Former Thresher Mathieson transferred to Phillies 60-day DL

Former Thresher Scott Mathieson has been transferred to the Phillies 60-day disabled list.

Former Thresher J.A. Happ to make Major League debut

It appears that former Thresher J.A. Happ is going to be making his Major League debut for the Phillies on Saturday against the New York Mets.

Ken Mandel from MLB.com has a bit about it here, including some quotes from Happ.

Bright House Networks Field closed on July 4

Bright House Networks Field will be closed on Wednesday, July 4 due to the holiday. We will resume normal hours on Thursday, July 5.

Cory Willey's promotion noted by Chesapeake College

The Chesapeake College Athletics web site has this release about Cory Willey's promotion from the Threshers to Reading a few days ago.

Check it out here.

FSL names Burgamy Offensive Player of the Week

Brian Burgamy was named FSL Offensive Player of the Week on June 25. Look for a story on the Official Site shortly.

Thanks to Ticket Office staffer Garrett for the tip!

Will Jiwan James start his pro career with the Threshers?

John Patton's article in the Gator Sports portion of the Gainesville Sun quotes Williston High School coach Jim Smith talking about Florida Gator signee and Phillies draft pick Jiwan James. He says that James has been visiting with Phillies officials in Clearwater and has decided to sign with the Phillies instead of going to play baseball at the University of Florida. According to the article, his high school coach also expects him to start his professional career with the Threshers.

You can read the whole article here.

Marson named Phillies Minor League Player of the Week

Lou Marson just received a birthday gift from the Phillies organization. He was just named Phillies Minor League Player of the Week for June 18-24. Look for a story up on the Official Site soon.

Roster Update

It's been a few days since our last roster update.

Here are the recent transactions:

June 23
Nic Jackson placed on the DL.

June 25
Arlon Quiroz sent to the GCL Phillies.

June 26
Javon Moran sent to Reading.

Cory Willey promoted to Reading.

Alex Concepcion promoted from Lakewood.

Shaun Boyd signed as a minor league free agent.

John Suomi acquired in a trade with Washington.

Some background on our new players:

Alex Concepcion - Concepcion is a 6'1" 180lb right-handed pitcher from the Dominican Republic. He signed with the Phillies in 2003 and spent his first two professional seasons in the Dominican Summer League with Guanuma. He played for the GCL Phillies in Clearwater in 2005 and with Batavia in 2006. Prior to his promotion, he spent the 2007 season coming out of the bullpen for Lakewood. He was 3-1 with a 3.83 ERA and 44 strikeouts in 40 innings.

Shaun Boyd - Boyd is a 5'10" 175lb outfielder from Las Vegas. A former first round pick of the St. Louis Cardinals, Boyd spent seven years in their minor league system starting with Johnson City (Rookie) in 2000 to Memphis (Triple-A) in 2006. The Cardinals released him after the 2006 season. Prior to his signing with the Phillies, he had been playing for the Bridgeport Bluefish of the indepedent Atlantic League. He leaves the Bluefish with a .345 batting average and an active 11-game hitting streak.

John Suomi - Suomi is a 5'11" 199lb catcher from Toronto. He played his college ball in Canada at Caribou University-College in British Columbia. He was drafted by the A's in the 22nd round of the 2000 draft. By 2004, he had risen as high high as Modesto (Single-A) where he was a California League All-Star. His career came to crashing halt when he suffered a major knee injury during a play at the plate during the playoffs. The injury caused him to miss the entire 2005 season. By 2006 he was back in Single-A in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization. Prior to the trade between Philadelphia and Washington, he had been splitting the season between Harrisburg (Double-A) and Columbus (Triple-A).

Labels are updated

Regular readers may have noticed that the labels selection on the right side of the screen has been growing daily. I have been working on a project to label all the posts made previous to that feature being available to this blog. That project is now complete.

Updated June 28 at 2:00pm: I apologize to anyone who views the blog with an RSS reader. When I added the labels, it republished items. That may cause a little confusion since many things that were labeled during the project were over a year old and re-published out of order.

Former Thresher Costanzo the focus of a Reading Eagle story

Former Thresher Mike Costanzo was the focus of this story by Mike Drago in the Reading Eagle. Several current and former Clearwater Threshers were also mentioned in another part of the article.

Check out the whole article here.

Who was the Threshers first half MVP?

The Official Site's current poll question asks, "Who was the Threshers first half MVP?"

Through 55 votes, the leader is Carlos Carrasco with nearly 35% of the vote.

