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. What they have done under Matt Klentak and Johnny Almaraz is become much more interesting in the draft. The 2017 draft is the crowning example, with Day 1 and 2 picks like Adam Haseley, Spencer Howard, Connor Seabold, Nick Maton, and Ethan Lindow having name recognition with fans. However, that draft saw them take a bunch of unheralded players who dot this top 50. But that has expanded to taking high schoolers later in the draft and getting upside at little risk. It also has seen the Phillies expand the number of non-drafted free agents they have signed, and had those numbers include not just college players, but high schoolers too. In an ideal world these low investment moves will start to pay off with an improved farm system for the Phillies, but for now a lot of those players are still far away or unestablished, and it is up to the Phillies development to catch up with talent acquisition.
Index: 1-10 | 11-20 | 21-30 | 31-40 | 41-50
All ages are for major league opening day.
40. Connor Brogdon, RHP
Age: 25 Acquired: 10th Rd, 2017 Draft
B/T: R/R H/W: 6’6” 192lbs
2019 Stats:
| Team (LVL) | G | GS | W-L | IP | ERA | H/9 | HR/9 | BB% | K% |
| CLW (A+) | 10 | 0 | 2-0 | 20 | 1.80 | 5.0 | 0.5 | 6.7% | 30.7% |
| REA (AA) | 15 | 0 | 1-1 | 23.2 | 2.66 | 4.6 | 1.5 | 8.0% | 44.3% |
| LHV (AAA) | 26 | 0 | 3-1 | 32.1 | 3.06 | 6.4 | 1.1 | 9.0% | 33.1% |
Role: 6th/7th Inning Reliever
Risk: Low – The Phillies almost brought Brogdon up at the end of last season, but opted not to carry him on the 40 man all winter. He is ready to contribute now for the Phillies.
Summary: After a transition year in 2018, the 2019 season saw Brogdon pitch full time as a reliever. He is a tall lanky righty who gets good extension on his pitches, especially his fastball, which has sat firmly 93 to 95, touching 96 out of the bullpen. His best secondary pitch is his changeup, but he does have a breaking ball as well. Brogdon’s plus control helps his whole arsenal play up. He should be ready to contribute to the major league bullpen in 2020, where he profiles as a 7th inning arm more than a closer.
2020 Outlook: The Phillies have a lot of relievers in camp and on the 40 man roster, so Brogdon is unlikely to be the first guy up, but he will be up at some point in 2020.
ETA: 2020
Previous Rank: UR
39. Andrew Schultz, RHP
Age: 22 Acquired: 6th Rd, 2019 Draft
B/T: R/R H/W: 6’4” 195lbs
2019 Stats:
| Team (LVL) | G | GS | W-L | IP | ERA | H/9 | HR/9 | BB% | K% |
| GCL (Rk) | 1 | 0 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| LKW (A-) | 11 | 0 | 0-2 | 10 | 7.2 | 9.9 | 0.9 | 17.0% | 28.3% |
Role: High Leverage Reliever
Risk: Extreme – Schultz has elite closer upside, but he might also not throw enough strikes to make it to AA.
Summary: There is not a lot of subtlety or nuance to Schultz’s profile on the mound. He has an electric fastball that sits 95-99, touching 100+. His slider flashed at least plus, but is still very inconsistent. Schultz has a front end closer upside, but he fell to the 6th round of the draft because his control might be optimistically called poor. Schultz has an extremely short arm action and throws with a decent amount of effort. Schultz is athletic and rebuilt his delivery before his junior year of college, so there is a chance the Phillies can help him find a delivery and consistency to command his pitches some. Most college relievers are fairly quick moving through pro ball, but it might take a few seasons for Schultz to work through his issues. Once things click, Schultz could arrive in the majors very quickly.
2020 Outlook: The Phillies pushed Schultz to Lakewood to end the 2019 season, and a move to Clearwater to open the year seems likely. He might see Reading by the end of the season, but will probably spend plenty of time in Florida.
ETA: 2022
Previous Rank: N/A
38. Gunner Mayer, RHP
Age: 19 Acquired: 5th Rd, 2019 Draft
B/T: R/R H/W: 6’6” 190lbs
2019 Stats:
| Team (LVL) | G | GS | W-L | IP | ERA | H/9 | HR/9 | BB% | K% |
| GCL (Rk) | 4 | 2 | 0-0 | 8.1 | 5.40 | 8.6 | 0.0 | 8.3% | 27.8% |
Role: #3 Starter
Risk: Extreme – Part of being bullish on Mayer’s upside is acknowledging how much growth is still needed. He has never completed a year as a starter, only shows a breaking ball, and is missing a changeup.
