Phillies Minor League Monthly Retrospective – June 2026

Stock Changes

*Rankings are from June Ranking

Stock Up

Juan Parra (#18) – In general the industry has a good grasp on fast rising international prospects as the signing period approaches, but it is still good to see a player meet the hype. Unlike Renteria, Parra stands out less for raw tools and more for polish. He takes a professional at bat, will lay down a bunt for a hit when the situation is available, and is solid up the middle on defense. He has more raw power than some of the recent Phillies shortstop signings, but he doesn’t consistently drive the baseball. He is trending as a solid all around shortstop prospect, which is a pretty good player if it comes together.

Francisco Renteria (#3) – Renteria received the largest signing bonus to an international player the Phillies have given out in a long time and it came with the amount of hype befitting that type of outlay. There are nits to pick, he has a good approach but can get beat with spin and can take some wild swings. This has resulted in more ground balls than you would like given he has shown plus raw power when he actually drives the ball in the air. His home park is hurting his power some, but just elevating the ball more would help more in the long run. His defense in center field has been mostly fine, and while he is a plus to plus plus runner his future defensive home depends on how his body will fill out as he matures. Renteria also is a high energy player, hustling on the base paths, and an aggressive base stealer. He has star level upside, and he is going to be critiqued against that ceiling as he ascends on a long journey through the minors.

Marty Gair (#30) – Gair immediately went down with an arm injury after being drafted in 2023. In his return in 2025 he flashed good stuff, but failed to throw strikes. It was much the same in April and May with spikes of success and struggles. In June he was unhittable, outside of a single home run. Gair comes over the top with a fastball that averages 99 mph, topping out at 102 mph, with huge ride and cut. He is throwing it for strikes at a much higher rate and opposing batters are only making contact on 44% of their swings on it in the zone. He is searching for a good secondary offering, but his fastball may be good enough as a high volume primary option on its own. If he can continue to throw strikes he could pitch in late innings.

Juan Villavicencio (#22) – Villavicencio has been a bit of a forgotten man because of injuries and ineffectiveness. His breakout started back in April, but June saw him combine the power output with patience at the plate. He is a bit on the older side for the level, but that has come with above average for the league exit velocities and approach stats, and 92nd percentile zone contact. His contact profile is not maximized and he is susceptible to high velocity, but he has managed secondary pitches very well. He has also shown to not have platoon splits, which is good for a left handed hitting infielder. He can stick on the left side of the diamond as well, and could play second if needed in a utility role. He is showing he might have starting shortstop upside.

Stock Down

Sean Youngerman (UR) – When the Phillies drafted Youngerman, he was viewed as a good upside bet. He was a reliever in college with good size and fastball command to go with a fastball that had good ride, even if it wasn’t great plane. He is still throwing his fastball in the zone a good bit and it has 18.6″ of IVB with just a 5.0 VAA. Since he is throwing it at about 93 mph, it is not dominating opposing batters. The bigger problem is actually the other pitches he is throwing. He has a cutter, a more standard gyro that plays like a curve off the fastball, and a changeup. The shape on all of the pitches are all not particularly great, but it is a bigger he problem he cannot throw any for strikes and opposing hitters are just not swinging at them. He has a sub 30% zone rate on all three and a sub 43% swing rate on the two breaking balls. If Youngerman just can’t spin an average breaking ball for a strike he just is not a major league prospect, and so that is the biggest place for development for him and the Phillies.

Alex McFarlane (#11) – It isn’t that McFarlane has gotten worse, he is throwing both his fastballs at 97-100 and is throwing both a slider and sweeper. It is more that McFarlane hasn’t taken a step forward or started to dominate the level. He gave up a pair of home runs, walked more, and struck out fewer batters. Given he is already on the 40 man roster the clock is ticking, and the Phillies should be positioning him to be of use to the major league roster. This month he has pitched multiple innings in his last two games as the Phillies have struggled in the middle innings.

Mixed

Aroon Escobar (#5) – After two months of swinging wildly, Escobar found patience in June with 21 walks to 11 strikeouts after 6 and 26 respectively in May. His increased on base helped his overall numbers, but he is still not driving the ball for power. He also struck out 7 times in the first week of July so everything is only as sticky as the sample size you look at. It has been an overall struggle of a season for Escobar, but for one month we saw some of what had made him a top prospect.

Griffin Burkholder (#9) – It was going to be hard for Burkholder to repeat his May, and some of the non-home run hard contact collapsed, despite improving walk and strikeout rates. He is still very bad against secondary pitches and high velocity, and his zone contact is below average for A-ball. His power numbers are plus for the level and his approach numbers are good, including low chase rates given the contact problems. There is a chance that the contact issues just completely hold him back, but he has continued to stay healthy and making slight month over month improvements.

Monthly Stat Leaders

Hitting

Pitching

Mailbag

@akhil-is-mad.bsky.social: The last two years, the system has really struggled to produce many risers at all. At some point, do they re-think whatever their dev/scouting strategy is or should they stay the course since fixing the org from the mess before takes time.

