Spring Training Game 1 - Baseball is Back!

2021 Choice Lehigh Valley
IronPigs Update #14

Phillies 6, Tigers 6
Spring Training Game 1 - Friday Afternoon, March 18th in Lakeland
Record - 0-0-1

One Sentence Summary:  The Phillies received home runs from Darick Hall and Matt Kroon as they played to a tie against the Tigers in Lakeland.

What It Means:  After another long offseason, which included a 99-day lock-out by the owners, baseball is back!  Spring training games this year will be played over only three weeks, and the start of the regular season will be pushed back a week as a residual effect of the lock-out.  I'm thrilled to be able to compose these daily game summary posts for another year.

What Happened:  None of the team's veterans made the trip for this game, which featured quite a few prospects and non-roster invitees.  Michael Kelly received the start for the Phillies and he pitched two scoreless innings.  The offense had 12 hits, including a pair from Justin Williams.

Featured Card:  I'd love to see Hall got a shot with the Phillies at some point.  He's collected 98 minor league home runs with the organization since his professional debut back in 2016.

First pitch of the spring to Jhailyn Ortiz

Camp Head Count:  58

The Phillies' official website has gotten progressively worse over the years in updating its roster and transactions pages.  Memorialized below are the 58 players in camp with the club as Grapefruit League action began.  New acquisition Kyle Schwarber has yet to be added to the 40-man roster.

Right-handed pitchers (21) - Cam Bedrosian*, Andrew Bellatti*, Connor Brogdon, Sam Coonrod, Tyler Cyr*, Nick Duron*, Joe Gatto*, Hans Crouse, Seranthony Dominguez, Zach Eflin, Jeurys Familia, Kyle Gibson, Michael Kelly*, Corey Knebel, Dillon Maples*, James McArthur, Francisco Morales, Nick Nelson, Jake Newberry*, Aaron Nola, Zack Wheeler

Left-handed pitchers (10) - Jose Alvarado, Kyle Dohy*, Kent Emanuel, Bailey Falter, Brad Hand, Damon Jones, Braeden Ogle*, Cristopher Sanchez, Ryan Sherriff, Ranger Suarez

Catchers (6) - Edgar Cabral*, Rafael Marchan, Logan O'Hoppe*, J.T. Realmuto, Donny Sands, Garrett Stubbs

Infielders (11) - Alec Bohm, Johan Camargo, Luis Garcia, Didi Gregorius, Darick Hall*, Rhys Hoskins, Scott Kingery*, Nick Maton, Yairo Munoz*, Jean Segura, Bryson Stott*

Outfielders (10) - Bryce Harper, Adam Haseley, Odubel Herrera, Mickey Moniak, Simon Muzziotti, Jhailyn Ortiz, Johan Rojas*, Matt Vierling, Justin Williams*, Luke Williams

JoJo Romero (lhp) is on the 60-day injured list, recovering from Tommy John surgery.  On Friday, Yoan Lopez (rhp) was claimed by the Marlins off waivers after being designated for assignment to make room for Odubel Herrera (of), resigned to a one-year contract.

*Non-roster invitee

Prospects Added to 40-Man Roster; Emanuel Claimed from Astros

2022 Chachi New Additions #2

2021 Bowman Prospects #BP-79

2021 Choice Reading Fightin Phils #25

2021 Choice Reading Fightin Phils Update #39

The Phillies added four players to their 40-man roster on Friday afternoon, bringing the current roster tally up to 36, at least temporarily.  Here's a look at the four new players who will suit up in big league camp when pitchers and catchers report to Clearwater in mid-February.

• Luis Garcia (ss) - Not to be confused with the former Phillies reliever who spent six seasons with the Phillies between 2013 and 2018 and enjoyed a career resurgence out of the Cardinals' bullpen last season, this Luis Garcia is a 21-year-old infield prospect who played for Clearwater and Jersey Shore last season.  Garcia has had a ton of baseball card appearances already, with 18 cards in my collection dating back to 2018.
• James McArthur (rhp) - McArthur made it up to Double-A Reading in 2021 and at two levels last season he was 2-6 with a 4.25 ERA over 20 appearances, including 15 starts.  He too has been a frequent subject of Bowman and minor league team sets since 2018.
• Jhailyn Ortiz (of) - Ortiz is now 23 and he continued to show power last season at Reading and Jersey Shore.  In 95 games at both levels he batted .250 with 23 home runs and 54 RBIs.  Ortiz was one of the top international free agents in 2015 and he signed with the Phillies as a 16-year-old for $4.2 million.  He's had cards dating back to 2016 in Bowman products and Phillies minor league team sets.
• Kent Emanuel (lhp) - This lefty reliever was claimed off waivers from the Astros, where he had worn uniform #0 during his brief stint with the club.  He appeared in 10 games with Houston in 2021, going 1-0 with a 2.55 ERA over 17 2/3 innings pitched, before his season was cut short by an elbow injury.  He underwent UCL surgery, missing the remainder of the season.  Emanuel's first mainstream card can be found in the recently released 2021 Stadium Club Chrome set, but more importantly he's the second addition to the somewhat rare 2022 Chachi New Additions insert set. 