Summary: It is hard to judge Mayer as he currently is as a baseball player. He is a former infielder who just recently converted to pitching, and was young for a first year JuCo player, so he is still not done physically growing either. He is listed at 6’6” and is fairly skinny. The word projectable gets thrown around a lot, but there are clearly many places for Mayer to add muscle. He already has some arm strength, hitting up to 94 this spring and in the GCL. He has shown feel for a curveball and slider, but will need to develop a changeup. He is far from a finished product, and tall pitchers tend to have struggled syncing up their deliveries. Due to his projectability and athleticism, he is the definition of a high upside pitching project. He will take some time and the Phillies shut him down early after his debut, so a piggyback spot in the Lakewood rotation seems like the logical 2020 path.
2020 Outlook: Given his newness to pitching, the Phillies will likely keep Mayer’s inning total down in 2020. They could let a piggy back system in Lakewood keep the numbers down on it’s own, or they could be more aggressive by either starting him in Extended Spring Training or shutting him down early. Either way it is likely a summer on the Jersey shore for him.
ETA: 2023
Previous Rank: N/A
37. Kyle Young, LHP
Age: 22 Acquired: 22nd Rd, 2016 Draft
B/T: L/L H/W: 6’10” 205lbs
2019 Stats:
| Team (LVL) | G | GS | W-L | IP | ERA | H/9 | HR/9 | BB% | K% |
| CLW (A+) | 4 | 4 | 1-3 | 21 | 4.29 | 9.0 | 0.9 | 1.2% | 29.8% |
Role: #4 Starter
Risk: High – Young had a lot of growth still needed heading into the 2019 season, and while he showed improvement in April, his season ended abruptly when he had Tommy John surgery in May. He now will need to show improved stuff and arm health after missing a year of development in order to stay on track.
Summary: Young is definitely an anomaly on the mound. He is listed at 6’10”, but it is likely actually closer to 7’0”, and even with a few years of being in a professional strength and conditioning program, he still has a lot of filling out to do. Unlike most tall pitchers, Young possesses good athleticism and body control, which has led to much better strike throwing ability than many of his counterparts. He is not the hardest throwing pitcher, sitting mostly in the 89 to 91 range, but he did reportedly touch 93 last year. His secondary pitches are also fairly pedestrian, with his breaking ball being more of a loopy slurve and his changeup being more of an average pitch at best. Young also does not have the over the top delivery that is being prioritized by many organizations. What he does have is incredible extension due to his size, and he releases the ball much closer to the plate than most pitchers, allowing all of his pitches to play up. That coupled with his control gives him a role as a back end starter and at minimum left handed reliever. However, things are not quite that simple. Young’s size and projectable frame lends hope that someday he will be pitching more in the mid 90s with his fastball when he reaches physical maturity. If the secondary pitches were to improve as well, his ceiling would skyrocket. All of those sky high projections, along with what seems like his normal path, have been sidetracked a few times now. He missed a lot of the 2018 season to injury, and then a month into the 2019 season he had an arm injury that required Tommy John. He will miss much of the 2020 season, and will likely finish it having pitched right about 100 total innings in the last 3 years. For now, the hope is that he does come back healthy in 2020 and we can revisit the discussions of his major league role a year from now.
2020 Outlook: Young had Tommy John surgery last May, and likely won’t throw a pitch in a game until the summer at the earliest. The biggest priority for Young will be getting healthy and putting himself in a good place for the 2021 offseason.
ETA: 2022
Previous Rank: 36
36. Rodolfo Duran, C
Age: 22 Acquired: 2014 International Free Agent
B/T: R/R H/W: 5’9”
2019 Stats:
| Team (LVL) | G | PA | HR | SB | BB% | K% | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| CLW (A+) | 66 | 245 | 6 | 0 | 4.1% | 21.6% | .240 | .273 | .369 |
Role: Backup Catcher
Risk: High – Duran has the defensive chops to get most of the way to being a backup catcher. His offense, however, has been too streaky and inconsistent to count on.
Summary: Duran put himself on the map when he hit 18 home runs as a 20 year old in 2018 for Lakewood. The Dominican catcher’s follow up season for Clearwater got off to a poor start when he hit .137/.200/.137 in 14 April games. It wasn’t scorching, but he hit .269/.297/.434 until a late July injury ended his season early. Duran is never going to be confused for a patient hitter, and his uppercut heavy swing opens up a lot of holes in his swing that his bat speed can’t cover. Duran is not a large catcher, and his slight size has had scouts worry about his long term durability. What his size does not hold back is his power. While he was not as prolific in 2019, he has plenty of power to his pull side. On defense, Duran is a good receiver and has a plus arm. Ultimately, the contact struggles and lack of on base ability to offset the swing holes, relegate Duran to a backup profile. He has many similarities to Deivy Grullon when it comes to profile, but Duran is more athletic and should be a better defender.
