Breakout prospects in 2008?

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I’m working on a little piece targeting guys I feel could have a breakout campaign in 2008, much like Dominic Brown and Drew Naylor in 2007. So I’ll toss this one to you guys first and get your picks, then I’ll give you mine later this week.

40 thoughts on “Breakout prospects in 2008?”

  1. Hopefully the Travises (Mattair and D’Arnaud). I’m thinking Savery might be a fast mover through the system – but I don’t know if that would qualify him for “breakout” status since that’s expected of him

    – Jeff

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  2. I know its not really breaking out, but i have a feeling that Happ and Bisenius are going to re-emerge from the depths of mediocrity

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  7. The guy I hope breaks out is Matt Spencer. As a college guy, he needs to show he can hit over a full season and get himself up to Clearwater like Jason Donald did, who by the way had a pretty good breakout year himself last season.

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  8. Mike Costanzo……oh thats right…the idiots traded our top minor league power and 3rd base prospect last month…never mind…..

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  9. i agree wtih Jeff, and hopefully with a 2nd year of using wood bats they can get adjusted!!

    I think Jiwan James should get a chance to hit and if so could start weak and finish strong!!

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  12. Any player the Phillies unloaded in the last year will have a great year. Costanza will hit 40 and 100 next year.

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  15. I think the first place to look is last year’s draft, especially any college players that may have initially struggled with the transition to pro ball. Perhaps it’s just a coincidence, but it seems like most of the Phils’ college hitting prospects over the past few years floundered a bit in short season ball (perhaps because it’s more of a pitchers league): Donald hit .258, Jaramillo hit .223, Berry hit .219, for a few examples. Their averages at Lakewood the next year: .310, .304, and .312 respectively.

    In that vein, I think Murray’s probably onto something with Matt Spencer, and I’ll add in the other two power bats from that draft class to keep an eye on as well: Michael Taylor and Matt Rizzotti. If even one of them takes a big step forward this year, that would be great.

    Past that, I can hope d’Arnaud, Myers, Mattair, Correa, Galvis, etc. break out, but in reality I think it’s sort of a crapshoot. I mean, who would have picked Brown and Naylor before this year? Then again, I guess that’s part of the fun: seeing who seemingly comes out of nowhere to shoot up the prospect list.

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  16. Bedrosian’s Beard, that is why Nick was being a cynic. Anyway, here is a vote for the one, the only, Fabio…

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  18. Any player that had a good 07 second half or is doing well in winter ball is worth keeping an eye on for a break out 08 year that would include the likes of Harman and Byrd in full season and Spencer and Diekman in split season. Or a Moises Melendez who has pitched well in relief the last several outings and Carlos Monasterios who pitched well as a starter and reliever in the VWL or reliever Anderson Garcia who has pitched well in the DWL.

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  21. OT- Hawkins going to the Yanks for one yr- 3.5 mil??
    we could’ve used a guy like him and the price wasn’t bad
    Just my two cents……

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  22. Jeff Jackson, Brad Brink and Gene Schall. It took a while but at this point, I think they can break out and dominate at Clearwater

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  25. Lee Thomas was half a great GM. Seemed like every big trade he made, he won. The problem was that he couldn’t draft and develop–or, maybe more accurately, that idiot Giles wouldn’t let him pick talent and the system had no resources to speak of until ’96 or so.

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  26. Leandro Castro comes over and makes the top 10 of the GCL. I’d also love to see Derrick Mitchell keep progressing at Lakewood. He certainly looks like a good athlete and ball player- his stats only late started to show it.

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  27. Lee Thomas in the early years used to always pickup discarded arms- and Podres got double digit wins from alot of them, albeit most only held up for one year besides schilling and mulholland. But with the rise of 1993 he stopped working that way, and obviously things just got worse.

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  30. I think Antonio Bastardo is going to establish himself as a legitimate prospect. I also think that Golson may put it together in the 2nd half of this year.

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  31. I’ll agree with one of the earlier posters (Jim) and say Scott Mathieson. Makes the club out of ST as a bullpen guy, and eventually works his way into the rotation.

    Also, I see Golson getting the clue that CF is his for the taking (in 2009), and he has a breakout year in ’08 as well.

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  33. There’s a reason we felt like we had the upper hand in the Abreu deal…..Jesus Sanchez. He keeps getting overlooked by everyone when they think of catcher prospects (Ruiz, Jaramillo, Marson, d’Arnaud). This kid’s gonna make it tough to ignore him after this season.

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  34. I just checked out Sanchez’s stats, and they didn’t look very good. Even if he is a total stud defensively, I’m not sure a .208 average with 3 rbis in 100 at bats can be compensated by defensive skills. Assuming that he had an off year, what does his ceiling look like, and how does he project?

    – Jeff

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  37. Brad Harman – will dominate AA, thrive at AAA, and then get a call-up late in the year. I think the light has turned on folks. If he comes on fast enough, we won’t even have to sign an expensive new third baseman.

    Second choice is Savery. Has struggled mightily with his command, but even when wild, he can dominate. He will rise like Harman this year.

    Golson. Just going with the flow here. If that many people who actually watch the games rave about him and how close he is, who am I to disagree.

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  38. By the way, is blogger “Lee Thomas” the real Lee Thomas? If so, I think that’s very cool and, if he’s reading, let me be the first to congratulate him on the unbelievable job he did with the Phils in acquiring talent by trade. The Dykstra and Schilling trades are among the greatest ever – anywhere. I am also pretty sure that he pulled the trigger on the Abreu deal, although Wade did a lot of the leg work. Still, since when does the GM not get credit for a trade like that?

    If Arbuckle had made it here a few years sooner and if Bill Giles had not been pushing the decisions on signing players (he way overplayed his hand – his motives were good, but his judgment was just not sound), Lee Thomas might have ridden through the storm and the team would have been much the better for it.

    Lee Thomas was a very good GM and, had he had better support, he would have been a great GM. Better than Gillick.

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  39. Some funny stuff here. Sanchez really only had 2 RBIs in 100 ABs? Wow, its not a good sign when 10 RBIs is a 5x increase on the previous year. I just don’t see in Golson what many of you see. I’ve only seen him live at spring training but I’ve seen him for what seems like 5 years now and he just never seems like a “player” to me. He’s a guy with big holes in his swing. I hope he figures it out because he’s a great outfielder and would look good in Philly but I’ll bet he hits rule 5 status and gets taken by another team before he ever gets to Philly. One more breakthrough possibility is Ken Milner. He’s a big guy and I think he’s got much more power than he’s shown so far and could take a huge step forward this year (or backward for that matter).

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  40. its gus milner. but i agree. the sanchez call is based on potential, not production…hence the call for a “breakout prospect.”

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