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IL1 Lehigh Valley IronPigs

IronPigs Roster Announced

April 5, 2009 - International League (IL1)
Lehigh Valley IronPigs News Release


(Allentown, Pa.) -- Decorated top prospects, recognizable returnees and accomplished Major League veterans comprise the 2009 Lehigh Valley IronPigs roster, announced by the World Champion Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday. The initial roster is highlighted by seven members of the Phillies' 40-Man Roster along with a pair of top performers from last year's team, INF/OF Mike Cervenak and 1B Andy Tracy.

Selected to the 2008 International League All-Star Team, the 32-year-old Cervenak enjoyed one of the top offensive seasons in the circuit last year with Lehigh Valley, hitting .311 with 10 home runs and 66 RBI in 115 games. After appearing in more than 1,000 professional games over the previous decade, he made his Major League debut with the Phillies last July, collecting his first hit and RBI with the club.

Tracy, 34, batted .288 while pacing the IronPigs with both 22 home runs and 85 RBI. He was the Phillies' Minor League Player of the Month in June, hitting .446 with four home runs and 18 RBI. Tracy had not played in the Major Leagues since 2004 before being rewarded for his fine play with an August and September promotion to Philadelphia.

Both Cervenak and Tracy were along for the Phillies' incredible October ride that culminated in the team's first World Series title in 28 years.

Joining the two experienced hitters will be three top prospects as rated by Baseball America, including the returning 22-year-old RHP Carlos Carrasco, a three-time member of the World Team's Future Game roster and a pair of 2008 Olympians, C Lou Marson and SS Jason Donald.

Carrasco made his Triple-A debut last August, continuing a rapid ascension through the Minor League ranks, and proceeded to dominate International League hitters. In six August starts, the Venezuela native went 2-2 with a 1.72 ERA in six starts. In 2006, he captured the Paul Owens Award, awarded to the top pitcher in the Philadelphia system, and helped guide Lakewood to a South Atlantic League Championship. In 2007, Carrasco threw a rain-shortened six-inning no-hitter with Reading versus Altoona in the Double-A Eastern League.

Marson, 22, is rated as the No. 3 prospect in the Phillies' system by Baseball America and, similarly to Carrasco, has made a steep system-wide climb which was culminated by a September call-up to Philadelphia last season. His breakout 2008 campaign included an appearance for Team USA in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and a start behind the plate for the U.S. Team in the 2009 Futures Game. The native of Scottsdale, Ariz., batted .314 with five home runs and 46 RBI and was named both a midseason and postseason All-Star while serving as the primary catcher for Reading last season.

Donald, 24, is rated as the No. 4 prospect in the Phillies' system and -- identically to Marson -- played for Team USA in the 2008 Summer Olympics, appeared in the 2008 Futures Game and was honored as an Eastern League midseason and postseason All-Star. The Clovis, Calif., native was initially selected by the Phillies in the third round of the 2006 draft and has been named an All-Star each of his first three professional seasons. Additional 2008 accolades for Donald included recognition on the 2008 Arizona Fall League's Top Prospect Team as well as the winner of the Dernell Stenson Sportsmanship award, presented annually to the AFL player "who best exemplifies unselfishness, hard work and leadership."

The remaining members of the Phillies 40-man Roster on the IronPigs Opening Day roster are a pair of expected starters, RHP Andrew Carpenter and RHP Kyle Kendrick, hard-throwing right-handed reliever Scott Nestor and recently-acquired OF John Mayberry, Jr.

Carpenter, 23, made his Triple-A debut last season upon receiving a late-season promotion to Lehigh Valley and made one appearance -- limiting Pawtucket to just two runs in seven innings in a starter's role at McCoy Stadium. A former second-round selection in 2006, Carpenter made his Major League debut against the New York Mets on Aug. 27 with a scoreless inning of relief.

The 24-year-old Kendrick returns to the Minor Leagues after compiling a 21-13 record and a 4.78 ERA in 51 games (50 starts) with the Phillies over the last two seasons. The Houston, Texas, native posted impressive numbers to begin last season (8-3, 4.47 ERA in 19 starts before the All-Star break), but went just 3-6 with a 7.59 ERA in 11 starts thereafter. It was just two seasons ago when he led all National League rookies in wins (10) while finishing third in ERA (3.87). In 97 career Minor League games, Kendrick compiled a 26-44 record and a 4.28 ERA.

Nestor was claimed off waivers by the Phillies this off-season after originally being selected by Florida in the 14th round of the 2003 draft. Expected to play a valuable role in the IronPigs' bullpen, the native of La Canada, Calif., is a former 2007 South League All-Star selection with Double-A Carolina while a member of the Marlins organization.

Mayberry, 24, was acquired by the Phillies in an off-season trade with Texas for former first-rounder Greg Golson. A former first-rounder himself (19th overall in 2005), Mayberry has a big league pedigree - his father John was a two-time American League All-Star first baseman in the 1970s. The Stanford University product has prodigious power, belting 20 home runs last year and accounting for 65 extra-base hits.

A pair of former Major Leaguers and established veterans -- RHP Rodrigo Lopez and RHP Justin Lehr -- are expected to join Carrasco, Carpenter and Kendrick to complete the IronPigs' rotation.

Lopez, 33, finished second in the 2002 A.L. Rookie of the Year balloting and twice won 15 games for Baltimore before undergoing Tommy John surgery in August 2007. Lehr, 31, was a non-roster invitee to Phillies Spring Training and went 6-2 with a 2.10 ERA while pitching for Triple-A Louisville in the Reds' organization last season. The Orange, Calif., native has appeared in 66 Major League games over parts of three seasons with Oakland and Milwaukee and compiled a 4-3 mark with a 5.31 ERA.