2020 Outlook: If he is fully healthy, then Duran could get pushed to AA by the catching prospects coming up behind him. If he does start in Clearwater, a mid year promotion to Reading is not unreasonable.
ETA: 2022
Previous Rank: 16
35. Manuel Silva, LHP
Age: 21 Acquired: 2015 International Free Agent
B/T: L/L H/W: 6’2” 145lbs
2019 Stats:
| Team (LVL) | G | GS | W-L | IP | ERA | H/9 | HR/9 | BB% | K% |
| LKW (A-) | 23 | 12 | 6-6 | 89.2 | 3.61 | 6.5 | 0.3 | 9.6% | 21.8% |
Role: #4 Starter
Risk: High – Silva still has a lot of development ahead, but he has a projectable frame and the three pitch mix to grow into a back end starter role.
Summary: The Phillies have taken things slow with Silva, moving him a level per year through his 4 seasons. The lanky Dominican lefty has made minor improvements each year. His velocity has taken another tiny step forward, but at low 90s touching 94-95 he is still only average, even for a lefty. His secondary pitches are also showing minor improvements, but neither has stepped forward as a dominant offering. Even with the piggy back rotation in Lakewood, Silva still set a career high in innings in 2019. A little improvement at a time and Silva might end up with three average pitches and profile as a back end starter. Silva is still skinny and might have some untapped velocity, but that isn’t necessarily a guarantee given his gradual growth to this point.
2020 Outlook: The Phillies have been taking things one level at a time for Silva, and given his slow growth to this point there is no reason to change that with anything but a year in Clearwater.
ETA: 2022
Previous Rank: 25
34. Dominic Pipkin, RHP
Age: 20 Acquired: Rd 9, 2018 Draft
B/T: R/R H/W: 6’4” 160lbs
2019 Stats:
| Team (LVL) | G | GS | W-L | IP | ERA | H/9 | HR/9 | BB% | K% |
| LKW (A-) | 24 | 12 | 3-4 | 71.2 | 5.15 | 8.9 | 0.5 | 13.6% | 13.3% |
Role: #3 Starter, High Leverage Reliever
Risk: Extreme – Pipkin is currently a projectable righty with a good fastball, and not a ton else. If he can develop solid secondary pitches he could be impactful in a rotation or bullpen, but the development path is still long.
Summary: With the starting pitchers piggybacking in Lakewood, the Phillies were able to aggressively push Pipkin to the BlueClaws. Pipkin struggled with the aggressive assignment, but his talent was evident. Pipkin lacks polish, control, and consistency but he throws hard (up to 98) and has a projectable frame that could see him add another couple miles per hour to his fastball. In addition to his fastball, Pipkin shows some feel for a slider and changeup, but they still need plenty of work. With growth, he could be a mid rotation starter, however there are still a lot of hurdles to cross. Given his velocity and lack of a three pitch mix, it is likely that Pipkin ends up in the bullpen, but the Phillies will keep him in the rotation to see if he can continue to show progress.
2020 Outlook: Given how aggressive they were with him to open the 2019 year, the Phillies could send Pipkin back to Lakewood to open the year. If they do, a midseason promotion to Clearwater would put him back ahead of schedule.
ETA: 2023
Previous Rank: 37
33. Carlos De La Cruz, OF
Age: 20 Acquired: Non-drafted free agent 2017
B/T: R/R H/W: 6’8” 210
2019 Stats:
| Team (LVL) | G | PA | HR | SB | BB% | K% | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| LKW (A-) | 117 | 461 | 7 | 7 | 5.9% | 34.5% | .220 | .271 | .327 |
Role: Average Regular
Risk: Extreme – De La Cruz is all projection, and right now lacks substance. His hit tool could fail to materialize, he could fail to ever tap into his raw power, or he could just continue growing too tall to ever hit a baseball, the possibilities are near limitless.
