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A failed attempt by Team Israel to qualify for next year’s World Baseball Classic was disappointing for former Phillies prospect Josh Zeid , but the experience is one that he is proud of and the Tulane University product is confident that the sport is headed in the right direction for the country that has limited experiences with America’s national pastime. The righty hurler, Zeid, described his time representing Israel as a true highlight, not only in his career but in his life as a whole. Additionally, he stressed his level of enjoyment playing along side players with such similar backgrounds. “Playing with 27 teammates, who all are very similar to myself, religiously and socially, was a tremendous and very unique experience," Zeid said.  "I’ve had Jewish teammates before, but to have a whole team of Jewish men, really brought a cohesiveness that I’ve never quite felt in the locker room before. It was as if we had been teammates for a whole year or years. It was ...

The deal took a while, but it's finally done. Hunter Pence is coming to Philadelphia, after the Phillies and Astros agreed to a trade on Friday night. The swap brings the 28-year-old right fielder to the Phillies in exchange for top prospect Jonathan Singleton, MLB Futures Game hurler Jarred Cosart, right-handed pitcher Josh Zeid and a player to be named later. Reports also state that the Astros will send $1 million to the Phillies. Pence, originally drafted by Houston in the 2nd round of the 2004 amateur draft, is a .290 career hitter, playing is his fifth big league season. In 100 games for the Astros this year, Pence posted a .308 batting average with 11 HR and 62 RBI. The 6-foot-4-inch 220-pounder is a two-time National League All-star. Singleton and Cosart were ranked as the Phillies' top two prospects by both the Reading Eagle and PhilliesNation over the past year. Singleton, a first baseman who has dabbled in the outfield this season, ripped up Class A South Atlan...

Last season, former Major League catcher Mark Parent managed the Class A Lakewood BlueClaws to a South Atlantic League championship. This year, Parent is the manager of the Double A Reading Phillies. Thus far this season, Reading has gotten off to a strong start, posting a 16-10 record, which is good enough for a first place tie in the Eastern League's Eastern Division. The R-Phils' pitching staff has been led by the likes of starting pitcher JC Ramirez as well as key contributors like Justin De Fratus, Phillippe Aumont and Josh Zeid. The offensive side of the game has been run by third baseman Cody Overbeck and first baseman Matt Rizzotti, while Freddy Galvis' infield defense has shined as well. Parent speaks about all of those prospects and much more in this exclusive interview. Check out the media player below to listen. __________________________________________ You can follow PhoulBallz on Twitter by clicking HERE . You can also connect with PhoulBallz on Facebook b...

With loads of updates coming out of Clearwater on the big league Phillies, it's about time we took a glance at some of the organization's prospects and their performances in developmental level Grapefruit League action thus far. 24-year-old Josh Zeid , who helped the Class A Lakewood BlueClaws win their second consecutive South Atlantic League title in 2010, then went on to shine the Arizona Fall League as a member of the Mesa Solar Sox has rolled his success into the new year. Thus far in 2 spring starts, the 10th round pick from the 2009 amateur draft, has tossed 5 shutout innings for the Double A Reading Phillies club. Zeid has allowed 4 hits and just 1 walk, while striking out 7 batters. With Lakewood last year, Zeid sported an 8-4 record and a 2.93 ERA for Lakewood. He fanned 111 batters over 107.1 IP as both a reliever and a starter. In the AFL, Zeid started 4 games, going 3-0 with a 3.86 ERA while holding opponents to a .206 batting average. Justin Friend , who was selec...

This post was featured as part of PhilliesNation.com's annual Top 25 Phillies Prospects countdown. Now that the first 75, or so, days since the Phillies' 2010 journey ended have flown by and as we begin the painfully slow crawl of the 40-something days until spring training, PhilliesNation.com will deliver its 2011 top 25 Phillies prospects list, in count down fashion. Gradually, over the coming week that lead to the dawn of a fresh campaign, with hopes higher than Lawrence Taylor while surfing online personal ads, we will be unveiling prospect rankings with reviews of all the players that our readers should be familiar with. These rankings will not include Domonic Brown, Vance Worley or Antonio Bastardo, as each of those players spent considerable amounts of time with the Major League club last year. Those individuals all project to make the big league roster in the coming season as well. In addition, some remarkably talented young players did not make the cut simply because ...

