Preliminary 2014 IronPigs Roster Announced
IronPigs Set to Open Regular Season Thursday
Manager Dave Brundage will begin his second season in the Lehigh Valley with a blend of exciting prospects and accomplished veterans, as the Phillies announced the preliminary 2014 IronPigs Opening Day Roster today. The roster features 13 pitchers, 12 position players, 15 returning IronPigs, six members on Philadelphia's 40-Man Roster and the 17th-best prospect in all of Minor League Baseball according to Baseball America in 3B Maikel Franco.
Under the guidance of second-year pitching coach Ray Burris, the starting staff could be the biggest strength of this team.
LHP Greg Smith returns to the IronPigs after developing into their ace in 2013. Although not signing with the organization until May 6 - and not arriving to Lehigh Valley until May 21 -- the 30-year-old made an immediately splash. Once joining the rotation, Smith did not allow a run in his first 25.2 IP as a starter. The former Athletics and Rockies southpaw finished the season at 8-4 with a 3.31 ERA in 23 games, 14 starts.
RHP David Buchanan garnered significant attention in Spring Training, during which time he nearly earned a spot on the Phillies Opening Day Roster by going 1-1 with a 2.25 ERA in five games, four starts. The 24-year-old has only appeared in six games above the Double-A level, but dazzled in his International League debut in the final month of the 2013 season (4-2, 3.00 ERA in six starts).
RHP Jonathan Pettibone most likely would have made the Phillies rotation out of camp had he not been derailed a majority of Spring Training with right shoulder soreness. The 23-year-old needed just 10 career Triple-A starts before making his Major League debut last season and winning his first three decisions with the Phillies. A former third-rounder in 2008, Pettibone finished his rookie season at 5-4 with a 4.04 ERA in 18 starts before being shut down for good in August with rotator cuff tendinitis and biceps tendinitis.
RHP Barry Enright, who turns 28 on Sunday, provides more ML experience to the rotation. A former second-round pick by Arizona in 2007 draft, the Pepperdine University product accelerated to the majors and had a very impressive rookie season in 2010 (6-7, 3.91 in 17 GS). Enright split last season between Triple-A Salt Lake (7-7, 7.12 in 24 G, 22 GS) and the Los Angeles Angels (0-2, 12.96 in 4 G, 2 GS).
RHP Sean O'Sullivan has spent parts of four seasons in the majors - including posting an 0-2 record with a 3.96 ERA in seven games, three starts with San Diego last season. Since breaking in with the Angels in 2009, the former third-round pick in 2005 has proven to be very effective in the minors. In his last two stops in Triple-A, the 26-year-old has posted a combined 17-8 record and a 3.35 ERA in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League with Las Vegas and Tucson.
The bullpen features several key IL tenured members, including 2013 breakout sensation RHP Luis Garcia. After being out of affiliated pro baseball for two seasons and never having pitched above Advanced-A, Garcia signed with the Phillies on March 21 and ascended all the way to the Major Leagues on July 9. The 27-year-old was impressive in his rookie season (1-1, 3.73 in 24 appearances with the Phillies) and dynamite in the minors (2-2, 1.51, 11 saves in a combined 33 appearances between three levels).
Other right-handers in the bullpen are Phillippe Aumont, Shawn Camp, Hector Neris, Mike Nesseth and Kyle Simon.
