Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports
Jonathan Pettibone has been having a good year for the Philadelphia Phillies on the field with a 5-4 record and a 3.97 ERA, but what he has done off the field so far has been even more impressive.
Pettibone, 22, wowed Philadelphia traffic girl Kacie McDonnell at a team fundraiser in May, and the two have been an item since then. McDonnell, 22, who once dated quarterback Christian Ponder of the Minnesota Vikings, must like athletes who throw balls for a living.
Oh, and she’s a former Miss Teen Pennsylvania.
If Pettibone works as fast on the mound as he does off the mound, most of his starts should last less than two hours. Whether he is a long-term answer for the Phillies’ rotation remains to be seen, but he was an emergency call-up as a fill-in for Roy Halladay, and he has seven quality starts in 10 attempts, which is higher than the team average so far (six per 10 appearances for the rest of the staff).
What the right-hander has done is even more impressive considering that he wasn’t setting the world on fire in the Phillies’ minor league system.
The 2008 third-round pick had a 2-4 record for Class-A Williamsport in 2009, and followed that up with an 8-6 season at Class-A Advanced Lakewood (N.J.) the next season. In 2011, for Clearwater, the Phils’ highest Class-A team, Pettibone went 10-11. Last year was his “breakout” year with a 13-8 mark split between Double-A Reading and Triple-A Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs.
So far, the Phils like his control and fastball that regularly clocks in the low 90s range, and at least one local TV personality likes his other pitches.
Mike Gibson is a Phillies writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @papreps , “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.
