This year’s Williamsport and GCL rosters feature a number of players from last year’s Latin American rookie squads.  This post will go through the new players on each team and summarize what we know about them.  This is not meant to be a scouting report of these players, however, as we have very few eyewitness accounts of them playing.  Hopefully we can fill in the blanks with live reports as the season goes on.  These players are important to the Phillies future, however.  They also tend to be slightly better prospects on average than the draft prospects because the lesser prospects do not get promoted from their home country leagues.  These prospects would probably all have been selected in the top 10-15 rounds of the draft if they had been eligible.

Williamsport

The Williamsport roster features two new prospects.  One, 17-year-old SS Freddy Galvis could qualify as one of the Phillies top 10 prospects if he plays well this year.  He is the only player the Phillies signed from Latin America that made various top prospect lists.  It is assumed the Phillies paid a large bonus for Galvis, though the amount is unknown.  From scouting reports he is a top defensive player already with a promising bat.  He is a smallish SS who stands only 5’10” and weighs 154 pounds, though he is so young that he is bound to fill out some.  The Phillies think enough of him to have bypassed the VSL and GCL completely.  A 17-year-old in the NY Penn League is a rare sight indeed.

The other new player at Williamsport was opening day starter Sergio Escalona.  Escalona has played the last 3 years at the Phillies VSL complex.  Stats Escalona is only 6’0″ 178 and he is already 22 years old.  He was the number 3 starter on a league championships VSL squad with a 3-4 record and a 2.29 ERA (70.2 IP, 63 H, 25 BB, 71 K).  The red flag on Escalona is age.  While he had decent stats all 3 years at VSL he did not get promoted.  Most likely he is a guy with average stuff that knows how to pitch.  In his favor the team did decide to get aggressive with him this year at Williamsport (and also gave him a bonus start at Clearwater).  Perhaps Escalona is a late bloomer.  The team did make Escalona the opening day starter at Williamsport, but that may be more because he was already in midseason form after extended spring training.

GCL

Many more players will make their debut at GCL this year.  From the early going these players look to have a major impact on the team, much more so than promotions from the last few years.  For a change the Phillies appear to have several plus offensive prospects on the team this year.  The first 3 batters in the lineup on opening day were all VSL and DSL promotions.  Thumbnails on the players are as follows:

Arlon Quiroz (age 20) – Quiroz is a speedy CF with Michael Bourn-like potential.  He is the leadoff hitter in the early going at GCL.  Last year he hit .288 in the VSL but added 41 BB for a .396 OBP.  He also has enough speed to steal 31 bases last year.  Quiroz is playing CF ahead of Darin McDonald, suggesting the team is high on his defensive aility.

Ambiorix Rincon (age 20) – Rincon is the starting 2B at GCL, coming off a DSL season where he hit .320 with some power (22 2B, 5 HR), speed (12 SB), and patience (28 BB).  Rincon was the top offensive player on the DSL squad and appears to be an upgrade over Alberto Cambero from last year.  He is a switch hitter that stands 6’0″ 165.

Francisco Murillo (age 20) – Murillo will share 1B with Karl Bolt, though he is probably the better prospect.  Last year was his second VSL season where he led the team in HR with 10 and hit .299 with a .402 OBP.  Originally signed as a catcher, he caught only 3 games in 2006 and is unlikely to see time behind the plate this year with Sanchez and D’Arnaud on the squad.

Jamie Morales (age 23) -Morales is a little old to be a prospect, though he seems to be somewhat of a late bloomer.  He will most likely be the backup 2B and SS on the GCL team.  He improved greatly last season (his 3rd) in the VSL, hitting .316 with 19 SB and a .787 OPS.  If the 2 younger SS falter (Shoenberger and Andino) his playing time could increase as the season goes on.

Alan Schoenberger (age 18) – Schoenberger is a small switch-hitting Australian SS signed a year ago as a free agent.  Little is known of him, though it appears he will get some playing time now that Freddy Galvis is in Williamsport.

Miguel Matos (age 19) – Matos started game 2 of the season and threw 7 shutout innings.  He dominated last year at the DSL, going 6-1 with a 1.71 ERA (52.2 IP, 40 H, 8 BB, 54 K).  He is also big and projectible (6’4″, 178).  A RHP, Matos has a chance to work his way onto the Phillies top prospect lists if he continues to excel.

Antonio Florentino (age 19) – Florentino is the 2nd big, projectible RHP (6’4″, 180) from last year’s DSL team.  Arbuckle likes big pitchers that might pick up velocity as they mature.  Florentino was as dominant as Matos last year (7-2, 1.44 ERA, 81 IP, 47 H, 26 BB, 65 K), though he does not have quite the K rate.

Moises Melendez (age 20) – While Matos and Florentino are more projectible, Melendez is a more polished prospect.  A small LHP (5’11”, 172), Melendez has had great results for 3 consecutive years at VSL.  Last year he was the number one starter on the championships team, going 8-2 with a 2.18 ERA (90.2 IP, 72 H, 33 BB, 104 K).  He also excelled in the Venezuelan Winter League last year against much older players going 3-3 with a 3.63 ERA (39.2 IP, 36 H, 26 BB, 24 K).  Melendez will need to keep proving himself at his size, though his stats suggest he has earned the look.

Mauricio Romero (age 21) – Romero is a RHP that just turned 21 this week.  Unlike Melendez he has good size (6’3″, 202) to go with his stats.  He was the number 2 starter at VSL last year going 5-2 with a 2.59 ERA.  He was a little more hittable than the other pitchers (83 IP, 83 H, 22 BB, 75 K) so he is probably more of a second tier prospect.