Phillies Lead Baseball in LHP Prospects with Unique Names

A few days ago the Phillies converted Josh Outman and Fabio Castro, two left-handed starters, to relievers.  Those moves drew some attention away from the fact that they also promoted 22-year old left-handed starting pitcher Antonio Bastardo to AA Reading.

Bastardo earned the promotion after striking out 47 batters in just 30 1/3 innings pitched at A+ Clearwater.  Impressive to say the least and consistent with his efforts in 2007 when he struck out 110 batters in 96 2/3 innings pitched.

Razor Shines, his manager at Clearwater [while they're at it, is there room for World B. Free in the organization somewhere?], had this to say about Bastardo:

"He's got the gamut. Fastball, slider, change that he can throw for strikes on any count he wants. His changeup has really come along this spring and he's causing a lot of problems for opposing batters."

He also thought that Bastardo would pitch for the big league Phillies this year [link].

At 5'11'' and 168 lbs., the Dominican will undoubtedly face questions about his durability as a starter, and he still struggles with his control a bit, but the fact is, he misses bats.

Outman and Castro are good young pitchers, but it might just be Bastardo that becomes a lefty out of the pen for the Phils this year.

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At 18-14 and atop the NL East, the Phillies head west for a 7-game road trip against the Arizona Diamondbacks and the San Francisco Giants.  If they return 22-17, I'll be happy.

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Began watching the DVD Richie Ashburn: A Baseball Life and after one disc down and one to go, I can, without any reservations whatsoever, highly recommend it.  The footage of Whitey playing is just plain cool to see.  Oh, and one other thing:  Harry Kalas slings a pie in Whitey's face.  Priceless.