Memory Lane

2009 Additions - Quintin Berry, Yohan Flande and Jesus Sanchez
2010 Additions - Cesar Hernandez, Matt Rizzotti, Harold Garcia, Freddy Galvis and Justin De Fratus
2011 Additions - Phillippe Aumont, Jake Diekman, Tyson Gillies and Sebastian Valle
2012 Additions - Zach Collier, Ethan Martin, Trevor May and Jonathan Pettibone
2013 Additions - Aaron Altherr, Kelly Dugan, Tommy Joseph and Rob Rasmussen
2014 Additions - Jesse Biddle, Adam Morgan and Nefi Ogando
2015 Additions - Jimmy Cordero, Roman Quinn and Edubray Ramos
2016 Additions - 11 prospects
2017 Additions - Seranthony Dominguez, Franklyn Kilome, Ranger Suarez, Jose Taveras and Engelb Vielma
2018 Additions - Arquimedes Gamboa, Edgar Garcia and Adonis Medina
2019 Additions - Garrett Cleavinger, Mauricio Llovera, JoJo Romero and Cristopher Sanchez

2020 Additions - Kyle Dohy, Bailey Falter, Damon Jones, Nick Maton, Francisco Morales and Simon Muzziotti

2021 Additions - Kent Emanuel, Luis Garcia, James McArthur and Jhailyn Ortiz

Grapefruit Games 4 and 5 - 2016 Bowman Platinum Top Prospects #TP-JO Jhailyn Ortiz

Blue Jays 13, Phillies 6
Spring Training Game 4 - Tuesday Afternoon, February 25th in Clearwater

Phillies 6, Pirates 2
Spring Training Game 5 - Tuesday Afternoon, February 25th in Bradenton
Record - 3-1-1

One Sentence Summary:  The Phillies split their squad, losing badly against the Blue Jays and winning against the Pirates.

What It Means:  Four days into spring training games, and I'm once again asking myself how come I didn't plan a trip to Clearwater.  My chosen profession would make a trip tough, but surely I could get away for a few days without everything falling apart.  Right?

What Happened:  In Clearwater, Bryce Harper and Jake Arrieta made their spring debuts.  Harper walked, struck out and had a sacrifice fly while Arrieta was hit hard in his two innings of work.  J.T. Realmuto had a double and a triple.  In Bradenton, Ranger Suarez started and threw two scoreless innings.  Jose Gomez had three RBIs, including a 2-run triple in the seventh.

Featured Card:  Prospect Jhailyn Ortiz hit an opposite field grand slam bomb in Clearwater in the seventh inning.  The Phillies signed Ortiz for a $4 million bonus in 2016, and he's struggled in his four years in the minors so far.  With High-A Clearwater last season, Ortiz hit .200 with 19 home runs and 65 RBIs.  He's still only 21, and if he can figure things out he'd be a huge help in the Phillies line-up at some point.

Camp Head Count:  70

Game 93 - Jake Arrieta & We Head Back to the @BlueClaws!

Phillies 2, Marlins 0
Game 93 - Friday Night, July 13th in Miami
Record - 53-40, 1st place, 1 1/2 games ahead of the Braves

One Sentence Summary:  Jake Arrieta dominated the Marlins in this 2-0 win in Miami.

What It Means:  With the Braves losing, the Phillies hold a game and a half lead in the division.

What Happened:  Arrieta pitched seven strong innings, allowing just three hits.  Victor Arano and Pat Neshek pitched the final two frames, with Neshek securing his first save of the season.  Neshek became the 9th pitcher with a save this season tying a franchise record.  (Per this Matt Gelb Tweet.)

Aaron Altherr doubled home the first run in the 2nd and Maikel Franco added an insurance run with a solo home run (13) in the 9th.  In the 6th, a fine throw from Scott Kingery, following a good play and throw from Aaron Altherr in the outfield, nailed Cameron Maybin at the plate to keep the Marlins off the board.

Featured Card:  Apologies to Arrieta, but I need to go with a few BlueClaws-themed cards for this post as our July ballpark tour continued.

Field Report:  We're still trying to recover from our recent road trip, but we couldn't miss the opportunity to celebrate Harry Potter night with the BlueClaws on Friday night.  We've become big fans of the Harry Potter universe over the past few years, and the boys were excited for a night of baseball and magic.

Upon entering the ballpark, both boys were sorted into their houses with Ben landing in Gryffindor and Doug declared to be a Ravenclaw.  (For the record, they considered themselves to be a Hufflepuff and Gryffindor, respectively.)  Pitching prospects Spencer Howard and Damon Jones were signing autographs at a table outside the team store so we immediately added their signatures to a few hastily purchased team sets.

While Ben was busy selecting his wand from a make-shift Ollivander's Wand Shop, Doug was on the prowl for player autographs.  By his final tally, he secured 16 total signatures with Jhailyn Ortiz, Howard and Kyle Young signing everything he handed to them.  Prior to the start of the 9th inning, Doug caught the attention of first baseman Quincy Nieporte and Nieporte tossed him a baseball.  The game was great and the post-game Harry Potter-themed fireworks were fantastic.  For an encore, Doug ran the bases following the fireworks.

The BlueClaws secured a 7-0 win over the Asheville Tourists, thanks to a strong outing from Andrew Brown.  Brown pitched seven shutout innings, striking out seven.  Matt Vierling, a 2018 fifth round draft pick, hit his first home run for the BlueClaws and went 3 for 4.  Remember the name Matt Vierling . . . he was impressive and I predict we'll see him in red pinstripes sooner rather than later.

Memory Lane 
2013 BlueClaws Game
2014 BlueClaws Game
2015 BlueClaws Game
2016 BlueClaws Game
2017 BlueClaws Game
2018 BlueClaws Game 1 and Game 2