One of the most exciting players we have watched this season in the Phillies organization has been outfielder Hunter Markwardt. Last week we watched him hit a walk-off double to win a game for the Clearwater Threshers.
That hit earned him a call-up to Jersey Shore where last night he tripled in two runs in the fourth inning and singled in a go ahead run in the top of the 10th inning. It was only a temporary lead in a game the BlueClaws lost 9-8 in the bottom half of the inning.
The Phillies farm teams did manage to win a game Friday night after they all lost Thursday night.
The Clearwater Threshers won 6-3 over the Minnesota Twins Low A farm team, the Ft. Myers Might Mussels. The strikeout numbers stood out to me in the game. The Threshers used five pitchers who racked up 15 strikeouts compared to only 4 strikeouts for the Ft. Myers pitching.
The two Threshers piggyback pitchers who are on limited pitch counts were starter Rodolfo Sanchez who struck out 5 in 3.2 innings and Jordi Martinez who came on in the fifth inning and struck out 5 more in three innings of work. Reliever Tyler Adams pitched the eight inning plus two batters in the ninth striking out 4.
The Clearwater staff is now second in the league with 126 strikeouts after the first ten games of the season. They are only one strikeout behind league leading staff, Bradenton.
Though the season is still young Markwardt, Sanchez, Martinez and Adams are prospects to keep an eye on as the season continues.
Baseball Ross 