Top Prospects
SS Aidan Miller – Miller’s end to the 2025 season put him among the best prospects in the game. He has been sidelined all spring with back soreness that the Phillies don’t really want to talk about. When on the field, he makes great swing decisions, with a good ability to make contact, and plus power. He is a plus runner, who is a fine defender at shortstop, but will likely move around to prep him for a major league role. Once back, he should hit in the middle of the lineup and be the IronPigs best hitter.
RHP Jean Cabrera – With veterans around on the roster, Cabrera is not technically the next starting pitcher up for the Phillies, but he is very close. He isn’t built like a workhorse, but he pitches like one. He throws 4-seamer and a sinker, that both will sit 92-95 with average-ish movement profiles. He has a sweeper, that he can throw for strikes or chases, but isn’t a big wipeout pitch. He closes the gap between that and his fastballs with a mid 80s cutter, that is more of a change of pace, pitch he can throw for a strike. His best pitch is a high 80s changeup that he gets good deception on, and will throw to righties and lefties. Cabrera is unlikely to be dominant, but he can put up innings and workman like starts each week.
OF Gabriel Rincones Jr. – Rincones is on the mend after missing spring with a leg injury. He had some of the best raw power in the international league last year, and was very good over the last 3 months of the season. He struggles against left handed pitchers, and he might see more of them to open the year to see if he can make some improvements. He is a playable defender in an outfield corner, and opportunistic base stealer. Once healthy, he is probably first in line for an outfield call up if there is a big injury or struggle, so he may not be with the IronPigs for much of the year.
Other Notable Players
1B/OF Felix Reyes – Reyes combines an impressive feel for contact, plus plus raw power, and a penchant for swinging at everything. This leads to very few walks, a bunch of bad contact, and some louds balls in play. He especially crushed left handed pitchers in 2025. He will probably start a decent bit at first base, but can handle an outfield corner as well. He has a lot of doubters in the prospect community, but he could hit his way past those concerns to a short side platoon role in the majors. He should hit near the middle of the IronPigs lineup.
LHP Andrew Walling – Walling got a cup of coffee with the IronPigs last year, but struggled to throw strikes. He is coming off a solid spring training by underlying numbers. His fastball will touch up to 97 with a bunch of cut. More often though he will use his low 90s cutter as his main pitch, and then pitch the fastball and his sweeper off of that. He threw a sinker this spring, giving him one armside moving pitch to work with. He is one of only two lefties in the IronPigs bullpen, but because his arsenal plays off of some much cut, he has actually been better against righties than lefties.
RHP Seth Johnson – Johnson had a good ERA (1.86) this spring, but his control wasn’t great, and he struggled to miss bats. He was however throwing much harder, averaging 98.1 mph on 4-seam fastball. He worked in a sweeper in addition to his slider and occasional curveball, and he added a sinker as well. His splitter looked better, and overall he looked like a much more interesting pitcher. It also looked incomplete, and the big thing in this return trip to Lehigh Valley will be finding consistency in this new arsenal. If it comes together, Johnson could pitch in high leverage situations for the Pigs and eventually with the Phillies.
1B Keaton Anthony – Anthony was struggling this spring before he broke a bone in his foot. When he is back, he will be an important part of the lineup due to his high batting average. As for whether he can be a major league prospect, that will depend on his ability this year to turn line drive singles into doubles and home runs by elevating more balls in play. He also saw his contact rate and walk rates both drop last year, and he will need to show a rebound in those secondary skills if the power doesn’t come.
RHP Griff McGarry – McGarry spent the spring with the Nationals in their bullpen, but his control problems continued to hold him back. It remains to be seen how the Phillies will attempt to use him, but he has some of the best stuff in the organization if he can just throw strikes.
Offensive Expectations
Outside of Aidan Miller, the IronPigs lack star power. The other prospects on the team trend towards the AAAA veteran types that make up the rest of the lineup. Hitters like Carter Keiboom, Liover Peguero, Bryan De La Cruz, Oscar Mercado, and Pedro Leon should all be solid at the AAA level even if there are questions about their major league utility. There is not a lot of depth, and the early injuries to the prospects on the rosters have already squeezed that depth. If anyone in this group struggles or if there are more injuries, they could struggle to generate runs. All in all, it is probably an average-ish offense. On the opposite side, this likely will be a mediocre defensive team as they really lack a true center fielder, and the infield has good but not great gloves.
Pitching Expectations
Despite having very good starting pitching, the Phillies don’t have good starting pitching depth. The AAA rotation is all full of ok arms, but there is going to be a lot of contact off of these arms, and possibly not a lot of deep work. Jean Cabrera is the only prospect of real note here, and he projects as more of a back of the rotation type arm and is untested against AAA batters. They should keep the team in games, but probably will have some clunkers.
The bullpen however should be good. The Phillies built up a decent amount of pitching depth and the IronPigs have been the beneficiary of that. Jonathan Hernandez, Lou Trivino, Genesis Cabrera, and Trevor Richards all have a decent amount of major league time and success. Chase Shugart and Nolan Hoffman are good 40 man depth pieces on the verge of the majors. Then you have some upside in Walling, Johnson, McGarry, and however they deploy Ryan Cusick. There isn’t a super prospect here (at least not until they get reinforcements from Reading), but there are not many weak links either. They should be able to pick up the weaker starting pitching most nights.
Looking Ahead and Overall Thoughts
There isn’t really reinforcements coming for the IronPigs. At some point Alex McFarlane will probably force his way into the bullpen, but if he is as good as he has looked he won’t be there are long. There are likely to be some other live arms that get pushed up at some point, but not much on the hitting side to make real on field impact. We could see some of Aroon Escobar, Dante Nori, Dylan Campbell, and Carson DeMartini later in the season. On the flip side, outside of Aidan Miller there won’t be a lot of plundering of the IronPigs roster with Justin Crawford and Andrew Painter already starting with the Phillies.
The IronPigs are likely to be a middle of the road team. They don’t have much elite prospect power at the plate or on the mound, but they have a solid enough roster to be competitive. Once Miller and Rincones are back there will be a reason to watch this team, but until then it will be rough for those looking for future major league contributors.