Tagged: Kevin Mahar

2010 E.L. All-Stars…

The 2010 Eastern League All-Star Game willel_as_logo_450.gif be played tomorrow (Wednesday, July 14) in Harrisburg, PA, and the Reading Phillies will be well represented.

When the original rosters were announced, four R-Phils were selected to the team (MIchael Schwimer, Vance Worley, Tagg Bozied, and Matt Rizzotti). As things change, and players are promoted, or injured, the rosters began to change — by the day.

Not too much later, R-Phils SS Freddy Galvis was added to the roster, running the total of R-Phils players to five. Then, Michael Schwimer, who was enjoying an impressive 2010 in Baseballtown, was promoted to Lehigh Valley. Wth Schwimer off the roster, starter Drew Naylor was added to take his place.

Yesterday, Kevin Mahar was added to the roster for Brandon Laird, who was unable to participate. Now, seven R-Phils in all were selected, and six will go to represent their club. An impressive number of All-Stars!

Let’s take a look at your 2010 R-Phils All-Stars…

Vance Worley —
Worley, 22, makes the Eastern League All-Star team for the
second-straight season. The Sacramento, CA native is 8-4 with a 3.44
ERA over 18 starts this season. In the month of June, Worley went 2-2 with a 3.12 ERA (five starts). Originally selected by Philadelphia
in the third round of the 2008 draft, Worley is the reigning Eastern League Pitcher of the Week, after tossing a complete game, three-hit shutout on July 11..

Tagg Bozied —
Bozied, 30, is in his first season in the Philadelphia organization,
and has excelled at the plate this season for Reading. A native of
Sioux, Falls, SD, Bozied is currently hitting .293 with 13 home runs
and a team-high 55 RBIs. He, as well as Matt Rizzotti, will participate in the HR Derby.

Matt Rizzotti —
Rizzotti has enjoyed an impressive season in Baseballtown since his
promotion from Clearwater (A+) on May 13. The Floral Park, NY native is
hitting .355 with 12 home runs and 47 RBIs. This season, Rizzotti has already won such awards as — Eastern League Player of the Month (June), Eastern League Player of
the Week (for the week ending June 29), and Philadelphia
Phillies Minor League Player of the Month (May). Originally selected
by Philadelphia in the sixth round of the 2007 draft, Rizzotti, 24, is
hitting .379 with six home runs and 21 RBIs in the month of June.

Freddy Galvis — 
A native of Punto Fijo, Venezuela, Galvis is hitting .221 with two home
runs and 30 RBIs over 89 games with the R-Phils this season. Originally
signed by Philadelphia as a non-drafted free agent on July 2, 2006,
Galvis has enjoyed a successful season at the plate, on the bases (eight stolen bases), as well as in the field for Reading this season.
He is ranked by Baseball America as the number 13 prospect in the
Philadelphia Phillies organization.

Drew Naylor —
A native of Brisbane, Australia, Naylor has posted an 8-6 mark with a
4.01 ERA over 17 games (16 starts) with the R-Phils this season. His
best game of the season came on May 25 at FirstEnergy Stadium. The 6’4″
Naylor threw a complete-game, three hitter, en-route to an impressive
6-0 victory over Portland. He allowed just one walk and fanned six
batters on the evening.

Kevin Mahar —
A product of Indiana University, Mahar has enjoyed a successful season
with the R-Phils in 2010. In his second-straight campaign in
Baseballtown, the 29-year-old is hitting .270 with eight home runs and
33 RBIs. The 6’5″ slugger has been red-hot in July – hitting .300 with
three home runs and ten RBIs. 

Put it in the Books!

So, the first homestand of 2010 season is already in the books, and the R-Phils showed early on that they could be a tough team here this season.Baseball_scorebook.jpg

And, for me, well, it was my first taste of action in Reading — the first game working at FirstEnergy Stadium, and the first of what I hope will be many great nights at this beautiful historic ballpark.

Early on here in Reading, I have already seen a team, which I believe, can compete for a spot in the playoffs — I know, it’s way to early too talk playoffs, but let me explain.

With a mixture of some very good young talent (Domonic Brown, Tyson Gillies, Freddy Galvis, and others), and a mix of some valuable veterans (Michael Spidale, Tagg Bozied, and Kevin Mahar), this Reading team is built to play late into the season.

Early on here, I have been impressed with the speed of Tyson Gillies — he can run it down in the outfield as good as I have seen, he can leg out an infield single, and he can make a triple look easy.

I have been impressed thus far with Yohan Flande, who tossed has two solid games already this season. In his first outing of 2010, Flande, 24, allowed just one hit over six shutout innings — earning a no-decision. In his second outon, on April 16 at Richmond, Flande once again was solid — allowing just two unearned runs through six frames and was the hard-luck loser. The native of the Dominican Republic has shown good command over his first two outings, and has kept his opponents off-balance.

Also impressive are the valuable veterans who help make this team go on a daily basis. Spidale, who entered his fourth season in Reading on Opening Day, lead the entire Eastern League in RBIs through the first seven games of the season with a remarkable 10 RBIs.

Pickney, who was selected in the 12th round of the 2003 draft by Cleveland, launched his first home run of the season in front of the Reading faithful on April 14.

Mahar, who was a solid contributor a year ago in Baseballtown, returned to R-Phils this season, picking up right where he left off. The former Texas Ranger, Mahar has already had three multi-hit games, including his first home run of the season.

Bozied, who spent part of last season with Indianapolis (AAA), has enjoyed a good amount of success early on this season with the R-Phils. One game in particular stands out, as Bozied, 30, was solid on April 11, launching his first homer of the season, and adding a team-high 5 RBIs on the afternoon. 

And, early on, I have seen some impressive things from Drew Naylor, a 40-man roster guy, Michael Stutes, who has looked good in save chances — he’s 2 for 2 in save chances this season, and the slick fielding of Freddy Galvis, who looks great at shortstop.