Phillies Notebook: Non-roster invitee to Phillies camp upbeat

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Paul Clemens is currently the answer to a very obscure trivia question: Who was the first player to throw a pitch for a major league team during the 2015 exhibition season?

But it's clear the 27-year-old pitcher has bigger plans this spring.

The Phillies were baseball's first team to play a game this spring when they hosted the University of Tampa at Bright House Field yesterday afternoon. Clemens, a hard-throwing righthander, threw two perfect innings against the Spartans.

Clemens is in camp on a minor league contract, as a nonroster player. There are 16 players just like him in Phillies uniforms this spring.

But yesterday, he spoke like a pitcher ready to break camp with Cole Hamels, Cliff Lee and company.

"I just want to show the staff what I can do [this spring]," said Clemens, who pitched in 48 games with the Houston Astros in the last two seasons. "I think my stuff plays anywhere with any hitter in this game. Just throw strikes, execute my pitches and let everything else sort itself out."

Clemens' most realistic path to the big-league roster would be to land one of the three likely spots open in the bullpen. Perhaps Clemens can follow the path of Jeff Manship, who entered camp last spring as a nonroster player and made the Opening Day roster as long man in the bullpen.

"I see myself doing whatever we have to do to win," Clemens said. "Long man, one inning, I feel like I have two pretty hellacious pitches - my fastball and my curveball. I feel like I could do a multitude of things in this game."

Clemens does not lack for confidence.

"Some pitching coaches tell how incredible my arm is and that I could play for a long time, so I think I've been showing some guys what I bring to the table," Clemens said. "I had a couple really good conversations with the front office and some guys around here, so it's definitely motivating . . . I want my teammates and everyone to know, hey, that kid brings something serious to the table."

A former seventh-round pick by the Atlanta Braves, Clemens went to Houston in the 2011 Michael Bourn trade. He appeared in just 13 games with the Astros last year and has a 5.51 ERA in 48 big-league games (five starts).

He went 6-3 with a 4.08 ERA in 19 games with Triple A Oklahoma City in 2014, striking out 41 while walking 23 in 46 1/3 innings.

So if he has the stuff, including "two hellacious pitches," why hasn't it translated to major league success?

"Command in both [pitches] all the time," he said. "You don't get away with much and I feel like if you go watch video of me, you go see some of the better hitters in the game, I've punched tickets on three straight pitches. I've proven to the guys who need to be proven to what I can do."

Last June, Clemens struck out Josh Hamilton on three pitches in a 8-5 Astros win over the Angels.

One of the things that separated baseball from just about every other popular team sport came to an unceremonious end yesterday afternoon: The exhibition game was played with a clock.

Both to the left of the batter's eye in centerfield and below the broadcast booth behind home plate were clocks counting down from 2 minutes and 25 seconds between innings.

Major League Baseball asked the Phillies if they would play with the clocks in place as it begins to implement the Pace of Play rules in the 2015 season. Under the rules, the clock will begin counting down immediately after the third out of an inning, from 2:30 for locally televised games and 2:45 for nationally televised games.

The idea is to cut down on the dead time when the broadcast returns from commercial break.

"It's just a matter of people getting used to it," general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said. "I think they're just trying to make people aware of the down time. I don't think it's going to be drastic. Some habits may have to change a little bit. I think more than anything else they're just trying to eliminate some of the dead time."

Major League Baseball has instituted strict timing to keep the game flowing during commercials. For instance, the public-address announcer has to announce the upcoming batter and the batter's walk-up music must begin to play with 40 seconds remaining in commercial break and the batter must enter the batter's box between the 20- and 5-second marks.

The rules will be enforced through a warning and fine system, but no fines will be issued until May as players and teams adjust to the rules.

Andrew Amaro worked a two-out, bases-loaded walk before his University of Tampa teammate, Giovanny Alfonzo, hit a go-ahead grand slam as the Spartans pulled off a 6-2, come-from-behind win over the Phillies.

Amaro, a Penn Charter graduate and Bensalem native, is the nephew of Ruben Amaro Jr.

The elder Amaro congratulated his nephew outside the visiting clubhouse after the game. The younger Amaro was among a few Spartans who received celebratory pies in the faces from their teammates.

"It was cool," said the younger Amaro, a senior first baseman who transferred from the University of Maryland. "Obviously, my name means something in the Philadelphia area, so it was cool to go out there and compete and happen to have a pretty good game against my favorite hometown team."

Andrew Amaro said he had at least 15 family and friends at the game, including his parents. A majority of the announced crowd of 5,154 at Bright House Field was rooting for the University of Tampa, which brought cheerleaders, two mascots and a pep band to Clearwater.

Chase Utley will not play in tomorrow's Grapefruit League opener against the New York Yankees. Utley entered camp with a minor right ankle injury. He has taken regular batting and fielding work since arriving in camp on Feb. 21. Manager Ryne Sandberg said he would "ease'' Utley into spring games "down the road" . . . Rule 5 pick Odubel Herrera, who won batting titles in the Texas League (Double A) and the Venezuela Winter League in the last year, went 1-for-3 with a single in his Phillies debut. He started in centerfield and batted leadoff . . . The Phillies will have a short workout today before the majority of the team, front office and broadcasters play in the annual spring golf outing.