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Sanchez with Lakewood in 2017, image- Jay Floyd We interrupt this Phillies prospect countdown to offer up some breaking news.  Reports have surfaced on Thursday that the Phils have agreed to a trade that would send highly touted pitching prospect Sixto Sanchez , big league catcher Jorge Alfaro along with hurler Will Stewart and international bonus slot to Miami for backstop J.T. Realmuto . Sanchez, a much-raved-about 20-year-old right-hander that reaches triples digits with his fastball, was the key to the deal and had long been mentioned in trade talks. A native of the Dominican Republic, Sanchez has missed time in each of the past two seasons with injuries and sat out of the prestigious Arizona Fall League this off-season due to an ailment. Last season in eight starts with Class A Advanced Clearwater, Sanchez posted a 4-3 record with a 2.51 ERA and an 8.7 K.9 mark. Alfaro, a 25-year-old righty batter, posted a .262 average with 10 home runs and 37 RBI in 108 g...

Will Stewart, image- Jay Floyd Lefty starter Will Stewart had a break out season in 2018 as a member of the Class A BlueClaws.  En route to an All-Star campaign the Alabama native posted an 8-1 record with a 2.06 ERA a .218 batting average against as well as a 7.1 K/9 mark.  He also recorded two complete game shutouts in 20 games. The Phillies' 20th round draft choice from 2015 reached an innings limit (113 2/3) set by the team and was kept back from pitching in the post-season, in which the BlueClaws fell short, losing in the finals to Lexington. Last week I talked with Stewart, 21, about his 2018 season, missing the playoffs, how he's spending the off-season mentoring young pitchers and plenty more.  Read ahead for that complete interview. -How do you feel now, in hindsight, about your 2018 season? I'm still over the moon about it, but you're always told to keep a short-term memory, so I am over the moon about it, but I've put it on the back burn...

Season's greetings!  Everybody loves the holidays and, of course, baseball players are no exception. Every year at Christmas time, I survey a group of Phillies prospects about what they get excited for during the holiday season. Players taking part in this year's ninth annual player survey include the 2018 Paul Owens Award winner OF Austin Listi , slugging first base  prospect Darick Hall , Class A All-Stars (CI/OF) Jake Scheiner and (SP) Will Stewart , Triple-A reliever Tyler Gilbert and short-season rookie level backstop Logan O'Hoppe .  Additionally, taking part is Double-A Reading Fightin Phils broadcaster Mike Ventola. Questions and answers listing each individual’s holly jolly holiday favorites are listed below… -What is your favorite Xmas movie or TV special? Austin Listi: For the longest time my favorite Christmas movie has been The Santa Claus 2. However, I love just snuggling up on the couch with my wife and crushing Hallmark's Countd...

Matt Vierling, image- Jay Floyd LAKEWOOD, NJ-- For the BlueClaws club that won the first and second half South Atlantic League Northern division titles, the destination for their bus following the season finale on Monday didn't make a difference. Confidence among this bunch has been high all season long, which is no surprise considering the Class A Lakewood team notched the most wins in their franchise's history and sported the league's best record at 87-51. It came down to the last day of the regular season to determine where the Class A BlueClaws would open the 2018 postseason. For West Virginia (Pirates affiliate), it was a "win and get in" scenario.  A win on Monday would lock them in as the dvision's Wild Card entrant.  However, a WV loss opened the door for Kannapolis (White Sox affiliate) to sneak in with a victory of their own. Thus the journey to Kannapolis, NC for the opening round of the Sally League playoffs got rolling on Sunday evening...

Brad Bergesen, image- Jay Floyd Last week I talked with Class A Lakewood pitching coach Brad Bergesen about his staff, a group that leads the South Atlantic League with a 2.79 mark through action on Tuesday. Prospects discussed include relievers Connor Brogdon and Zach Warren , injured starter Kyle Young , as well as lefty starters David Parkinson and Will Stewart . Read ahead for that interview. -We saw Spencer Howard with a nice outing today.  What did you see from him? I saw a lot of good there today.  I was very, very pleased with the stuff he was featuring today.  I think he had four plus pitches.  There was a few hitters where- two, three hitters—where he got a little out of whack, but then he regained it, but overall I thought it was a very, very good outing for him. -Where does this outing rank among his other efforts this season? I think overall, just a solid outing for him.  I think it’s one he can build his confide...

Joe Jordan, image- Jay Floyd On Sunday, Phillies director of player development Joe Jordan took some time to talk with me about plenty of prospects throughout the Phils developmental levels. Topics discussed include injury updates for several hurlers including Jose Taveras , Nick Fanti , Bailey Falter and a critical note on Triple-A reliever Brandon Leibrandt .  Also mentioned are outfielders Jhailyn Ortiz and Jose Pujols , catcher Deivi Grullon , Lakewood starters Will Stewart and David Parkinson as well as impressive Double-A reliever Kyle Dohy along with Triple-A reliever Tyler Gilbert. Read onward for much of my interview with Joe and check back in the coming days for his thoughts on some other names that are worthy of interest.  -Kyle Dohy's graduated out of Lakewood and Clearwater, landing in Reading.  He's started to get some attention, after he was a 16th round draft pick and pitched in short-season Class A last year.  Can you talk...

