A Critical Look at the Phillies Organization and Minor League Baseball
Matt Winkelman 
On a rainy day in baseball and with everyone at All-Star Games only Lakewood played among the Phillies stateside affiliates. It was a busy day for the Blueclaws as well as their roster reshuffled both days. Here are some highlights from the field and the transaction sheet. Imhof Promoted: The Phillies promoted 2nd round pick … Read more
It was no surprise that J.P. Crawford was named to the US roster for the Futures Game this past Sunday. Crawford has become the Phillies consensus top prospect after his continued success in 2014 following being the #16 overall pick of the 2013 draft. Crawford stormed through the South Atlantic League and is now settling … Read more
Yoel Mecias was one of my breakout prospects a year ago before he injured his elbow and required Tommy John surgery. At his best Mecias’s fastball was 88-92 touching 94 in short outings. However, his body suggests he could have plus velocity as he matures. His real weapon is his changeup which shows plus potential … Read more
We are in the season of midseason ranking season. I have already released my Midseason Top 20 and Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus have released their Midseason Top 50s. But now we have another round of Top Prospect Lists. Minor League Ball Top 75 No 2014 draftees included. 28. J.P. Crawford I love the reports on his … Read more
The Phillies had two representatives at the Futures Game this year Maikel Franco and J.P. Crawford. There were a lot of other prospects there, and I will get to them in a later piece. I was able to make the 4.5 hour trek from Madison to Minneapolis to take in the game, which was well … Read more
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
Minor League All-Star games tend to not be reflective of the best talent in a league and this years EL All-Star Game is no exception. The Fightin Phils are sending three players to the game in IFs Carlos Alonso and Albert Cartwright, as well as LH starting pitcher Hoby Milner. None of these players are … Read more
Going into the 2012 offseason the farm system was decimated, the Phillies had just completed the Hunter Pence trade leaving Trevor May as the top prospect in the system. Over the previous 4 seasons the Phillies had traded away large portions of their top prospect lists, while giving up first round picks to sign free … Read more
Both Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus released their Top 50 Midseason Prospect Rankings. The BA list can be found here and the BP list can be found here. Both lists did not include recently drafted players, although the BP list had a quick preview (where it had Aaron Nola as a guy in the Top 101 … Read more
Each year fan bases get excited about the prospects they will get back in deals, they pour over top prospect lists dreaming about the potential returns. The truth is much more stark, there haven’t been franchise players moved, and when they have they have been far away from the majors. It is extremely rare that … Read more