Phillies Minor League Monthly Retrospective – 2026 Season

Minor League Awards

All of these awards are made up. Unless otherwise stated they are not about prospect ranking and evaluation, but are about how a player actually performed. I also posed this question online and have included your winner as well.

Hitter of the Year – Bryan Rincon

Rincon isn’t the Phillies best hitting prospect, but even in an inflated run environment hitting .267/.410/.517 with 26 home runs as a legitimate shortstop is pretty good. He had a slow start to the year, but was a consistent impact player month over month for the rest of the season. He has his flaws and combination of red and yellow flags about how much of this success will be sustainable going forward, but he went from there being a lot of questions about his health and ability to stick in pro ball to being a legitimate top 5 prospect in the organization. Getting healthy was important, but he also took the important step of moving from a passive approach to one that was more patient with targeted aggression, and that paid off across his stat line.

Honorable Mentions: Francisco Renteria, Juan Parra, Alirio Ferrebus, Juan Villavicencio, Alex Binelas

On a per plate appearance basis, Renteria was the best hitter in the system and has a claim on best hitting prospect in the org. Parra’s year wasn’t shabby as well. Ferrebus got off to a hot start and then cooled off before an injury ended his season early, meanwhile Villavicencio had his own breakout stymied by a promotion to Jersey Shore. Among the org players into the org, Alex Binelas’s .266/.379/.502 line stands out, and he was a big part of Reading’s regular season success.

People’s Choice: Bryan Rincon – Other Votes: Francisco Renteria

Starting Pitcher of the Year – Gage Wood

It wasn’t a great year for starting pitching in the org, and Wood’s 4.36 ERA might give you pause. On the flip side, he managed to get to 95 regular season innings, and his 30 walks to 139 strikeouts puts him among the minor league leaders in K% and BB%. Outside of the ERA, Wood’s 16 home runs and 1.5 HR/9 on the year stand out. If you break apart his year, he allows 10 in 38.1 innings pitched at home for Reading and 6 in 56.2 innings in all other parks that is a HR/9 of 2.34 at Reading and a 1.0 in other parks. His HR/FB rate of 25.4% was also among minor league leaders. Wood still has work to do, in particular in sharpening his breaking balls and throwing his splitter more. He doesn’t look like a future ace, but he has mid rotation upside.

Honorable Mentions: Adam Seminaris, Chuck King, Brad Pacheco, Cody Bowker, Ramon Marquez, Samuel Ortiz

Seminaris and King were innings eaters with solid years for Reading and Lehigh Valley. Pacheco quietly emerged as one of the better pitching prospects in the org. More on Bowker later, but he had a similar year to Wood, but without the stuff. Ortiz had a 2.68 ERA as the best pitcher on a good DSL Phillies team. Ramon Marquez (12 G 1.68 ERA 59 IP 2.9 BB/9 14.2 K/9) had the best pitching season in the org, but actually did not pitch that much due to a late start and his trade to the Giants. He would have been in competition with Wood as the best pitching prospect in the org if he had not been traded and also had not ended the year injured.

People’s Choice: Ramon Marquez – Other Votes: Gage Wood, Cody Bowker

Relief Pitcher of the Year – Alex McFarlane

This is pretty obvious. McFarlane put up a 1.83 ERA in the minors and 2.84 in the majors, and was used in high leverage in the postseason. He saw his velocity increase until he was averaging 99 mph in the majors. He uses a 4 pitch mix of pitches that all rate on the high end of stuff models. He has room for growth with his sweeper and his command overall, but otherwise a combination of a bat missing 4-seamer, contact controlling sinker, and power slider makes him a late inning option.

Honorable Mentions: Mavis Graves, Marty Gair, Jorge Mitre, Estibenzon Jimenez

Graves moved to the bullpen after his promotion to Reading and posted a 0.81 ERA in the role with 35 strikeouts in 22.1 innings. His walk rate was still high, but improved over the course of his time in the role. He will need to find some more velocity in the role to have high leverage upside. Mitre and Jimenez were solid relievers at their levels for good teams. Gair had huge stuff and strikeout numbers before being traded.

People’s Choice: Alex McFarlane – Other Votes: Estibenzon Jimenez, Mavis Graves

Rookie Hitter (First Full Season) of the Year: Francisco Renteria

Signed to one of the largest international bonuses in Phillies history, Renteria entered the year with huge expectations and he lived up to them. In 53 regular season games he hit .379/.470/.682 with 11 home runs and 24 stolen bases. He was the MVP of the DSL season and the best statistical hitter in the league. There are some flaws to his game; he will chase at times, make some poor contact quality, and may not stick in center field. However, he has huge upside and is one of the most exciting prospects the Phillies have had in a long time.

