A Critical Look at the Phillies Organization and Minor League Baseball
The Phillies have not been particularly good at development over most of my lifetime. During the Amaro and Gillick years it was rare that early draft picks, let alone late picks turned into interesting prospects. The Phillies haven’t become a draft or development powerhouse overnight, they probably are still below average to average in development. … Read more
Much of writing about prospects is about hope and optimism for the future. However, it can also be about failure and what that means and what the paths out of it are. It is no secret that the Phillies system is down compared to where it was a few years ago. Some of that has … Read more
Rodolfo Duran, C 5’9″, 181 lb Born 2/19/98 (Age 20) in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Bats/Throws: R/R Signed $75,000 bonus as an international amateur in 2014 Team Played For: Lakewood (South Atlantic League/Low A) Games Seen: 5/24, 6/14, 6/29, 8/2, 8/20, 9/1; (Postseason) 9/7, 9/13, 9/14 Eyewitness Stats (9 games): 11/38 (.289), 3 2B, HR, … Read more
The minor league playoffs kicked off in earnest yesterday with the Clearwater Threshers winning Game 1 of their series. Today the Lakewood BlueClaws and Lehigh Valley IronPigs get their turn. Lakewood enters the playoffs having gone 87-51 on the year and winning both halves of the season in the SAL North. Much like their friends … Read more
The Phillies are holding a tenuous lead the NL East heading down the stretch in large part to graduations from their farm system. This year J.P. Crawford (1), Scott Kingery (3), Jorge Alfaro (4), Ramon Quinn (13), Seranthony Dominguez (14), Victor Arano (30), and Jesmuel Valentin (32) all have or will have graduated off of … Read more
When I sat down to write the pre-season Top 50 there were two glaring positional weaknesses in the system catcher and third base. Only one third baseman (Jake Holmes) made the list, and that position has seen some natural improvement with bounce backs by Zach Green and Luke Williams and the drafting of Alec Bohm. … Read more
On Friday night, I made my fourth trip to Lakewood this year to watch Spencer Howard for a second time. This would also be coincidentally the third time I’ve gotten to see the Nationals low A affiliate Hagerstown. The mission for the evening was to see two things: to see if Howard could have a … Read more
Yesterday, Matt released the final portion of his top 50 Phillies prospects with the ten best in the system. Matt’s been doing this for some time now and I think we all should give him a round of applause for the amount of hard and detailed work he puts into it every year. It’s probably … Read more
I hadn’t made the trip to Williamsport since my weekend escapades in July when Adam Haseley hit his 1st professional home runs, Kyle Young struck out 11, Spencer Howard made his professional debut and Jhailyn Ortiz made my eyes pop out of my head with his power. And being this a Phillies minor league weekend, … Read more
In 2014 the GCL Phillies had a nice pitching staff and some interesting players, but the lack of HS players limited the prospect power of the team. This season has been much different. The lineup has a premium prospect at every position and while the rotation isn’t full of household names, it has carried the … Read more