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This post originally appeared on PhillyLongDrive.com . I recently wrote a feature on Phillies righty pitching prospect Jake Thompson , who has been dominant of late with the Triple-A Lehigh Valley IronPigs. RHP Jake Thompson, with Wed's win, is now 4-0 with a 0.73 ERA in his last 7 starts for the #IronPigs . #MiLB #Phillies — Jay Floyd (@PhoulBallz) July 7, 2016 The feature, which can be read over at PhoulBallz.com , includes comments from both Thompson and his pitching coach Dave Lundquist, with both men describing the what has made the difference in helping the 22-year-old standout get on track and become a hot buzz name among the organization's promising future contributors. Here, I've included some interview excerpts from my time chatting with Jake last week. Read ahead for those exclusive quotes. Jake Thompson, image- Jay Floyd -Offering thoughts on what he does between starts to stay sharp and prepare for his next outing... I’m not a big film guy...

Thompson, image- Jay Floyd ALLENTOWN, Pa- With some less than ideal efforts coming from the Phillies’ starting rotation in recent weeks, Triple-A starter Jake Thompson ’s recent dominance of the International League could have him in line to fill a void at the big league level very soon. In his latest six starts for the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, the 22-year-old, who was acquired as part of last summer’s trade that sent Cole Hamels to Texas, Thompson has tallied a 3-0 record with a 0.85 ERA. It wasn’t all smooth sailing this season for the right-hander that was originally a 2 nd round draft choice of Detriot in 2012. Through four April starts, Thompson was the owner of a 6.16 ERA. Recently, though, he has looked more like the dominant starter that the Phillies assigned to Double-A Reading last year when he led them into the postseason with a 5-1 record and 1.80 ERA in seven regular season starts following the trade. Improvements for the Texas native since that troubling o...

Zach Eflin with Reading in 2015, image- Jay Floyd Rookie right-hander Zach Eflin needed 92 pitches to finish a complete game and notch his first big league victory on Tuesday night. The effort helped the Phillies lock down a 5-1 win over Atlanta at Citizens Bank Park. Helped along by four double plays in his nine innings of work, the 22-year-old Eflin breezed through the night, surrendering just a single run while striking out six and walking none in nine innings of work. The lone blemish was a solo homer run surrendered to Braves center fielder Ender Enciarte. It was the former Phillie's first home run of the season. The Phillies put on a power display in the contest, slamming four solo homers. Peter Bourjos got the scoring started with a solo shot in the first inning, his fourth of the year. Cody Asche added his fourth of the season in the fourth inning. Freddy Galvis plated another run in that same frame with a sacrifice fly. Maikel Franco and Tommy Jose...

Dave Lundquist, image- Jay Floyd Last week I chatted with the pitching coach for the Triple-A Lehigh Valley IronPigs Dave Lundquist. Topics of discussion included his team's All-Star catcher Andrew Knapp , reliever Edubray Ramos , righty David Buchanan and plenty more. Read ahead for that interview. -Feedback I've gotten on Andrew Knapp has included his skills at leading a pitching staff and being a good leader. Have you seen growth from him in this aspect of his game? One thing here, with some older pitchers, you gotta learn each pitcher a little bit and he's doing good. He gets to evaluate the pitches from inning to inning and prioritize certain things and stay within the game plan, so a lot of that is getting better. Doing a good job there and he's getting to learn some veteran pitchers that have been around and see some different sequences, so it's good for him. -News about Mark Appel 's season ending elbow surgery is disappointing for t...

This week I chatted with Triple-A Lehigh Valley manager Dave Brundage along with outfielder Cameron Perkins . Brundage spoke on several topics including his All-Star closer, veteran Edward Mujica and a pair of starting pitchers. Perkins, also an International League All-Star, spoke about his efforts that earned him such a nod and more. Read ahead for those interview excerpts. Dave Brundage, image- Jay Floyd Brundage: -Speaking about Mujica's contributions to the IronPigs' club... He's a big reason why we're closing ball games out and shutting the door and it's nice to have a veteran in that situation and when he's in there, he throws strikes and, you know, he's not overpowering, but he certainly knows how to pitch. -I then asked Brundage if he thought anyone else on his team was deserving of an All-Star nod... I mean, you know, Nick Williams did-- I mean, for a young guy, I personally, you know, nothing against Mujica, I like voting for y...

Dylan Cozens, image- Jay Floyd With the unveiling of the Double-A Eastern League All-Star rosters on Thursday, it was announced that six Reading Fightin Phils players have been honored to play in the annual exhibition that is set to take place in Akron, OH on Wednesday, July 13th. Catcher Jorge Alfaro , first baseman Rhys Hoskins , outfielder Dylan Cozens , infielder Jesmuel Valentin , starting pitcher Nick Pivetta and reliever Hoby Milner are slated to take part in the EL All-Star Game. Cozens, who is tied with teammate Hoskins for the minor league lead in home runs with 21, was thankful for the chance to represent Reading and the Phillies in the league's midsummer classic. "It feels good to get recognized and to get the opportunity to play with some of the best guys in minor league baseball," Cozens said. Overall in 77 games Cozens has a .276 average, 22 doubles and 62 RBI to go along with his remarkable home run total. The 22-year-old was the Phill...