Here on PhoulBallz.com we celebrate Hanukkah annually by counting down the top Phillies related YouTube videos of the year. Tonight, on this 5th night of the Festival of Lights, we recognize a tie in the 4th spot. The 4th ranked videos are related and both filmed by me. Back in September, the Phils' Class A alffiliate, the Lakewood BlueClaws, won their second consecutive South Atlantic League championship. Several Lakewood players were on the team for both postseason stretches and that group included starting pitcher Trevor May, who celebrated greatly with his sweet dance moves. Below are two videos. The first clip is of pitcher Josh Zeid locking down the BlueClaws' title by recording the final out while the second features May's boogie time. Happy holidays! ____________________________________________________________ You can follow PhoulBallz.com on Twitter by clicking HERE . Connect with PhoulBallz.com on Facebook by clicking HERE .

The month long Arizona Fall League has come and gone for individuals from the Phillies organization assigned to play on the Mesa Solar Sox. The six-team league's regular season wrapped up on Thursday, with just two teams advancing to a winner-takes-all championship game on Saturday afternoon. Each roster in the AFL features 7 players from 5 different organizations. Mesa served as the Autumn home to Phillies prospects Justin De Fratus , Matt Rizzotti , Tyson Brummett , Jacob Diekman , Tim Kennelly , Josh Zeid , BJ Rosenberg and Chris Kissock . John Mayberry Jr. was also assigned to spend some time with the Solar Sox, but he injured his calf in his debut on October 12th and spent the subsequent weeks at the Phils' spring training home in Clearwater to receive treatment. With Mayberry & Zeid both leaving early, the Phils avoided overlapping and exceeding the 7 man roster rule. De Fratus, a 23-year-old righty hurler, continued to show why I predicted that he would be a big mo...

What is being called The Futures Game of the Fall will be played in Surprise, Arizona on Saturday night. The annual Arizona Fall League showcase known as The Rising Stars Game will be televised nationally on MLB Network at 9pm EST, when the best prospects from all organizations meet in a contest that pits the East and West divisions against each other. As I've stated before , the Arizona Fall League is a stepping stone for many players on their ways upward in the professional baseball ranks. The players on the rosters for this big game, slated to be played at Surprise Stadium, are among the highest regarded prospects in the league. Many of the players will be receiving their very first chance to play on such a big stage, with the eyes of the baseball world upon them. "The entire year has been an incredible experience and this is only making it better," said righty hurler Justin De Fratus. "I'm excited for it and can't wait to meet the other players." The...

Mesa, Arizona is the autumn home to seven Phillies minor leaguers as well as players from the Angels, Mets, Pirates and Cubs. Seven players from each of those organizations make up the 35-man roster of the Solar Sox, who sit in 2nd place in the Arizona Fall League's East Division. As recently as Friday, the Sox were tied for first in the division with Scottsdale as both teams sported a 9-6 record, but a head-to-head battle between the 2 teams for the top spot in the division went to the Scorpions in a 9-1 rout on Friday. Following a 15-1 mashing of the Peoria Saguaros on Monday, Mesa has a 10-8 record and sits 1 game behind Scottsdale. In the game, 24-year-old first base prospect Matt Rizzotti went 3-for-5, with a double, a walk and 2 RBI to bring his batting average up to .412 in 9 AFL games. Rizzotti, an Eastern League all-star in 2010, is also averaging more than a walk per game in Fall action and has posted a stunning .545 on-base percentage. Some familiar pitchers also shined...

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- It was a historic day for the BlueClaws as they defeated the Greenville Drive in game 4 of the South Atlantic League Championship Series to lock down their second consecutive championship. After winning the Northern Division title in the first and second halves of the season, Lakewood became the very first team in league history to win both halves and clinch the championship. The current format began with the 2000 season. It was a clutch homerun by catcher Sebastian Valle in the 5th inning and masterful pitching from right-handed reliever Josh Zeid that led the way for the BlueClaws' victory. Valle's 3-run bomb off of Drive reliever Kendal Volz gave Lakewood a lead they would not relinquish thanks to 4 perfect innings of relief from Zeid. "I owed it to my team. I struggled earlier in the year and I finished strong and the team battled all year, so I just really wanted to finish it for them," Zeid stated following the game. Josh Zeid with the SA...

Video of the final out and the celebration that ensued... Josh Zeid on the hill for Lakewood, Christian Vazquez at bat for Greenville. _______________________________________________________ Follow PhoulBallz.com on Twitter by clicking HERE .

