Former Thresher Segovia named to US National Team

Former Threshers' pitcher Zach Segovia has been named to the 24-man roster of the US National Team that is now trying to qualify for the 2008 Olympic Games in China.

The 24 players that will represent the United States at the 2006 COPABE Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Havana, Cuba, Aug. 25-Sept. 5, were officially announced today by USA Baseball. The roster is made up from professional, non-25-man roster players of the 30 Major League Baseball organizations.

See the whole roster and read the press release here.

Segovia and Michael Bourn are the only two players currently in the Phillies organization on the roster.

The Reading Eagle has a story about Segovia and the success of the Phillies minor league teams that can be seen here.

Segovia began this season back at Single-A Clearwater, where he went 5-1 with a 2.19 ERA in seven starts.

He earned a promotion to Reading in mid May, won his Double-A debut with seven shutout innings and proceeded to deliver a string of quality starts. In 17 appearance for Reading he went 11-5 with a 3.11 ERA, just 90 hits allowed in 107 innings and a 3-to-1 strikeouts-to-walks ratio. From June 29 on he went 8-1 in nine starts.

He also put himself in the thick of the race for the Paul Owens Award as the top pitcher in the Phillies organization. He'll vie for that honor with Scott Mathieson (10-2, 3.22 at Reading and Scranton), Lakewood's Matt Maloney (14-8, 2.09), Josh Outman (12-6, 3.07), and Carlos Carrasco (9-6, 2.25), J.A. Happ (9-9, 2.68 at Reading and Clearwater) and Brian Mazone (12-4, 2.13 at Reading and Scranton).

The story also includes a lot of quotes from Segovia, so be sure to check it out.