Scott Mathieson, who many people thought would compete this Spring for a spot in the Phillies’ bullpen, was among the first group of players to be reassigned to the club’s minor league camp. Mathieson was named the Phillies’ top right hand pitching prospect by Baseball America in 2005, but he has had two Tommy John surgeries since making his major league debut on June 17, 2006.

He has since battled back and routinely hit the high 90s while pitching with the Reading Phillies last season. Despite his recent success, GM Ruben Amaro Jr., manager Charlie Manuel and pitching coach Rich Dubee indicated early on that they believed that Mathieson still needed a lot of innings against live hitters before making it back to the big league club.

“He’s a guy we didn’t feel was going to be ready to go in April [for us] and be refined enough in his secondary stuff to be able to compete for a job at the big league level,” Amaro said. “He’s just a guy who needs to go out there and pitch.”

There is a good chance that Mathieson will see time in Philadelphia at some point this season, it just won’t be in April. Also not making the Opening Day roster are Phillipe Aumont and J.C. Ramirez, both of whom came to the Phillies this past offseason in the trade with the Seattle Mariners for Cliff Lee. Outfielder Tyson Gillies, also part of that trade, was part of the group reassigned to the minor league camp. This comes as no surprise as none of these prospects were expect to make the big league club this Spring.

“I’m leaving on a good note,” Aumont said. “I got some experience. I’ll go down there, get that pitch count up and get my arm ready for the season. I’m actually excited about it. It was all at once (the new delivery). It was kind of shaky a little bit at the beginning, but I guess that’s why the Minor Leagues are there.”

Here are the other cuts:

LHP Yohan Flande
RHP Drew Naylor
RHP Jesus Sanchez
LHP Joe Savery
LHP Bill White

C Tuffy Goeswisch
C Kevin Nelson
C John Suomi
SS Freddy Galvis
OF Quintin Berry