NEW YORK - The five Phillies players packed into the three-bedroom apartment at the beginning of spring training with big-league aspirations. "Right in between the stadium and Chick-fil-a," Brock Stassi said. He slept on the air mattress in the living room. Joely Rodriguez, Mark Leiter Jr., Cameron Perkins, and Tom Eshelman were his roommates.
Stassi and Leiter had lived together the previous spring. They both signed for $1,000 as late-round picks. They had been promoted and demoted, patient and productive. Late at night this spring, they talked about baseball and considered their long odds.
Less than three weeks into the season, they were teammates in the majors.