Prospect Spotlight

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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The Future in the Outfield

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Originally this spot was going to be filled by a mailbag, but the overall lack of questions coupled with one intriguing question has taken this in a different direction.  Here is the question:

In itself it is a very simple question that I can give an answer that will likely prove to be false anyway.  What makes this question intriguing is that I have started the very early stages of the offseason ranking project.  Right now penciled into the Top 20 prospects are 10 outfield prospects, which was very surprising at first, but once you go over the names it makes a good amount of sense of why they are all there.  So with that, lets expand the question to what does the projected outfield look like going forward.  Since we don’t quite know what free agents will be available, I will touch on the top names that we know of, but I won’t pencil them into the projections, rather I assume you, the reader, will take weaknesses in this projection and dream whatever big name out there you like, that could fill that spot.

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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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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

Reliever Spotlight

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I am one of the first to admit that reliever prospects get pushed down prospect lists and they are often overlooked if they do not have closer potential.  This is for many good reasons related to potential major league value, but it does leave a gap in our coverage.  So to close that gap some here are three relievers who have the chance to be impactful in the majors:

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Fastball Velocity and Brandon Leibrandt

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Phillies 6th Round pick Brandon Leibrandt has been on a roll recently which has started the round of questions about how good he can be, which ultimately end up on fastball velocity.  Velocity is the most tangible and quantifiable aspect of a pitcher’s arsenal.  Movement, command, and deception are all in the eye of the beholder and once we start talking secondary pitches the amateur eye is really out of its league.  So we debate velocity and whether it is enough for a pitcher to survive in the major leagues (should the prospect in question survive the other levels in between them and their major league aspirations).

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When Should the Phillies Promote Maikel Franco?

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Philadelphia Phillies infield prospect Maikel Franco clubbed another home run Wednesday afternoon, adding to a red hot month of July, where the Dominican Republic native is hitting .344/.366/.604 for a .971 OPS. He’s hit three homers over his past ten games and four in July, almost half of his season total of nine homers on … Read more

Nefi Ogando and Power Arm Potential

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The Phillies 2014 trade deadline must be entirely different than their 2013 deadline for the sake of the rebuild. General Manager Ruben Amaro and company made minor moves last season and refused to shakeup the core. One player they did move was veteran infielder John McDonald, who was dealt for minor league pitcher Nefi Ogando … Read more