Affiliates

2014 GCL Phillies Recap

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Given the amount of time and effort that goes into covering the season while it occurs, we want to give it equal attention after it is all over.  This year we will be featuring wrap-ups such as this one, done by the writers here at Phillies Minor Thoughts, and then an interview with someone has gotten to see the team a lot in person.  We are very excited to start rolling these out, especially for the insights by those we talked to.

Team: GCL Phillies
Record: 36-23
Standing: Missed Playoffs, Second Place in Northwest Division

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Phillies All-Org Team

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We will be spending all offseason talking about prospects, so this is the moment to honor those that put up the best statistical years for the organization.  This list was put together with input from the staff here.

Catcher:
Andrew Knapp (.290/.354/.438 5 HR LKW)

It was a rough start for Knapp in his comeback from Tommy John surgery, but the former second round pick bounced back with a very good season in the South Atlantic League.

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What to Expect From Maikel Franco

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Maikel Franco has been on Phillies fans radar’s for almost 2 years now, ever since he mashed pitching in the Florida State League.  There was some clamoring for him to win the third base job out of spring training in 2014, but the Phillies sent him to Lehigh Valley for the season.  But now it appears they will be calling up the right-handed third baseman, so who is Maikel Franco, and what should Phillies fans expect from Franco going forward.

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Fall/Winter League Assignments

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We will be tracking the assignments of prospects to winter and fall assignments: All Winter/Fall League stats can be found here Winter League: Maikel Franco – Gigantes del Cibao (DWL) Carlos Tocci – Phillies Complex (Clearwater) Yoel Mecias – Phillies Complex (Clearwater) Jose Pujols – Phillies Complex (Clearwater) Aaron Altherr – Aguilas del Zulia (VWL) William Cuicas – Tigres … Read more

Roman Quinn Headlines Phillies Arizona Fall League Participants

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Here is your Phillies Arizona Fall League participants, outside of Quinn there are a lot of relievers trying to get protected from Rule 5 draft.

Roman Quinn – CF – Clearwater – .252/.330/.361 6 HR 30 SBs

Roman Quinn has returned from an Achilles injury better than anyone could have predicted, with his speed still intact.  In deference to J.P. Crawford, Quinn has moved to center field and the fall should give him plenty of reps in the outfield.  Quinn should be an outstanding defender in centerfield with his elite speed and plus arm.  The bat is now the main focus as Quinn will need to become comfortable from both sides of the plate and begin to show more ability to drive the ball.

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Phillies Diversify Minor League Talent Acquisition

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After half a decade of trading away prospects the Phillies system bottomed out in the winter of 2012-2013.  The system lacked impact and it lacked depth.  This lead to a large fallow period for the Phillies farm system, one that sat over Clearwater and bled up into the high minors.  The Phillies responded to this crisis of depth with high school heavy drafts in 2012 and 2013, and those prospects have been slow to move through the system.  The Phillies have started to do something they haven’t done in a long time to help their draft classes, they have started to diversify their talent acquisition.

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A Clearwater Revival

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Many times early in the season I was told by various people that the Clearwater Threshers were the worst team in affiliated baseball and that they had never seen a team with so little talent.  During the first half of the season the Thresher’s 17-51 record bore out that statement.  The team itself had one player (Dan Child) off of Baseball America’s Top 30 prospects and no players off of my list.  The team in the first half saw rehab and roster cameos by Top 30 prospects Andrew Knapp, Malquin Canelo, and Deivi Grullon, but the first real impactful talent to arrive was Roman Quinn (.252/.330/.361).  After that in the second half, top prospect J.P. Crawford (.278/.354/.430) arrived, and then there was a quick stop by 2014 top pick Aaron Nola.  The Threshers are currently 28-36 over the second half and it is not just the top prospects that have made the difference.  A group of players of of prospect watcher’s radars have had good second halfs taking the Threshers from historically bad to just mediocre.

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Roman Quinn’s Comeback From Surgery

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The Clearwater Threshers (45-86) are the worst minor league team record wise in the Phillies system and one of the worst in baseball. Their biggest prospect on the roster is slick fielding shortstop J.P. Crawford who the Phillies selected in the first round  of the 2013 MLB draft. Another name that should be on Phillies’ … Read more

GCL Phillies Unknown Starting Rotation

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The GCL Phillies spent much of the early season being the rehab point for many rehabbing and drafted pitchers as Yoel Mecias, Nic Hanson, Brandon Leibrandt, Matt Imhof, Jesse Biddle, and Drew Anderson all made starts this year.  But since the GCL Phillies have begun to settle into a 6-7 man rotation (double headers and … Read more