The Major League Basseball First-year Player Draft began its three-day marathon Thursday night with first-round and compensation-round picks taking place. In all, 60 players were chosen. The second round kicks off Tuesday and the draft runs for 50 rounds, finishing up Wednesday.

 

The draft is always filled with great stories, and one of the best involved the Phillies, who selected a high school outfielder named Larry Greene Jr. with the 39th overall pick. The Phils, who lost their first-round selection for signing Cliff Lee, got the 39th pick from Washington for the Nationals' signing of right fielder Jayson Werth. 

 

Greene, 18, is a 6-1, 235-pound outfielder who bats left and throws right. Coming into the draft he was ranked the No. 75 draft prospect, according to Baseball America, but in the past few weeks he began to rise on teams' draft lists.

 

This past season for Berrien County High School in Nashville, Ga., Greene batted .562 with 19 home runs and 52 RBIs. In 89 at-bats, Greene had 58 hits, including 11 doubles and one triple, stole 13 bases and scored 50 runs.

 

Baseball America's scouting report on Greene said  that he's a "huge physical specimen with huge physical talent.

 

What makes his story so compelling is that he lost his mother ealier this year and he was in New York Thursday night when his name was announced. Greene and his father, Larry Greene Sr., embraced and both were in tears. When Greene was asked by MLB's Hazel Mae how happy he was about being drafted, Greene said he wished his mom could have seen this night. Anyone who didn't have tears in their eyes has no feelings.

 

Hopefully, the Phillies got a future standout talent who will roam left or right field and bash home runs at Citzens Bank Park in the near future. Or maybe Greene will replace Ryan Howard at first base some day.

 

Whatever, it looks like the Phillies drafted a young man Thursday night with plenty of outstanding makeup and plenty of baseball talent. 

 

Greene's selection, which was shown live on the MLB Network, was made by former Phillies second baseman Mickey Morandini, who will be the manager of the Williamsport Crosscutters this season. The Crosscutters are the Phillies' affiliate in the Short-Season New York-Penn, which kicks off its 70-game season in less that two weeks.

 

      

It should come as no surprise to anyone who follows minor league baseball that the Kansas City Royals have five of the Top 20 propsects in Baseball America's list of Top 100 Prospects.

 

After all, former Phillies scouting guru Mike Arbuckle has been working for the Royals since November 2008 when he was hired as senior adviser for scouting and player development, working as the right-hand man for Royals G.M. Dayton Moore.

 

Arbuckle was with the Phillies for 16 years, joining the team in 1992 as director of scouting. Under Arbuckle, the Phillies drafted players like Pat Burrell, Ryan Howard, Ryan Madson, Brett Myers, Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, Cole Hamels and Scott Rolen. And let's not forget about all of the players the Phillies drafted and then traded over the past few years to get guys like Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee. Players like Kyle Drabek, Michael Taylor, Lou Marson, Travis D'Arnaud and Jason Knapp. And Arbuckle was responsible, along with former G.M. Lee Thomas, for putting Latin American Supervisor Sal Agostinelli in charge of the Latin American scouting area, which brought the Phillies Carlos Ruiz, who was signed as a skinny second baseman and has developed into an All-Star catcher. OF course, current Phillies Scouting Director Marti Wolever made a lot of those picks, but who hired him? Arbuckle.

 

The Royals Top 5 in the Top 100 are: First baseman Eric Hosmer (No. 8) , third baseman Mike Moustakis (No. 9), former catcher turned outfielder Wil Myers (No. 10), and left-handed pitcher John Lamb (No. 18) and Mike Montgomery (No. 19). Moustakis is the oldest at 22, while Hosmer and Montgomery are 21. Myers and Lamb are 20. All could reach the majors this season in Septemeber.  

It's obvious the Phillies' future lies in the lower levels of the sytem.

 

Of the team's Top 10 prospect, according to Baseball America, nine are either at low Class-A Lakewood or high Class-A Clearwater.

 

Oufielder Jonathan Singleton (No. 2), RHPs Brody Colvin (No. 3), Jarred Cosart (No. 4) and Trevor May (No. 5), catcher Sabastian Valle (No. 6) and center fielder Jiwan James (No. 7) play for the Threshers in Cleawater. Lefty started Jesse Biddle (No. 8)  and outfielder Domnigo Santana and Aaron Altherr play in Lakewood for the BlueClaws. Singleton will be 20 Sept. 18, Colvin will be 21 Aug. 14, Cosart will be 21 May 25, May will be 22 Sept. 23, Valle will be 21 July 24, James turned 22 April 11, Biddle will be 20 Oct. 22, Santana will be 19 Aug. 5 and Altherr turned 20 Jan. 14.

