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IL1 Lehigh Valley IronPigs

IronPigs Roster Announced

March 29, 2008 - International League (IL1)
Lehigh Valley IronPigs News Release


(Allentown, Pa.) -- A corps of Minor League veterans, several top prospects and six members of the Philadelphia Phillies 40-Man Roster headline the inaugural Lehigh Valley IronPigs roster, announced Saturday. In addition, a trio of top prospects according to Baseball America -- C Jason Jaramillo, LHP J.A. Happ and RHP Joe Bisenius -- will all begin the season with the IronPigs.

Jaramillo, 25, is a member of the Philadelphia 40-Man Roster and was rated the No. 10 Prospect in the Phillies' system by Baseball America in 2008. A second-round selection by Philadelphia in 2004, Jaramillo appeared in the 2007 International League All-Star Game in 2007 and finished batting .271 with six homers and 56 RBI.

Happ, a former third rounder in 2004, appeared in his first and only Major League game June 30 against the New York Mets last year. He spent the remainder of last season with Ottawa and went 4-6 with a 5.02 ERA. The 25-year-old had an impressive 2006 campaign that included a midseason Florida State League All-Star selection. His success continued at Double-A, going 6-2 with a 2.65 ERA in 12 GS with the Reading Phillies. Baseball America ranks Happ as the No. 11 Prospect in the Phillies organization.

Bisenius, a member of the Phillies 40-Man Roster, appeared in 35 games with the Ottawa Lynx after starting the 2007 season on the Philadelphia Opening Day Roster. Selected by the Phillies in the 12th round of the 2004 draft, Bisenius pitched two scoreless innings in his first stint in the Major Leagues and finished 3-4 overall with a 5.48 ERA at Triple-A.

Expected to join J.A. Happ in the rotation is RHP Travis Blackley, a Rule-5 draft selection in December that spent last season with Triple-A Fresno in the Giants organization. The 25-year-old posted impressive numbers a year ago, winning 10 games at Triple-A prior to making a pair of starts for the Giants in September.

In addition to Happ and Blackley, the starting rotation is expected to feature experienced veterans like LHP Brian Mazone and RHP Ron Chiavacci. Mazone has posted stellar numbers the last two years, going 16-5 with a 2.07 ERA in 26 starts as a Phillies farmhand. After leading the IL with a 2.03 ERA in 2006, he spent the majority of last season pitching for the Samsung Lions of the Korean League. Chiavacci is coming off a 12-win campaign with the Mud Hens a season ago. Originally from Scranton, Pa., Chiavacci finished third in the IL in wins (12), fourth in strikeouts (126), and fifth in ERA (3.39). Originally drafted by the Montreal Expos in the 44th round of the June 1998 draft, the right-hander attended Lackawanna Junior College and Kutztown University.

The Lehigh Valley pitching staff will consist of several holdovers from last year's Ottawa ball club, including right-handers Jason Anderson, Matt Childers, J.D. Durbin, John Ennis and Gary Knotts.

The staff also includes a pair of experienced vetarans in RHP Kevin Beirne and LHP Vic Darensbourg. Beirne, 34, did not pitch in 2007 after spending five seasons overseas in Japan from 2002-2006. Darensbourg, 37, went 6-2 with an impressive 1.72 ERA in 50 relief appearances with Triple-A Toledo (Detroit) last season.

Remarkably, with the exceptions of Ron Chiavacci and Brian Mazone, the balance of the pitching staff has Major League experience.

In terms of position players, the Phillies made several Minor League free agent acquisitions to bolster an offense that hit a league-low 53 home runs in 2007. Expected to make a significant contribution is OF Val Pascucci, who led all of Triple-A baseball with 34 home runs in Albuquerque (Florida) last year.

Alongside Pascucci in the outfield will be Brandon Watson, who set an IL record by hitting safely in 43 consecutive games last year with Columbus (Washington). A non-roster invitee to Major League Spring Training, the California native has appeared in 40 big league games over the past three seasons. Watson is a career .305 hitter with 188 stolen bases in nine seasons and 900 Minor League games.

Additional outfielders on the Opening Day roster include Mike Spidale and T.J. Bohn. The former was signed by the Phillies as a Minor League free agent in 2006 and led the South Atlantic League in batting average (.345) that year. Last season, he split time between Clearwater and Reading and batted .296 with 47 RBI and stole 23 bases. Bohn split time between Double-A Mississippi and Triple-A Richmond (Atlanta) last year, hitting .235 with 25 RBIs.

Splitting catching duties with Jaramillo is slugger C Pete LaForest, who spent time on both the San Diego Padres and Phillies rosters during the 2007 season. He hit .278 in 36 at-bats at the Major League level after hitting 29 homers and 72 RBI with the Triple-A Portland (San Diego). Originally drafted by the Montreal Expos in the 1995 June draft, LaForest played on Team Canada in both the 2004 Olympic Games and in the inaugural World Baseball Classic.

An experienced infield is guided by 1B Andy Tracy, who has been playing professionally since 1996 and has hit 20 or more home runs six times in his career. Tracy will be joined by 2B Casey Smith on the right side of the infield. Smith, selected by the Phillies in the Rule-5 draft, had a successful 2007 season at the plate with Salt Lake City (Los Angeles-AL), batting .290 with 53 RBIs.

The middle infield tandem also includes SS Gookie Dawkins, a former second-round draft pick by Cincinnati in 1997 who made his Major League debut as a 20-year-old in 1999. Now 28, the South Carolina native has appeared in 55 games at the big league level - but none since a three-game stint with Kansas City in 2003. Known for his defensive ability, Dawkins also hit .274 in 31 games in Ottawa last season after the Phillies acquired him from Seattle on August 1.

Brennan King is expected to retain the starting third base position that he held all of last year in Ottawa. A former second-round selection by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1999 draft, King spent all of last season with the Lynx -- where he hit .277 in 122 games. The Murfreesboro, Tenn., native has spent the previous two seasons in the Phillies organization after signing as Minor League free agent in 2005.

Remaining infielders include a pair of off-season acquisitions, Mike Cervenak and Chris Woodward. Cervenak spent last season in the IL with the Norfolk Tides and hit .283 with 15 home runs and 78 RBI in 140 games. Woodward, 31, was signed to a Minor League contract on Friday. He hit .393 (11-for-28) in 15 games for the New York Yankees during Spring Training. He spent last season with the Atlanta Braves and has also played for the New York Mets (2005-06) and the Toronto Blue Jays (1999-2004). Woodward has a .243 career average at the big league level, with 15 homers and 186 runs.

As announced in December, the team will be led by manager Dave Huppert, hitting coach Greg Gross and pitching coach Rod Nichols. The field staff is rounded out by athletic trainer Jason Kirkman and strength coach Ryan Driscoll.

Following a pair of exhibition games, the IronPigs inaugural season -- presented by Capital BlueCross -- begins on April 3 at PNC Field in Moosic, Pa., against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees. The IronPigs return for Opening Day at Coca-Cola Park on April 11 at 7:05 p.m. against the reigning International League champion Richmond Braves.

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