PhoulBallz.com

Bryson Stott, image- Jay Floyd Shortstop Bryson Stott , the Phillies' first round draft selection this year, has enjoyed a successful initial pro campaign.  En route to being recognized as an All-Star for the Class A short-season Williamsport Crosscutters the 21-year-old UNLV product has tallied a .295 average with six home runs and 25 RBI in 45 minor league contests. Last week I spoke with the lefty hitting Stott to discuss his transition to professional baseball, joining the Phillies organization and plenty more.  Read ahead for that interview.  -Obviously, your performance and the production on the field is going well, but how do you feel you have adapted to the pro life? It feels good.  You hear about the everyday grind, but you don't really believe it till you feel it. I would say that's the difference between college and the pros, is you're not practicing, you're playing games every day.  I would say that's the biggest difference.  But I...

Corbin Williams, image- Jay Floyd Corbin Williams  was the Phillies' 24th round draft selection in 2018. A year into his professional career, the 21-year-old became an All-Star in the Class A short-season Williamsport Crosscutters. Through 53 games, the righty batting Williams has tallied a .222 batting average with three doubles, a triple, six RBI and 28 stolen bases. Last week I talked with Corbin about his All-Star nod, his trip to New York for the game, sneakers, competing for the league lead in steals and more! This interview is available exclusively for Patreon members. Head on over to Patreon.com/PhoulBallz to support my work and gain access to loads of material unseen and unavailable any place else.

HELP SUPPORT CONTENT LIKE THIS AND KEEP IT COMING ALL SEASON LONG BY BECOMING A PATRON!  Get early access to my posts and EXCLUSIVE interviews- https://www.patreon.com/phoulballz Mickey Moniak, image- Jay Floyd The Double-A Eastern League All-Star rosters were announced on Monday and four Reading Fightin Phils have been honored and will represent the Eastern division. Righty pitchers Adonis Medina and Addison Russ will be joined by slugging first baseman Darick Hall and outfielder Mickey Moniak when the game takes place on Wednesday, July 10th in Richmond, VA. Medina, 22, has been on a roll of late and closed out the first half of the season with five straight wins, notching a 1.24 ERA over that stretch.  In 12 starts for Reading, the Domincan Republic native sports a 5-3 record with a 4.05 ERA and a .235 batting average against. Russ, 24, has been consistent as the team's closer this year, tallying a 1-3 record with 10 saves, a 1.57 ERA and a 12.9 K/9 mark...

Grullon celebrates his HR Derby win, (nice) image- Jay Floyd TRENTON, NJ-- Dangle a championship belt, a butt load of pork roll and $500 in front of  Deivi Grullon and there is no stopping him. The All-Star catcher for the Double-A Reading Fightin Phils launched longball after longball and convincingly won the Eastern League Home Run Derby on Tuesday night. Eight participants would each have a four-minute turn to hit as many homers as they could and the top two totals would advance to a championship round. Grullon, a 22-year-old righty batting Phillies prospect topped all hitters in the opening round, slugging 14 round trippers, some of which peppered the highway, Route 29, beyond the left field foul pole and one of which traveled as far south as Bordentown, as the host Trenton Thunder PA announcer Matt Hillman asserted, from ARM & HAMMER Park. Rockies outfield prospect Sam Hilliard would face Grullon for the prize money, title belt and delicious meat product , all...

De Los Santos, image- Jay Floyd The rosters for the 2018 MLB All-Star Futures Game were released on Friday and this year's lone Phillies representative is slated to be Triple-A All-Star pitcher Enyel De Los Santos . De Los Santos, 22, has been remarkable all season long with the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, posting a 9-3 record with a league leading 1.83 ERA and an 8.2 K/9 mark through 16 starts.  The six-foot-three 175-pound right-hander was acquired last off-season from San Diego in a trade for Freddy Galvis. The Dominican native was named to the World roster, which will be managed by David Ortiz with Francisco Cordero acting as the squad's pitching coach.  The game is set for Sunday, July 15th and will be played at Nationals Park in Washington, DC. In recent years, individuals that played in or attended the All-Star Futures Game have been permitted to skip their league's All-Star events in order to get some time off over the break.  The Futures event, howev...

The Lakewood BlueClaws are sending six players to the Class A South Atlantic League All-Star Game, slated to be played on Tuesday evening at 7:05pm at First National Bank Field in Greensboro, NC. Following the last regular season game of the first half on Sunday, I talked with a pair of those BlueClaws All-Stars, third baseman Jake Scheiner and relief pitcher Addison Russ about representing their team in the mid-season exhibition, among some other things. Read ahead for quotes galore from this talented twosome. Jake Scheiner... -Some of the offensive guys I've talked to on the team have cited concern over a bit of under-performing at times this season.  Do you feel like you've performed up to personal expectations you may have had coming into the season? Yeah.  I felt like my numbers didn't show well in the beginning.  But, I stuck with my approach and kept it going and it led me to getting a nominated for the All-Star Game.  I think our whole line up ...