Honorable Mentions: Juan Parra, Edwin Ramirez, Nathan Humphreys, Matthew Ferrara

If it weren’t for Renteria’s season we would have talked more about what Parra did in his pro debut (.295/.410/.517). Edwin Ramirez came out of mostly nowhere to hit .413/.486/.540 in the middle of the DSL lineup. Though given his position and frame, more power would have been expected. Humphrey’s numbers suffered after a promotion to Jersey Shore, but he emerged as a real prospect. The overall numbers for Ferrara weren’t that great, but as a teenager in full season ball he need up with a solid year in the end.

People’s Choice: Francisco Renteria

Rookie Pitcher (First Full Season) of the Year: Cody Bowker

You could make the case this should just be Wood again, but that is boring. Bowker matched him pretty closely for the year, including also making his way all the way up to AA. He gets his fastball real flat like Wood does, but does it in the low 90s from an even lower release point and with more run. That makes him closer to a trick pitcher than a future impact starter, and he will need to add a bit more and improve his secondary pitches more to stay in a rotation. You just can’t teach a pitcher to have Bowker’s trick though.

Honorable Mentions: Gage Wood, Samuel Ortiz, Keegan Batka, Richie Cortese, Yilmar Samudio

Wood and Ortiz were touched on earlier, both had great debuts. Batka, the an undrafted free agent, posted a 3.14 ERA making it all the way to Reading and then the AFL. He has a mid 90s fastball with solid movement profile and a slider that probably needs to be split into a sweeper and cutter. Cortese missed time to injury and walked a ton of batters, but had a 2.08 ERA while striking out 37 in 21.2 innings thanks to a primary fastball that is a mid 90s cutter and a high 80s slider with monster spin rates. Samudio had some rough patches, but the lanky Panamanian RHP was up to 98 as a 17 year old with the DSL Phillies.

People’s Choice: Gage Wood – Other Votes: Cody Bowker

Monthly Stat Leaders

Stat Minimums:

• Hitters: 300 PA (full season), 200 PA (FCL), 150 PA (DSL)
• Starters: 80 IP (full season), 35 IP (FCL/DSL)
• Relievers: 40 IP (full season), 20 IP (FCL/DSL)

Hitting

Pitching

Mailbag

Michael K: what’s the plan to rebuild/ tweak the bullpen going into next season? Duran won’t get optioned. Bowlan and Kilian are controllable but out of options. McFarlane looks like their best behind Duran and Kerkering is optionable but maybe a sell low? That’s still 4-5 of an 8 man bullpen, not including any left handers or long man. Do you just run it back and hope for improvement and a manager who won’t burn them out?

Orion Kerkering feels like he gets traded, but the right handed corps as you indicated is in a decent place, if healthy. I see upside still with Jonathan Bowlan, and between him and Alex McFarlane you probably have a 7th inning guy. Caleb Kilian has upside as well, and he was decent for the Giants prior to the trade. You also have Chase Shugart who is a serviceable multi inning guy that should at least make it to a camp competition. The left handed side screams for a late inning guy, but I am not sure who that is, and whether it is a trade or signing. I might bring Tim Mayza back on a 1 year deal, but wouldn’t be heartbroken if he walked. I think Tanner Banks is a fine 7th or 8th multi inning reliever opposite Shugart but maybe they non-tender and move on, and Kyle Backhus is a fine AAA depth guy. There isn’t much coming from the system other than Mavis Graves as left handed depth.

So really you are looking at needing a top left handed arm, probably another lefty, and then you need depth with upside. That isn’t an easy task, but it feels doable.

Future Projections of Bowker, Obermueller, and Riojas? Anything to get excited about there? I will say following your updates throughout the year, I’ve become more excited on Gage Wood as a potential starter (not that I didn’t feel he was ever a bad pitcher). Thanks!

Wrote about Bowker above, and barring a velocity and stuff jump he is more of a back end guy. I don’t really know what happened to Obermueller over than he didn’t generate chases. He needs consistent and improved velocity, and he needs a harder breaking ball that he can throw in the zone to get chases off of. The pitcher he was in the first half has back of the rotation upside, the one he was in the second wasn’t even a reliever. Riojas has some interesting things going on, but he lacks that one skill you can build real upside around, and that includes being older and lacking projection. I would love to say there is excitement here, but there isn’t really anything in that group.

Do you think Aiden is “fixed” and will make the Phillies next spring?

