2012 Choice Lehigh Valley IronPigs Update #1 Phillippe Aumont

Phillies 10, Yankees 5
Spring Training Game 7 - Friday Afternoon, March 1st in Tampa
Record - 3-3-1

One Sentence Summary:  The Phils downed the Yankees again as Roy Halladay continued his spring tune-up.

What It Means:  The Phillies accomplished back-to-back wins for the first time this spring, on the strength of both good pitching and timely hitting.

What Went Right:  Halladay pitched 2 1/3 innings, allowing a run on three hits while striking out three. It seems most of the chatter after the game surrounded Phillippe Aumont and his inning of scoreless work.  Aumont's velocity was in the mid-90s and he displayed good command.  He, along with Pete Orr and Tyson Gillies, departed camp after the game to report to Team Canada in preparation of the upcoming World Baseball Classic.

Jimmy Rollins had a two-run double and John Mayberry, Jr. knocked in three runs.

2012 Topps Heritage
Minor League Real
One Autographs #ROA-SV

Featured Cards:  My feelings on the World Baseball Classic are similar to my feelings on the annual pre-All Star Game Home Run Derby.  Meh.

Maybe it's different for the fans of other competing countries, but I don't know any American baseball fans who are thrilled with the upcoming tournament.  I suppose its intended purpose is to unify the world through baseball, but the cynical side of me sees it as as nothing more than a money grab by Bud Selig.  And like it or not, we baseball card collectors can expect to see a glut of WBC-themed cards in upcoming Topps products.  Meh again.

For the record, here are the members of the Phillies organization participating in the WBC which kicked off last night in Taiwan.  Selfishly, I'd rather Aumont continue his spring in Clearwater but I wish him well in the tournament.

Australia - Tim Kennelly (c)
Brazil - Lucas Rojo (inf)
Canada - Phillippe Aumont (rhp), Tyson Gillies (of), Jay Johnson (lhp) and Pete Orr (inf)
Dominican Republic - Juan Samuel (coach)
Mexico - Rodrigo Lopez (rhp) and Sebastian Valle (c)
USA - Jimmy Rollins (ss)
Venezuela - Cesar Jimenez (lhp)

Ernie Whitt, the Phillies minor league catching coordinator, is the manager for Team Canada.

New to the 40-Man Roster

2010 Topps Pro Debut #424, 2010 Bowman Prospects #BP19,
2010 Bowman Sterling Prospects #BSP-SV and 2011 Multi-Ad Reading Phillies #7

The Phillies added four players to their 40-man roster yesterday, protecting them from the upcoming Rule 5 draft, to be held next month - righty Phillippe Aumont, lefty Jake Diekman, catcher Sebastian Valle and outfielder Tyson Gillies.

Aumont and Gillies comprise two-thirds of the return on the ill-fated Cliff Lee deal with the Mariners.  The decision to trade away Lee, who would come back to the Phils as a free-agent, was made to free up cash and re-stock the farm system.  If either Aumont and Gillies end up playing a key role with the Phillies, maybe, just maybe, the Lee deal will be considered to have been somewhat worthwhile.

Aumont split 2011 between Double-A and Triple-A, pitching 43 games in relief with a 2.68 ERA.  He struck out 78 while walking only 25 and he allowed just 2 home runs over 53 2/3 innings pitched.  Aumont was recently ranked the 5th best prospect in the Phillies system by Baseball America and he's got a real shot at breaking camp with the Phils in March.  Gillies missed all but three games of the 2011 season with a combination hamstring/groin/hip injury.

Catcher Sebastian Valle, number three on the Baseball America list, has been in the Phillies system for five seasons, but he has yet to play above Single-A.  In just 91 games at Clearwater last year, he hit .284 with 5 home runs.

Left-hander Jake Diekman has emerged pretty much out of nowhere.  He spent 2011 with Double-A Reading, pitching to a 3.05 ERA over 53 relief appearances.  His strikeout to walk ratio was too high (83 to 44), but he's had a fairly successful campaign in the Arizona Fall League.  As of yesterday, Diekman had appeared in 11 games for the Scottsdale Scorpions where he has a 0.79 ERA and 2 saves.