Sizemore ‘forgotten man’ so far this spring

CLEARWATER, Fla. – Grady Sizemore has become a bit of a forgotten ballplayer with the Phillies this spring.

The Phillies made bringing back Sizemore a priority, signing him to a one-year, $2 million contract in mid-October. But the 32-year-old Sizemore hasn’t been getting much time with the regulars in Grapefruit League games. He didn’t play in Wednesday’s 7-1 loss to the Astros, one day after making the trip to Lake Buena Vista only to enter the game against the Braves as a pinch hitter in the eighth inning.

Read more at The News Journal.

Catching up with last year’s big spring training story, Grady Sizemore

CLEARWATER, Fla. — The excitement of spring training is a little different this time around for Grady Sizemore.

The outfielder who showed the Red Sox enough last spring to get an Opening Day start despite not having played major league ball for two years, is now with the Phillies, vying for a job in left field.

A year ago, Sizemore was a topic of conversation every day. Now he sits almost anonymously in the Philadelphia clubhouse, just trying to build off a 2014 campaign which saw the 32-year-old play in a combined 112 games with the Sox and Phils.

“There were moments where you feel like it’s coming back and then there were moments where you kind of feel a little lost,” said Sizemore, who hit .216 with a .612 OPS in 52 games with the Red Sox before being released. “I think it’s more of being away from the game for so long. There were some bright spots and some down spots. Just being able to find that comfort zone where you’re not going through those long stretches where you feel you don’t have it.”

Read the rest at WEEI.

2015 Spring Training Begins

March has finally arrived and Spring Training for all 30 MLB teams is in full swing. The Phillies held their first full squad workout last week and their first non-exhibition spring game is tomorrow vs. NYY. Grady is in the lineup in LF, and it airs on MLB Network on a tape delay at 9pm EST.

With a new season comes new team photo days and media guides. In our Gallery you’ll find some of Grady’s shots from Phillies’ Photo Day, and his pages from the 2015 Phillies Media Guide. New action shots are also being added as they come in.

Whoops… so much for the updates

I lied when I said I’d do a news roundup last year. Got a bit busy and, near the end of the season, news and photos became sparse.

Since our last post, Grady was named the Opening Day starter for the Red Sox and started out the season well then inevitably slowed down as the time off started to show. The beginning of June saw his return to Cleveland with the Sox, but sadly the reception from Cleveland fans was pretty much nil. Not long after that series he was designated for assignment, then subsequently outright released, by Boston.

A week later, the Philadelphia Phillies took a chance and signed him to a minor league contract. After just a few weeks at AAA Lehigh Valley, the Phillies purchased his contract and he was back in the MLB, where he remained the rest of the season. Though his early playing time was bountiful, it soon dwindled. As the season neared its end, he was relegated to mostly PH duties due to Philly taking a look at their younger players. Despite this, Grady put up a respectable line of .253/.313/.389/.702 with Philadelphia in his first full season back from missing two from multiple injuries & surgeries. His full 2014 stat line (including Boston and Philly) was .233/.299/.354/.654.

Most importantly, however, Grady got through the entire season unscathed in the health department. Perhaps hoping to catch lightning in a bottle, on October 23rd the Phillies announced that they had signed Grady to a 1-year $2 million MLB contract for the 2015 season.

So, needless to say, 2014 was a busy one for Mr. Sizemore, and not just in the baseball world. Earlier in 2014, Grady wed his longtime girlfriend Brittany. Sorry ladies, there’s a real Mrs. Sizemore now. Congrats to the happy couple!