Tommy Joseph “Estactic” to Join the Phillies as He Switches Clubhouses in Richmond to Join Reading

Photo courtesy the San Francisco Chronicle.

Phillies new catching prospect just joined Jim Bowden and Casey Stern on Sirius XM MLB Network Radio and offered his excitedment and a few details.  It appears that Joseph will join the Reading Phillies first, and he is excited to be on the team.

"I'm sad obviously because I'm leaving people…I'm estactic about joining the Phillies..a great organization, outstanding people."

The Phillies have Carlos Ruiz and Sebastian Valle. What does this mean for Joseph?

"It's great for me because I'm going to get to learn from one of the best in the game".

Ruben Amaro himself called Joseph.

"I have talked to Ruben, he congratulated me; he just told me he's excited to have me and it made me feel good about being here."

Sebastian Valle could be going to AAA Lehigh Valley because Joseph is joining the AA Reading Phillies today.  It turns out, he just has several feet to go.

"They told me I'm going to stay in Richmond because Reading is here."

Joseph had spent this season with the AA Richmond Flying Squirrels, who happen to be playing the Reading Phillies this week.  He hit .260 for the Flying Squirrels this year, with 8 home runs and 38 RBI.

Bowden thinks that Joseph will be a "25 home run guy" in the major leagues.

In this San Francisco Chronicle piece from this spring, Joseph was given high praise from his former team:

Ramon Ortiz threw to Joseph in the ninth inning of Wednesday's game against Colorado and had his own "wow" moment when he learned that Joseph was 20 and fewer than four years removed from being a high school first baseman.

"That guy who caught me yesterday?" Ortiz said. "He's going to be very good. You'll see."

Drafted out of high school, he was once considered a work in progress as a catcher.  But his bat caught their eye from the start.

The lure for scouts was Joseph's bat. He hit .494 with 15 homers as a high school senior in a region and state with stiff competition. He then hit 16 homers at low Class A Augusta, Ga., in 2010 and 22 for high-A San Jose

Carlos Ruiz is a free agent after 2013.  Joseph probably ranks higher than Valle as a catcher, but it remains to see where this will go.  Either way, he sounds like a nice pickup.