Gulf Coast League

CLEARWATER, Fla. - At noon yesterday, on a mound tucked in the back of the Phillies' training complex, 18-year-old lefthander Jesse Biddle threw the first pitch of his professional career in a Gulf Coast League game. A fastball for a strike. What followed for Biddle, the 27th overall pick in this year's draft, were three no-hit innings against the GCL Yankees: 39 pitches on a mix of fastballs (a couple at 93 mph), sliders and changeups. He struck out three and walked one. Then Biddle was pulled, although he didn't want to be. "I'm ready to keep going," he told his coaches, who chuckled.

Scott Tyler didn't get all the money he was seeking from the Minnesota Twins. The hard-throwing righthander from Downingtown High was the top pick in the second round of the June draft, and he was seeking a $1 million signing bonus. But after five weeks of negotiations, $983,000 was close enough. Late Sunday night, he signed with the Twins for that number, Tyler said. He was scheduled to leave today for the team's Gulf Coast League affiliate in Fort Myers, Fla., and hopes to be pitching in the rookie league within the week.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - On paper, Phillies vs. Rays for the rookie Gulf Coast League title earlier in the month had the look of Angola vs. Dream Team. Andy Reid vs. Bill Belichick. A classic mismatch. The way the 15-team GCL is structured, there are three divisions aligned geographically to minimize long bus rides. The Phillies won a six-team North Division that included the Blue Jays, Yankees, Pirates, Tigers and Braves, playing the entire 60-game schedule (four Yankee rainouts were not made up)

Find out how the Phillies' No. 1 draft pick, lefthander Jesse Biddle, the Germantown Friends grad, is doing at Clearwater in the rookie Gulf Coast League.

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. - The Phillies' first-round pick in the June draft took one more step Saturday night toward coming home. For lefthanded pitcher Jesse Biddle, who's from Mount Airy and graduated from Germantown Friends, home would be the pitching mound at Citizens Bank Park. But for now, his family and friends will have to be content to watch him in the places that are the stepping-stones of a minor- league player's career. Biddle was starting for the Williamsport Crosscutters, the Phillies' Class A affiliate in the New York-Penn League, against Batavia after being promoted from Clearwater in the Gulf Coast League.

Lefthander Yohan Flande, who was released this month by the Phillies to make room on the 40-man roster, has signed a minor league deal with the Atlanta Braves with an invitation to spring training. Flande, 24, was 10-8 with a 4.38 earned run average for Double A Reading last season. He spent 5 years in the Phillies organization and had jumped through the lower levels, going 4-1, 2.19 in the Gulf Coast League in 2008, and 7-1, 2.52 in the Florida State League in 2009 before being promoted to Reading.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Mason Williams is a fleet, young outfielder, the Yankees' fourth-round draft pick last June. Thanks to a high throw by young Venezuelan catching prospect Francisco Diaz, Chase Utley got a chance to execute another baseball move he needs to prove he can do: leap for a high throw over a sliding runner. This extended spring-training game yesterday was in Tampa at the Yankees' minor league complex. Like Saturday's 5-for-7 debut against the Blue Jays in Dunedin, Utley was facing pitchers destined for the rookie, short-season Gulf Coast League.

Darryl Strawberry was intentionally walked every time he went to the plate yesterday - five times in all - when the New York Yankees' and Detroit Tigers' farm teams met in the rookie Gulf Coast League. Detroit general manager Joe Klein admitted giving the order to walk Strawberry each time. Klein contended that Strawberry, an eight-time NL all-star now on a rehabilitation assignment with the Yankees, should not be playing in a league where some opponents are only 17 years old. "He's not going to hurt any of my players, especially any of our pitchers, with a line drive through the middle," Klein said.

Kevin Comer is a baseball player, but the recent Seneca High graduate got to experience his own version of midnight madness. Fewer than 10 minutes before the midnight Monday deadline for draft picks to sign with major-league teams, Comer agreed to terms with the Toronto Blue Jays on a deal that includes a $1.65 million bonus as well as provisions for his college education. "It was wild," said Comer, a righthanded pitcher who was the 57th overall pick in the June draft. "It really didn't look like it was going to happen.

Kevin Comer is a baseball player, but the recent Seneca High graduate got to experience his own version of midnight madness. Less than 10 minutes before the midnight Monday deadline for draft picks to sign with major-league teams, Comer agreed to terms with the Toronto Blue Jays on a deal that includes a $1.65 million bonus as well as provisions for his college education. "It was wild," said Comer, a righthanded pitcher who was the 57th overall pick in the June draft. "It really didn't look like it was going to happen.

