Heels On The Field: A Baseball Blog

Minor League Notes: Josh Shortslef Makes Eastern League Mark

The Washington Nationals are the parent club, but the Double A Harrisburg Senators are having similar troubles to the big guys. 

The Senators have gone 2-16 to start the season. Their pitching and hitting is last in ranking in the Eastern League. The Reading Phillies and Akron Aeros are battling it out in first place, with the Aeros two games ahead of the R-Phils in the Southern Division. The R-Phils are 12-6 and the Akron Aeros are 16-4. Reading lefty Josh Shortslef is the league's first four-game winner of the season. 

In the Florida State League, Florida Marlins prospect Mike Stanton is hitting .361 for the Jupiter Hammerheads, San Jose Giants slugger Thomas Neal hit for the cycle in the California League, and D-Backs pitching prospect Jarrod Parker was promoted to the AA Mobile Bears despite only making four starts for Single A Visalia Rawhide. Guess he's got a tough....

Minor Leaguer Eric Milton and FSL's Yohan Flande

It's strange to see the name Eric Milton pop up in Minor League news as Pitcher of the Week, but the former Phillie is trying his darndest to make it back to the bigs. Milton is pitching in the Pacific Coast League and so far, he's 2-0 in 12 innings pitched and given up only four hits and no earned runs.

The Phils second round pick last year, Jason Knapp, was also named Pitcher of the Week in the South Atlantic League. Knapp has seven innings under his belt and allowed just one hit. He's struck out fourteen. Also in Phils minor league news, Clearwater Threshers pitcher Yohan Flande leads the Florida State League. He's 3-0 with eighteen innings pitched and no earned runs. Also in the FSL, the Jupiter Hammerheads took two out of three from the Fort Myers Miracle.

In other news, it's hot out.

Trenton Thunder Start Up, A.J. Battisto Moves Up

The Baby Bombers are the Eastern League champs (second year in a row), but the Binghamton Mets have so far been the 2009 stars. They've won two of three over the Thunder, that included a Trenton bullpen meltdown.

Though I've yet to see them play (I'll be there Monday or Tuesday on assignment), their own big star, slugger Austin Jackson had a tremendous spring, hitting .303 and pitchers Eric Hacker and George Kontos are considered top prospects in the Yankees farm system. It got me thinking of last season, when I watched Phil Coke make his major league debut with the team in the clubhouse. There are a lot of guys still at Trenton that are close.

In Marlins prospect news, A.J. Battisto, who I interviewed for Junior Baseball Magazine, has been promoted to High-A Jupiter Hammerheads. The right hander pitched for the Greensboro Grasshoppers last season, going 8-1 and finishing with a 1.55 ERA. It's not everyday that you meet a player you're impressed with on a personal level, and that's a guy with a great head on his shoulders and potential to succeed in life no matter where he winds up.

Yeah, yeah, I know, Phillies faithful- he's pitching in the bus leagues for the enemy. However, he's a Philadelphia area native: Pottstown representing!

I'm not sure a dizzy blonde can get away with "representing", but it's my party and I can say what I want.

Susan Lulgjuraj Receives New Jersey Writing Award

The Press of Atlantic City sports writer Susan Lulgjuraj will be presented with the NJPA award this evening, for Best Sports Portfolio with a circulation of 70,000. Susan, who frequently covers the Phillies, wrote a memorable piece on the closing of Yankees Stadium that stands out as one of the best baseball articles I've ever read.

She'll be covering the Phils home opener on April 5th.

There's also an interesting story by Michael Clark in the Press on the demise of the Surf...everyone blames everyone, I guess.

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/186/story/446276.html