Summary: Some players are raw because they have little high level baseball experience, and some are still learning how to play baseball with a new set of physical tools. Then there is De La Cruz, who has the physical build of a baby giraffe and only slightly more baseball experience. He is listed at 6’8”, but might be taller, and is extremely lanky. He shows at minimum plus raw power, but it is easy to see him having 70 to 80 grade power at full maturity. His hit tool is still well below average due to the natural holes inherent to such long arms, as well as pitch recognition still in early stages of development. He has enough bat speed to make contact in the long run, but he is probably never going to be a high batting average hitter. De La Cruz has a plus arm, ideal for right field. The Phillies have played him in all three outfield positions, and he is currently a good runner, making him currently, and possibly futurely, playable in center field. De La Cruz has some of the loudest tools and highest upside of any Phillies prospect, but there is a reason he stands out on a field, and it is because players like him rarely have success in the majors due to the problems that come with just being that tall.
2020 Outlook: The Phillies could have De La Cruz repeat Lakewood, or they could send him to Clearwater. The reports on his tools were better than his results, so a good spring could make the aggressive assignment more appealing.
ETA: 2023
Previous Rank: UR
32. Cole Irvin, LHP
Age: 26 Acquired: 5th Rd, 2016 Draft
B/T: L/L H/W: 6’4” 180lbs
2019 Stats:
| Team (LVL) | G | GS | W-L | IP | ERA | H/9 | HR/9 | BB% | K% |
| LHV (AAA) | 17 | 18 | 6-1 | 93.2 | 3.94 | 10.9 | 1.3 | 3.5% | 16.2% |
| PHI (MLB) | 16 | 3 | 2-1 | 41.2 | 5.83 | 9.9 | 1.5 | 7.2% | 17.1% |
Role: #6 Starter/Middle Reliever
Risk: Low – Irvin has a mature pitch mix and solid control. He showed at times in 2019 that he can stick around the fringes of a MLB roster.
Summary: The line between being a prospect and being an afterthought can be razor thin. Following the 2017 season, Irvin was climbing prospect lists because his fastball was consistently 91 to 93, touching 95. However, the 2018 and 2019 seasons saw Irvin hovering more around 90 mph, often sitting in the 80s. However, in September Irvin came roaring back in a bullpen role. His velocity was back where it was in 2017, and he allowed 1 run in 12.1 innings. Irvin isn’t all just fastball, his profile is built on control and a 4 pitch mix with his changeup, slider, and curveball (though he started to de-emphasize the curve in the bullpen). Strikeouts are always going to be a concern for Irvin, because he lacks a putaway pitch, but at his best he does manage to keep hitters off balance and generate weak contact. It seems like the Phillies will give him another shot in the rotation, and if the velocity holds back in the higher range, he profiles as an innings eating #4/#5. If he can’t hold it, the Phillies might be better served putting him back in the bullpen and seeing if he can give them similar production to what Ranger Suarez did in 2019, or hope a full time move sees him take the same leap that Adam Morgan did.
2020 Outlook: The Phillies seem to be giving Irvin a chance to prove himself in the rotation to open the season. If his stuff is where it was at the end of 2019 they might leave him there, if not he could be shuttling up and down the Northeast Extension between the AAA and MLB bullpens.
ETA: 2019
Previous Rank: 35
31. Kyle Dohy, LHP
Age: 23 Acquired: 16th Rd, 2017 Draft
B/T: L/L H/W: 6’2” 188lbs
2019 Stats:
| Team (LVL) | G | GS | W-L | IP | ERA | H/9 | HR/9 | BB% | K% |
| REA (AA) | 6 | 0 | 1-0 | 11 | 0.82 | 1.6 | 0 | 12.8% | 56.4% |
| LHV (AAA) | 41 | 0 | 6-5 | 56.2 | 6.19 | 9 | 0.6 | 18.8% | 28.8% |
Role: High Leverage Reliever
Risk: High – Dohy’s stuff could be dominant in the majors, but he is going to need to throw strikes. That is easier said than done, given he has zero track record of even average command.
Summary: If you want to argue that at his best, Kyle Dohy has the best stuff of any Phillies pitching prospect not named Spencer Howard, I am not sure you will find much disagreement. His fastball will sit in the mid 90s with good extension, his slider is plus and has good two plane break, and he will occasionally top it off with a surprisingly good changeup. The problem that continues to haunt Dohy is his control. He can get inexperienced hitters to expand the zone, but good ones will just wait him out and take their walks. Dohy is athletic, and so there is some hope that continued reps and coaching will get his control to at least average. If he can just give hitters the threat that he will put one in the strike zone, he could have a very solid major league career as an infuriating 7th inning guy. If the control ever clicks, he could be a dominant closer almost overnight. For now, he will need to work through his issues while some of his teammates pass him by.
2020 Outlook: Dohy will start his year in AAA, and the Phillies will give him plenty of opportunities to improve his command. If he can throw strikes for an extended period of time, the Phillies will likely push him up to the majors.
ETA: 2020
Previous Rank: 29