Baseball Prospectus Releases Top 10 Phillies Prospects

Ranking season is here and we kick off with Baseball Prospectus and their Phillies Top 10 Prospects.

The List:

1. J.P. Crawford
2. Aaron Nola
3. Maikel Franco
4. Yoel Mecias
5. Jesse Biddle
6. Deivi Grullon
7. Kelly Dugan
8. Carlos Tocci
9. Elniery Garcia
10. Dylan Cozens

Prospects on the Rise: Cord Sandberg, Aaron Brown, Matt Imhof
Factors on the Farm: Nefi Ogando, Cameron Perkins, Ethan Martin

Top 10 Talents 25 and Under:

1. J.P. Crawford
2. Aaron Nola
3. Maikel Franco
4. Ken Giles
5. Cody Asche
6. David Buchanan
7. Yoel Mecias
8. Jesse Biddle
9. Deivi Grullon
10. Kelly Dugan

If you want the full details you should go read the full article.  But here are my quick opinions on it.

• Let’s start by addressing the elephant in the room, there is no Roman Quinn on this list, nor is he mentioned anywhere.  I get the concerns over the hit tool and I get the lack of power.  I personally see a guy with near 80 speed, the chance at plus or better defense in center field, and a solid arm.  Add that to even 45 hit and 35 power and you have a very interesting player.  I like how comfortable Quinn has been since moving off shortstop and I like that he has taken the walk when it is given.  There are a lot of holes to Quinn’s game, but I think leaving him off the list in this system is a serious oversight.
• I really like the aggressiveness with Yoel Mecias, he is one of my favorite arms in the system
• Same thing with Garcia, he and Franklyn Kilome off a lot of potential at the low levels.  I wasn’t ready to push Garcia this high, but this has me taking a second look.  He has an outside chance at 3 plus pitches from the left side and feel beyond his years
• I get Cozens at #10, I don’t agree, but I do get it
• I don’t get Buchanan at #6 on the 25 and under list, if you told me I could trade Buchanan for Mecias or Biddle I would do it so quickly, he is a #5/#6 starter, it is a nice thing to have, but I am not valuing it that high
• I need to rant about Jesse Biddle for a second, this part in the write up is bugging me to no end: “Well, that’s even more muddied now, as some concerns over Biddle’s ability to manage the peaks and valleys of the game have crept in. The mental side of the game can always be interesting as both good and bad results tend to snowball. It’s not time to bury Biddle, but the stock here has definitely dropped and it’ll be a pivotal season.”  On the surface this makes sense given the ups and downs to Biddle’s year, but no where in the write up does it mention he was hit in the head with a piece of hail and had a concussion.  This is getting irresponsible at this point, you cannot knock the kid for mental struggles without acknowledging that he had a brain injury.