Additions to the 40-Man Roster

2013 Grandstand Clearwater Threshers #25, 2013 Topps Heritage Minor League #96 and
2013 Grandstand Reading Fightin Phils Update #10

The Phillies recently crossed another offseason milestone off their list by adding four players to the 40-man roster in advance of December's Rule V draft.  I've tracked these additions over the past four seasons below and the percentage of players added to the 40-man roster in November to eventually play with the big club is a so-so 44% (7 for 16).  Hopefully that percentage goes up this year.

Here's a quick look at the four new additions and their cardboard history so far.

Aaron Altherr (of) - The speedy outfielder was drafted in 2009 by the Phillies and he spent last season with the High-A Clearwater Threshers.  He batted .275 and led the Florida State League with 36 doubles.  Along with several cards from minor league team sets, I have Altherr's cards from the 2011 Bowman Chrome Prospects and 2011 Topps Pro Debut sets in my collection.

Kelly Dugan (of) -  Dugan was also drafted by the Phillies in 2009, their top pick that year, and he split last season between Clearwater and Double-A Reading.  He hit .291 between the two levels with 20 home runs.  The only mainstream card of his currently in my collection is from the 2010 Topps Pro Debut set.

2013 Phungo #66

Tommy Joseph (c) -  Joseph came to the Phillies last season in the Hunter Pence deal with the Giants.  Considered at the time of the Pence trade to be the team's heir apparent to Carlos Ruiz, Joseph was limited to just 36 games in 2013 as a result of a concussion.  He received his first mainstream Phillies-related cards in the Bowman Chrome, Topps Heritage Minor League and Topps Pro Debut sets.  Joseph was also one of the subjects in the fan-favorite Phungo release this year.  (More on that offering in a future post.)

Rob Rasmussen (lhp) - Rasmussen was the prospect acquired from the Dodgers at the end of August for Michael Young.  In 28 games between Double-A and Triple-A, Rasmussen went 3-11 with a 4.11 ERA.  The lefty will make his Phillies or Phillies minor league baseball card debut in 2014.

Memory Lane
2012 Additions - Zach Collier, Ethan Martin, Trevor May and Jonathan Pettibone
2011 Additions - Phillippe Aumont, Jake Diekman, Tyson Gillies and Sebastian Valle
2010 Additions - Cesar Hernandez, Matt Rizzotti, Harold Garcia, Freddy Galvis and Justin De Fratus*
2009 Additions - Quintin Berry, Yohan Flande and Jesus Sanchez

*Somehow I skipped this year, and didn't do a post.