Each year the Phillies honor one pitcher and one hitter (with some occasional small exceptions) with the Paul Owens Award as the best hitting and pitching performance of the year. It is not always the best prospect, but you can see below that sometimes the best prospect, particularly hitter just also is the best performer.
| Year | Hitter | Pitcher |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | J.P. Crawford | Luis Garcia |
| 2015 | Andrew Knapp | Ricardo Pinto |
| 2016 | Dylan Cozens, Rhys Hoskins | Ben Lively |
| 2017 | Scott Kingery | Tom Eshelman |
| 2018 | Austin Listi | David Parkinson |
| 2019 | Alec Bohm | Ethan Lindow |
| 2020 | -No Season- | -No Season- |
| 2021 | Bryson Stott | Jean Cabrera |
| 2022 | Darick Hall | Andrew Painter |
| 2023 | Johan Rojas | Orion Kerkering |
The hitting side of the award this year is less interesting to write about. Aidan Miller to me is the best hitting prospect in the org, but after his long slump in Jersey Shore he is in too much of a hole. Keaton Anthony is having a good statistical year, but Otto Kemp has just been better if you are going pure statistics. Then that just leaves Kemp vs Justin Crawford, and while Kemp has Crawford beat by a lot on OPS (.945 to .779) it is a 24 year old vs a 20 year old at the same levels, and one is also a plus defender and better overall prospect. To me that race really comes down to whether you value numbers or prospect prestige. There is a small chance if he went on a tear that Eduardo Tait could make a case for best numbers by a top prospect, but it would take a lot to close the 20+ games played gap he has to Crawford.
The pitching side is much more fun and interesting. To start, there isn’t an elite prospect here. Andrew Painter will miss the entire year, and Mick Abel isn’t of that prestige and his year has been statistically awful. The Phillies traded George Klassen who had numbers and pedigree, and Samuel Aldegheri who also had good numbers and growing pedigree. There also no unbelievable performers this year. There are some relievers with good ERAs (Max Lazar, Michael Mercado, Andrew Walling), but none are the caliber of Kerkering. There isn’t a starting pitcher with everything going for them either or dominant low minors numbers like 2021 Jean Cabrera, but this also isn’t 2014 when everything was so awful that they just gave it to Luis Garcia. I don’t know where the Phillies will go with the award, but here are the contenders for me heading down the stretch sorted by innings pitched.
| Name | Age | Levels | W-L | Innings | ERA | FIP | WHIP | Walks (%) | Strikeouts (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braeden Fausnaught | 24 | A+/AA | 8-4 | 109.0 | 3.63 | 4.09 | 1.248 | 33 (7.2%) | 101 (22.1%) |
| Robinson Pina | 25 | AA/AAA | 12-5 | 105.1 | 3.93 | 3.70 | 1.215 | 15 (3.4%) | 110 (24.7%) |
| Jean Cabrera | 22 | A+/AA | 5-5 | 101.0 | 3.74 | 3.43 | 1.198 | 33 (7.9%) | 107 (25.5%) |
| Eiberson Castellano | 23 | A+/AA | 6-3 | 90.1 | 3.59 | 3.22 | 1.151 | 27 (7.1%) | 118 (31.2%) |
| Mavis Graves | 20 | A | 7-6 | 84.0 | 3.64 | 2.72 | 1.345 | 36 (9.8%) | 117 (31.8%) |
The Best Prospect
At least for now, Jean Cabrera is the best prospect of this group. He has struggled in AA, but he features a mid 90s fastball, a plus changeup, and a good sweeper all with solid command. He has more prospect pedigree than the pitchers who have pitched more than him, and more innings than those with better strikeout numbers. It is certainly not the case he had when he won in 2021 after he put up a 1.54 ERA with 10 walks and 61 strikeouts in 52.2 innings. It probably would have taken a huge prospect leap or overwhelming numbers to make Cabrera a two time winner, so he is probably the long shot despite having the best rankings case.
The Innings Eater
Fausnaught has taken the ball as much as anyone has this season, and currently leads the org in innings pitched. As a 2022 UDFA he does not have the prospect pedigree of others, and his stuff does not jump off the page either. Given that the ERA numbers of the rest of the field are fairly mediocre, his case will be made on making a couple more solid starts in Reading and just being the best cumulative value candidate.
The Per/IP Monster
With a 4.61 ERA in July and 8.03 in August to go with collapsing innings totals, Graves’ candidacy is falling apart fairly quickly. His struggles probably don’t ding his overall prospect value very much given his age and career high workload this year, but he is trailing his competitors enough that he needed to be overwhelmingly better per inning. Over the first 3 months of the season, he was the second most dominant pitcher in the org behind Klassen, and the fact that he is still second in the org in strikeouts is a testament to his start. He has 4 double digit strikeout games, and his FIP is boosted by him keeping the ball in the yard (just 3 home runs all season). His fastball velocity needs consistency and improvement, but his secondary pitches were as dominant as anyone else.
The High Level Artist
Only one other pitcher in the minor leagues has pitched 100 innings with a walk rate below Robinson Pina’s. Being around the zone has led to a significant amount of contact, and his home run rate at home points to him having spent more of the season in a hitters park that the other players on this list. Pina is now in AAA, which will let him pad his resume with more games and higher level credentials, but it could come with risk if AAA hitter figure him out. The other factor with Pina is that he was signed as a minor league free agent and will presumably be a minor league free agent this offseason. If the Phillies don’t plan on keeping him, they might not want to give him an award.
The Strong Finisher
Eiberson Castellano had his breakout early in the season, and while he has had some blips, has only really gotten better both statistically and on the mound. He has some signature games, with 3 double digit strikeout games including 13 in 5.2 innings on May 31. He has missed a few starts which puts him slightly innings behind, but his per inning numbers are near where Graves are now, and he should end up with the strikeout title. It will also help his case that he has been on an absolute heater, over his last 6 games he has gone 33 innings with a 2.18 ERA and 8 walks to 42 strikeouts. He isn’t on national prospect lists, but he is climbing fast thanks to a fastball that will get to at least 97, and now a pair of breaking balls that he can throws for strikes and chases.
The Verdict
It isn’t over. If I had to vote today, I think I would go Eiberson, but one bad start and a couple good ones by someone else and there might be statistical separation. It is a fun race for me because it shows a spectrum of guys in the system that don’t always get talked about and really are having breakouts. The Phillies also could be thinking completely different from me on this too.
I’m going with Pina. Phillies worked magic with his control. He might be next up as an emergency starter in Philly.
Great read! I appreciate the effort you put into researching this.