Catching problems catch up with Rock Cats

Talented continues to flow to Double-A New Britain as the Rock Cats added catcher Kyle Phillips to their roster. Phillips replaced Bryan Kennedy who was placed on the disabled list with a bad back.

The 21-year-old Phillips was hitting .230-2-32 in 83 games. In 278 at bats he had 12 doubles and a .302 on base percentage. Phillips threw out 23% of would be base stealers. The 10th round pick by the Twins in 2002 was a career .246 hitter coming into this season.

The scouting report on Phillips: He is a natural baseball player. He does things regularly that other players need to work hard on.

He works well with his pitching staff, is good with his pitch selection and is good at getting the best performance out of them.

He is excellent defensively behind the plate, blocks the plate well and makes the big saves when needed.

However, Phillips has a slow release on his throws, which means opposing players run on him quite a bit.

His swing is fine and makes contact with the ball but...

He can't run. Director of Twins Scouting Mike Radcliffe said that Phillips is one of the three slowest runners in professional baseball today if not THE slowest.

"Matt LeCroy would beat him by 10 feet," he said of footrace.

Radcliff also considers him a poor athlete.

However, the shorter parks in the Eastern League should be to Phillips liking with his sweet swing at the plate makeing the fences reachable.

Phillips was part of the 2003 Elizabethton Twins rookie team that won an Appalachian League pennant.

Rookie pitcher Nick Blackburn promoted

23-year-old righty Nick Blackburn has been promoted to Triple-A Rochester of the International League.

Blackburn replaces Dave Gassner on the Red Wings roster who is out with a elbow inflamation.

The 6'4", 230 lbs. Oklahoma native is continuing his rapid professional ascent as it was less than a month ago, on July 14, when he was promoted from Single-A Ft. Myers to Double-A New Britain.

He has been impressive in Connecticut, having thrown two complete games in his 4 EL starts, surrendering only 20 Hits and 9 earned runs over 30.1 innings of work. His record stands at 1-3 and his ERA is a very solid 2.64.

Justin Olsen has taken over Blackburn's place on the Rock Cats' starting rotation.

Meanwhile, the Cats have received righty reliever Jannio Gutierrez, a 23-year-old native of Maracaibo, VZ, from Fort Myers of the Florida State League.

Gutierrez will be making his second career trip to the Eastern League as he began the 2004 season in New Britain.

The stocky right-hander has appeared in 15 games for Single-A Ft. Myers in 2005, compiling a 1-1 record and 1.78 ERA out of the Miracle's bullpen. In 25.1 total innings of work, Gutierrez has yielded only 5 earned runs with a K/BB ratio of 39/10.

More pitching changes affect Cats

New Britain left-handed reliever Jason Miller was called up to Rochester after Wednesday's All-star game. Miller, who pitched a scoreless seventh inning in the Double-A All-Star Game, was 1-2 with a 2.72 ERA in 26 games for the Rock Cats.

Leval Speigner returned to the Rock Cats from Rochester. Speigner, 24, was 2-7 with a 3.86 ERA for the Rock Cats when he was promoted to Rochester July 4. Speigner was 0-1 with a 7.36 ERA in two games (one start) for the Red Wings.

With Speigner's return, Matt Yeatman was moved to the Cats' bullpen.

Angelo Fermin joined High A Fort Myers from Low A Beloit. Fermin had 23 runs off 32 hits with the Snappers and was batting .224 before joining the Miracle. Fermin is a switch hitting infielder who was part of the 2003 Appy League Championship Team. He was signed as a free agent in 2000 and is a native of Santo Domingo, DR.

Moses, Blackburn join the Rock Cats

The final two 2005 Fort Myers Miracle All-Star players were promoted to Double-A as Matt Moses and Nick Blackburn were called up to the New Britain Rock Cats on Monday night following the Miracle game against the Palm Beach Cardinals.

The 20-year-old Moses made his first All-Star team in 2005 while hitting .306-7-42 in 74 games with the Miracle. He entered play on Monday night tied for sixth in the league in batting. Moses was a first round pick by the Twins in 2003 and played just 48 professional games in his first two seasons. While with the Miracle he set career highs in every single category in just a little over one half of baseball. He also participated in the home run hitting contest at the 2005 Florida State League All-Star Game.

The 23-year-old Blackburn, ended his time with the Miracle by hurling seven shut out innings on Monday night allowing just five hits while walking two and striking out seven. He participated in his first All-Star Game in 2005 and recorded the victory for the FSL's Western Division. He finished with a 7-5 record and a 3.36 ERA in 15 games, all starts. In a team high 95.2 innings pitched he struck out 55 while walking just 16 and opponents hit .265 against him. Blackburn was a 29th round pick by the Twins in 2001 and spent the final month and a half with the Miracle in 2004.

Additionally, Catcher Jose Morales has been placed on the Disabled List through the end of the season.

A CAT scan revealed a stress fracture of the fifth lumbar in his back. He has been sent home to heal and rest. He is expected to make a complete recovery and will return to the Rock Cats in 2006. The switch hitting Morales hit .250 in seven games with New Britian this season, including one run on five hits.

Romero Get Monthly Award

New Britain outfielder Alex Romero was named Twins' Minor League Player of the Month for June, 2005.

The Cats everyday left-fielder, who was left off the Eastern League All-Star roster, made a complete turnaround from May.

In May, the Maracaibo, Vz., native, only batted .198 in his 27 games. He hit only two home runs while driving in 11. In all, Romero saw his batting average dip from .266 to .225.

"There were some issues about his mental toughness," Rock Cats' coach Stan Cliburn said of Romero in May. "It's not a good feeling and I think it hit home."

June has been a different story all together for the 21-year old slugger. He played in all 30 games this month, compiling a .342 batting average in 114 at-bats. He hit six home runs, which was two more than he had all season.

The 6', 175 pound lefty, finally began to utilize his ability to hit the ball into gaps by slugging 15 extra-base hits. Batting mostly from the six hole, Romero swung at a .596 clip with an on base percentage of .375.