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Inside the Phillies: At the minor-league field, Biddle dazzles

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Sometimes you look at the big-league lineup for a Grapefruit League road trip and you wonder if there's a better story right here at home.

In 2011, Jesse Biddle recovered from a 7.16 ERA in April and fell to a 2.31 ERA the remainder of the year.
In 2011, Jesse Biddle recovered from a 7.16 ERA in April and fell to a 2.31 ERA the remainder of the year.Read more

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Sometimes you look at the big-league lineup for a Grapefruit League road trip and you wonder if there's a better story right here at home.

Sometimes you get it all wrong and it still turns out all right.

John Mayberry Jr. and Hunter Pence were the only two regulars in the lineup for the Phillies' exhibition game against the Pittsburgh Pirates at McKechnie Field in Bradenton on Friday, so I decided to stay behind and watch Jim Thome play first base for the second time in a minor-league game at the Carpenter Complex.

Seemed like a great idea until I was informed 10 minutes before game time that Thome was not playing. He is now scheduled to play in a minor-league game Saturday. This was the second time in as many days that Thome was scratched, so it will be interesting to see if he does indeed play in the field as scheduled Saturday.

That, however, was not going to help me fill space in the Saturday newspaper.

Plan B?

I took a page from one of Bruce Springsteen's epic hits - "stand back and let it all be."

The story unfolded before my eyes and ears.

Players from the Phillies' two single-A teams - Lakewood and Clearwater - were going against minor-leaguers from the Toronto Blue Jays and it was great to hear that Jesse Biddle would be starting for the Clearwater squad on the Ashburn Field.

I also got to see two scoreless innings from Lisalberto Bonilla, who emerged as a rising prospect last year at Lakewood.

Outfielder Larry Greene Jr., the Phillies' first-round pick last year, took batting practice but did not play in either game. He already looks like a man among boys. Time will tell if he can play like one.

Shortstop Tyler Greene, an 11th-round pick, did play and singled in his first at-bat. After a successful stint in the Gulf Coast League last season, the second coming of Tyler Greene could end up playing for manager Mickey Morandini at Lakewood this year. Infielder Mitchell Walding, a fifth-round pick, has also impressed during the early stages of this minor-league camp. He also has a chance to play in Lakewood.

Biddle, of course, is a Philadelphia native and the Phillies' 2010 first-round pick, a local kid who was scrutinized like no other minor-leaguer in the system last summer. He dealt with the pressure and lived up to the hype. His 2.98 ERA in 25 games was fourth-best in the South Atlantic League.

Perhaps most impressive was the fact that he recovered from a 0-3 record and 7.16 ERA in April to go 7-5 with a 2.31 ERA the remainder of the year.

"He was a kid just out of high school who wasn't sure he belonged there at first," said Steve Schrenk, the Lakewood pitching coach last season. "Once he figured out he did, it was over."

In his first spring-training start against an opposing team Friday afternoon, it was impossible not to notice that Biddle was much more fit than a year ago.

"I lost about 20 pounds and I'm feeling great," Biddle said. "I went from 230 to 235 pounds during last season and right now I'm weighing about 215. I feel a lot more athletic out on the mound. I feel like it will help me go through games and go deep through them."

Biddle, still only 20 years old, pitched three hitless innings, struck out two and allowed an unearned run when his rightfielder dropped a ball with two outs in the third after the lefty had allowed a leadoff walk.

"I felt like throwing three innings, even though it's this early in the spring, was not hard at all," Biddle said. "I could have gone five or six."

Three innings were more than enough on this searing hot day and the way Biddle finished might have been the most impressive thing about his brief outing. After the error in right field, he kept his composure and got the final batter to ground out to first base.

"I think this is the biggest difference between me last year and this year," said Biddle, who is expected to open this season at Clearwater. "Last year I would have got a little bit angry and let that kind of snowball in my head. All of a sudden I'm 3-0 on the next guy.

"This time, I focused on, 'This is going to happen during the season and I need to be able to prepare for this and see this as a learning opportunity.' You can't have a guy on third base and be thinking, 'That guy should have made that play.' You need to have a short memory in baseball."

Instead of a Grapefruit League game in Bradenton, I got to see to see a slimmer Jesse Biddle grow up some more in a minor-league game.

Sometimes you get lucky.