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Clearwater's Kyrell Hudson to pursue college football career

1Nelson Prada, the first-year manager with the Phillies' Williamsport affiliate in the New York-Penn League, has a pretty cool story. Only 37 years old, he is already in his ninth year as a minor-league manager. A native of Maracay, Venezuela, he started coaching at the age of 22 when an injury ended his playing career in the Minnesota Twins' farm system. The Twins offered him a coaching job and he remained in the organization until the end of last season.

1. Nelson Prada, the first-year manager with the Phillies' Williamsport affiliate in the New York-Penn League, has a pretty cool story. Only 37 years old, he is already in his ninth year as a minor-league manager. A native of Maracay, Venezuela, he started coaching at the age of 22 when an injury ended his playing career in the Minnesota Twins' farm system. The Twins offered him a coaching job and he remained in the organization until the end of last season.

Prada said he stresses to Latin American players the importance of learning English because it opens doors and makes the game easier.

So how did he learn English?

"I used closed captioning a lot when I watched TV," he said. "I'd watch American channels and I'd have the closed caption in English, so I could read it and when you're reading it you could learn how to write it and how to sound it. It was easier for me to read than listen. When I read it, I learned a lot and I'd try to room with an American guy. I'd always ask that guy how I would sound. There are always guys who want to room with the Latin guys and learn Spanish, so that's a good help, too."

2. Outfielder Kyrell Hudson, a third-round pick in 2009 by the Phillies, left Clearwater this month to pursue a career in college football. He was a highly recruited football player in the state of Washington as a quarterback and kick returner in 2009 and had a scholarship to play at Oregon State before signing with the Phillies for $475,000. In five minor-league seasons, he batted .224 with a .557 OPS.

3. The pitching line from Jesse Biddle's July 23 start at Reading was not pretty. The lefty from Germantown Friends surrendered four runs on three hits and three walks in just two-thirds of an inning against the Binghamton Mets. The good news: "Just a bad night," Phillies director of player development Joe Jordan said. "He's fine physically. Hopefully he gets back out there soon and gets that bad taste out of his mouth."

Biddle is scheduled to pitch again Sunday night at home against New Britain.

4. Jarred Cosart has started his big-league career by posting a 0.60 ERA in his first two starts with the Houston Astros. The former Phillies prospect was one of four players sent to Houston in the 2011 trade that brought Hunter Pence to Philadelphia. The other three: Jonathan Singleton, Domingo Santana, and Josh Zeid.

Singleton, after opening the year by serving a 50-game suspension, has struggled, particularly at triple-A Oklahoma City, where he entered Saturday hitting .191 with three home runs and 10 RBIs in 38 games.

5. Wilmer Oberto, a 20-year-old outfielder from Venezuela, entered Saturday hitting .346 with four home runs and a league-high 26 RBIs for the Gulf Coast League Phillies. Shortstop J.P. Crawford, the team's first-round pick last month, is third in the GCL with a .361 average.

- Bob Brookover