Reading Eagle Phillies Prospect Rankings

Each year, Mike Drago of the Reading Eagle reaches out to local and national bloggers, broadcasters, and writers for their Phillies’ prospect rankings. Those rankings are then aggregated into a combined Top 30. This was the second year that Mike reached out to me to participate and it gave me a good opportunity to make some slight tweaks to me midseason rankings. So here is the combined list, keep in mind lists were due August 18, back when Rhys Hoskins was a mere mortal

1. Scott Kingery, 2B, Lehigh Valley
2. Rhys Hoskins, 1B, Philadelphia
3. Sixto Sanchez, P, Clearwater
4. J.P. Crawford, SS, Lehigh Valley
5. Cornelius Randolph, OF, Clearwater
6. Adam Haseley, OF, Williamsport
7. Mickey Moniak, OF, Lakewood
8. Franklyn Kilome, P, Reading
9. Jorge Alfaro, C, Lehigh Valley
10. Adonis Medina, P, Lakewood
11. Jhailyn Ortiz, OF, Williamsport
12. Thomas Eshelman, P, Lehigh Valley
13. JoJoRomero, P, Lakewood
14. Carlos Tocci, OF, Lehigh Valley
15. Ranger Suarez, P, Lakewood
16. Roman Quinn, OF, Lehigh Valley
17. Drew Anderson, P, Lehigh Valley
18. Dylan Cozens, OF, Lehigh Valley
19. Jessen Therrien, P, Philadelphia
20. Seranthony Dominquez, P, Clearwater
21. Daniel Brito, 2B, Lakewood
22. Ben Lively, P, Philadelphia
23. Elniery Garcia, P, Reading
24. Cole Irvin, P, Reading
25. Ricardo Pinto, P, Philadelphia
26. Kevin Gowdy, P, (injured)
27. Spencer Howard, P, Williamsport
28. Andrew Pullin, OF, Lehigh Valley
29. Jonathan Guzman, SS, Gulf Coast
30. Yacksel Rios, P, Philadelphia

Here is the list I submitted

1. J.P. Crawford
2. Sixto Sanchez
3. Scott Kingery
4. Rhys Hoskins
5. Jorge Alfaro
6. Adam Haseley
7. Adonis Medina
8. Mickey Moniak
9. Franklyn Kilome
10. Daniel Brito
11. Seranthony Dominguez
12. Jhailyn Ortiz
13. Roman Quinn
14. Jonathan Guzman
15. Cornelius Randolph
16. Thomas Eshelman
17. Carlos Tocci
18. Arquimedez Gamboa
19. JoJo Romero
20. Francisco Morales
21. Ranger Suarez
22. Drew Anderson
23. Brayan Gonzalez
24. Cole Irvin
25. Kyle Young
26. Spencer Howard
27. Dylan Cozens
28. Andrew Pullin
29. Kevin Gowdy
30. Elniery Garcia

So what changed over 2-3 weeks between when I wrote my midseason list and when I submitted this one?

• Crawford is #1 Again: Nothing against Sixto, who didn’t do anything wrong, but Crawford now has another few weeks of doing well in AAA under his belt and that is enough to swing me back towards the up the middle hitter in AAA.
• Randolph Drops 2 Spots: I am concerned about the strikeouts and a bit of an August slump knocked him below Quinn and Guzman.
• Brayan Gonzalez Arrives: Jonathan Guzman has gotten a lot of the GCL praise, but his 17 year old double play partner is hitting .264/.321/.384 and is getting great reviews. The Phillies have good minor league shortstop depth again.
• Ranger Suarez Climbs: At midseason, Suarez had been at the bottom of this tier of pitchers, but I think he is firmly in the middle of what is now a distinct tier involving JoJo Romero, Francisco Morales, Drew Anderson, and him.
• Irvin Up, Lively Down: I know Lively is in the majors, but I continue to think he walks a fine line between a major league starter and depth, he was 31 here and Cole Irvin climbed up on the back of being left handed.
• Cozens Plummets: Cozens dropped a tier from being behind Tocci to all the way down to 27.  I don’t know if he will make enough contact to be a platoon bat. He has time to turn it around, but it has been a poor season.

So where do I deviate the most from the published list.

• Top 4 in a different order: I am not surprised Hoskins is #2 given the voting group, I am slightly surprised Kingery is #1, but those 4 are the right players.
• Alfaro 5 vs 9: I don’t get the Alfaro hate. He doesn’t really walk, and he strikes out at a decent rate, but he is a catcher with big tools. He is hitting over .300 in his 11 MLB games this year, in case you missed non-Hoskins things.
• Randolph 15 vs 5: I don’t see an impact bat right now. He is really young and there is a hit tool in there, but his tools are behind the pitchers and guys like Ortiz for me.
• Brito 10 v 21: He is really worn down and the season numbers aren’t great, but he has a great hit tool, glove, and solid speed, oh and he has sneaky power (if this reminds you of someone check #1 on the list).
• Dominguez 11 v 20: Get on the Seranthony Dominguez hype train, he is 95-97 T98+ with a good slider and changeup, he has more in common with Sixto Sanchez than he does with Elniery Garcia
• Therrien and Rios: If I put a reliever on my list it would have been Ricardo Pinto (who was 25th), I like Rios (30) more than Therrien (19), but neither is a prospect like Ken Giles was, and as we have already seen with Therrien, he has no margin for error.
• Guzman, Gonzalez, Gamboa, and Morales: I am always going to be higher on the latin teenagers than the group, but I am going to take the upside and remind everyone that I had Sixto Top 10 on this list last year and he didn’t make the group list.
• Suarez 21 vs 15 and Romero 19 vs 13: I like Ranger, but I can’t put him over Quinn, Dominguez, Brito, Guzman, and Gamboa, same thing with JoJo Romero. Both are good prospects, but probably more #4 starters, not high level prospects.

No matter, ranking season 2017-2018 is open for business.