and the Jersey Shore,” said Art Matin, managing partner of Shore Town Baseball, the partnership that operates the BlueClaws. “Shore Town Baseball has added a mini golf course, boardwalk game area, and Biergarten to FirstEnergy Park over the last several seasons to help bring the ‘Shore feeling’ to the ballpark. The Jersey Shore BlueClaws is the natural next step. We couldn’t be more excited.” While the club keeps its nickname of the BlueClaws, they unveiled new logos, updated caps and a fresh home uniform . Image via BlueClaws Ironically, I have talked to many players over the years tha...