Aumont is a familiar name to IronPigs, as the 6-foot-7 Canadian ranks third in franchise history in appearances (91) and tied for second in saves (20). In 2013, the 25-year-old made his first MLB Opening Day Roster and wound up splitting the year between Lehigh Valley (0-2, 4.04, 2 SV in 32 G) and Philadelphia (1-3, 4.19 in 22 G). He posted a 1.35 ERA in his last 10 games in the IL and was unscored upon in the final five affairs (6.2 IP). Camp, 38, has spent parts of the last 10 seasons in the majors, including opening with the Chicago Cubs. He finished the year with Triple-A Reno and fashioned a 2.42 ERA in 17 games - his first minor league action since appearing in seven games with Syracuse in 2008. In 2012, the native of Fairfax, Va., tied for the National League lead in games (80) while going 3-6 with two saves and a 3.59 ERA. Neris, who has never appeared in Triple-A, spent all of 2013 in Double-A Reading - going 6-4 with a 4.55 ERA in 46 games, eight starts. But the 24-year-old finished the year strong, sporting a 3-0 record and a 2.54 ERA in his final 19 games then impressing in the Dominican Winter League (1-0, 1.93 in 10 G). Nesseth, 25, made his Triple-A debut on Aug. 24 and shined in a brief sampling (0-0, 0.00 in 3 G, 1 GS) after dominating Eastern League hitters to the tune of a 1.64 ERA with nine saves in 35 appearances. Simon, acquired from Baltimore in the Jim Thome trade on June 30, 2012, has made a Triple-A roster for the first time in his career. The 6-foot-6 23-year-old spent all of 2013 in Reading, where he posted a 2-6 mark with 11 saves and a 4.45 ERA in 45 appearances.
Both left-handers in the relief corps - Jeremy Horst and Cesar Jimenez - are returning IronPigs and who major-league seasoning. Horst, 28, had a breakout campaign with the Phillies in 2012 (2-0, 1.15 in 32 G, 0 GS) before his 2013 season was cut short due to a left elbow strain in June. He appeared in two games at Coca-Cola Park on a ML rehabilitation assignment before being shut down for good. In his IL career, Horst is 4-5 with 2 SV and an impressive 2.55 ERA in 70 games with Louisville (2010-11) and Lehigh Valley (2012-13). Jimenez was a standout performer in his first year with the IronPigs in 2013, going 4-2 with 3 SV and a 3.12 ERA in 36 games, three starts. That success spilled over after the 29-year-old was promoted to Philadelphia on Aug. 6, as he finished the season in the majors with solid numbers (1-1, 3.71 in 19 G, 0 GS).
The IronPigs batters will again be guided by fourth-year hitting coach Sal Rende, who guided IronPigs batters to a .267 team average - finishing less than .00007 behind Durham for tops in the IL.
Lehigh Valley will begin the season with two catchers. One, Koyie Hill, is a 35-year-old veteran with parts of 10 big league seasons under his belt while the other, Cameron Rupp, is an up-and-coming, 25-year-old prospect who made his ML debut with four games at the end of last season. Ruppemerged on the scene in impressive fashion in 2013, batting .269 with six home runs and 24 RBI in 53 games with the IronPigs. In fact, the 25-year-old hit .329 in his final 21 IL games to earn a promotion to Philadelphia on Sept. 3. Rupp, a product of University of Texas, enters the season ranked as the 16th best prospect in the Phillies system by Baseball America. Hill has appeared in 331 games over his ML career with the Dodgers (2003), the Diamondbacks (2004-05), the Cubs (2007-12) and Marlins (2013). He last appeared in the IL with Syracuse in 2012 (31 games).
The infield could provide a source of offensive pop, especially at the corner positions likely to be occupied by Franco, 1B Jim Murphy and utility man Tyler Henson.
Franco, who won't turn 22 until the final month of the IL season, tormented opposing pitchers in Advanced-A and Double-A in 2012. The Azua, D.R., native started in Clearwater and batted .299 with 16 home runs and 52 RBI in just 65 games before going .339 with 15 home runs and 51 RBI in Reading. In all, Franco led all minor leaguers in total bases (308) while leading Phillies farm hands in average (.320), home runs (31) and RBI (103) en route to winning the Paul Owens Award as the best position player in the Phillies minor league system. Henson, who clubbed two home runs in his IronPigs debut on July 30, was perhaps the IronPigs top offensive performer down the stretch in 2013. The 26-year-old former Norfolk Tide posted the seventh-best average in the IL over the last 21 games (.318). An Oklahoma high school state championship in both football and baseball, Henson passed up scholarship to play quarterback at the University of Arkansas to sign with the Orioles, who drafted him in the fifth round of 2006. Murphy, a 28-year-old who has yet to appear in Triple-A, brings another power bat Coca-Cola Park. The 2013 EL midseason All-Star with Reading finished batting .273 with 23 home runs and 83 RBI and has clubbed 62 round-trippers in his last three seasons.
