A Critical Look at the Phillies Organization and Minor League Baseball
The Phillies were a flawed team entering yesterday’s trade deadline and there wasn’t really a way out of it for the Phillies front office. The main problem that has plagued the team all season has been the lack of performance from their well paid players, particularly hitters. The Phillies weren’t going to solve that at … Read more
The Phillies farm system has certainly taken its beatings over the past few years. Some of it has been good, like the graduations of Rhys Hoskins, Jorge Alfaro, Nick Pivetta, Nick Williams, Scott Kingery, J.P. Crawford, Seranthony Dominguez, and others. Some has been bad, like the injuries to Sixto Sanchez, the stagnation of high picks, … Read more
I decided to do a Top 30 list this year because it was as deep as I felt I could go while keeping the integrity of a list. However, 30 is just an arbitrary cut off and there are more players worth talking about. So here is a collection of other prospects I have thoughts … Read more
Development is not linear. It is easy to look at many in this group of prospects and see disappointment. It is true that some of the prospects in this range dropped off cover the 2017 season, others jumped forward as they started into their pro careers, and two in Victor Arano and Ben Lively made … Read more
This past weekend, Bryce Harper once again destroyed Phillies’ pitching. Pitch selection continued to be a problem on Saturday night, as it has been throughout the nine games Harper’s faced the Phillies this season. They should not be throwing him fastballs. But Harper’s dominance stems from a much deeper issue that I mentioned in my first ever … Read more
Last night the Mets lineup in the 6th began Bruce/Walker/Duda, so LH/switch/LH. So Joely Rodriguez, as the only LHP on the active roster, was obviously the choice. But in his brief career he hasn’t been reliable at getting LH hitting. Entering last night, LH hitters: 11/30 (2 XBH), 3/6 K/BB; RH hitters: 8/33 (5 XBH), … Read more
The Top 30 has become the standard of prospect lists. It is often a natural cut off when systems start to transition into filler. For the Phillies system, the gap from 31 to 30 is not a gaping chasm. However, we start to really get hints at what lies at the top. There are prospects … Read more
Time to kick off the actual list. The back end of any prospect list is going to be players with some serious flaws. For some players that is the lack of impact major league tools For others it is that they are half a decade from the high minors, or it could be specific struggles … Read more
As many of you know, I don’t see a ton of baseball games in person (part of living away from the Northeast) and so I have to rely on the eyes of a lot of people. So in reality these interviews are the real meat of the recaps and my statistical wrap ups are really … Read more
The Phillies continue to go off the board in the 5th round. This time it is a 6’5″ 175lb LHP out of Chino Hills HS in California. Bailey Falter is 85-89 with a three pitch mix and feel for the strike zone. This is all projection, but it is off the board so there is … Read more