You have to always be re-thinking and reevaluating, and I think they are not ignorant enough to think it is going well. Now a lot of the people in place were hired by the current FO and I don’t think they are going to change them all over. They do need to continue to look at where they have failed, in particular in hitting and think about the tools they are prioritizing and the skills they are not. I think they are fine with risk, and given their place in the draft and money available to buy talent, they should take risks. They don’t always take the correct risks and they don’t always gain the benefits of their risk taking paying full price at times.

@ejablbert.bsky.social: Any thoughts on the (very limited) data from Andrew Painter’s AAA work, particularly how it relates to the things he struggled with in the majors?

This needs to be its own piece because the data is confusing. He has thrown a bunch of 4-seam fastballs and he has thrown them in the strike zone. Predictably, AAA hitters are having a harder time with them than MLB hitters were (MLB Z-con of 90% and AAA Z-con of 82%). He is throwing slightly harder and after his first appearance I thought from an adjusted arm angle, but that change reverted in his second start. There may be some slight things going on with secondary pitches, but there is too much noise to draw any large conclusions. The only definitive thing is they are clearly doing things and that part of this is just throwing a ton of fastballs in the strike zone.

@papergreat.bsky.social: I do NOT want them to do this, but I feel the question will surface in the next 30 days: Is there a scenario in which it would be make sense for the Phillies to trade Francisco Renteria?

There is always a yes, but it feels like it would need to be a special acquisition and I just don’t know who that player is. Like if the Nationals made James Wood available you would have to put him on the table in a deal. But, sort of getting to the question behind the question, you are probably selling low to trade him now which means even if it is “fair” value to trade him you probably don’t want to unless it really is a young core piece coming back. I would make him unavailable at the deadline, and would probably do the same with Parra at his value point.

@melkasinkas.bsky.social: What prospects do you think the Phillies will try to move at deadline and what realistically would that get them at deadline. Are there any you think they’ll move that you hope they don’t?

I will have a larger piece on this after the draft. If the Phillies want to make a significant move at the deadline they will need to likely include Wood or Renteria, and I just don’t know if they will do that. That leaves Ramon Marquez as the largest piece, and I don’t know if he is going to get them anything worth spending that cost. Now if you are talking making trades like the Bader, Lorenzen, etc trades then I start with logjams around the 40 man roster as players they will make more available. For example do they want to have Alex McFarlane and Wen-Hui Pan on the 40? Same on the infield side, do they want to carry Aidan Miller, Aroon Escobar, Bryan Rincon, and Juan Villavicencio if none are assured to be in the majors? It is sort of like Hendry Mendez last year. They have made Alirio Ferrebus available in the past and if Dante Nori was healthy I would say he is available. Then you are into swapping fringe guys and getting fringe guys back, like does anyone want Keaton Anthony. I think you are looking at a bullpen arm and a bench bat. Maybe there is a #5 SP, but I almost think that it is going to cost way too much to get a real upgrade on Rangel and Painter.

@jaypb08.bsky.social: How “real” is the rise of Ramon Marquez this year? What do you think is the biggest reason for his jump as an “older” signing?

Very real. It starts with his changeup, which has performed as one of the best pitches in the minor leagues. The difference this year are his other pitches. In a mirror of Cristopher Sanchez’s growth he is throwing his fastball harder this year and he has tightened his slider into a harder cutter. He can throw the breaking ball to righties and changeup to lefties as primary options. Unlike Sanchez, Marquez’s fastball is a poor shape pitch with neither 4-seam or sinker movement unlike the steepness of Sanchez’s sinker. The worry is that his fastball quality will hold him back, or that his command is not good enough to have his changeup work. Changeups are hard to judge because they are dependent on the rest of his arsenal.

@thattizzank.bsky.social: Rangel: legit or no? Same question for Rincones, who seems to be adapting to ML pitching A BIT better of late.

Rangel is a swing #6 start/long reliever. His delivery is strange enough to fool batters when combined with arsenal that works high. I likened him to Bailey Falter recently, and I think that sort of success when not over exposed is something you can work with. You don’t want him to pitch a lot of major league innings for you, but you are glad to have him in a pinch.

I don’t know what happened to Rincones’ approach when he reached the majors. He lost his patience and was almost jumpy at the plate. He has issues with velocity and issues with spin, and that is going to cause a lot of swing and miss. He is going to strike out at a high rate, you hope he draws some walks and punishes mistakes. You don’t want him hitting the middle of your lineup, but that profiles is a real major leaguer.

@philjax.bsky.social: We seem to have zero depth at catcher. Does that make Ferrebus untouchable at the deadline for you?

If Ferrebus was a no doubt catcher than maybe there is more of a discussion on this, but I don’t know if anyone thinks that. He has a chance, but it is going to take a while for the defense to pace with the bat, which means he isn’t helping anytime soon. If a deal out there requires Ferrebus, I don’t think they will look to make him untouchable.