Well Wouldn't You Know It?

I LOVE it when my mother-in-law finds these awesome articles on the web! Then, I'm able to put them on my blog and one day Phillip will be able to look back on all of them! Much easier than printing them out and losing all of my copies. I'm so proud of him!

Release Date: July 7, 2011

Former Tiger Finds Florida Sunshine Golden In Rookie League BaseballBOONEVILLE, Miss. – Former Northeast Mississippi Community College catcher Phillip Chapman has found the sunshine in Fort Myers, Florida golden as the Clinton-native completes his first year of rookie ball for the Minnesota Twins organization.

Chapman, who donned the Northeast black and gold in 2008 and 2009, went 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles in an 8-3 win over the Gulf Coast League’s Rays on Tuesday, July 5 that helped move the Twins into a tie for first place in the division.

Thanks to his 2-for-4 performance against the Rays, Chapman is now batting .381 with an on base percentage of .440. Chapman’s on-base plus slugging (OPS) and slugging percentage leads active Twins players with a 1.011 OPS average and a .571 slugging percentage.

Over his last four games, Chapman has been lighting up the opposing pitching hitting an even .500 (7-for-14) with four doubles.

Chapman is second on the team in batting average to shortstop Aderline Mejia of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic who sits at .387.

Oswaldo Arcia of Anaco, Venezuela sits in front of both Chapman and Mejia in batting average but Arcia got the call to move up to the Fort Myers Miracle of the Class A Advanced Florida State League after appearing in just two games for the Twins.

While appearing in six games for the Twins, Chapman has bashed out eight hits andscored five runs and leads the team in doubles (4) and is tied for second on the team in total bases (12).

Chapman will have plenty of time to perfect his swing in the Rookie League’s Gulf Coast League. The Twins play games Monday-Saturday until August 27 when the playoffs start with the Twins usually playing at noon EST (11 a.m. CST) Monday-Friday and at 10 a.m. EST (9 a.m. CST) on Saturdays.

During his time at Northeast, Chapman helped lead the Northeast baseball program to a 65-32 record during his two years behind the plate which included back-to-back Mississippi Association of Community/Junior Colleges (MACJC) North Divisionrunner-up finishes during the Tigers 32-18 season in 2008 and 33-14 mark in2009.

Under Farris’ direction, Chapman was selected to the MACJC All-State second team in 2008 after hitting .370 with seven home runs and 23 RBI with a .984 fielding average.

Prior to his sophomore campaign, Chapman was honored as a National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) pre-season All-American and led the Tigers in three different offensive categories in 2009.

In 2009, Chapman helped lead the Tigers to the NJCAA Region XXIII Tournament after pacing the team with a .640 slugging percentage, nine home runs and 39 RBI during his sophomore season.

When not excelling on the diamond at Northeast, Chapman was a member of the Iota Zeta chapter of the Phi Theta Kappa honor society.

Chapman continued his baseball career at the University of Memphis where he was named to the 2011 Capital One Academic All-District IV baseball teams by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

During his senior season, Chapman was named to the Academic All-District IV second team and was a three-time member of the Tiger baseball 3.0 club.

Chapman, an accounting major, wrapped up his collegiate career with a 3.508 grade pointaverage and was honored on the Dean’s List at the University of Memphis and was selected to the Conference-USA Commissioner’s Honor Roll twice.

As the Memphis Tigers everyday catcher, Chapman stayed at the top of the offensivecharts with a .338 batting average and threw out 10 base runners attempting to steal and picked off a pair of potential base-stealers as well.

Chapman paced the Memphis club with 18 doubles and had four home runs – two in one game against Alcorn State – and 35 RBI.