How do you replace the man who was the face of the Lehigh Valley Ironpigs for the past 3 years? The answer is you don’t. You just hope you can find someone who can step up to adequately fill those shoes. I honestly feel there are any one of a number of players who can put up homerun/rbi numbers similar to Andy Tracy but it is his presence in the clubhouse where Andy may be irreplaceable. Whether it’s a first baseman or a player at another position, someone has to step up to become the new team leader. Looking at the AAA players currently under contract with the Phillies, there are several first basemen who have also played regularly at other positions. For that reason, you won’t see Jeff Larish in this category. With what is presently known, it appears to me that Larish is a better fit at third base although I’m sure he will see time at first base as well. The top rated first baseman in the Phillies farm system is Jonathan Singleton and he is only 19 years old. Singleton played for the Lakewood BlueClaws in 2010 and hit .290 with 14 homeruns. Plate discipline is rare for a player that young but he drew 62 walks to raise his onbase percentage to a very impressive .393. He has shown very good defensive skills at first base but is now learning how to play left field where his chances of advancing through the system are much better. He’ll likely start the year at Clearwater and possibly see some time at Reading. I’m not sure who will begin the season at first base in Reading since Kevin Mahar is a free agent and the other 2 guys who played first base there last year are hoping to move up. They are Matt Rizzotti and Tagg Bozied.
Matt Rizzotti
DOB: 12/24/85, Floral Park, NY. 6’5″ 235. Bats/Throws: L/L
Matt Rizzotti playing first base at CCP
Matt was drafted out of Manhattan College in the 6th round of the 2007 draft by the Phillies. It’s a dubious label but right now most Ironpigs fans only know Rizzotti as the guy who is expected to replace Andy Tracy at first base this year. He’s also the guy who “took out” Diggity and Chris P. Bacon, allowing Hambone to win the final pork race of the 2010 season.
Philadelphia sportswriter Marcus Hayes once described Rizzotti as “the 24 year old guy with a 44 year old’s hairline”. Early scouting reports also said Rizzotti had “feet of clay and hands of stone”. While he has been working on his defense in the Florida Instructional League the past 2 years, it’s his bat that got everyones attention in 2010. In his first 3 years in the Phillies minor league system his batting average ranged from the mid .260’s to the upper .270’s and his power numbers were only fair for a guy his size. His name wasn’t even mentioned among the top Phillies prospects by the major publications. Then came 2010. He began the 2010 season playing first base for the Clearwater Threshers. While the power numbers still weren’t there in Clearwater, he managed to hit .358 in 31 games which was good enough to earn him a promotion to Reading. He continued to build on those numbers in AA, playing in 77 games and hitting .361 (96-266). The power finally showed up in Reading as he hit 16 homeruns and had 62 RBI’s. In early August he arrived at Coca-Cola Park and took over at first base. Unfortunately, nagging injuries hampered his performance and he hit just .200 with 0 homeruns in 45 AAA at bats. His combined statistics at all 3 levels shows a solid .343 average (144-420) with 17 homeruns and 76 RBIs. He also played in the Arizona Fall League in October and hit .333 in 63 at bats but again the power was missing as he failed to hit a homerun. Rizzotti is the guy the organization wants to see at first base for the Ironpigs this year. However, if he struggles in spring training I wouldn’t be surprised if he starts the year at Reading until he starts hitting. Even if that happens, Matt Rizzotti will likely play more games at first base for the Ironpigs this year than anyone else on the roster. Is he a late bloomer or is he a one year flash in the pan? Only time will tell.
Robert Tanois Taggert “Tagg” Bozied
DOB: 7/24/79, Sioux Falls, SD. 6’3″ 215. Bats/Throws: Right/Right
Tagg Bozied was a 3rd round draft pick in 2001 by the San Diego Padres. He was primarily a third baseman in college at the University of San Francisco where he hit more homeruns than anyone else in the school’s history. He was recently inducted into the USF Hall of Fame and his #19 college jersey was retired. He is married to former USF and professional volleyball player Laura Tinetti. In 1999 at USF Tagg hit .412 with 30 homeruns and 82 RBIs, winning the Big West Conference Triple Crown and earning him “Player of the Year” honors. His .936 slugging percentage was the highest in Division I college baseball. He followed up that year with a .359 batting average in 2000 and .335 in 2001. As a professional at the AAA level he has a career average of .283 with 95 homeruns. He was signed as a free agent by the Phillies prior to the 2010 season and was assigned to AA Reading. At Reading in 2010 he hit .315 which was 10th best in the league, he hit 27 homeruns which was 2nd in the EL (he had over 150 fewer at bats than the league leader who hit 33), his 92 RBI’s ranked 4th in the league and his .631 slugging percentage was second to Matt Rizzotti. With the Reading Phillies he played 48 games at first base, 33 games at third base and 8 games in the outfield. He hit .327 with 12 homeruns in 98 at bats vs. left handed pitching. That’s a remarkable 1 homerun for every 8 at bats against a lefty. Did someone say the Phillies need a right handed bat? Tagg was also featured in a few humorous tv commercials for the Reading Phillies last summer. Tagg Bozied will turn 32 this year and has never played a game in the major leagues. Maybe this will be his year. Or maybe he ends up back in Reading. I’m just hoping that at least for a while we have a “Taggalicious” summer in the Lehigh Valley. His power right handed bat would look good between all the lefties.
Here’s a nice Reading Phillies promotional video of Tagg Bozied teaching Matt Rizzotti how to be the Arby’s RBI guy.
Robb Quinlan
DOB: 3/17/77, St. Paul, MN. 6’1″ 215. Bats/Throws: Right/Right
Robb was drafted by the Angels in the 10th round of the 1999 major league draft. He played his college baseball at the University of Minnesota where he was a 3-time Big Ten Conference allstar and Big Ten Player of the Year in 1999. He began his professional career i Low A ball and hit .322 with 9 homeruns in the 1999 season, playing just the second half of the season. In 2000 he hit .317 in the high A minors, then .295 with 14 homers in AA ball the following year. In 2002 he moved up to AAA and hit .333 with 20 homeruns winning the Pacific Coast League Rookie of the Year and MVP honors. His first major league came was on July 28, 2003 and he hit .287 for the Angels in limited playing time that year. He spent all or part of his time with the Angels from 2004 to 2010 mostly as a utility man. In addition to first base he also plays third base and left field. He has a lifetime major league batting average of .276 (307-1,112) and has 25 homeruns, all with the Angels. A notable highlight was Game 2 of the 2005 ALCS when he started the game at third base and homered off White Sox starting pitcher Mark Buehrle. It was the only run the Angels scored in a 2-1 loss. He was released by the Angels on September 7, 2010 and just recently signed with the Phillies. It’s difficult to say where he’ll wind up in 2011. He could be a right handed bat off the bench in Philadelphia or he could be spending time in the Lehigh Valley at any one of his 3 positions. His brother Tom Quinlan played briefly for the Phillies in 1994 and hit his only homerun that year off Doug Drabek, father of Kyle.
noisenation.mlblogs.com 
I’d be happy to see Matt start the year in Reading, before heading back up to LV. It’ll give me some more time with my favorite first baseman!! ;-). And I don’t believe he is just a one year wonder. His numbers in the Arizona Fall league were closer to his Reading stats from this summer. If he can stay healthy through spring training and perform well I think I’ll be out of luck and have to drive up to CCP to see him.