Jose Pujols named as High-A Clearwater Threshers POY

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The Clearwater Threshers are the High-A minor league affiliates of the Phillies, and are located at the same place where Phillies fans travel every February and March to enjoy spring training. They have been affiliated with the Phillies since their very first season of existence all the way back in 1985.

For their first 29 seasons the club was known as the Clearwater Phillies and played their home games at old Jack Russell Stadium. With the opening of a new ballpark now known as Spectrum Field in 2004, the team name and identity was changed as well.

Clearwater, Florida is approximately 1,100 miles from the Philadelphia area. Driving it will take you roughly 17 hours, give or take depending on traffic conditions and how many stops you choose to make along the way. Most who make the drive travel most of the way down I-95.

Of course it’s far quicker and in many ways easier to simply hop a flight. Your plane from Philly International will land in Tampa. From there it’s about an hour drive or two hours by public transportation to Clearwater.

As with their counter-parts in Lakewood highlighted in yesterday’s piece, the 2018 season saw the Threshers finish in first place overall in the North Division of the Florida State League.

Their 77-60 mark was the second-best overall in a season that is split into halves. The first half saw Clearwater finish just 32-36 and in fourth place. However, the team rolled to a 45-24 mark over the second half.

The Threshers faced the first-half divisional winners, the Daytona Tortugas, in the FSL playoff semi-finals. Clearwater captured the opener by a 7-6 score, but then Daytona came from behind to capture the next two games by 6-5 and 5-3 and win the best-of-three series.

This year’s Clearwater Threshers Player of the Year is outfielder Jose Pujols. A 6-3, 175lb right fielder, he bats and fields right-handed. Pujols turned 23-years-old just last week and is a native of the Dominican Republic. He was originally signed by the Phillies as a 16-year-old back on July 2, 2012.

Power has generally been considered his calling card. Pujols demonstrated that again this year as his 18 home runs, 58 RBI, and 56 runs scored each led the ball club. He also put together a solid .301/.364/.523 slash line.

Phillies Fall 2016 Top Ten Prospects: Near Misses

Over the past week, I have been releasing a countdown of the Philadelphia Phillies Top Ten Prospects as of Fall 2016.

That Phillies top prospect list shows that this vastly improved organization has a tremendous mix of talented youngsters coming at a variety of positions.

The current top ten includes three pitchers, a catcher, a second baseman, a shortstop, and four outfielders. At least three of these prospects appear ready to impact the team in the 2017 season.

But there were others who didn’t make the cut, but who were close. Players who are legitimate big league prospects. 

Certainly a few of them would have made the top ten list in the estimations of other talent evaluators. Let’s examine a few of the prospects who just missed my list.

Pharm Report: Low-A Lakewood BlueClaws

The Phillies 'Low-A' level minor league club, the Lakewood BlueClaws, currently find themselves at the bottom of the South Atlantic (SAL) League standings in the North Division.

The BlueClaws are 16-24, which has them tied with the Marlins' affiliates in Greensboro for last place. Both teams trail the first place Hagerstown Suns (Nationals) by 10.5 games already.

Manager Shawn Williams' club has been hurt by the struggles of one of the Phillies top minor league pitching prospects at the lower levels, right-hander Franklyn Kilome.

Kilome thus far has an 0-4 record with a 7.30 ERA and a 1.99 WHIP. He has allowed 34 hits in 24.2 innings with a 25/15 K:BB ratio across his first half-dozen starts.

Named as our #7 Phillies prospect over at TBOH during the preseason, Kilome had a solid season a year ago with short-season Williamsport as a 20-year old during which he saw a major uptick in his fastball, leading to the lofty ranking.

Kilome struggled mightily with command and control issues during the season's opening month. In April, the righty went 0-3 with a 15.83 ERA and walked 10 batters over his first 9.1 innings.

However, things may finally be coming together for the high-ceiling pitcher who is now 21 years old.