Anticipated to be alongside Scott Nestor in the IronPigs' bullpen are several organizational newcomers that all have garnered previous Major League experience, including RHP Dave Borkowski, LHP Cedrick Bowers, RHP Mike Koplove and LHP Jake Woods.

Borkowski, 32, failed to yield a run in five innings of work in Major League camp with the Phillies this spring. The former first-round selection of the Tigers in 1995 has spent parts of seven seasons in the Major Leagues with Detroit, Baltimore and Houston -- going 13-20 with a 5.87 ERA in 181 career appearances.

The 31-year-old Bowers made his Major League debut for the Rockies last season, 12 years after being drafted in the fourth round of 1996 by the Tampa Bay Rays. The hard-thrower has a career Minor League record of 59-59 with a 4.01 ERA in 294 games and 138 starts. In the Minor League ranks, the Gainesville, Fla., native has averaged 9.1 strikeouts per 9.0 innings pitched.

South Philadelphia native Mike Koplove was a non-roster invitee to Phillies camp this spring and made the most of his opportunity in Big League camp - allowing just one run and five hits in 9.1 innings. In portions of six seasons at the Major League level with Arizona and Cleveland, the 32-year-old has pitched very effectively -- posting a 15-7 career mark with a 3.82 ERA. Also of note, Koplove made nine appearances as a rookie for the World Champion Arizona Diamondbacks in 2001.

Woods, 27, was originally selected by the Angels in the third round of 2001 and reached the Major Leagues with the club in 2005. He spent each of the last three seasons pitching in the Seattle organization after getting claimed off waivers prior to the 2006 season. In 85 Major League appearances, the Fresno, Calif., native has enjoyed modest success - going 8-5 with a 4.60 ERA.

The staff is completed by RHP John Ennis, a valuable member of the IronPigs inaugural bullpen and a former Major Leaguer; and RHP Francisco Butto. The 29-year-old Ennis spent a majority of last season in the Lehigh Valley before having his contract sold to the Samsung Lions of the Korean League on Aug. 6. Before the departure, Ennis had been a key cog in the IronPigs bullpen leading the relief corps with seven holds. He finished strong, logging a 2-0 record with a 1.25 ERA in his last 14 appearances, lowering his overall ERA from 5.29 to 3.67.

Butto, 28, was recently signed as a Minor League free agent after a stellar 2008 in the Mexican League in which he went 3-0 with a 3.20 ERA pitching for a pair of teams. The Venezuelan native returns to the organization that originally signed him as a non-drafted free agent in 1999. Butto reached the Double-A level with Reading in 2005 and also has limited Triple-A experience - making four appearances as a Yankees farmhand with Columbus in 2006.

Impressively, with the exception of pitching prospects Carlos Carrasco and Antonio Bastardo, 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 collective .256 last season - the 12th best mark in the 14-team International League. Expected to make a significant impact in that category is INF Terry Tiffee, who led all of Triple-A baseball with a .378 batting average for Triple-A Las Vegas (Dodgers) last year. In fact, Tiffee, who reached the majors with Minnesota in 2004, 2005 and 2006, was hitting .422 at Las Vegas last year when he received a promotion to the Dodgers in late May. He is currently on the team's Disabled List.

Other minor league free agent infielders include J.J. Furmaniak, who reached the Major Leagues with Pittsburgh in 2005 and Oakland in 2007; Pablo Ozuna, a career .317 Minor League hitter with more than six years of Major League service time; and Jorge Velandia, a tenured player who has appeared for six different Major League clubs dating back to his 1997 Major League debut with San Diego.

Additional outfielders on the Opening Day roster include Rich Thompson, a member of the inaugural IronPigs; Jeremy Slayden, a top performer from Reading last season; and Jason Ellison, a member of a Major League roster for parts of six consecutive campaigns.

Thompson, 29, became the IronPigs everyday centerfielder after joining the team in late April last year and proceeded to hit .264 and steal a team-high 25 stolen bases in 97 games. The former James Madison (VA) University player made his Major League debut in 2004, appearing in six games with the Kansas City Royals.

Slayden, currently on the D.L. but in the mix for a starting role in the IronPigs' outfield, hit .298-17-81 in 131 games with Double-A Reading last season. The Phillies' eighth-round pick in 2005 out of Georgia Tech finished third in the Eastern League in doubles (33) last season and tied for fifth in hits (144).

Ellison, 31, enjoyed a tremendous spring with the Phillies, batting .306 in 26 games. A native of Quincy, Calif., Ellison batted .239 in 120 games with Triple-A Oklahoma (Texas) last year. During a breakout 2005 season, he hit .264 in 131 games for the San Francisco Giants and finished third among N.L. rookies in stolen bases (14) and sixth in hits (93). Interestingly, Ellison was traded to Seattle for former IronPigs' starter Travis Blackley on April 1, 2007.

Rounding out the roster is experienced backup C Paul Hoover, who began last season on the Florida Marlin's Opening Day Roster. The 32-year-old native of Columbus, Ohio, has reached the Big League level each of the last three seasons with Florida and set career highs in games (13), at-bats (40) and hits (8) last season.

As announced previously, the team will once again be piloted by veteran Minor League manager Dave Huppert, hitting coach Greg Gross and pitching coach Rod Nichols.

The 2009 season presented by Capital BlueCross begins on Thursday, April 9, at 7:05 p.m. against the reigning International League champion Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees. Single-game tickets, mini-plan packages and group tickets for all 72 IronPigs home games are on sale now and can be purchased at the Coca-Cola Park Ticket Office, online at ironpigsbaseball.com or by calling (610) 841-PIGS.

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