Reports from the Phillies indicate that they have been extremely impressed with the work of Jonathan Singleton in the OF, and as a result, they expect him to begin next year playing LF in Clearwater.

Ready, set, discuss.

3B Travis Mattair, the Phillies 2nd round pick in the 2007 draft has made a decision to return to the baseball diamond after a one year “retirement”.  Excellent work over at http://www.phoulballz.com in picking up the story and interviewing Mattair.  Mattair, who is soon to be 22, spent both 2008 and 2009 in Lakewood and hit .236/.326/.333 in a disappointing 2009 campaign. In 450 AB’s, Mattair had 3 HR and 39 RBI to go along with 12 SB.

Mattair has placed himself behind the eight ball underperforming in 2009 and then with his self-imposed exile (trying to earn some minutes on the Boise State basketball team) last year, however, with that being said, he is a player who the Phils put a good deal of stock into at one point.  It should be interesting to see what Mattair can do to earn a minor league roster spot in 2011 after a full year away from the game.

Lehigh Valley reliever Michael Schwimer gave me an opportunity to ask him several questions which he has graciously answered.  We at Phuture Phillies, thank him for the interview.  As we have documented, Schwimer had an excellent year, first in Reading and then following his mid-year promotion, in Lehigh Valley. After successfully closing games in Reading, Schwimer was used along with Mike Stutes as the primary set up men for Scott Mathieson in Lehigh Valley.  Schwimer, who will be 25 entering Spring Training, was the Phillies 14th round draft pick out of the University of Virginia in the 2008 draft. In 2010 he was a combined 7-5 with a 2.85 ERA and 11 saves in his 48 appearances between Reading and Lehigh Valley.  Most impressively, he walked an average of just 3.2/9 innings while striking out 11.4/9. Opponents hit just .221 against him in AAA. Continue reading Michael Schwimer Interview →

Just a quick hit that Scott Mathieson left the Phillies today for Florida, to participate in the Florida Instructional League.  Mathieson who has been on the DL, will be rehabbing from his lower back strain as well as continuing his work on the splitter.

This is slightly old news now, a few days anyway, and it might have been mentioned in the comments somewhere, but I wanted to put a post up anyway.

Update –> Reading comprehension FAIL on my part. Hip labrum surgery. He’ll be back by ST. Should be fine. False alarm. Sorry.

Hi all. I figured that it would be interesting to do a live blog of Vance Worley’s start today, his first MLB start. We got a very brief glimpse of Worley a while back, as he pitched 1 inning in relief, but we’ll get a chance to see more of what he can do today in his first big league start. Worley has been solid this season at AA/AAA, logging 158 IP with a 3.36 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP. His 6.78 K/9 isn’t eye opening, but its passable, and he’s limited his walks, with a solid 2.62 BB/9 rate. Check below the fold to find out what I’ll be watching for.

Continue reading Vance Worley live game log →

Former Clearwater Thresher, now Reading Phillie Austin Hyatt has been named the Florida State League Pitcher of the Year.  Hyatt, 24, was a 15th round pick in the 2009 draft and threw in 23 games for the Threshers this year (21 starts).  He went 11-5 with a 3.04 ERA in 124.1 innings of work, walking 35 while striking out 156 hitters.  His WHIP stood at 1.08 in High A, while the opposition hit just .220 against him.  Hyatt recently made the jump to Reading and has started 4 games for the RPhils, going 1-0 with a 4.91 ERA in 22 innings.  He is continuing to strike hitters out at a very high rate (25 in 22 innings in AA). Flying a bit under the radar screen because of his advanced age for High A, the numbers have caused more than a few people to take notice as the year progressed.

Multiple sources are reporting that John Mayberry has been sent back to Lehigh Valley after just 2 at bats with the big club.  Though not confirmed, the same sources are speculating that it will be a pitcher called up to take his spot on the Phillies roster.  If so, the obvious candidates are Scott Mathieson and Antonio Bastardo, with Bastardo being the more likely candidate because of his success and the struggles of JC Romero.

Some interesting comments from Gorm Heimueller, The Phillies Minor League Pitching Coordinator during a recent conversation he had with Greg Giombarrese, the Lakewood BlueCLaws Media Relations Manager.  Check out the entire conversation at http://blog.blueclaws.com/. 

On Trevor May’s latest outing: “He has looked alot more under control, except maybe the first inning on Monday. Not that many times can you throw 35 pitches in an inning, not give up a run and nobody hits a fair ball. The most encouraging thing, with the long inning, he regrouped and gave us five more solid innings…A lot of those games he wasn’t taken out because of getting hit, but they were pitch counts. The other day, he threw 35 in the first but ended up with just 94.” Continue reading Comments from Gorm Heimueller, Minor League Pitching Coordinator →

Update: Rizzotti is in the Lehigh Valley lineup for this evenings game, playing first base and hitting cleanup.

Matt Rizzotti probably the most talked about player on this site currently, was promoted from AA Reading to AAA Lehigh Valley today, making it his third level of play this year. Rizzotti was originally the Phillies 6th round selection in the 2007 draft out of Manhatten College.  He played primarily first base, while seeing significant time as the RPhils DH as well. Rizzotti is currently the Eastern League leader in batting average (.362) and comes in with the very impressive line of .362/.451/.638 during his time with Reading this year. On the year, Rizzotti is hitting a combined .361 with 17 HR and 71 RBI in 107 games between Clearwater and Reading.

The Floral Park, Ny native, a lefty, should see regular playing time for Lehigh Valley during the seasons last month.