A Critical Look at the Phillies Organization and Minor League Baseball
Matt Winkelman 
MLB has announced that Clearwater shortstop, and Phillies 2013 1st Round Pick J.P. Crawford and Lehigh Valley 1B/3B Maikel Franco will be representing the Phillies at the Futures Game. Crawford will be joining Dodgers shortstop prospect Corey Seager as the shortstops on the American team. Crawford hit .295/.398/.405 in 60 games for the Lakewood Blueclaws … Read more
Most of the draft picks are signed so it is time to revisit the preseason rankings. It is still a small sample size, and an even smaller one for those newly drafted, so this list may be a bit conservative on any large scale changes. In general the system is heading in the right direction, … Read more
July 2 is coming up quickly, and frankly I can’t tell you who the Phillies are going to sign. I do know they have been linked to 3 players: a bat first catcher, a glove first shortstop, and a hit first SS, who is probably a center fielder. The bonuses should all be under $1 … Read more
Coming into 2013 Yoel Mecias was on the fringes of Phillies prospect discussions. There were reports of a skinny Venezuelan lefty with a fastball up to 94 and a nice looking changeup, and this for a kid coming off a year where he put up a line of 2.16 ERA 2.4 BB/9 7.3 K/9 over … Read more
The big news coming out this weekend is that Phillies first round pick (#7 overall), Aaron Nola will make his pro debut with the Clearwater Threshers today. On the mound Nola will bring a fastball that sits 91-94 but touches 96 when he needs it. He has shown the ability to command the fastball around … Read more
I went to college at a Division 3 school that cared more about academics than athletics, during my time there our best athlete was a quarterback who went undrafted. I tell you this to make you understand just how foreign the concept of college sports is to me. But this past week I found myself … Read more
Today at 12:00pm Eastern, the GCL season begins. It marks the start of summer and of hope eternal. So with not much time to spare, lets jump into the roster. Pitchers: Francibel Alejo, Lewis Alezones, Austin Davis, Jacques Degruy, Seranthony Dominguez, Jared Fisher, Scott Harris, Matt Hockenberry, Matt Imhof, Denton Keys, Franklin Kilmone, Brandon Leibrandt, … Read more
Rupp is the classic example of a player fitting a role. With Wil Nieves ailing, Rupp will join the Phillies in this role. Rupp will fill in as the primary back up to Carlos Ruiz. At the plate Rupp has plus raw power, but it plays below average due to an arm bar swing that … Read more
It is really easy to gloss over Leandro Castro in a box score. He hasn’t made prospect lists in a while after peaking at #24 after the 2011 season. His stats won’t jump off a page with a career line of .271/.312/.415 and coming off of a season where he hit .256/.280/.368 as a 24 … Read more
On any other team Malquin Canelo starts for their Low-A affiliate in 2014. However, most organizations don’t have J.P. Crawford, and so Canelo stayed in Florida this spring. He made a brief cameo in the Florida State League, where he didn’t completely embarrass himself. Canelo isn’t going to replace Crawford for the Blueclaws. However, his … Read more