Saying Goodbye to Erik Kratz

According to Jon Morosi's Twitter Erik Kratz has been signed to a Minor League deal by the cross-state "rival" Philadelphia Phillies. Kratz will receive an invite to Spring Training.

Erik Kratz became a favorite of fans and especially the writers here at TiGO for his long journey to the Big Show.

You may remember that we were one of the first sites to call for Kratz's promotion in June of 2010 (if you don't remember). Finally in July he was called up and made his Major League debut at the age of 30. He only appeared in 9 games, and was very disappointing at the plate, but he did show that it was the catcher and not always the pitcher responsible for the stolen base problem.

Kratz's AAA stats were phenomenal posting a line of .274/.380/.496 and he played very good defense.

In all seriousness I'm very happy to hear he signed with such a good organization. He is a class act, and the fact that he hung in there tough until he accomplished his dream was something everyone can relate to in one way or another. He deserves it, and the Phillies got a great guy, and (especially at that level) a great player.