A Critical Look at the Phillies Organization and Minor League Baseball
The Phillies system is not where it was at the height of the rebuild. It lacks depth, especially depth in the 11-20 range and it is probably short another top 100 prospect. That said, Alec Bohm and Spencer Howard are one of the best 1-2 punches of major league ready impact talent the organization has … Read more
During the Phillies rebuild years the system was full of high minors starting pitchers a break or two away from being a major league contributor. So far the Phillies have been pretty poor at getting those guys across the finish line, with only Zach Eflin, Nick Pivetta, and Vince Velasquez hanging around as reclamation projects … Read more
If the last set of prospects represented the highs of the Phillies system, this group represents a but why it is thought so lowly of. The Phillies have a number of interesting catching prospects, with 4 of them here, and while they all might be major league contributors, and some regulars, but relying on the … Read more
The Phillies have not been particularly good at development over most of my lifetime. During the Amaro and Gillick years it was rare that early draft picks, let alone late picks turned into interesting prospects. The Phillies haven’t become a draft or development powerhouse overnight, they probably are still below average to average in development. … Read more
I realize that I have not written much this year, at least not here. I could write a bunch about how the Phillies system has some very interesting lottery tickets in the lower minors, or how the top has really disappointed this year. However, I think it is much more interesting to just talk about … Read more
The Phillies system has taken some hits over the last few years, and they have no quite rebuilt their depth and they have used some in trades and not replenished with trades of their own. The top of the system is headlined with two very good prospects, but there are a lot of middling prospects … Read more
I just wrote 20,000 words about 50 prospects, I put a number in front of each of them. It was a prospect list, and it was my prospect list, and that is an important point here. As an evaluator of baseball players, I am highly biased. I am working with a limited information set, and … Read more
Last season, the Phillies transitioned from rebuild to attempting to contend. They emptied much of the top of their farm system to the majors with J.P. Crawford, Scott Kingery, Jorge Alfaro, Seranthony Dominguez, Roman Quinn, and Victor Arano all graduating to join the Phillies’ young group of players already in the majors. This left a … Read more
Much of writing about prospects is about hope and optimism for the future. However, it can also be about failure and what that means and what the paths out of it are. It is no secret that the Phillies system is down compared to where it was a few years ago. Some of that has … Read more
We want baseball development to be clean and linear, but it is messy and all over the place. A pitcher may only be a good secondary pitch away from becoming a major league starter, but that may be a totally different grip that a coach might introduce. A teenager could still be waiting on achieving … Read more