 

The Phillies' top prospect, outfielder Domonic Brown, is recovering from hamate bone surgery on his right wrist. He will be 24 Sept. 3 

The Clearwater Threshers, the Phillies' high Class-A affiliate in the Florida State League, got the 2011 season off to a winning start Thursday night with a 10-1 thrashing of Dunedin, the Toronto Blue Jays' high Class-A affiliate. Stud Phillies prospect Jonathan Singleton, an eighth-round pick by the big club in 2009 out of Lakewood, Calif., began the 2011 season right where he left off last year when he led the BlueClaws to their second straight South Atlantic League title. The 19-year-old Singleton, who has moved to left field this season after playing first base his entire life, is one of the youngest players in the Florida State League. He won't be 20 until Sept. 18. The South Atlantic League's Most Exciting Player and top Major League Prospect in 2010 as voted by Baseball America, Singleton is ranked No. 39 by Baseball America among its Top 100 prospects. He went 3-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored Thursday night. Joining him in the hit parade were former pitcher Joe Savery, the Phillies' No. 1 pick in 2007 (19th overall) out of Rice University. The left-handed hitting Savery went 4-for-4 Thursday night in his quest to become aneveryday player after flaming out out as a pitcher. Outfielder Leandro Castro, a 21-yaer-old Dominican who helped Lakewood win the SAL title last year, went 3-for-5 with an RBI, three runs scored and he stole a base. Speedy centerfieler Jiwan James, a 6-4, 200-pounder who many compare to Domonic Brown (I don't see it), went 2-for-4 and stole two bases. He was a huge reason Lakewood won the SAL title last year. He reminds me more of a Chris Roberson type, who played in the Phillies' system. Stud right-hander Jarred Cosart, a 38th-round pick by the Phillies in 2008, went six innings and allowed just two hits while striking out two to pick up the win. He did walk four batters, but it's only April 7. Cosart, a 6-3, 180-pounder, will be 21 on May 5, so his future is very bright. He was a Future Games selection last season while going 7-3 for Lakewood. He is ranked No. 70 by Baseball America among its Top 100 prospects. Coming out of high school, Cosart wanted big money and he had a commitment to Missouri, so teams figured he was unsignable. The Phils stayed with him and inked him at the signing deadline in August of 2008 for approximately $500,000. This Clearwater team is loaded with many of the prospect who led Lakewood to back-to-back South Atlantic League titles, so it should be a great season in Clearwater this summer.

After back-to-back South Atlantic League titles, what could the Lakewood BlueClaws do for an encore? The BlueClaws, the low Class A affiliate of the Phillies, began the 2011 season Thursday night with a 2-0 shuotout over the over the Kannapolis Intimidators, the Sout Atlantic League affiliate of the Chicago White Sox. Blue Claws Starter Mario Hollands, a 6-5, 205-pound 22-year-old left-hander whom the Phillies drafted in the 10th round in 2010 out of Cal-Santa Barbara, picked up the win in his first start as a BlueClaw, throwing five shutout innings. Hollands scattered five hits and struck out three. Relievers Tyler Knigge and Eric Pettis came in out the BlueClaws bullpen and slammed the door shut as they each pitched two perfect innings of relief. BlueClaws 1B Jim Murphy, a 6-4, 240-pound hammer, led off the 2nd inning with a home run for the first hit of 2011 for Lakewood. The only negative about Murphy is that the 17th-round pick out of Washington State in 2006 is 25 years old and will be 26 Sept. 16. In other words, he's an organizational player who fills out a lineup and protects younger prospects in the lineup. Playing at Lakewood this season would seem to be a demotion for Murphy. He spent last season at high Class A Clearwater last season, batting .239 in 397 at-bats, with six home runs and 43 RBIs. He spent the 2009 season at Lakewood, hitting .279 with 14 homers and 67 RBIs. The Blue Claws will send RHP David Buchanan to the mound tonight at 7:05 p.m., at FirstEnergy Park, and Kannapolis will counter with RHP Jake Petricka.

The Phillies' minor league system is loaded with plenty of talent in its lower levels, as evidenced by the fact that the Rookie-League Gulf Coast Philles won their league title, the Short-Season Williamsport Crosscutters finished with a 43-33 record in the New York-Penn League, just missing out on the playofs, and the Lakewood BlueClaws cruised to Northern Division titles in both first and second halves of the South Atlantic League regular season.

The Claws won the Northern Division title by defeating Hickory in the Best-of-Three series, 2-1.

And now, the BlueClaws, the defending South Atlantic League champions, are in the Best-of-Five league finals against the Greenville Drive, the low Class-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox.

The series is tied at 1-1 after the BlueClaws knocked off Greenville, 6-1 Tuesday night behind a nice effort by 20-year-old right-hander Julio Rodriguez (he turned 20 Aug. 29), who went five innings, allowing just three hits and one earned run while striking out seven. Rodriguez, the Phillies' eighth-round pick in the 2008 draft, did walk four Greenville batters, but he pitched well enough to give Lakewood the win.

