By: Brandon Apter, contributor 
The Phillies minor league spring training season began yesterday and the Triple-A team fell to Toronto, 9-8, despite four players tallying multi-hit games. Today, the team traveled to to the Pirates minor league complex in Bradenton, Florida and dropped their second game in a row, this time by a score of 10-5. Jake Thompson got the start for the Phils while Zach Eflin saw some action on the mound as well.
Offensively, the team was led by Tommy Joseph, who has been the victim of numerous concussions in his baseball career. With the Phillies now armed with both Jorge Alfaro and Andrew Knapp, Joseph is no longer the focus of the Phillies catching future as he once was. Today, in the loss to the Pirates, Joseph went 2-for-4 with a double, an RBI and a run scored. Last season, he was limited to to 45 games with Triple-A Lehigh Valley, hitting just .193. In a rehab stint with the GCL Phillies last season, Joseph hit .485 with three home runs and 10 RBI's. With both Knapp and Alfaro the clear favorites as catching prospect, look for the Phillies to give Joseph some looks at first base, especially with his history of concussions behind the plate.
J.P. Crawford had a hit and two RBI's in three at bats while Dylan Cozens and Nick Williams each contributed with an RBI a piece. Williams also had a double in the game.
On the mound, top prospect Jake Thompson started for the Phils and tossed three innings of one-run ball, striking out one. Meanwhile, Zach Eflin surrendered three runs, one earned, on six hits while striking out four over three innings. Thompson went 5-1 with a 1.80 with Double-A Reading after coming over from Texas in the Cole Hamels trade.
[h/t Ironpigsbaseball.com]
