"All the pigs are over here," said Michael Schwimer, a 6-foot-8 righthanded reliever who has a chance to break into the big leagues in the near future.
Schwimer was joking. Every one of the 60 players inside the clubhouse was likely considered the best player on his high school or college team and has had some sort of success in the minor leagues.
Still, it's impossible not to notice the difference in stature from one side of the room to the other at the Phillies spring-training facility.
If you drew a line from Ryan Howard's corner locker on the left side of the spacious room to Brad Lidge's locker in the middle of the rectangular clubhouse, you'd find 33 guys who have played in a combined 15,104 games and collected 10,527 hits, 1,223 home runs, 5,177 RBIs, 814 victories, 367 saves, two MVP awards, one World Series MVP, and three Cy Young Awards.
The 27 players to the right of Lidge have combined for 1,436 games, 621 hits, 42 home runs, 483 RBIs, 27 wins, and 10 saves. Fourteen have never played in a big-league game.
Frank Coppenbarger, the Phillies clubhouse manager, revealed last week why there is a continental divide.
"It's simplicity for the most part," Coppenbarger said. "We try to do it numerically. It helps with the laundry. We start over here with the lowest number and end up over here with the highest number because otherwise you'll be running all over the room every day with the laundry."
Catcher Dane Sardinha, No. 4 and a non-roster invitee who spent some time with the Phillies last season, actually has the lowest number, but Coppenbarger accommodated Howard with a corner locker to give him more room. The highest number in the room is 87, and it belongs to Matt Miller, a non-roster invitee with no big-league experience. He is the player seated closest to the exit.