Imhof, image Jay Floyd Left-handed pitching prospect Matt Imhof , who made news recently following a freak accident with workout equipment, announced via his personal Instagram account that the injury he suffered resulted in the loss of his right eye. Reportedly Imhof was taking part in a stretching routine following a recent Clearwater Threshers game and equipment he was using snapped, causing part of it to strike Imhof in his right eye. According to the player, he suffered a fractured nose, two fractured orbital bones and severe damage to his eye that caused immediate loss of vision. He has undergone multiple surgeries since the incident. In his statement (see embedded post below), Imhof stated: "Even thought I suffered some bad luck, I'm not dead. I'm gonna be alright, I'm gonna perservere and I'm gonna succeed." In the two years since he was the Phillies’ second round draft choice out of Cal Poly the 22-year-old tallied a 13-10 record with...

Nick Williams, image- Nick Williams In Monday's 5-3 loss to Columbus Lehigh Valley outfielder Nick Williams ended an 0-for-4 night with a grounder back to the pitcher. Frustration with coming up short for his team seemed to be displayed and urgency was missing from his stride heading toward first base and heading back to the dugout. He was immediately removed from the game and benched for the IronPigs' following game. It was his second benching for such an issue this month. The 22-year-old standout, who was acquired from Texas as part of last summer's Cole Hamels trade, missed two games just a couple weeks back when he was benched for a lack of urgency on the base paths as well. While Williams initially played coy and told media members following Monday's game that he received no explanation for being pulled from that night's contest and then asserted during a Comcast SportsNet interview on Tuesday that he felt other players would have done the same thing...

The Phillies announced on Wednesday that righty pitcher Mark Appel had undergone surgery to remove a bone spur from his throwing elbow. Appel had previously gone on the disabled list with shoulder soreness following his May 22nd start for Lehigh Valley. Phillies director of player development Joe Jordan told me recently that Appel was throwing pain free and the team expected him to be back in action by July 15th. IronPigs manager Dave Brundage stated that he suspected there was more to Appel's physical issues than just the sore shoulder. "Something had to be bothering him, something had to be there, where his stuff had dropped off, you know, his last couple outings, had dropped off significantly," Brundage stated. "I had a hard time believing it was just out of the stretch. It was something more and obviously he was putting a lot of effort into his pitches there and it's a tough break for him, but obviously, you can get (the elbow) cleaned up and ge...

In the midst of Monday's WWE Raw program on the USA Network, a tag team was billed as having the names of two Phillies prospects who were actually in the midst of a game at home in Clearwater, FL. The show, being broadcast live from nearby Tampa, featured a pair of new-comer, enhancement talents billed as Carlos Tocci and Mitch Walding who were set to face off against the rising superstar duo known as Enzo and Cass. The match ended in a squash with the known stars going over in a quick fashion. Around the time of the match airing on TV, the Threshers were heading toward extra-innings against division rival Daytona.  Clearwater would go on to lose 6-5 in 10 innings.  Tocci went 1-for-5 and Walding was 1-for-4 with a walk in the contest. Check out the embedded Instagram post below for video of the pair's announcement.  Below that is an image of the imposter Phils prospects. *UPDATE*- The players offered their thoughts .  See below for that also. Shout o...

Jesmuel Valentin, image- Jay Floyd Switch-hitting infielder Jesmuel Valentin has been a bit of an underrated contributor with the Double-A Reading Fightins. Heading into action on Friday, Valentin was batting .339 over his last 14 games. Overall this season, the 22-year-old is batting .282 with four home runs and 35 RBI in 64 games. Valentin, who plays mostly second base, but dabbles at shortstop a bit also, is the son of former big leaguer Jose Valentin . The Puerto Rico native was a supplementary round pick (51st overall) of the Dodgers in 2012. He was acquired by the Phils as part of the Roberto Hernandez trade in 2014. Recently, I spoke with Jesmuel about his team's success, growing up around the game and more. Read ahead for that full interview. -The Reading team has been great and you've contributed very nicely to the club's success. What are your thoughts on competition in the Eastern League this year? I just came here with the mindset that...

This past year I became a first-time father. There is nothing in my life that I have looked forward to more than becoming a dad and being able to guide a child through life, bringing him or her up to be as outstanding and as beautiful of a person as my wife is and as much of a baseball fan as I became. In recent months I have felt a tremendous bond with my son and I wondered, at times, how great the connection will grow but also how long it might stay intact. I treasure the opportunity to watch him learn and develop, but I feel like there will be a day when he doesn’t need my insight or coaching. I don't have a father, so, without an example of my own to go by, I worry that he'll outgrow our relationship. Wondering if that's accurate, I began asking players and coaches that I know for their thoughts on how close each one is with his dad, when it comes to his career and sometimes life as well. I mainly targeted men whose dads also had a career-path in profess...