A Critical Look at the Phillies Organization and Minor League Baseball
Ranking season is here and we kick off with Baseball Prospectus and their Phillies Top 10 Prospects.
The List:
This week I sent out the first draft of the Top 50 to a group of people for initial review. The list itself will go through significant revisions between now and when it is released this spring. What has been narrowed down is the main player pool I am working with. There is a lot of names here to discuss, feel free to debate overall and within the positional groupings.
Catcher:
Andrew Knapp
Cameron Rupp
Deivi Grullon
Gabriel Lino
Jesus Posso
Lenin Rodriguez
Tommy Joseph
The most scrutinized part of any prospect ranking is the Top 10 and then the last 1-2 spots on the list. The latter is because we want to argue for someone who missed the list, but the former is what I am interested in. Everyone ranks at least a Top 10, and this makes the easiest to compare one list against another. In this case we are going to compare three lists, all by the same writer. I have been ranking Phillies prospects since after the 2012 season, so here is my 2012 and 2013 published Top 10s and the first draft of the 2014 Top 10 (which is subject to lots of change over the 4+ months until I release it).
| 2012 | 2013 | 2014 |
| Jesse Biddle | Maikel Franco | J.P. Crawford |
| Adam Morgan | Jesse Biddle | Aaron Nola |
| Roman Quinn | J.P. Crawford | Maikel Franco |
| Tommy Joseph | Carlos Tocci | Roman Quinn |
| Ethan Martin | Kelly Dugan | Jesse Biddle |
| Maikel Franco | Aaron Altherr | Kelly Dugan |
| Cody Asche | Roman Quinn | Deivi Grullon |
| Carlos Tocci | Deivi Grullon | Yoel Mecias |
| Jonathan Pettibone | Ethan Martin | Carlos Tocci |
| Shane Watson | Cord Sandberg | Matt Imhof |
Lets take a look at this spot by spot and see how it compares over the years:
Today Baseball America named Maikel Franco the #4 prospect in the International League. He comes in behind Gregory Polanco, Mookie Betts, and Francisco Lindor. For those that thought Franco would build on a breakout 2013 and rocket to the majors 2014 will be viewed as a disappointment. Instead AAA proved to be a steep learning … Read more
These days more and more sites and organizations are releasing their top prospect lists. It is hard some times to get through all of the data to find what you are looking for. But prospects are more than a list, and so it is important to find the strengths and weaknesses of each evaluators and … Read more
I have had a lot of people tell me that the farm system isn’t improving, that it has been static or declining. They complain about the influx of talent into the system and how the scouts just aren’t good enough. But baseball is not a sport that rewards instant gratification in development. For those that … Read more
J.P. Crawford has placed second on another Baseball America League Top 20, this time finishing #2 behind Pirates RHP Tyler Glasnow. Crawford was promoted to the Threshers in July and went on to hit .275/.352/.407 with 8 HRs, 10 SBs, and 28 walks to 37 strikeouts. It was a very impressive run for the 19 … Read more
When Ruben Amaro moved Roberto Hernandez in a waiver move to the Dodgers for two players to be named later, the expectations were not high on the potential return. However, those opinions have faded quickly as the return turned out to be 2B Jesmuel Valentin and RHP Victor Arano. Arano did not crack the MWL … Read more
Baseball America continues their League Top 20s with the South Atlantic League. The only member of the Blueclaws to make the list is shortstop and 2013 first round pick J.P. Crawford who came in at #2 on the list, just behind Nationals RHP Lucas Giolito. BA notes that Crawford is the rare shortstop that combines … Read more
The New York Penn League was very strong this year, especially among the international ranks (7 of the top 10). It is good to see Aaron Brown crack this list as he was one of the lower drafted players on the list (only the #20 prospect was taken after him in the 2014 draft). Brown … Read more