Phuture Phillies recently got a chance to sit down with the Threshers slugging third baseman Cody Overbeck to talk with him about baseball and life. Overbeck was drafted in the ninth round of the 2008 draft out of Ole Miss after his Junior season and finished the summer of that year in Williamsport where he hit .272 and set a team record for RBIs in a season. In 2009 Cody skipped over Lakewood going to high-A Clearwater where he had an off season hitting just .230, but at Clearwater again for a second season in 2010 he has gotten off to a red hot start. We wanted to know what he thought about his season so far, how he got here today, and where he hoped to be at the end of the year.
Continue reading Cody Overbeck Interview
All posts by Jeff Crupper
Threshers Win Big in Season Opener
Fidel Hernadez got off to a strong start with 4 RBIs in the game, while Brian Gump and Troy Hanzawa each had 2 RBIs. Matt Rizzotti picked up the Threshers’ first HR of the year going 3-4 on the night, and Austin Hyatt held the Jays hitless going into the 7th until giving up a 2-run HR.
If you haven’t already signed up for the Threshers Nation Twitter feed go do it now to get live updates as the games happen all season. CLICK HERE for tonight’s boxscore.
Appologies first thing for my lack of Clearwater coverage the past year. I’ll try to participate as I can….
2010 Minor League Workout Groups
Most of you who visit this site regularly already know this, but for those who don’t, keep in mind that these groups, especially this first list, are very fluid. Where players are listed now is not likely to be where the player will end up playing the 2010 season for a large number of these guys.
CLICK HERE to view the 2010 Phillies minor league workout groups. Theoretically Group 1 would be Lehigh Valley, Group 2 would be Reading, Group 3 would be Clearwater, and group 4 would be Lakewood. There will eventually be a group 5 added to the list with Extended Spring Training and Williamsport guys on it as people on this list slide down the rungs over the course of Spring Training. Usually this list is updated each Monday or Tuesday so I’ll try to post the new list each week as they become available.
Clearwater Threshers: July (So Far)
Well, so far the month of July has not been kind to the Clearwater Threshers. The team has a 4-7 record on the month, and has been outscored by a margin of 78-38. The team went scoreless in four consecutive games from July 6th to the 9th, although one of the games was called due to rain after 3.5 innings of play. (Over that four game streak the team was outscored 29-0.)
The team had ended the month of June on a hot streak winning the final six of the month, and then won the first two of July to extend their winning streak to eight games. Unfortunately since that time the team has fallen on hard times losing seven of the last nine games by an average margin of nearly eight runs.
Some good news can come from the fact that Freddy Galvis has returned to action playing with the Gulf Coast League team, and has hit .400 in four games. It is expected that Galvis will return to the Threshers roster when the team returns to action at home after the MLB All-Star break this coming Wednesday night.
Needless to say it has been the pitching staff that has suffered the most for the Threshers lately, although the offense has been mediocre at best.
Clearwater Threshers News
The Clearwater Threshers have started the second half of the Florida State League hot. The team has won five straight games including four straight extra-innings wins over the Jupiter Hammerheads to sweep the initial series of the half. The team won their opener against the Palm Beach Cardinals on Monday night, and were rained out on Tuesday with a double header scheduled for Wednesday night. Continue reading Clearwater Threshers News
Clearwater Threshers Report
With the draft consuming most of the talk here at Phuture Phillies last week the Threshers Report was very abbreviated, so I’ll cover the last two weeks worth of action in this report. Since the last full report the team finds themselves in third place with a record of 30-31. They were 6-8 over the last 14 games, but showed some promising signs particularly with the starting pitching. Yohan Flande has led the way on the mound and was 1-0 in his last three starts including a complete game shut out. In his other two starts he gave up just three combined runs, but got little offensive support.
Rays Nix Threshers Pat Burrell Bobblehead
IN OTHER NEWS: The Tampa Bay Rays have appearantly chosen to execute a rarely used agreement between Major League Baseball and Minor League Baseball that allows any MLB club to prohibit a minor league franchise within 60 miles of their club to give away bobblehead dolls at any game.
On Friday the Threshers are scheduled to give away a Pat Burrell bobblehead as part of a Friday night bobblehead series which has already included Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins on two previous Friday night games. The Threshers’ intention was to give away a bobblehead of every starting player in the Phillies 2008 World Series lineup.
The Rays have now executed their right in the MLB/MilB agreement to prevent the Threshers from giving away the Pat Burrell bobblehead and any future bobbleheads.
The Clearwater Threshers and any other team within 60 miles of the Rays television viewing audience will be no longer be allowed to give away bobbleheads as a promotion for ANY of their games. This will prohibit the F.S.L. affiliates the Clearwater Threshers, Dunedin Bluejays, Tampa Yankees, Sarasota Reds, and Lakeland Flying Tigers from EVER issuing a bobblehead.
It will however allow the Port Charlotte Stone Crabs of the F.S.L (a Rays franchise that is just outside of the 60 mile radius) to be allowed to give away bobbleheads.
Email the Rays to send an email to the Rays to tell them what you think about their actions.
Very Abbreviated Threshers News
With the draft dominating this week’s Phuture Phillies news the Clearwater Report is short and sweet this week. Continue reading Very Abbreviated Threshers News
Florida State League All-Stars Announced
The Clearwater Threshers will have four representatives in this year’s All-Star game.
Infielder Fidel Hernandez, Outfielder Dominic Brown, Utility Player Tim Kennelly (who earned it as catcher) and starting pitcher Yohan Flande will represent the team in Ft. Myers. Continue reading Florida State League All-Stars Announced
Clearwater Threshers News Redux
Well, the big news out of Clearwater this week was Kyle Drabek’s complete game shut out, and his subsequent promotion to Double-A Reading. He made his debut there on Wednesday night going seven scoreless innings and getting his first AA win. Congrats to Kyle, we’ll miss you in Clearwater.
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