We're beyond the mid-season point for both full-season Class A teams and now would be as good a time as any to run down some of the top performers throughout the Phillies' minor league levels.  Class A Short-Season Williamsport Crosscutters-  Through four games, lefty hitting first baseman Edwin Rodriguez is batting .462 with two doubles and two RBI.  The 21-year-old Dominican spent the last two seasons playing in the Gulf Coast League. Outfielder Matt Vierling, who was the Phillies' 5th round draft selection out of Notre Dame this year, sports a .450 average with a triple, two RBI and two stolen bases through five contests.  The 21-year-old righty batter is a native of St. Louis.   Venezuelan born hurler Gustavo Armas had an outstanding start in his first appearance of the young season for the Cutters.  In seven innings of work he allowed no runs while striking out seven and walking none.  The righty, Armas, is 22-years-old. Class A ...

Damon Jones, image- Jay Floyd The Lakewood BlueClaws pitching staff has been leading the Class A South Atlantic League in team ERA for several weeks.  In 62 contests, the Claws' staff features a 2.62 ERA.  Furthermore, the starting rotation has been marvelous, placing four of its six members in the top ten on the league's ERA leaderboard. Left-hander Damon Jones has had a hand in the club's remarkable production.  An 18th round draft selection by the Phillies last year out of Washington State, Jones has posted a 4-2 record with a 2.12 ERA, a .223 batting average against and a 9.7 K/9 mark through 10 starts. Recently, I sat down with Jones to talk about his efforts this year, his teammates in the BlueClaws' starting rotation, his pitch repertoire and more. Read on for that full interview. -Talk to me about your impressions of the league and maintaining your tremendous results thus far. It's a really good league.  I know we have a great rotation thus fa...

Will Stewart, image- Jay Floyd The Class A South Atlantic League announced its All-Stars on Tuesday and the roster for the Northern Division includes six Lakewood BlueClaws. The team will send four pitchers, including lefty starter Will Stewart, righty starter Ramon Rosso, left-handed reliever Kyle Dohy and right-handed reliever Addison Russ.  Additionally, third baseman Jake Scheiner and shortstop Nick Maton are also on the team.  Stewart, 20, holds the league's best ERA among qualified players with a 1.23 mark.  The Phillies' 20th round draft pick from 2015 also sports a 5-0 record and a .197 batting average against through nine starts this season. Rosso, a native of the Dominican Republic, has a 2-1 record with a 1.44 ERA and a .191 BAA.  The 21-year-old has garnered a lot of attention this season with his seemingly out-of-nowhere, surprising contributions. Dohy, a 16th round draft pick last year, has a 3-3 record with a 1.00 ERA and a .157 BAA in 19 a...

Will Stewart (right), image- Jay Floyd Recently, I ran a feature on Class A Lakewood starting pitcher Will Stewart .  The 20-year-old lefty sports a 4-0 record with a 1.46 ERA through his first six appearances this season. I talked at length with Will and much of the interview didn't make it into the article, so I am publishing excerpts from out chat here.  Read ahead for more of what the Phillies' 20th round draft pick from 2015 had to say. -What would you want fans that are just starting to hear about this guy Will Stewart who is posting great numbers in Lakewood to know about you? I would say to learn more about me, not just the stat line, because there’s going to be times when the stat line does not reflect how I pitched and there’s going to be times where the stat line tells you I got crushed.   Trust that I’m going to work as hard as I can to be here.  We’re not heroes.  We’re regular people that go play a game that’s a lot ...

Will Stewart (right), image- Jay Floyd LAKEWOOD, NJ - Will Stewart has a chip on his shoulder. It's not a hot-tempered, get-out-of-my-face chip.  Instead it's one that lies underneath, behind a calm demeanor and a steadily approachable mug and he unleashes it only on his opposition. The left-handed pitcher was taken by the Phillies in the 20th round of the 2015 amateur draft out of Hazel Green High School in Alabama.  Getting selected after 693 other guys gave the six-foot-two 175-pounder something to prove. "I think guys in the higher rounds, we have more to prove because we weren’t the guys that we going to come out of high school and get all the love," Stewart shared at Lakewood's FirstEnergy Park last week.  "There’s nothing wrong with that.  If you deserve it, you deserve it.  But the later round guys I feel like we’re hungrier.  We need it more.  We don’t have things, like a big signing bonus, to fall back on." Well, Stewart is d...