2014 GCL Phillies Recap

Given the amount of time and effort that goes into covering the season while it occurs, we want to give it equal attention after it is all over.  This year we will be featuring wrap-ups such as this one, done by the writers here at Phillies Minor Thoughts, and then an interview with someone has gotten to see the team a lot in person.  We are very excited to start rolling these out, especially for the insights by those we talked to.

Team: GCL Phillies
Record: 36-23
Standing: Missed Playoffs, Second Place in Northwest Division

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Low Minors Starting Rotation Crunch

The Phillies entered the season with one of the thinnest systems in terms of starting pitching in major leagues.  Through the draft, international development, and trades the Phillies have turned this weakness into a strength.  The result has been starting rotations in the low minors that ended the year in 6 and 7 man rotations … Read more

GCL Phillies Unknown Starting Rotation

The GCL Phillies spent much of the early season being the rehab point for many rehabbing and drafted pitchers as Yoel Mecias, Nic Hanson, Brandon Leibrandt, Matt Imhof, Jesse Biddle, and Drew Anderson all made starts this year.  But since the GCL Phillies have begun to settle into a 6-7 man rotation (double headers and … Read more

The Hunt for the Paul Owens Award (Pitcher)

Every year the Paul Owens Award goes to the top hitter and pitcher in the Phillies organization.  The award does not go to the best prospect in the organization, but rather to the one that has performed the best during the past season.  The hitting award should easily go to Phillies top prospect J.P. Crawford who is not only putting up a great stat line (.286/.376/.401), but he has done it across two levels as a 19-year-old playing good defense at a premium position.  On the pitching side the Phillies top prospects have been hindered by being hurt, ineffective, both hurt and ineffective, or having just been drafted this past June.  This leads to a very wide open race for the Paul Owens for pitching.

The Paul Owens Award for pitching has not been the site of illustrious and major league successful names, but it does have its share of top prospects.  The last 10 pitchers in reverse order to win it are Severino Gonzalez, Tyler Cloyd, Trevor May, Scott Mathieson, Kyle Drabek, J.A. Happ, Mike Zagurski, Carlos Carrasco, Robinson Tejeda, and Scott Mitchinson.

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Franklyn Kilome

This post has been a long time coming, but I’m finally here to get you familiar with a very intriguing arm on the GCL roster and his name is Franklyn Kilome. The 19 year old Dominican stands 6’6″ and tips the scales at 175lbs. He sports an old school style delivery with his hands going … Read more

Jesse Biddle’s Season In Question

Ruben Amaro Jr. recently met with CSN reporter Jim Salisbury for a one on one interview in which the status of  Jesse Biddle was discussed.  Biddle, 22, had been recently placed on the temporarily inactive list to clear his head of some growing frustrations.  Having grown up in Philadelphia, the young pitcher was placing a … Read more

Three Under the Radar Storylines

There has been a lot attention paid to the resurgence of two third baseman in the Phillies system in Maikel Franco and Zach Green.  The shortseason Williamsport Crosscutters have been putting up some impressive offensive numbers as well.  But there are a couple of players whose performances aren’t generating as much buzz. Andrew Knapp in … Read more