Greg Golson, Andrew Carpenter, and Jeremy Slayden are all at a virtual tie at around 17% of the vote. Lou Marson follows with nearly 10% of the vote. Josh Outman has fallen to the back with just over 5% of the vote.

Who did you vote for? Do you think anyone was missing from the list of choices?

If you haven't voted yet. Visit the Official Site now to make your choice!

Former Thresher Charlie Weatherby III the topic of a story

Former Thresher Charlie Weatherby III was the topic of a story in the Wilmington Star News yesterday. Chuck Carree was the writer.

Mike Arbuckle was quoted a few times discussing Weatherby's progress in the system.

Check out the whole article here.

Roster Update

Have some time to recap some of our recent transactions. Reader SF Fan in FL noted one of them (Moran) in a comment from another post.

June 22
PJ Antoniato added from Lakewood.

Jesus Sanchez sent back to GCL Phillies.

Arlon Quiroz added from the GCL Phillies.

June 23
Javon Moran added from GCL Phillies rehab assignment.

Some background on our new players:

PJ Antoniato - Antoniato is a 5'9" 1865lb third baseman from Levittown, NY. He turns 24 one week from today. He split time playing college ball with Briarcliffe College and St. John's University. The Phillies selected him in the 15th round of the 2005 draft. Antoniato should look familiar to Threshers fans, as he did play 16 games for Clearwater in 2006.

Arlon Quiroz - Quiroz is a 6'0" 170lb outfielder from Venezuela. He signed with the Phillies as a free agent before the 2005 season. This is his first professional season outside the Venezuelan Summer League.

Javon Moran - Moran is a 5'11" 175lb outfielder from Valdosta, GA. He played his college ball at Auburn before being selected by the Phillies in the fourth round of the 2003 draft. He was traded to the Reds in 2004 and since then has spent time going betweeen Dayton and Sarasota (Single-A), as well as Chattanooga (Double-A). The Reds sent him back to the Phillies after the 2006 season as part of the Jeff Conine trade. Moran was batting .308 in 42 games with Reading (Double-A) prior to the injury that sent him to Clearwater for a rehab assignment with the GCL club and the Threshers.

Threshers LIVE on Catch 47 tonight

Tonight's Clearwater Threshers vs. Dunedin Blue Jays game at Bright House Networks Field is scheduled to be broadcast live on Catch 47. The game is set for a 7:00pm start.

Catch 47 is only available on Bright House Networks.

St. Petersburg Times gives some ink to the Threshers

Chris Girandola had a story about the FSL in today's St. Petersburg Times and information about the Clearwater Threshers took up most of the article.

Jeremy Slayden's HR Derby championship last weekend was the focus of the article, but former Thresher Carlos Carrasco and the rest of our All-Stars were also mentioned.

Check out the whole article here.

Jim Salisbury covers the Phillies Minor League System

Philadelphia Inquirer writer Jim Salisbury takes a look at the whole Phillies minor league system in this article on Philly.com.

Many current Threshers such as Jason Donald and Josh Outman are mentioned, and former Threshers Mike Zagurski and Patrick Overholt are also among those with ties to the Threshers who were discussed.

Check out the rest of the names at the whole article here.

Roster update

There were a few moves made yesterday, June 21, that we started to discuss in one of the comment threads. Here is a little more information.

Ben Pfinsgraff was promoted from Lakewood (more info below)

Welinson Baez was sent to Lakewood.

Kevin Howard was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Still haven't seen any details of the trade. The Dodgers assigned him to the Jacksonville Suns (Double-A).

Jesus Sanchez was added from the GCL Phillies. I haven't seen any transactions for today, but I expect he will be headed back to the Complex very soon.

Some background on Ben Pfinsgraff:

Ben Pfinsgraff - Pfinsgraff is a 6'0" 180lb pitcher from Annapolis, Maryland. He played his college ball at Allegheny College before transferring to the University of Maryland-College Park. He was selected by the Phillies in the 22nd round of the 2006 draft. After signing with the Phillies, he was assigned to Batavia. Near the end of the year he was promoted to Lakewood. He primarily has come out of the bullpen for the BlueClaws this year, and had a 2-1 record with a 2.43 ERA in 33.1 innings before his promotion. He has struck out 38 and only walked six in 2007 which is good for a strikeout to walk ratio of 6.3 to 1.

Tiki Seats rank second in ESPN.com travel story

Thanks to Ticket Office staffer Emanuel, who alerted me to this story from ESPN.com.

