Tonight I interviewed Cleveland Indians’ pitching prospect, Jason Knapp, and Lakewood BlueClaws’
outfield prospect, Anthony Gose.

Knapp, a 2008 second round pick in the MLB First-Year Player Draft, was traded
right before the deadline to the Indians along with three other Phillie
prospects — Jason Donald, Carlos Carrasco and Lou Marson. The 6-foot-5, 235
pounder throws fire — mid 90s and touches 97. Baseball America ranked him as
having the best fastball in the South Atlantic League.

Knapp began the season with the Lakewood BlueClaws, Low Class A affiliate of
the Phillies, and made his second return to First Energy Park tonight. He
pitched last night against Delmarva recording four solid frames – one hit, one
run and three strikeouts — so he won’t get the chance to pitch against his
former team. Coincidently, he tied a Lakewood club record with 14 K’s against
his current team earlier this season.

In his first full season of professional baseball, the New Jersey (Annandale)
native is 2-7 with a 3.98 ERA and 121 strikeouts in 95 innings pitched combined
between Lakewood and Lake County. He was out for 3 1/2 weeks with shoulder
tendinitis, but is now back doing his thing and will most likely not pitch
above five innings in any of his next couple of starts (9.2 IP in 3 GS since
returning) and then head to Instructional League.

Knapp is a cool dude and about one thing – baseball. He eats, drinks, breathes,
lives (anything you can think of) baseball. I think he has a bright future and
can do big things at the major league level one day. He is only 18-years-old so
he has a ton of time to develope. He was the centerpiece of the trade for Cliff
Lee and will prove to be a good investment for the Indians.

And for you Cleveland fans, here’s a bit of what he had to say about being an
Indian.

“It’s an honor to be included in a trade for a guy like
that (Cliff Lee). Whatever team I am
with, in this case Cleveland, I’ll just adapt to whatever it is they preach
then move forward trying to get better. From what I hear, the Indians have a
great organization, the staff is good, and facilities are all good so it’s been
good.“

Check out my article on his return to Lakewood

http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090825&content_id=6609238&vkey=news_milb&fext=.jsp

The other interivew was with Anthony Gose. Gose is a talented guy with a bright
future. He was recently named the Most Exciting Player in the South Atlantic
League, along with Best Defensive Outfielder, Best/Fastest Baserunner.

Gose has 66 stolen bases already this year — leads minor leagues — and has
only, well only, been caught 17 times. He grew up watching Kenny Lofton and has always loved Los Angeles Dodgers’ outfielder
and speedster, Juan Pierre, so it
seems he is following their footsteps. He has 26 doubles, 9 triples and 2 home
runs.

Gose has struggled as of late going 16-for-86 in the past weeks dropping his
batting average to .266. This is the 19-year-old’s first full season. He says
his body feels great so it’s not fatigue; it is just the common slump players
go through during their careers.

The lefty passed up on a scholarship to the University of Arizona to play in
the Phillies organization and has made the most of it so far. What I found
interesting is that this guy was also a pitcher and hit 97mph at times, but due
to shoulder problems and his interest in being a position player rather than
pitcher, he and the Phillies chose to make him an everyday outfielder.

Three weeks ago, Darryl Strawberry,
appeared at Lakewood for an autograph signing to help promote his foundation
for Autism, http://www.darrylstrawberry.com/ds/, and Gose had the chance to
meet Straw. The both are Los Angeles natives so it was cool for Gose to shake
hands with him he said.

Before signing off, I’d like to mention Phillies pitching coordinator, Gormon Heimueller, who I bumped into
tonight. Gormon pitched in the majors for a brief time and has done a great job
with the Phillies organization throughout the years raising big leaguers like Cole Hamels and Ryan Madson. He’s been in baseball for a while and knows what he’s
doing for sure.