In a game featuring the best of the best, Lakewood clearly demonstrated that it has players that can clearly play with the best of them. Michael Taylor, who began the game batting cleanup went 2-5, with an RBI double. Any doubt about Michael Durant‘s ability to come back from injury? Forget it – as the North’s DH, Durant went 2-5, scoring twice and hitting a two-run homerun in the 8th inning. Joel Naughton came in for the North in the 7th inning, to go 1-2 while scoring a run. From a defensive standpoint, it is worth noting that four of the six hitters to come to the plate while Naughton was catching struck out. The performance only helped to cement Naughton’s place as the top defensive catcher in the SAL. On the year, Naughton has caught twenty-seven would-be stealers, at a 46.6% rate, ranking hiim first among all catchers in the SAL.
Drew Naylor was named the game’s Most Outstanding Pitcher. On a night where no pitcher threw more than one inning, Naylor made his count, throwing a perfect inning in the 6th. After inducing a ground-out for the first out, Naylor struck out the rest of the side in earning the award.
Phuture Phillies 
Between Lakewood, Clearwater, and Reading, the Phils minor seems to have a ton of potential. Gotta love what Naylor and Taylor are doing right now. Before long, they will be recognized by scouts throughout baseball, if not already. Hopefully, they give the Phils the flexibility to trade some of their prospects higher up for some ML pitching
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James is it reasonable for us to ask for a “Profile” of Michael Taylor? I don’t know anything about him other than what I have read here in the last couple weeks.
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A Taylor profile is coming. I’m slowly adding more to the site, I’ve added Jaramillo, Milner and Myers in the last few days, and I’m just working down the list. There are guys who don’t have their own tag that need one, I’m going to be adding those as well.
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thanks for the new profiles. i was looking for myers the other day. is there any chance you might be able to add the player’s age/size info to the profiles?
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I’ll add age, size is kind of pointless because reported numbers are sometimes wrong/and or outdated.
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You can find the age on the career register, by the way, but I’ll add birth dates.
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great…now let’s promote these guys and get them some tougher competition!
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Taylor, Naylor, Demmink and Pfinsgraff and maybe Durant all promoted to Clearwater today. They will arrive tomorrow
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If that’s true, then a couple of musings/observations…
1: Who’s going where to make room in the Clearwater outfield? (I say Milner should go to Reading.)
2: Pfinsgraff gets a second shot to tackle Clearwater after a rough go of it last year (8.35 ERA and 1.75 WHIP in 18.1 IP last year).
3: Who plugs the hole in the Lakewood rotation? (I said before: maybe they get creative and give Brauer a shot).
4: Poor Chance Chapman. I know they don’t really have men to spare at Lakewood, but Chance needs to be challenged against High A hitters. He’s 24 for godsakes.
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In Scott Lauber’s blog today he writes
June 18 — GOLSON TO DL & MORE METS REACTION | 12:50 PM
Quick minor-league note: Center fielder Greg Golson has been placed on the disabled list with a left wrist strain. Golson, who could receive a September call-up, is batting .299 with 13 doubles, two triples, seven homers, 36 RBIs and 17 stolen bases in 21 chances for Class AA Reading.
Also, outfielder Michael Taylor and right-handers Drew Naylor and Ben Pfinsgraff have been promoted to Class A Clearwater from low-A Lakewood. Naylor (5-3, 2.99 ERA, 97 strikeouts) was named Most Outstanding Pitcher in last night’s South Atlantic League All-Star Game. Taylor, meanwhile, was batting .361 with 10 homers, 50 RBIs and 10 steals for Lakewood.
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I second the notion of Milner getting a promotion to Reading.
James (Phuture) I just want to thank you again for all your hard work on this site. Excellent job! Much appreciated.
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Got the wrong info on Durant. He is staying in Lakewood for the moment.
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Taylor and Naylor (the rhymin’ brothers) have to be moved up. Durant’s been on the DL for nearly a month so he should take some more swings at Lakewood. I agree Chapman isn’t being challenged enough at Lakewood. If he’s going to be a life-long minor leaguer, that’s fine. But if he’s still a prospect, they’d better find out what he can do.
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I see a couple comments about Chapman and him being stuck at Lakewood. What are his chances, pardon the pun, for getting moved up? I have not had the opportunity to see him play, but I have listened to a few of his games on the internet, and have been following his stats. He seems like he has some good stuff.
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Jamw96: just speculation on my part, but I think the reason Chapman’s still at Lakewood is the numbers game. At this point, the BlueClaws have only Sampson, Diekman, and Byrd as “true” starters in addition to Chapman, and have been using Kissock and even Tejeda as starters to plug the gap. Meanwhile, the Threshers now have a rotation of Savery, Garcia, Carpenter, Naylor and Monasterios (as soon as he comes off the DL).
At this point, I have to think Chance is stuck at Lakewood for the rest of this year. I’m assuming he’ll be converted to the bullpen next year, and maybe they’ll double jump him to Reading, but staying at Lakewood at this point isn’t developing him as a pitcher.
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