Poor weather washed out the return of the South Atlantic League Championship Series to Lakewood. With more precipitation on the way, game 3 was postponed Thursday night when heavy rains left the FirstEnergy Park field too wet to play on. The best-of-five series between the Phillies' Class A affiliate the Lakewood BlueClaws and the Red Sox affiliate Greenville Drive is tied at 1 game apiece. Last season Lakewood defeated Greenville in 4 games to win the SAL championship. The rescheduled time for game 3 is Friday at 7:05pm, with game 4, which was originally slated for Friday evening, being pushed back to Saturday at 4:05pm. A deciding game 5, if necessary, will be played 30 minutes following the finish of game 4. Normally, minor league double header games are regulated to 7 innings. However, with the league championship on the line, both games on Saturday will be scheduled for 9 innings. Game 3 will feature Lakewood starting pitcher Brody Colvin (6-8, 3.39 ERA in the regular season)...

The South Atlantic League playoffs begin next Wednesday for the Lakewood BlueClaws. I had the opportunity to speak with manager Mark Parent about various team matters as the post-season approaches. Parent has already begun preparations, as he's reassigned one of his starters to the bullpen and announced his pitching rotation for the first round of the playoffs. Check out the media player below to listen to the full interview. ______________________________________________ Follow PhoulBallz.com on Twitter HERE .

Ryan Howard spent time with the Phillies' Class A affiliate the Lakewood BlueClaws on Friday, on a rehab assignment. Howard has been on the disabled list since August 2nd, with a sprained ankle. Lakewood trainer Mickey Kozack described Howard's assignment as an opportunity to knock some rust off and stated that Howard was not feeling soreness in his heavily wrapped ankle prior to batting practice. After spending time ripping line drives onto the berm at FirstEnergy Park during batting practice, Howard took to the field to shag some balls, where he spent a considerable amount of time chatting with pitching prospect Josh Zeid and first baseman Jon Singleton. I asked Zeid and Singleton about their time spent chatting with Howard. Check out the media player below to listen to those full interviews. _______________________________________________ For more interviews with Jon Singleton click here and here . Follow PhoulBallz.com on Twitter HERE .

Steve Schrenk is currently the pitching coach for the Phillies' A-Level affiliate, the Lakewood BlueClaws. In his playing days, Schrenk was drafted by the White Sox in 1987. He pitched two seasons with the Phillies in 1999 and 2000. After retiring as a player in 2002, Schrenk coached a summer college team in 2003. He joined the Phillies organization as a coach in 2004 and has been with the Phillies, coaching at different levels, since then. Last week, PhoulBallz.com had a chance to speak with Steve Schrenk and that interview lies ahead. What are your thoughts on the solid efforts from the Lakewood pitching staff and some of the injuries the staff has had to deal with so far this season? Everybody's been doing a pretty good job. We've had our ups and downs, a little bit here and there. They're young and we're still learning how to pitch and do some different things. We've had the injuries that have hurt us a little bit here and there, but the guys who are here- (...

Josh Zeid is currently a pitcher for the Phillies single-A affiliate, the Lakewood BlueClaws. A 10th round draft selection in June 2009, Zeid was a starter for Williamsport of the NY-Pennn League and posted an 8-1 record with a 2.70 ERA there last season. Zeid transferred to Tulane University after his sophomore season at Vanderbilt. After a great start to his 2010 campaign and looking razor sharp in his role as the BlueClaws closer, Zeid has hit a rough patch, forcing manager Mark Parent to explore other options in the closer role. Josh took some time to chat with PhoulBallz.com, and that interview lies ahead. You were named the Phillies Minor League pitcher of the month for April when you had a 2-0 record with 2 saves and a 0.00 ERA in 9 appearances. How did that sort of recognition effect your outlook moving forward? It's a great honor, but the second I got recognized, I didn't stop working out, I didn't skip any beats. I just jumped right into it once again and it went ...

Wednesday in Lakewood, in a game where neither starting pitcher made in through the fourth inning, the Lakewood BlueClaws and the Hagerstown Suns battled it out in a rollercoaster of a contest. The BlueClaws started the day trailing Hagerstown by one game for second place in the South Atlantic League's Northern Division, and were scheduled to use a substitute starting pitcher in Jonathan Pettibone's (disabled list, shoulder) place in the rotation. The substitute, Julio Rodriguez, an 8th round draft selection in 2008, seemed to be cruising right along and even struck out the side in both the 2nd and 3rd innings, but he failed to complete the 4th inning, as did his Hagerstown counterpart, Paul Demny. Lakewood got the scoring started in the 2nd inning, as a lead off double from Jeremy Barnes was followed by back to back RBI hits by Stephen Batts and Adam Buschini. The BlueClaws took their 2-0 advantage into the 4th inning, when Rodriguez would hit a wall. RBI hits from Hagerstown ...