On Saturday night 4/8/23 in the second game of the season for the Low A level Clearwater Threshers five hurlers combined for a no hitter against the Bradenton Marauders. It was the sixth no hitter, by my count, in Clearwater Phillies/Threshers team history.
Sam Aldegheri was outstanding as the starting pitcher, he threw four perfect innings and struck out seven batters. Eduar Segovia threw two strong innings behind him allowing two walks and punching out two batters. Andrew Walling pitched the seventh inning walking one and striking out two. Orion Kerkering struck out the side in a flat out dominant 8th inning. Wesley Moore completed the no hitter with an one walk, two strikeout ninth frame! The five hurlers combined to tally 16 strikeouts and allowed just four walks. Catcher Caleb Ricketts caught all nine innings of the historic game.
LH Sam Aldegheri - 4 perfect IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 BB, 7 K’s - 51 pitches - 36 strikes FB (90-94 mph), Sinker, Slider, Curve, Changeup
RH Eduar Segovia - 2 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 2 BB, 2 K’s - 35 pitches - 20 strikes - FB (92-95 mph), Sinker (94 mph), Slider, Changeup
LH Andrew Walling - 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 BB, 2 K’s - 17 pitches - 10 strikes - FB (94-96 mph), Slider
RH Orion Kerkering - 1 Perfect IP - 3K’s - 11 pitches - 10 strikes - Sinker (97-99 mph), Slider
LH Wesley Moore - 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 BB, 2 K’s - 17 pitches - 10 strikes - Sinker (92-94 mph), Changeup, Curve
Sam Aldegheri is 21 years old and was signed on 7/2/19 as an international free agent from Verona, Italy. He battled the injury bug in 2022 and was placed on the 60 day IL early in the year ( 4/8/22 ) - returned to action in the FCL on July 16th and finished the season on the backfields throwing a total of 12 1/3 innings over 8 games posting a 1.46 ERA. We have always liked his upside of size, demeanor and repertoire - first saw him perform in 2019 Fall Instructs. He’s become more familiar with the surroundings now and thus more comfortable, just needs innings to see what he might become. Saturday was a great start towards reflecting that!
Eduar Segovia is 22 years old and was signed as an international free agent on 5/9/18 from Valencia, Venezuela.
Prior to Saturday he last pitched in a game on 8/19/21 as a member of the Clearwater Threshers during which he suffered a shoulder injury. Subsequent surgery and rehab efforts have now brought Eduar back to competition. A slight alteration in his arm slot ( a bit lower ) introduced a cross fire delivery where we have been quite impressed with the way the ball comes out of his hand. Segovia was a dominant pitcher when we first saw him in the Gulf Coast League in 2019, we see that capability again, velo and movement are back and we think both have actually improved. Am eager to see how he continues to progress - we think that 2023 is going to be a breakout season - said that about him in Fall Instructs Camp.
Andrew Walling is 23 years old and was signed as an un-drafted free agent on 8/1/22 from Mississippi State. He appeared in 7 games after signing ( 3 in the FCL and 4 with the Threshers ) accumulating 11 1/3 innings. Andrew pitched in the MLB Draft League for Williamsport prior to signing with the Phillies amassing 11 1/3 IP there. He’s from the state of Washington and originally pitched collegiately for Oregon State, then transferred to Eastern Oklahoma State Junior College and lastly to Mississippi State. He was a college teammate of fellow Phillie Christian McGowan at Eastern Oklahoma and like McGowan is a power pitcher. Andrew had a very good spring training camp, after one of his outings a well regarded scout asked me about him and couldn’t believe that he went un-drafted. With his velocity and pitch movement, which was on display during his one inning on Saturday, he’s got the chance to be quite the find for the Phillies, has put away stuff.
Orion Kerkering is 22 years old and was the 2022 5th round draft selection from the University of South Florida. His slider is a big spin pitch reaching top of the rung levels but he also has big time heat, both are plus swing and miss pitches. Orion had scouts and spectators in awe with his spring training camp and many project him to be a back end weapon at the highest level of play. Saturday was an extension of what we saw on the backfields the last two months.
Wesley Moore signed a minor league contact with the Phillies on 11/9/22. The 23 year old played two years of collegiate baseball at Kansas State University, before that he pitched for Cal State Northridge for two seasons. Moore is from Surrey, Canada and went to Vauxhall High School. We met both him and his parents at the complex this spring and got to see Wesley pitch for the first time in person, very composed with a smooth delivery and natural lefty tail on his sinking fastball which he offsets with a changeup and curve ball. Could eventually become a starting pitcher in the system as he is very capable of multi inning outings.
As mentioned above this is the sixth no hitter in the Clearwater franchise history - here’s a list of the previous five:
8/18/06 : Julio De La Cruz pitched a complete game in a 5-0 win against Sarasota
8/27/07 : Drew Carpenter was perfect winning 2-0 against Fort Myers in a seven inning contest
7/10/16 : Drew Anderson, Will Morris and Victor Arano combined to defeat the St Lucie Mets
7/30/17 : Harold Arauz defeated Fort Myers 2-0 in a seven inning contest
6/22/19 : Kyle Glogoski, Tyler Carr and Keylan Kilgore combined to defeat Daytona in a 5-0 win
The fab five from Saturday have joined the historical ranks of Clearwater no-hitters, always a thrill to see one pitched, just never gets old!
Happy Day, Happy Baseball ⚾️
Andrew Walling, Eduar Segovia,Wesley Moore, Orion Kerkering & Sam Aldegheri - photos by Mark Wylie, Cheryl Pursell and Rebecca Alexander
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