Buried in everything going on Jonathan Mayo released his supplement to the Phillies Top 20 on mlb.com. I was excited because it is the first time a certain 6’6″ Dominican RHP has appeared on a national list of any sort, so without hinting around, here is his list.
- Franklyn Kilome – RHP
Mayo mentions a lot of stuff we already know about Kilome, mainly that he is 6’6″ and has a frame that you can dream on adding a lot more muscle. Additionally, Kilome is fastball heavy right now, the fastball is solid, in the low 90s and he pairs it with a sinker with a touch less velocity. The secondary pitches need a lot of work, but as Chris King mentioned earlier in the year, Kilome knows how to pitch and has shown he get set up the secondary stuff with the fastball, he just doesn’t have the secondary stuff yet. Overall Kilome is an arm to really dream on.
- Austin Wright – LHP
Wright is a guy I have never been high on, but Mayo likes relievers a bit more than I do. But as he points out Wright has pedigree, he has size, and he has shown good stuff. With the fastball-curveball combo Wright could be a very solid reliever, and as we have seen recently, once a reliever gets it, they arrive in the majors very quickly.
- Drew Anderson – RHP
Anderson is a guy that a lot of people have been cautiously optimistic on. The fastball is up to 94, the breaking ball has progressed nicely, and the changeup is useable. Mayo points the injuries this year, which are a big concern, but Anderson still has a #4 starter ceiling if he can get healthy. If you flipped the breaking ball and changeup you would have a guy with a similar profile to Jonathan Pettibone at the same level.
- Jose Pujols – OF
Pujols has a stereotypical RF profile, and Mayo acknowledges the power, and the rawness in the profile. There is a lot to like about Pujols, I am really bullish on him based on recent reports, but Mayo fits him more into the risky bucket, which is entirely fair, there is a ton of risk in the profile and the stats so far really bear that out.
- Shane Watson – RHP
Watson hasn’t thrown a pitch in organized ball in over a year, which is a pity because it is an arsenal that should have him in the Phillies top 10 prospects. Towards the end of last year he was showing a mid-90s fastball, a solid curveball, and a changeup he was starting to get feel for. Joe Jordan has been pessimistic about Watson’s recovery from shoulder surgery. It is going to be tough to judge Watson this offseason, but if he can ever get healthy, it is a really nice arsenal that could allow him to reestablish his prospect value in a hurry.
If after all this you were too lazy to look at the rest of the Top 20, here it is:
- J.P. Crawford
- Aaron Nola
- Maikel Franco
- Jesse Biddle
- Roman Quinn
- Aaron Altherr
- Severino Gonzalez
- Deivi Grullon
- Cord Sandberg
- Matt Imhof
- Andrew Knapp
- Victor Arano
- Carlos Tocci
- Dylan Cozens
- Cameron Perkins
- Chris Oliver
- Jesmuel Valentin
- Kelly Dugan
- Zach Green
- Aaron Brown
Photo by Tom Hagerty
You can probably move Watson all the way off that list now. Even if he could come back healthy next season, he’ll have 50 games to sit and think about what he did.