Phillies Minor Leagues Discussion Thread

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schooldoc
Posts: 16
Joined: Tue Mar 22, 2022 1:14 am

Re: Phillies Minor Leagues Discussion Thread

Post by schooldoc »

The Crawford pick was a somewhat surprising, and somewhat risky, pick for me.

Rocker or no Rocker--and I suppose he was my dream scenario more than something realistic--I thought the Phils were probably going to go for a pitcher again at 17. First, this draft seems to be stronger on the pitching side than the hitting side, and there's also the Phils' stated philosophy of "grow the arms, buy the bats." That may be more true of the previous regime than the current one, though. There were some pitchers I thought fit the Phils' approach available at 17, as well.

But, the Phils took a toolsy HS outfielder. Where have we heard that before? And to an extent, that's the risky part of this. Although Brian Barber (head of scouting) and Preston Mattingly (head of player development) haven't been around long and thus can't be blamed, the Phils have a very poor history of developing high school outfielders into major leaguers. Mickey Moniak, Cornelius Randolph, Larry Greene Jr., Anthony Hewitt, Greg Golson...and so on. On the positive side, Crawford was mocked mid-1st round most of the time, so it's not as though the Phils reached with this pick. And as the son of a big leaguer, I don't think he'll be wowed or caught off-guard too much by what he experiences along the development track. The questions will be whether and how the hit tool develops. The athleticism certainly seems to project to "big league centerfielder." How far does the bat take him ? We'll have to wait 3-4 years to find out.
schooldoc
Posts: 16
Joined: Tue Mar 22, 2022 1:14 am

Re: Phillies Minor Leagues Discussion Thread

Post by schooldoc »

Good time for a little prospects update.

The young guns at Jersey Shore have been on a roll of late, including three straight shutout performances by Ben Brown, Mick Abel, and Andrew Painter.
Abel struck out 10 and allowed 4 hits over 6 innings last Friday night. Painter allowed 5 hits and struck out 5 over 6 innings Saturday, earning his first high-A win. Painter allowed 1 earned run in 19.2 innings over 5 July appearances with the BlueClaws.

According to Matt Gelb, Ben Brown was promoted to Reading over the weekend.

Jersey Shore's hottest hitter in July was OF/1B Carlos De La Cruz. The 6'7" De La Cruz hit .289/.368/.590 with 7 HR in 23 games in July.

In his midseason top-60 prospect rankings released this morning at The Athletic (behind paywall), Keith Law ranked Painter 46th. Abel received one of his ten "honorable mentions," implying Abel would rank between 61-70 on his list.
schooldoc
Posts: 16
Joined: Tue Mar 22, 2022 1:14 am

Re: Phillies Minor Leagues Discussion Thread

Post by schooldoc »

De La Cruz has been promoted to Reading, where he joins OF Johan Rojas, who made the jump from Jersey Shore about a month ago. After a hot start, Rojas has cooled off and just missed time due to paternity leave.

Clearwater OF Marcus Lee Sang was promoted to JS to fill the spot vacated by De La Cruz. Lee Sang slashed .259/.339/.389 for Clearwater this year, with 8 HR and 18 steals. Lee Sang, 22, is a native of Maryland and was the Phils' 11th round draft pick in 2019.
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