I am still very worried about the back. It looks like they might have found a solution for now, but until someone with a medical degree looks at it and tells me it is fine, I am going to be worried. I might consider having a path for him to make the Phillies next year, but I suspect the Phillies will construct an offseason where he would be playing in AAA. Given that it has been clarified that he won’t need to go on the 40 this offseason, he could get that AAA time while there is a lockout and if that happens he could actually have some games under his belt before the “offseason” restarts if a lockout drags long.

HomerJFong: Do you think that Mavis Graves/Wen-Hui Pan will pitch meaningful 2027 innings in the Phillies bullpen? Or is there another prospect that will move quicker? Given the state of the current bullpen, it would be great if the team can establish a pipeline from the minor leagues. (This question also presumes baseball will be played at SOME point in 2027.)

Got to this in the other question, but I think the injuries and overuse made the pen worse than the arms in it. I could see Graves showing up in the middle of the season and giving them some good work in the 6th/7th inning space. I am lower on Pan than I think popular opinion. It isn’t a great fastball for a reliever and his splitter command has been shaky. He could really use a better slider for same side hitting. I think he is more of a middle relief guy.

Other than them there isn’t much unless Andrew Walling returns healthy and better in the AFL. He is a big lefty who can get to the mid 90s with cut, but primarily pitches off his cutter using it to set up the fastball and his sweeper. Maybe Wood comes up in bullpen role if he is ready and there isn’t rotation space. 

Rincon’s emergence this year was a pleasant surprise. If Miller is healthy, do you see both of them factoring into the Phillies infield plans next year, assuming Bohm walks? Your comparison of Rincon to a Wetherholt-type of line (this year) combined with the defense would be a huge upgrade. A Sato move seems too far-fetched, based on history.

Factoring into the opening day plans, no, with asterisk above that if the lockout drags and the AAA season is already underway with Miller performing for Lehigh Valley. I do think they could factor into the depth over the season, but I don’t think you can count on Miller to be ready and healthy, and you would really like to see Rincon put up some sustained success away from the AA ball and Reading as a home park before you count on him. I don’t really know how you stopgap in a way that allows you to promote them when ready and insulate yourself from their struggles. That might lead to them just building the team and making them force the issue, possibly at Bryson Stott’s expense.

Matt Rouscher: What’s the outlook on the 2027 ML team as well as the AAA squad, when the Phillies now have a group of guys surrounding AAA & AA that look like they have varying degrees of usefulness in the majors? (Thomas, Rincones, Reyes, Nori, Demartini, Rincon, Miller, Escobar, Graves, Jimenez, Wood, Chace, King, Heredia, Bowker, Pan, & McGowan) To me seems like the Phillies have walked into some depth for this upcoming season not including guys like Crawford, painter and McFarland as well who are young and just starting out.

It isn’t great. There are names there, but a good portion of them are fringe major leaguers as their upside. There is a world where Rincones bounces back and you do have that Reading group go to AAA and be major league depth, but there is a lot of risk in that group even if you just focus on the better players like Wood, Miller, DeMartini, Rincon, Nori, and Escobar. The farm overall is in a pretty bleak place, and that is before the fact that they probably will want to make some trades.

@yomama26.bsky.social How does Renteria compare to Cris Rodriguez? They seem to be on a similar path, though Rodriguez is a year ahead. Similar level prospect?

I would say that Renteria is looked at much more favorably. Rodriguez might have more raw power, but Renteria is no slouch. I don’t have exact contact rates for DSL, but Renteria has reportedly been more average and Rodriguez was well below that. Walks and strikeouts aren’t a real measure given the quality of DSL competition, but Rodriguez was 5.9% BB% 22.3% K% in the DSL And 8.3% BB% and 33.5% K% this year, and Renteria was 14.4% BB% and 15.3% K% this year. I think Renteria has a slightly better chance to stick in center field as well. Not that we really have a great feel for the future of teenagers always, but Renteria is being rated a top 3 prospect in the Phillies org and towards the back of top 100 lists, and Rodriguez is somewhat of a fringe top 10 prospect in the Tigers org.

Joel Irvine out of Nori, Escobar, deMartini who could put together a season like Rincon sneak into the top 100, and out of those 3 who would teams ask for in a trade

Escobar was a top 100 prospect for some a year ago, and he has the violent exit velocities to break out. He is also young enough that putting up good numbers in AAA would get him attentio. I just don’t think Nori has the upside to ever be regarded in that way. DeMartini is sort of maxing out what he is, and I just don’t know if he will perceived with upside before he gets to the majors. I think certain teams will like Escobar, but DeMartini will appeal to teams who like the pull fly ball profile. I don’t know who Nori appeals to other than the Phillies and guys no longer employed by teams.