A Critical Look at the Phillies Organization and Minor League Baseball
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.
Over the years the Phillies amatuer talent acquisition staff has gotten a lot of crap from fans. I personally think a lot of it is unfounded and comes from a set of unreasonable expectations for the developmental process. The scouting staff has no control over the developmental process, especially after a player is traded to another organization. The staff deserves huge amounts of credit for finding the player in the first place, and with a huge 2014 it is only fair to give them their due.
This is not an indictment of trades that have been made, merely the originally signed players
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.
The Phillies entered the season with one of the thinnest systems in terms of starting pitching in major leagues. Through the draft, international development, and trades the Phillies have turned this weakness into a strength. The result has been starting rotations in the low minors that ended the year in 6 and 7 man rotations … Read more
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
A couple of weeks ago the Phillies acquired the first of two PTBNL in a trade that sent Roberto Hernandez to the Dodgers, in second baseman Jesmuel Valentin. Today they completed the trade by acquiring 19 year old RHP Victor Arano. Arano is already physically mature for a 19 year old (6’2″ 200lbs) so it … Read more
This morning at The Good Phight Dan Cormican wrote about some players who could get the call to the big leagues this September, so I am not going to rehash a list of minor leaguers and their chances. Instead lets build on that and talk about the Phillies 40 man roster and what kind of space exists on the roster, what space can be opened up, and then from there everyone can make their guesses and assumptions about who can get called up.
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.
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.
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.