Reading Fightin Phils excited to begin 2023 season

Apr. 5—The Reading Fightin Phils held their annual media day on Wednesday, as players and new manager Al Pedrique answered questions and previewed the upcoming season.

The Fightin Phils will start the season on the road at Richmond on Friday at 6:35 p.m. for a three-game series that will wrap up on Sunday, before returning for the home opener against Hartford on Tuesday at 6:45 p.m.

Pedrique, who has been involved in baseball as a player and coach for 44 years, said that he is happy to be in Reading and ready to go.

"The last time I was here was in 2015 (when) I was a manager for Trenton, and I heard good things about this place the whole spring training," Pedrique said. "So the staff, the players and myself are looking forward to getting the season going."

Backed by five of Philadelphia's top 30 prospects according to MLB Pipeline, Pedrique is confident in his team's potential.

Highlighting the opening roster are right-handed pitcher Mick Abel (ranked second), outfielder Johan Rojas (sixth), outfielder/first baseman Carlos De La Cruz (ninth), outfielder Ethan Wilson (14th) and right-handed pitcher Andrew Baker (17th).

"To make the players better, obviously, that's going to be our main focus," Pedrique said. "Make sure that these guys get ready every night. Make sure that they play the game the right way. And hopefully they'll be ready soon in order to help the Phillies win some games."

Pedrique announced the starting rotation for the first three games. Tyler Phillips, a right-hander, will start on Friday, Abel on Saturday and Josh Hendrickson, a lefty, will start on Sunday. Beyond that, Pedrique said that the organization will see how the remaining rotation takes shape.

Phillips, who missed last season after undergoing Tommy John surgery in October 2021, appeared in 15 games in 2021, going 1-5 with a 6.13 ERA.

"It's always an honor to start Opening Day," Phillips said. "And when you look at our staff, it has a lot of talent, guys who have been here over the course of the past year or two. And me, I'm coming off Tommy John, so it's gonna be my first start in a few years. So that's a really exciting day for me and I put in a lot of work to get to this position."

After missing so much time, Phillips said he is taking on the season with a determined mindset as he continues working back from the injury.

"It's better than I was before the surgery," Phillips said about his pitching. " I spent the past year and a half in Clearwater trying to get back to normal. It's a difficult process coming back from getting your elbow cut open, and I was struggling to get back to where I wanted to be.

"But we have our mental skills coaches. We have my physical therapists in Clearwater and a lot of other huge factors in my corner that were trying to help me get back. So over that process, I just fixed my mentality a lot. Our mantra there was: stronger in the broken places., and that's kind of how I feel now."

Aside from the pitching, Pedrique said he is confident with his team's hitting and defense.

Of the top prospects, Rojas hit .260 with five home runs and 16 RBIs in 60 games with the Fightin Phils last year; De La Cruz hit .278 with seven homers and 23 RBIs in 38 games; and Wilson hit .213 with one home run and three RBIs in 18 games.

"Overall, I'm very pleased with how the offense shapes up — we're gonna have a combo of power, speed and defense in the field," Pedrique said. "We got some power like (outfielder Baron) Radcliff, De La Cruz, Wilson, (catcher Cody) Roberts. We got a good combo. We got some speed in Rojas. He's gonna bring a lot of energy to the lineup. He's going to lead off to start the season and if he does his job, takes a walk, gets on base, it's going to be fun watching him run around the bases.

"We have guys like (infielder Wendell) Rijo, and guys that have played the game with experience. He's going to help the young guys. We have guys like (infielder Cam) Cannon that came from the Boston Red Sox (organization). We have a kid from Venezuela, shortstop Pedro Martinez, a switch-hitter with good defense and is also a guy that can hit balls to the gap, and runs well.

Like his teammates, Rijo, an infielder who hit .266 with 12 home runs for Reading last season, is focused on helping the Fightin Phils win while carving out a path to bigger and better things.

"I want to help the team as much as a I can, (and) I still got a long career to go," Rijo said. "I have the same goals as everybody here: trying to get out of here and get up to the big leagues and help the team win."