Hamels Moves To Red Barons

In a move first reported on PhillyBaseballNews.com over the weekend, left-hander Cole Hamels has been promoted to AAA Scranton Wilkes-Barre. The left-hander skips over AA Reading to make the move.

It's one giant step for Cole Hamels and the Philadelphia Phillies.

Hamels, the Phillies number two ranked prospect, was promoted to AAA Scranton Wilkes-Barre Monday after making his final start for Clearwater over the weekend. The 22 year old Hamels was 1-1 with a 1.77 ERA and 29 strikeouts in 20.1 innings over four starts for Clearwater.

Hamels has injury issues throughout his career, but has been healthy since starting a new training regimen designed for his chronically bad back over the winter. Hamels has made just two starts over the past two seasons and was origninally figured on to be in the majors by this point.

In another move, right-handed reliever Chris Booker had his rehab assignment moved from Clearwater to Scranton-Wilkes/Barre.

Booker rehab assignment can go no longer than until May 11th when he must be activated and kept on the major league roster or offered back to the Washington Nationals. Booker was sidelined by a sore right knee, but has been feeling better.

At Clearwater, Booker made six appearances and posted a 5.40 ERA in ten innings of work. While his ERA wasn't very good, his other numbers were. In his 10 innings, he struck out 20 while walking just two and opponents were hitting just .194 against him. The high ERA was the result of two bad outings, the latest of which came on Sunday when he gave up two earned runs in one inning of work. If you remove those two games from his record, he has a 1.29 ERA.