Re: Phillies Minor Leagues Discussion Thread
Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2022 3:54 am
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.
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.