2022 Chachi #20 Damon Jones

#68
Damon Jones
Relief Pitcher

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Left  Height:  6'5"  Weight:  233
Opening Day Age:  27
Born:  September 30, 1994, Twin Falls, ID
How Obtained:  Selected by Phillies in 18th round of June 2017 amateur player draft
Major League Teams:  Philadelphia Phillies 2021-

First Phillies Minor League Card:  2017 Choice Williamsport Crosscutters #14
First Phillies Card:  2020 Bowman Prospects #BP-65
Newest Card Added:  2021 Choice Lehigh Valley IronPigs Update #17
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (0):  N/A

10 - Jones baseball cards in my collection per The Phillies Room Checklist as of 4/28/22.

Complete Chachi Checklist
2018 Chachi BlueClaws Harry Potter Night #11 - with Spencer Howard

2021 Chachi #36
2022 Chachi #20

2022 Virtual Phillies Wall / 2022 Season Summary Index / 2022 Chachi Set Checklist

2022 Chachi #19 Bailey Falter / 2022 Chachi #21 Cristopher Sanchez

2021 Chachi #36 Damon Jones

#68
Damon Jones
Relief Pitcher

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Left  Height:  6'5"  Weight:  233
Opening Day Age:  26
Born:  September 30, 1994, Twin Falls, ID
How Obtained:  Selected by Phillies in 18th round of June 2017 amateur player draft
Major League Teams:  N/A

First Phillies Card:  2020 Bowman Prospects #BP-65
First Phillies Minor League Card:  2017 Choice Williamsport Crosscutters #14
First Phillies Team Issued Card:  N/A

Newest Card Added:  2021 Bowman Talent Pipeline #TP-PHI

Topps Flagship Set Appearances (0):  N/A

8 - Jones baseball cards in my collection per The Phillies Room Checklist as of 5/24/21.

Complete Chachi Checklist
2018 Chachi BlueClaws Harry Potter Night #11 - with Spencer Howard

2021 Chachi #36

Damon Jones, Cristopher Sanchez and Nick Maton (along with IronPigs' manager Gary Jones) all got the call to the big leagues on April 19th in a flurry of moves necessitated by the league's Covid protocols.  Jones and Sanchez didn't see any game action, but their additions to the active roster at least gives them the benefit of a Chachi card.  Both pitchers were sent back to the Lehigh Valley following their one night in the big leagues.

Jones has appeared in Phillies minor league team sets since 2017, and we met him briefly at the BlueClaws' Harry Potter theme night back in 2018. His first Phillies cards can be found in the 2020 Bowman set.

2021 Virtual Phillies Wall / 2021 Season Summary Index / 2021 Chachi Set Checklist

Prospects Added to 40-Man Roster; Cotham Named New Pitching Coach

2019 Choice Lehigh Valley IronPigs #8

2019 Grandstand Reading Fightin Phils #33

2020 Topps Pro Debut #PD-106

2019 R-Phils Phillies Top 25 Prospects #15

2019 Choice Medusas de Lakewood #20

2019 R-Phils Phillies Top 25 Prospects #17

For the first time since a group of Phillies became free agents following the World Series, there was some movement with the team's roster.  As part of the annual offseason ritual of preparing for the rule 5 draft, teams must add draft-eligible players to their 40-man roster if they're to be protected. The Phillies added six of their top prospects to the 40-man roster yesterday, as summarized below.

Normally I'd include a sentence or two here about each player's prior year minor league performance, but with no minor league baseball in 2020 there's not much to say.

• Kyle Dohy (lhp) - Dohy was a spring training non-roster invitee in 2020, but then left off the 60-player pool over the summer.
• Bailey Falter (lhp) - One of three lefties added, Falter pitched for Reading in 2019.
• Damon Jones (lhp) - Jones was a non-roster invitee and a member of the 60-player pool.
• Nick Maton (inf) - Like Jones, Maton was a non-roster invitee and a member of the 60-player pool.
• Francisco Morales (rhp) - Ranked the team's 4th top prospect by MLB Pipeline, Morales projects as a starting pitcher and he reached Low-A Lakewood in 2019.
• Simon Muzziotti (of) - Center fielder Muzziotti spent all of 2019 with Clearwater and he's apparently an above average defender.

Granted 2020 was a bizarre season, but three of the four prospects (Garrett Cleavinger, Mauricio Llovera and JoJo Romero) added to the 40-man roster this time last year saw action with the Phillies over the summer.