Bob Carson, publisher of the popular Minor Trips directory and newsletter, believes this is the kind of oasis Florida teams need to attract fans to their often sweltering ballparks. "If any franchise can shake the attendance lethargy that plagues the Florida State League it is the Threshers at Bright House Field," Carson said. "Sure it's hot in Florida, but sitting in the Tiki Seats down the left-field line for a beverage or two is a cool deal. Strolling to the Tiki Seats is a trip to Margaritaville."

Check out the whole story from travel writer Josh Pahigian here.

Former Thresher Carlos Carrasco named to World Team for the 2007 Futures Game

Former Threshers pitcher Carlos Carrasco has just been named to the World Team for the 2007 All-Star Futures Game.

The game will be played on Sunday, July 8 during the Major League All-Star Weekend in San Francisco. The game is scheduled for a 4:00pm start and will be shown live on ESPN2.

See the whole World Team roster here.

2007 Clearwater Threshers – First Half in Review

The first half of the 2007 Clearwater Threshers season is officially in the books.

Record and Attendance
The Threshers finished the first half with a 39-31 (.557) record which was good for third place just four games behind the division-winning Sarasota Reds.

At home the Threshers were 20-14 (.588). The Threshers road record was 19-17 (.528).

The Threshers had 32 openings at Bright House Networks Field and announced a total of 79,525 guests which works out to an average of 2,485 which puts us slightly behind the Daytona Cubs.

Hitting
Greg Golson led the team in games (69), at-bats (292), runs (45), hits (77), doubles (19), total bases (121), and stolen bases (20). These stats also put him near the top of the FSL in the all of those categories.

Jeremy Slayden led the team in home runs (8), RBIs (42), walks (43), and on-base percentage (.398). Those stats also put him near the top of the FSL in all of those categories. He also has the longest hitting streak of any Threshers player this season. He was 20 for 42 for a .476 batting average during a twelve game period between April 28 and May 9. He also hit three home runs during that span. He made it on-base at least once 24 games in a row between April 23 and May 17.

Mike Spidale led the team in triples with four. That puts him in eighth place in the FSL. He also had the best batting average on the team with runners on base (.312) and with runners in scoring position and two outs (.323).

Clay Harris was the best hitter with the bases loaded. He hit .333 and had eight RBIs in those situations.

Lou Marson was the best hitter (.328) with runners in scoring position. Marson also had the fourth-best caught stealing/stolen bases efficiency stats in the FSL (.333).

Matt Thayer was the best hitter at home (.321).

Welinson Baez was the best hitter on the road (.286).

Threshers batters combined to put Clearwater in the top half of the FSL in runs (314), doubles (116), triples (19), RBIs (293), walks (226), and stolen bases (56).

Pitching
Andrew Carpenter led the FSL in wins with seven.

Josh Outman led the team in ERA (2.79), Innings Pitched (80.2), and Strikeouts (78). Those stats put him near the top of the FSL in all of those categories. His opponents batting avereage of .143 led Threshers pitchers when facing a situation with runners in scoring position.

Brett Harker led the team in saves with 11.

Carlos Carrasco led the team in WHIP (1.02). He was the best pitcher on the mound with runners on base on allowing them to hit .195 against him in those situations.

Threshers pitching was in the top half of the FSL in ERA (3.69), hits allowed (555), runs allowed (285), earned runs (250), strikeouts (520), and WHIP (1.31). The Threshers led the league or were tied for the league lead in shutouts (8) and saves (26).

All-Stars
Carlos Carrasco, Andrew Carpenter, Patrick Overholt, Lou Marson, and Jeremy Slayden were named to the 2007 FSL West Division All-Star Team. Patrick Overholt did not make the trip due to his promotion to Reading, and Greg Golson was added to the team later as an injury replacement. Slayden won the Home Run Derby.

Award Winners
FSL Pitcher of the Week - Josh Outman

Phillies Minor Leauge Pitcher of the Week - Daniel Brauer, Patrick Overholt, Zac Stott, Carlos Carrasco (twice)

Phillies Minor League Player of the Week- Clay Harris

Phillies Minor League Pitcher of the Month - Patrick Overholt (April), Zac Stott (May)

Phillies Minor League Player of the Month - Greg Golson (April)

Fun Facts
The Threshers were undefeated (33-0) when leading after eight innings.

The Threshers were 33-11 when scoring first.

The most runs that the Threshers scored in a game was 11. This happened April 26 at Lakeland and June 14 at Dunedin.

The most hits that the Threshers recorded in a game was 15.

The Threshers best month in the win-loss column was April. Their record was 16-8 (.667).

Threshers batters were hottest in the month of May with a .266 combined batting average.

Threshers pitchers were hottest in the month of April with a combined 2.29 ERA.