Phils select four in Rule 5 draft

Lefthander Travis Blackley and righthander Lincoln Holdzcom were acquired by the Phillies in the major league portion of baseball’s annual Rule 5 Draft, Vice President & General Manager Pat Gillick announced this morning.

The Phillies selected Blackley, 25, from the San Francisco Giants with their first pick in the Rule 5 Draft. Originally signed as a non-drafted free agent by the Seattle Mariners in 2000, Blackley spent the majority of this past season with triple-A Fresno where he went 10-8 with a 4.66 ERA (84 ER, 162.1 IP) in 28 starts. In a September call-up for the Giants, he went 0-0 with a 7.27 ERA (7 ER, 8.2 IP) in two starts.

Blackley, a native of Melbourne, Australia, has a career record of 55-39 with a 3.69 ERA (324 ER, 790.0 IP) in 136 minor league games (134 starts). He is a combined 1-3 with a 9.35 ERA (36 ER, 34.2 IP) in 8 major league games/starts between Seattle (2004) and San Francisco (2007).

With their second pick in the draft, the Phillies selected Holdzcom, 25, from the Boston Red Sox. A seventh-round selection of the Florida Marlins in the 2001 draft, Holdzcom split last season between double-A Portland and triple-A Pawtucket, going a combined 5-1 with 1 save and a 2.97 ERA (21 ER, 63.2 IP) in 42 games. He held opponents to a combined .231 average and righthanded batters to a .198 average.

Holdzcom, a native of Pasadena, Calif., pitched for Mesa in the Arizona Fall League in 2007 and has a career record of 10-19 with a 2.70 ERA (81 ER, 270.0 IP) in 177 games (8 starts).

In the minor league phase of the draft, the Phillies selected third baseman Patrick Sellers from the Houston Astros and second baseman Luke Appert from the Oakland Athletics.

Sellers, 25, spent this past season with double-A Corpus Christi, hitting .282 with 7 home runs and 43 RBI in 111 games. A 32nd-round selection of the Astros in the 2004 draft, Sellers has a .292 average with 22 home runs and 184 RBI in 362 career games.

Appert, 27, split last season between single-A Stockton and double-A Midland, hitting a combined .304 with 10 home runs and 83 RBI in 125 games between both clubs. Originally selected by the Athletics in the sixth round of the 2003 draft, he has a .268 average with 41 home runs and 258 RBI in 480 career games.

In the third round of the minor league phase, Phillies righthander Scott Mitchinson was selected by Oakland and righthander Kenny Fernandez was selected by Florida in the double-A phase of the draft.