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

* * *

2017 Topps #188

Earlier Friday afternoon, the Phillies named Caleb Cotham as their new pitching coach, the team's fifth  pitching coach in as many years.  Admittedly, I know nothing about Cotham other than he appeared in the 2016 and 2017 Topps sets.  He appeared in 35 games (all in relief) with the Yankees in 2015 and the Reds in 2016, going 1-3 with a 7.15 ERA over 34 innings pitched.  His manager with the Yankees in 2015 was current Phillies manager Joe Girardi and his manager with the Reds in 2016 was outgoing Phillies pitching coach Bryan Price.

Cotham had been the Reds assistant pitching coach the past two seasons.  The Phillies are still looking for a new bullpen coach to replace Jim Gott, as Gott's contract was not renewed following the 2020 season.

Phillies Pitching Coaches Since 1970

Ray Rippelmeyer 1970-1978
Herm Starrette 1979-1981
Claude Osteen 1982-1988
Darold Knowles 1989-1990
Johnny Podres 1991-1996
Jim Wright 1996
Galen Cisco 1997-2000
Vern Ruhle 2001-2002
Joe Kerrigan 2003-2004
Rich Dubee 2005-2013
Bob McClure 2014-2017
Rick Kranitz 2018
Chris Young 2019

Bryan Price 2020

Caleb Cotham 2021-

15 Prospects Coming to Camp as Non-Roster Invitees

2019 Choice Reading Fightin Phils #1

2019 Grandstand Reading Fightin Phils #10

2019 R-Phils Phillies Top 25 Prospects #5

2019 Choice Lehigh Valley IronPigs #10

2019 Choice Reading Fightin Phils #7

Right on schedule, the Phillies released a list of 15 prospects invited to camp as non-roster invitees.  These 15 join the list of the prior four (officially) announced invitees.  For this next batch, instead of listing out their last major baseball card appearance, I've listed their most recent card added to my collection as most of these guys are still waiting for their first major baseball card appearance.

For me, the two most interesting names on this list are Alec Bohm and Spencer Howard, as both have a realistic chance of contributing to the 2020 Phillies.  Bohm could be the team's regular third baseman at some point this upcoming season while Howard could find himself in the starting pitching rotation.

2019 Topps Heritage Minor League #27

2018 Choice Lakewood BlueClaws #13

2019 Choice Reading Fightin Phils #12

2019 Choice Reading Fightin Phils #13

2019 Grandstand Clearwater Threshers #6

Player (position) - 2019 Organization - Last Major Baseball Card Appearance

1.  Phil Gosselin (inf) - Phillies - 2017 Topps Heritage #135 (Diamondbacks)

2.  Josh Harrison (inf) - Tigers - 2019 Topps Heritage #552 (Tigers)

3.  Mikie Mahtook (of) - Tigers - 2019 Topps #477 (Tigers)

4.  Matt Szczur (of) - Diamondbacks - 2018 Topps Heritage #528 (Padres)

Player (position) - 2019 Organization - Last Card Added to Collection

5.  Alec Bohm (inf) - Phillies - 2019 Choice Reading Fightin Phils #1

6.  Connor Brogdon (rhp) - Phillies - 2019 Grandstand Clearwater Threshers #44

7.  Kyle Dohy (lhp) - Phillies - 2019 R-Phils Phillies Top 25 Prospects #5

8.  Tyler Gilbert (lhp) - Phillies - 2019 Choice Lehigh Valley IronPigs #10
9.  Darick Hall (1b) - Phillies - 2019 Choice Reading Fightin Phils #7
10.  Spencer Howard (rhp) - Phillies - 2019 Topps Heritage Minor League #27
11.  Damon Jones (lhp) - Phillies - 2018 Choice Lakewood BlueClaws #13
12.  Henri Lartigue (c) - Phillies - 2019 Choice Reading Fightin Phils #12
13.  Austin Listi (1b-of) - Phillies - 2019 Choice Reading Fightin Phils #13
14.  Nick Maton (ss) - Phillies - 2019 Grandstand Clearwater Threshers #6
15.  Mickey Moniak (of) - Phillies - 2019 Choice Reading Fightin Phils #15
16.  Ramon Rosso (rhp) - Phillies - 2019 Choice Reading Fightin Phils #19
17.  Addison Russ (rhp) - Phillies - 2019 Choice Reading Fightin Phils #20
18.  Zach Warren (lhp) - Phillies - 2019 Grandstand Clearwater Threshers #33
19.  Luke Williams (inf-of) - Phillies - 2019 Choice Reading Fightin Phils #23

2019 Choice Reading Fightin Phils #15

2019 Choice Reading Fightin Phils #19

2019 Choice Reading Fightin Phils #20

2019 Grandstand Clearwater Threshers #33

2019 Choice Reading Fightin Phils #23

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