Pitcher Colin Kleven has been named the Phillies' first recipient of the Minor League Community Service Award, the club announced today. Starting this year, the award will be given annually to the player in the Phillies' player development system with exceptional performance off the field.

Kleven, 21, accumulated 12 hours of community service in Lakewood, N.J., which was the most of any Phillies minor leaguer this year. Included in Kleven's hours was being a celebrity waiter at an ALS event, doing "meet and greets" with the Boys & Girls Club and participating in events with the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts of America.

He will be presented the award at the Phillies game on September 21st at Citizens Bank Park.

On the mound, the 6-foot-6 right-hander went 9-8 with a 3.99 ERA in 27 starts for single-A Lakewood, while holding opposing hitters to a .255 batting average. Kleven led the BlueClaws pitching staff in wins, starts, innings (151.0) and strikeouts (119). Originally selected in the 33rd round of the 2009 draft, Kleven completed his third season in the Phillies organization, having previously played for the rookie league Gulf Coast Phillies in 2010 and single-A Williamsport in 2011.

The players that totaled the most hours of community service for each minor league team were right-hander Scott Elarton in triple-A Lehigh Valley (11 hours), outfielder Jiwan James in double-A Reading (10.5 hours), right-hander Perci Garner in single-A Clearwater (11.5 hours), catcher Logan Moore in Williamsport (11 hours) and catcher Liam Bedford for the Gulf Coast club (6 hours).

Overall, 161 Phillies minor league players volunteered and combined for 760 hours of work throughout the different communities.

- BlueClaws/Phillies -