As he enters the season's stretch run, Jesse Biddle can feel the physical effects of the innings that continue to add up on his score sheet. After all, this is just his first full professional season, and he's just a year removed from graduating high school. The Mount Airy native is on a tight pitch count - assistant general manager Chuck LeMar said that is something the Phillies do with all their young pitchers. In his last 10 starts for low-A Lakewood of the South Atlantic League, Biddle has gone past the sixth inning just once.

Kevin Comer is a baseball player, but the recent Seneca High graduate got to experience his own version of midnight madness. Less than 10 minutes before the midnight Monday deadline for draft picks to sign with major-league teams, Comer agreed to terms with the Toronto Blue Jays on a deal that includes a $1.65 million bonus as well as provisions for his college education. "It was wild," said Comer, a righthanded pitcher who was the 57th overall pick in the June draft. "It really didn't look like it was going to happen.

Kevin Comer is a baseball player, but the recent Seneca High graduate got to experience his own version of midnight madness. Fewer than 10 minutes before the midnight Monday deadline for draft picks to sign with major-league teams, Comer agreed to terms with the Toronto Blue Jays on a deal that includes a $1.65 million bonus as well as provisions for his college education. "It was wild," said Comer, a righthanded pitcher who was the 57th overall pick in the June draft. "It really didn't look like it was going to happen.

IN A FEW DAYS, a powerful man-child outfielder named Larry Greene should begin getting the baseball lesson of his young life. If the Phillies send the large young man from Berrien County High School in the hamlet of Nashville, Ga., to Clearwater for the final 2 weeks of the rookie Gulf Coast League season, that will be education enough. It is always a shock to the system of a kid used to dominating weak high school pitching in a lesser league when he stands in against pitchers who have been at their Florida minor league complexes since the first week in March.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Mason Williams is a fleet, young outfielder, the Yankees' fourth-round draft pick last June. Thanks to a high throw by young Venezuelan catching prospect Francisco Diaz, Chase Utley got a chance to execute another baseball move he needs to prove he can do: leap for a high throw over a sliding runner. This extended spring-training game yesterday was in Tampa at the Yankees' minor league complex. Like Saturday's 5-for-7 debut against the Blue Jays in Dunedin, Utley was facing pitchers destined for the rookie, short-season Gulf Coast League.

C LEARWATER, Fla. - When I'm King of the World, Chase Utley Edition . . . Hitting will not be as easy as Utley made it look Saturday in his first seven rehab at-bats. After the Phillies second baseman went 5-for-7 with a pair of homers against two Blue Jays extended-spring-training lefthanders in Dunedin, I told him, "That was one helluva endorsement for 3 months of nothing but batting practice. " "I guess," Utley said, expansively. I asked if the next test for a knee wounded by patellar tendinitis would be how it feels the next day. "One day at a time," Chase elaborated.

Lefthander Yohan Flande, who was released this month by the Phillies to make room on the 40-man roster, has signed a minor league deal with the Atlanta Braves with an invitation to spring training. Flande, 24, was 10-8 with a 4.38 earned run average for Double A Reading last season. He spent 5 years in the Phillies organization and had jumped through the lower levels, going 4-1, 2.19 in the Gulf Coast League in 2008, and 7-1, 2.52 in the Florida State League in 2009 before being promoted to Reading.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - On paper, Phillies vs. Rays for the rookie Gulf Coast League title earlier in the month had the look of Angola vs. Dream Team. Andy Reid vs. Bill Belichick. A classic mismatch. The way the 15-team GCL is structured, there are three divisions aligned geographically to minimize long bus rides. The Phillies won a six-team North Division that included the Blue Jays, Yankees, Pirates, Tigers and Braves, playing the entire 60-game schedule (four Yankee rainouts were not made up)

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. - The Phillies' first-round pick in the June draft took one more step Saturday night toward coming home. For lefthanded pitcher Jesse Biddle, who's from Mount Airy and graduated from Germantown Friends, home would be the pitching mound at Citizens Bank Park. But for now, his family and friends will have to be content to watch him in the places that are the stepping-stones of a minor- league player's career. Biddle was starting for the Williamsport Crosscutters, the Phillies' Class A affiliate in the New York-Penn League, against Batavia after being promoted from Clearwater in the Gulf Coast League.

THE KID APPEARED about 4 p.m. in the same quiet manner that has accompanied his rise through the minor leagues. One minute, Ryan Howard was sitting by himself in front of his locker, talking about all the hype and expectation that a blue-chip prospect must learn to ignore. The next minute, he was swiveling in his chair to find the Next Big Thing standing quietly behind him. "I know you saw your name in the lineup out there," Howard said as he stood up to greet the kid. Howard wore a broad smile, the kind that comes with ease after several seasons of dominance in the major leagues.