A Critical Look at the Phillies Organization and Minor League Baseball
Each year it seems like the talent in the Arizona Fall League gets even more crazy. This year the Phillies are adding to the very high end talent present by sending the #2 prospect in baseball to the desert. It wasn’t clear whether the Phillies would push J.P. Crawford’s season to make up for his … Read more
I am going to start by saying that this subject deserves more space than I about to give it, because it is meaningful, but this better than saying anything at all. Andrew Knapp is the middle of just destroying the Eastern League (he probably got another hit somewhere while you read this sentence). After … Read more
Really? Has it really been six weeks since I sat down to write about what I’m seeing at Coca-Cola Park and First Energy Stadium? It certainly hasn’t been a lack of games we’ve attended. I can count at least eight off of the top of my head. I guess at this point in the season, … Read more
The transactions keep flying in. Andrew Knapp was the Phillies 2nd round pick in the 2013 draft. He injured his elbow that summer and had to have Tommy John surgery in the offseason. This caused him to miss the start of 2014 and not catch full time until mid-summer. This year he is hitting .262/.356/.369 … Read more
On the year catcher and 2013 second round pick, Andrew Knapp is hitting .292/.339/.396. On the bad news, is that the line comes with 30 strikeouts in 106 ABs (26.1% K%) and a .403 BABIP that doesn’t look sustainable. Last year in Lakewood it was a similar story with Knapp hitting .290/.354/.438 with a 22.6% … Read more
Pitching Spotlight #1: RHP Chris Oliver – 7 IP 7 H 0 R 0 BB 6 K (98 pitches/66 strikes) Oliver’s pro debut could not have gone much worse. The Phillies messed with his delivery and tried introducing a true slider (Oliver throws a slider that he calls a curveball) and the result was an … Read more
Team Page Overview: Last year the Threshers were possibly the worst team in minor league baseball at the start of the season. They had no players in my Top 30 Phillies prospects and even beyond that it was mostly filler to make out of a roster. Eventually Roman Quinn and J.P. Crawford arrived, and they … Read more
The Top 30 seems to be the standard for long prospect lists, and so it becomes the standard of comparison across multiple lists. Given that we started at 50 we can see the transition into the Top 30 is fairly gradual, but as we start to really climb up the list we see real quality … Read more
Before we jump into talking about players why don’t you introduce yourself to those that haven’t already read your work and where people can find your writing?
Well, I am employed by Phillies Nation as their minor league insider. In that role, I provide coverage for the PN website and appear occasionally on their weekly TV show as a panelist and sometimes producing features on key Phillies prospects to know. I also contribute to The Shore Sports Network, covering the Class A Lakewood BlueClaws.
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.