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	Clearwater Threshers; Founded in 1985; Clearwater, Florida;
; Team Logo	; Cap Insignia
	Class-level
	Class A (Advanced);
	Minor league affiliations
	Florida State League North Division; ;
	Major league affiliations
	Philadelphia Phillies (1985-present);
	Name
	Clearwater Threshers (2004-present); Clearwater Phillies (1985-2003);
	Ballpark
	Bright House Field (2004-present); Jack Russell Memorial Stadium (1985-2003);
	Minor league titles
League titles	1 (2007)
Division titles	1 (2007)
	Owner(s)/Operated by: Philadelphia Phillies
	Manager: Ernie Whitt
	General Manager: John Timberlake

The Clearwater Threshers are a Florida State League baseball team based in Clearwater, Florida. Since the 2004 season, the team has played in the West Division of the Florida State League, and is the high-A affiliate. The Threshers play their home games at Bright House Field. Opened in 2004, the ballpark seats more than 7,000 fans. A single-game attendance record of 9,090 was set on July 3, 2008.^[1] From 1985 to 2004, they were called the "Clearwater Phillies", and played at Jack Russell Memorial Stadium.

[edit] History

Clearwater city officials approached the Philadelphia Phillies as early as 1981 about locating a Phillies minor league affiliate at Jack Russell Stadium in Clearwater. In July 1982, in a visit to Philadelphia, Clearwater city officials and the president of the Florida State League again asked the Philadelphia Phillies about affiliating with a team to be based in Clearwater. The Amateur Softball Association Clearwater Bombers had long used Jack Russell Stadium during the summer months when the field would be reconfigured for softball. The placement of a minor league baseball team would mean the relocation of the Bombers. ^[2]

The Florida State League granted the city of Clearwater a franchise on September 26, 1984.^[3] The Clearwater Phillies began play in 1985 after the Philadelphia Phillies ended their affiliation with their High Class A minor league team, the Carolina League Peninsula Pilots, based in Hampton, Virginia, and placed their new team at Jack Russell Stadium. The Major League Phillies owned the franchise and named the club the Clearwater Phillies. The Clearwater Phillies played their first game on April 12, 1985, at home, against the Tampa Tarpons.^[4]

The club played as the Clearwater Phillies through the 2003 season. The Phillies planned to leave Jack Russell Memorial Stadium after the 2003 season to move into a new ballpark, Bright House Networks Field, adjacent to the Carpenter Complex, the Phillies' minor league training facility. With the move to the new ballpark, the Clearwater Phillies renamed themselves the "Threshers" and adopted a new team logo and colors.

In 2004, the Clearwater Threshers were managed by former Phillies player and Hall of Famer, Mike Schmidt. Greg Legg managed the team in 2005 and 2006. Dave Huppert was the manager in 2007, and Razor Shines in 2008. Ernie Whitt was named the manager for the 2009 season after Shines was promoted to base coach for the New York Mets.

In 2007, the Threshers won the second half in the FSL West Division. They defeated the Sarasota Reds (2-1) in the FSL West Division Playoffs, then defeated the Brevard County Manatees 3 games to 1 in the FSL Championship Series (best-of-five) to win the FSL title. The Threshers were named MiLB.com's Class A Advanced Team of the Year.^[5]

On July 26, 2009, Pedro Martinez made a rehab start for the Threshers against the St. Lucie Mets at Bright House Field. Martinez pitched 1 1/3-innings before rain caused the game to be canceled, wiping out the official record of his start.^[6]. Martinez subsequently moved to the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs for his next start.

[edit] Clearwater Phillies & Threshers in the Majors

[edit] Coaching staff

Manager: Ernie Whitt (Manager 2009)
Coaches: * Ramon Henderson (Bench Coach 2009) & Kevin Jordan (Hitting Coach 2008-2009)
Pitching Coach: *Dave Lundquist (Pitching Coach 2009)
Trainer: Ichiro Kitano

[edit] Former coaches & trainers

Mike Schmidt (Manager - 2004) W-L: 55-81
Greg Legg (Manager 2005-2006) W-L: 108-167
Dave Huppert (Manager 2007) W-L: 83-57 / League Champions
Razor Shines (Manager 2008) W-L: 64-76
Manny Amador (Bench Coach 2004)
Ken Dominguez (Bench Coach 2005)
Dan Roberts (Hitting Coach 2004-2005)
Greg Gross (Hitting Coach 2006)
Brad Komminsk (Hitting Coach 2007)
Scott Lovekamp (Pitching Coach 2005-2006)
Steve Schrenk (Pitching Coach 2004 & 2007-2008)

Shawn Fcasni (Trainer)
Jason Kirkman (Trainer)
Ichiro Kitano (Trainer)
Chris Mudd (Trainer)

