11 thoughts on “Phillies win the GCL crown”

  2. Last year it was the championship of all of Florida with the High A Threshers. This year we will have to settle for the championship of just the rookie Gulf Coast League. Gotta like Sabastian Valle whose two run double was key to winning Game 2 and his two run homer set up the win in the third game final. Reginal Simon shut down the Nats who had the best record in the regular season with a 3 hit six inning shutout with lots of ground ball outs. I like the future of these two 18 year olds who reacted well to pressure in games that counted.

    Like

  3. are these some of the same kids who had that ridiculously long winning streak for the DSL team last year? This young you never know how they’ll grow, but its good to see them perform well in pressure situations. Congrats to them all.

    Like

  4. I just got a phone call about 1/2 an hour ago from some friends who went to the Melbourne for the game(s). They said it was a lot of fun to see, and it will be the second championship ring for one of my friends who works for the GCL team.

    Hopefully a few of these guys can develop into something special for the Phillies in the future.

    Like

  5. Jeff Crupper This my first off season on this blog. What happens to the gcl kids after the season. Do they go to instruction leagues. I asked because I was thinking about Cosart, Gose, hewitt players who didn’t play at all or have played a little.

    Like

  6. What is also exciting is that Simon is from Haiti and Valle is from Mexico. The Phillies actually signed a second player from Haiti on this year’s DSL squad so it looks like they are investing on the other side of the island. Valle is the first young Phillies signee from Mexico in more than a decade. If we are not going to spend the most money in Latin America, it helps to sign prospects from countries that are not being worked by all the other teams (Brazil is another we are working).

    Congrats to the GCL team. It is great to see them winning with mostly younger players (unlike the Pirates). Yes we had some older players like Flande, Garcia, Bergh, and others, but we also had the majority of playing time go to legitimate younger prospects with several very good showings. Collier, Castro and Valle stand out among the younger hitting prospects before you even get to Hewitt and Gose. Knapp, Simon, Lugo, and Slate all stood out among the younger pitchers before you even get to Pettibone, May, and Cosart who all played very little. Extended Spring games should be pretty competitive next year.

    Like

  10. Bill Conlin did an interesting story on the GCL Phils about a month ago. It is interesting reading linked below if anyone missed it. In a recent radio interview in Reading Minor League coordinator Bill Dancy was very high on outfielder Leondro Castro who led the team in hitting in the playoffs. To me catcher Sebastian Valle was the most impressive of the bunch. All this guy did today was catch both ends of the abreviated doubleheader. When was the last time a catcher at any level was the sole catcher for two games on the same day. Just doesn’t not happen anymore. He led all players in the playoffs with 5 RBI’s in four games.
    http://www.philly.com/dailynews/columnists/bill_conlin/20080630_Bill_Conlin__Where_are_the_Latin_prospects_.html

    Like

  11. “Jeff Crupper – This my first off season on this blog. What happens to the GCL kids after the season. Do they go to instruction leagues. ”

    Many will play in the FIL and some will play winter ball in their home countries. A few may repeat GCL, but most will be at Williamsport in ’09 some of the college age draftees probably higher than that.

    Like

Comments are closed.