Cloyd a perfect replacement for Iron Pigs
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Cloyd a perfect replacement for Iron Pigs
Bob Brookover, Inquirer Baseball Columnist
PITTSBURGH -- The most interesting minor-league story on opening day was at Allentown's Coca-Cola Park, where righthander Tyler Cloyd made his seasonal debut by pitching six perfect innings in triple-A Lehigh Valley's 3-0 win over the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees on Thursday night.
That Cloyd, an 18th-round pick by the Phillies in the 2008 draft, opened with six perfect innings was impressive enough. What made it even more interesting was the fact that he was supposed to open the season with double-A Reading.
Cloyd got called up to Lehigh Valley because scheduled opening-day starter Dave Bush was suspended for five games by Major League Baseball after the Iron Pigs were involved in a bench-clearing brawl with Pittsburgh's triple-A team during a spring-training game.
Cloyd was 9-4 with a 2.77 ERA in 31 games with single-A Clearwater and Reading last season. He told reporters in Allentown that he got the call to join the Iron Pigs about 9 p.m. Wednesday. He had been scheduled to pitch the second game of Reading's opening-night doubleheader with Portland.
"He rose to the occassion, gave us a big lift and more," Iron Pigs manager Ryne Sandberg said on the Easton Express-Times web site. "Really, it was the first time I saw him throw a baseball. He was very impressive to me and gave us what we needed and then some."
BTW, this "kid" should be mentioned in the same breath as some of the other 'baby aces'. Pitching is loaded in the minors. We need someone to step up in A,AA, AAA who is a position player under the age of 25.— drhoffman- There isn't much in position prospects so we'll have to trade some of the pitching for hitting. — DennyP
- Remember the name Leandro Castro...built like Soriano,swings like Pence...a corner outfielder with pop who is now at Reading. — bearsfriend
- What a great made for TV movie of the week storyline. Pitching coach Dubee uses 40 pitchers in the just completed major league spring training games but not Tyler Cloyd. He keeps Cloyd under wraps and burys him at AA when the rosters are announced to start the season. Wily old Dubs. Tyler then goes out on opening night as an emergency starter and pitches six perfect innings against the Yankees AAA lineup that featured eight players with major league experience. Then Cloyd goes on to be this year's Vance Worley who comes out of nowhere to pitch as a major league starter.— Dull
- Last I checked, Dubee is the major league pitching coach-- he doesn't decide the minor league assignments and therefore is not the one "burying" Cloyd in AA — nikmasteed
- Reading started pretty well winning the doubleheader and the next two games they will send Trevor May and Julio Rodriguez, I believe. Leandro Castro and Sebastian Valle went deep and Cesar Hernandez had a good day also.
— EL Zorro - Castro's was a walkoff homer.— EL Zorro
- Valle also picked up a walk, which for him is more impressive than the HR.— wfiki
- If if injuries hurt the big team, perhaps some of these kids like ...Valle, whoever will pick them up and with the ACES, who knows if Blanton or Vance go bad, they too could help.— Koons
- Hope you're right Dull, Cloyd like Worley doesn't have overpowering stuff but gets it done.
I remember when the Bluejays were scouting Drabek and they also watched Worley pitch one AA game. They chose poorly.— WFChamps - That was a 1 hit game, Aumont, Diekman, Schwimmer closed it out. WOW Lehigh and Reading teams are going to be great.
Replacement for Blanton, Qualls, Contreras all from within. Polanco not so much.— WFChamps 
Comment removed.- Cloyd had great numbers last year: 0.6 HR/9, 1.4 BB/9, 8.5 S0/9. W/L, ERA also quite good: 9-4, 2.77. Never heard of him until now.— andrewfrombrooklyn
- Can Amaro trade any these pitching prospects and get a 3B or 2B Triple A prospect? They need both. Of course come June or July, he might trade Hamels to Texas for Olt and their SS prospect.— LGbalsac
- RAJ should make a run at Sean Coyle, 20 year old from Germantown Academy, now the starting 2B at high A Salem Red Sox...pint sized with power, solid fielder, a future 2 hole hitter who will be blocked by Pedroia. — bearsfriend