Josh Zeid, a good-looking 23-year-old right-hander who started for Lakewood for much of the season before being mvoed to the bullpen and picking up eight saves, pitched three spotless innings, striking out four. Former Ridley High stud Mike McGuire, who signed with Lakewood July 15 and picked up six saves in 30-plus innings with a 2.67 ERA during the regular season for the BlueClaws, pitched the ninth to finish out the win.

Lakewood returns home to First Energy Field tonight at 7:05 against the Drive in Game 3 of the finals. The series will finish in New Jersey as games are scheduled tonight, Friday and Saturday, if necessary.

The BlueClaws send stud right-hander Brody Colvin to the mound tonight against 21-year-old right-hander Chris Balcom-Miller.

The 6-3, 195-pound Colvin, who turned 20 Aug. 14, went 6-8 with a 3.39 ERA in 27 starts for Lakewood this season. He struck out 120 and walked 48 in 138 inings, allowing 138 hits. He was selected in the seventh round of the 2009 draft, but didn't sign with the Phillies until late August just before the deadline to sign players. He never pitched in the minors last year, going to the Florida Instructional League in October. He bypassed rookie ball and short-season ball this season and advanced right to low Class-A Lakewood and more than held his own, which is impressive for a high school kid, considering there are a lot of 20-to-23-year-old college-type players in the SAL.

Colvin had a scholarship from LSU coming out of high school and teams figured he'd keep his commitment, which dropped him to the seventh round. The Phils stuck with him and signed him for a reported $900,000, almost double of what the Phillies gave to any of their other draft picks, including second-round pick Kelly Dugan (their first pick), who got $485,000 according to Baseball America. The Phillies picked second in 2009 because they signed Raul Ibanez and lost their first-round pick to the Mariners.

Lakewood picked up where it left off during the regular season by dominating Hickory, 7-0, Wednesday night in Game 1 of the best-of-three South Atlantic League Northern Division Championship Series.

Trevor May, a strapping 6-5, 215-pound right-handed pitcher whom the Phillies selected in the fourth round of the 2008 draft, dominated the Crawdads, striking out a Blue Claws playoff record 13 batters. May went 6 2/3 innings and allowed just four hits as Lakewood, the defending South Atlantic League champion, cruised past the Crawdads, the low Class-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers.

May pitched last season for the Blue Claws and began the 2010 season with high Class-A Clearwater, but after going 5-5 with a 5.01 ERA for the Threshers of the Florida State League, he was sent back to Lakewood. May did strike out 90 batters in 70 innings at Clearwater, but he walked 61, which has always been his bug-a-boo.

Instead of pouting, the 20-year-old May (He'll be 21 Sept. 23) came back to Lakewood and dominated, going 7-3 with a 2.91 ERA in 11 starts spanning 65 innings. He struck out 95 and walked just 20. He began the 2010 postseason where he left off in the regular season, just blowing hitters away.

May could start next season at Double-A Reading, but he'll most likely begin at Clearwater again and go from there. If he can avoid the walks, he's a stud prospect.

Offensively, the Blue Claws, who went 84-55 during the regular season and ran away with both the first half and second-half Northern Division titles, were led Wednesday night by catcher Sebastian Valle, first baseman Jonathan Singleton and shortstop Alan Schoenberger, all of whom homered. Valle and Singleton hit solo shots while the scrappy Schoenberger blasted a three-run shot.

Third baseman Jeremy Barnes went 2-for-3 and scored two runs and second baseman Keoni Ruth went 3-for-4, including a double, and scored twice.

Righty Eric Pettis, a 22-year-old who was drafted by the Phillies in the 35th round this year out of Cal-Irvine, made his Lakewood debut and pitched 1 1/3 innings. Pettis was 8-0 with a 1.37 ERA in 59 innings for short-season Williamsport before being promoted to Lakewood for the playoffs after the Crosscutters' season ended this week. Pettis struck out 67 and walked just seven for Williamsport. Righty Josh Zeid, a 10th-round pick by the Phillies in 2009, pitched a scoreless ninth for the Blueclaws. Zeid, a 23-year-old righthander who stands 6-5, went 8-4 with a 2.93 ERA for the Blue Claws this season, mostly as a starter. In 107-plus innings, he struck out 111 and walked just 27. He also had eight saves for Lakewood.

The Blue Claws will head back to Lakewood and host the Crawdads Friday night at 7:05 p.m. at First Energy Field. Stud righthander Brody Colvin (6-8, 3.39 during the regular season) will go up against 'Dads LHP Robert Erlin (6-3, 2.12). Lakewood is 4-2 all-time in the playoffs when trying to eliminate opponents.