The ML experience of the IronPigs infield is all up the middle with Andres Blanco and Reid Brignac.
Blanco, who has over three years of big league service time, was a standout defensive player for Lehigh Valley in 2012 while slugging a career-high 10 home runs. However, the 29-year-old missed the entire 2013 season after undergoing shoulder surgery in the preseason. Brignac has appeared with three ML teams over the past two seasons - making stops with the Rays, Rockies and Yankees. Once a second-round pick by Tampa in 2004, the 28-year-old Louisianan has spent parts of four seasons in the IL with Durham, combining to hit .255 with 26 home runs and 137 RBI in 303 games.
The group is joined by utility man Troy Hanzawa, who, last season, hit an impressive .283 in a 19-game stint with Lehigh Valley from May 24 to June 26 - his first taste of Triple-A action. The 28-year-old Hawaiian spent most of 2013 in Reading, where he batted .295 with one home run and 17 RBI.
The IronPigs return what was their starting outfield for a large part of last season with Leandro Castro, Tyson Gillies and Steve Susdorf along with the addition of IL and ML veteran Clete Thomas.
Castro, 24, enters the season after his first non-roster invitation to ML Spring Training. A 2012 EL midseason All-Star with Reading, Castro spent all of last season with the IronPigs and finished at .256 with eight home runs and 55 RBI in his first taste of Triple-A ball. He also tied the franchise record with three walk-off hits in a season. Gillies finally stayed healthy last season after being active in less than 25-percent of total games since he joined the Phillies for the 2010 season following the Cliff Lee trade. Although finishing just .220 with three home runs and eight RBI in 63 IL games - interrupted by a three-month demotion to Reading - the 25-year-old finished strong in his last 11 games (12-36, .333). Susdorf, 28, was a solid performer for the IronPigs throughout the year -and even earned his first promotion to the majors on July 25. The former Fresno State Bulldog and College World Series champion finished at .313 with 2 home runs and 36 RBI in 101 games in the IL, and would've ranked third in the IL in batting average and fourth in on-base percentage (.390) if he hadn't been 30 plate appearances shy of qualifying
Thomas, 30, appeared in more games (92) than any other Minnesota Twins outfielder a season ago Prior to a June 3 call up, the native of Jacksonville, Fla., was batting .296 with nine home runs and 25 RBI in just 36 games with Rochester. Overall, Thomas is a career .250 hitter with 47 home runs and 200 RBI in parts of six IL seasons and has batted .233 with 13 home runs and 65 RBI in the 249 big league games with Detroit (2008-09, 2012) and Minnesota (2012-13).
Four players will open the season on the IronPigs disabled list: INF Brian Bixler, RHP Chris Bootcheck, LHP Adam Morgan and OF Dave Sappelt.
The average age of the roster on Opening Day (April 3) will be 27 years, five month and 29 days. The oldest pitcher is Shawn Camp (38 years, four months, 15 days) and position player is C Koyie Hill (35 years, 25 days), while the youngest pitcher is Kyle Simon (23 years, seven months, 15 days) and position player is 3B Maikel Franco (21 years, seven months, eight days). The average Major League service time is 1.063 (6087 days). The most tenured pitcher is Camp (8.097) and position player is Hill (5.087), while nine IronPigs are yet to make their big league debut.
The IronPigs travel to face the Double-A Reading Fightin' Phils in the seventh annual "222 Showcase" exhibition game on Tuesday. First-Pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. at FirstEnergy Stadium.
The IronPigs then open the season with a four-game series in Pawtucket beginning on April 3 before their official home opener at Coca-Cola Park on April 7 at 5:05 p.m. against the Buffalo Bisons. Single-game tickets, season tickets, mini plans and group tickets for the 2014 season presented by Capital BlueCross are now on sale.