[edit] Current roster

Clearwater Threshers roster

Players

Coaches/Other

Pitchers

52 Manny Ayala
17 Daniel Brauer
28 Darren Byrd
16 Michael Cisco
51 Yohan Flande
21 Christopher Kissock
41 Carlos Monasterios
22 Drew Naylor *
37 Julian Sampson
44 Michael Schwimer
6 Jared Simon †
24 Zack Sterner †
47 Walter Tejeda

Catchers

30 Luis Ramon-Arzeno
29 Joel Naughton *

Infielders

61 Michael Durant
7 Freddy Galvis †
4 Fidel Hernandez
23 Tim Kennelly
5 Cody Overbeck
62 Matthew Rizzotti
13 Yonderman Rodriguez
34 Jesus Villegas Andino

Outfielders

3 Dominic Brown
25 Javis Diaz
11 Derrick Mitchell
2 Arlon Quiroz

Manager

12 Ernie Whitt

Coaches

58 Kevin Jordan (batting)
57 David Lundquist (pitching)
10 Ramon Henderson (coach)

† Disabled list
* On Philadelphia Phillies 40-man roster
∞ Reserve list
§ Suspended list
‡ Restricted list
# Rehab assignment
Roster updated 2009-06-21
Transactions

[edit] References

^ Clearwater Threshers (2008-07-03). "Phantastic! Threshers walk off in front of record crowd". Clearwater Threshers. http://www.threshersbaseball.com/cgi-bin/dist/news.cgi?id=110. Retrieved 2009-03-02.
^ Brew, Tom (1982-09-03). "Minor league team sought for Clearwater". St. Petersburg Times. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Yh8MAAAAIBAJ&sjid=0l0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=5917,2633910&dq=jack-russell+clearwater+phillies. Retrieved 2009-03-22.
^ Brew, Tom (1984-09-26). "It's time for Bombers to move on". St. Petersburg Times. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=jwgOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=qnwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6699,1979333&dq=jack-russell+clearwater+phillies. Retrieved 2009-03-22.
^ Henderson, Robert (1985-04-09). "Clearwater Phillies' debut is right around the corner". St. Petersburg Times. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=V7sMAAAAIBAJ&sjid=e2YDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3746,419028&dq=jack-russell+clearwater+phillies. Retrieved 2009-03-22.
^ Hill, Benjamin (2007-10-08). "Threshers came together at right time: Team of the Year award follows end of championship drought". MLB.com. http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20071006&content_id=309248&vkey=news_milb&fext=.jsp. Retrieved 2009-03-22.
^ Hagan, Paul (2009-07-27). "Pedro Martinez has rain-shortened start with Phillies' minor leaguers". Philadelphia Daily News. http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/sports/20090727_Pedro_Martinez_has_rain-shortened_start_with_Phillies__minor_leaguers.html. Retrieved 2009-07-31.

[edit] Further reading

Barnicle, Frank (1986-04-04). "A diamond junkie salutes magic of Clearwater Phillies". St. Petersburg Times. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=TLwMAAAAIBAJ&sjid=VWYDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6622,3006777&dq=jack-russell+clearwater+phillies. Retrieved 2009-03-22.

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Clearwater Threshers

[0] Clearwater Threshers (2008-07-03). "Phantastic! Threshers walk off in front of record crowd". Clearwater Threshers. http://www.threshersbaseball.com/cgi-bin/dist/news.cgi?id=110. Retrieved 2009-03-02.

[1] Brew, Tom (1982-09-03). "Minor league team sought for Clearwater". St. Petersburg Times. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Yh8MAAAAIBAJ&sjid=0l0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=5917,2633910&dq=jack-russell+clearwater+phillies. Retrieved 2009-03-22.

[2] Brew, Tom (1984-09-26). "It's time for Bombers to move on". St. Petersburg Times. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=jwgOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=qnwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6699,1979333&dq=jack-russell+clearwater+phillies. Retrieved 2009-03-22.

[3] Henderson, Robert (1985-04-09). "Clearwater Phillies' debut is right around the corner". St. Petersburg Times. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=V7sMAAAAIBAJ&sjid=e2YDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3746,419028&dq=jack-russell+clearwater+phillies. Retrieved 2009-03-22.

[4] Hill, Benjamin (2007-10-08). "Threshers came together at right time: Team of the Year award follows end of championship drought". MLB.com. http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20071006&content_id=309248&vkey=news_milb&fext=.jsp. Retrieved 2009-03-22.

[5] Hagan, Paul (2009-07-27). "Pedro Martinez has rain-shortened start with Phillies' minor leaguers". Philadelphia Daily News. http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/sports/20090727_Pedro_Martinez_has_rain-shortened_start_with_Phillies__minor_leaguers.html. Retrieved 2009-07-31.

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