Will Stewart, image- Jay Floyd The Class A South Atlantic League announced its All-Stars on Tuesday and the roster for the Northern Division includes six Lakewood BlueClaws. The team will send four pitchers, including lefty starter Will Stewart, righty starter Ramon Rosso, left-handed reliever Kyle Dohy and right-handed reliever Addison Russ.  Additionally, third baseman Jake Scheiner and shortstop Nick Maton are also on the team.  Stewart, 20, holds the league's best ERA among qualified players with a 1.23 mark.  The Phillies' 20th round draft pick from 2015 also sports a 5-0 record and a .197 batting average against through nine starts this season. Rosso, a native of the Dominican Republic, has a 2-1 record with a 1.44 ERA and a .191 BAA.  The 21-year-old has garnered a lot of attention this season with his seemingly out-of-nowhere, surprising contributions. Dohy, a 16th round draft pick last year, has a 3-3 record with a 1.00 ERA and a .157 BAA in 19 a...

During the 2017 Major League Baseball Home Run Derby, Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees once again demonstrated while he's the leading candidate to win both the American League MVP and Rookie of the Year awards. Coming into the Derby, Judge led the major leagues in home runs hit through the All-Star break with 30. And on the night of the derby, he bested three different guys who have hit 20 home runs themselves this season, en route to dethroning Giancarlo Stanton of the Miami Marlins as the Home Run Derby champion. The Home Run Derby was one of many events where individuals could make wagers on the various events that took place over the course of the All Star break. While you can find many different sites that allow you to make all sorts of bets on these festivities, one of the best sites where you can place sports wagers and play casino games is at Betfair Casino . On the way to winning this year's Derby, Judge beat out some of baseball's elite sluggers...

Andrew Knapp, image- Jay Floyd Phillies catching prospect Andrew Knapp launched a solo home run to help the International League All-Stars down the Pacific Coast League team in the Triple-A All-Star Game by a score of 4-2 on Wednesday in Charlotte. In 69 games with the Lehigh Valley IronPigs this season, the switch-hitting 24-year-old sports a .264 average with seven homers and 32 RBI. Recently, I spoke to Knapp about his All-Star nod, learning from veterans, his own progress, the Lehigh Valley staff and plenty more. Read ahead for that full interview. -With the All-Star honor coming your way, what were your feelings on that? Do you feel a level of accomplishment? Yeah, it's awesome. It's great to get any acknowledgement. A lot of hard work went in. I really hammered the defensive stuff this year and I've kind of been battling through the offense, you know? Not getting too down on myself early in the year and being able to put together some good at b...

Dylan Cozens, image- Jay Floyd With the unveiling of the Double-A Eastern League All-Star rosters on Thursday, it was announced that six Reading Fightin Phils players have been honored to play in the annual exhibition that is set to take place in Akron, OH on Wednesday, July 13th. Catcher Jorge Alfaro , first baseman Rhys Hoskins , outfielder Dylan Cozens , infielder Jesmuel Valentin , starting pitcher Nick Pivetta and reliever Hoby Milner are slated to take part in the EL All-Star Game. Cozens, who is tied with teammate Hoskins for the minor league lead in home runs with 21, was thankful for the chance to represent Reading and the Phillies in the league's midsummer classic. "It feels good to get recognized and to get the opportunity to play with some of the best guys in minor league baseball," Cozens said. Overall in 77 games Cozens has a .276 average, 22 doubles and 62 RBI to go along with his remarkable home run total. The 22-year-old was the Phill...

Luke Leftwich, image- Jay Floyd The list of third-generation major league pitchers is a short one. The list: Casey Coleman Phillies pitching prospect Luke Leftwich hopes to double the length of that list someday. Leftwich, a right-hander, was a seventh-round draft selection last year out of Wofford College. Following his pro debut, the 6'3", 205-pounder posted a 2-2 record with a 2.76 ERA in 11 games for short-season Class A Williamsport. Through 11 starts this season for Class A Lakewood, he has tallied a 6-3 record with a 2.15 ERA and 11.5 strikeouts per nine innings en route to being named a South Atlantic League All-Star. Through college and in the early stages of his professional career it has been reported in Leftwich’s biographical notes that his father and grandfather played in the big leagues. But if not for the sleuthing of his father, Phil Leftwich , the 22-year-old would not have known that he could become the majors' second third-generati...

Cody Forsythe, image- MiLB.com Lefty reliever Cody Forsythe is one of four Lakewood BlueClaws that has been selected to represent the team in the Class A South Atlantic League All-Star Game coming up next week. Last year's 25th round draft selection by the Phillies quickly showed he could compete in the professional ranks after signing last year. With the Gulf Coast League Phillies, he sported a 3-0 record with two saves and a 2.38 ERA in 18 relief appearances. He also pitched a scoreless frame for Clearwater in a lone appearance last year. This season, as the BlueClaws' closer, the 23-year-old Kentucky native has posted a 3-2 record with nine saves and a 2.63 ERA. Additionally, he's struck out 25 batters and walked six in 27 1/3 innings pitched. Forsythe will be joined by J.P. Crawford , Willians Astudillo and Samuel Hiciano when the Northern Division All-Stars take on the Southern Division All-Stars in the 55th annual event in Hickory, NC on Tuesday, June ...