Organizational depth chart

Depth Charts

This is a feature I want to add, probably on the top bar of the site. I was going to just use my own rankings/thoughts to fill it out, but I figured I could solicit opinions from the masses, and maybe we can debate the merits of player X going ahead of player Y. Basically, this is a look at each position, and trying to pick the best 3-5 prospects at each position. I’d like to kind of factor everything into the discussion, not just how close the guy is to the majors. These rankings aren’t static, we can evaluate and change them midseason and then after 2008. We’ll do it one position at a time, we’ve got the time to do it that way, and hopefully it will encourage plenty of discussion. Let’s start with catcher, a position of newfound strength in our system, and we’ll rank the 5 best catching prospects. Guys to consider

Travis d’Arnaud, Jason Jaramillo, Lou Marson, Jesus Sanchez, Tuffy Gosewich, and Tim Kennelly

So, rank them in order from best to worst in terms of their total prospectiness……

28 thoughts on “Organizational depth chart”

  1. Marson, d’Arnaud, Jaramillo, Sanchez, Kennelly.

    Marson ahead of d’Arnaud because he’s had more time in the system and proved more. Marson and d’Arnaud over Jaramillo because they have a higher ceiling. The bottom two are total guesses.

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  2. Marson, Jaramillo, d’Arnaud and I have no idea about the rest of the guys. d’Arnaud may have a great ceiling, but he’s really done nothing as yet. Jaramillo is going to be a major league player at some point and may have a long career, so there’s no way I can rate d’Arnaud ahead of him that this point. Marson is coming on – it will be interesting to see if he can be more of a hitter than Ruiz. Carlos has done very nicely, although if you look at his bio, you can see that he’s not young, so his window of achievement may be short.

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  4. I have only seen Marson and Jaramillo catch in person and Tuffy on the net. All three can catch in the ML. Marson has won the league playoffs the last two years in the Sally and FSL and Jaramillo caught the winning championship game in the Taipei World Cup against Cuba. Tuffy was outstanding offensively and defensively in the AFL game I saw him on the Net catching Savery . The catcher I’d like to see more of is Joel Naughton. He was a backup to Tuffy at Lakewood and is a lefthanded bat. Hopefully he will start at Lakewood this year. I would image they will short season D’Arnaud in Williamsport.

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  5. I guess I am going with everyone else:

    Marson, Jaramillo, D’Arnaud, Gosewich, Kennelly, and Jesus Sanchez.

    Its not exactly a huge strength because after D’Arnaud they really aren’t that worthy of prospect status. Still they add depth and considering how Ruiz isn’t that old its nice to have these available young players.

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  6. Marson, D’Arnaud, Jaramillo, Gosewich don’t really think we have a 5th and it is a big falloff from Jaramillo to Gosewich. This is a ranking largely on ceiling. Kennelly has seemed something of a missing man of late. He seemed like he was going to develop into a solid prospect after a good initial GCL debut in 2005, but has been in NYP league last two seasons with not great offensive numbers and really not playing at a fixed position defensively. Still, a .650 OPS isn’t totally awful and he will play all of next season at age 21, so there is still some hope and I guess I’ll pick him 5th. I’m not really certain Phillies see him as a catcher, though.

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  7. Marson, Jaramillo, D’Arnaud, Sanchez… and the rest.

    I think Marson has the most upside. I agree Jaramillo will be in the Majors this year (sometime). D’Arnaud also has a big upside but a long way to go. I like defensive catchers and Sanchez is that guy. If he can develop a bat, he’ll play a while in the Majors too.

    Isn’t Jaramillo the son of a hitting coach? Maybe he’ll explode in the Majors (and not implode).

    Thought I’d convey a catcher story. When I was a kid, I saw Pudge Fisk play in AA in Pittsfield. I saw a double header where everyone in the stands was talking about him. He struck out 8 times in the double header. I think 4 of them were looking. I couldn’t understand how a guy who looked so overmatched could make it to the bigs. I think he was called up by the Red Sox late that year (1969). I think he spent another year or 2 in the minors. I guess he did okay in the Majors. Maybe we have a guy like this… he says trying to relate it to the topic.

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  8. I think Marson is most like Bobby Estella in the sense his is barrel-chested and powerful. Estella-like prospectiness is something I focus on. After that I would say Jarmillo has next most. After that no one reminds me of Estella that much so I will have to pass.

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  9. Estallella pre and post steroids were two different guys. I saw him play in Reading and he was very different looking later on. I think Jaramillo will be traded for a pitcher at the end of spring training, when the numbers games starts, if the Phillies think they have someone who could hold the fort in the event of an injury to Ruiz. I don’t think they’re comfortable defensively with Coste for a long period of time. I really enjoyed watching Jason Hill in Reading last year and I think they resigned him so if they think he could handle the majors in an injury situation, Jaramillo could be traded. It doesn’t take long to love Marson’s game and I’m sure the organization likes him and I still think he can hit for power that he hasn’t shown yet. He’s young and will move slowly if Ruiz does well but Ruiz only hit .259 so lets’ not get too carried away with Ruiz’s value as a hitter yet either. He hit much higher in the minors the last couple of years so hopefully he improves his average this year, even in the 8 hole. D’Arnaud is far away from the bigs and the other guys to me are all just journeymen although Sanchez could be more.

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  10. If Ruiz went down, Jaramillo would be called up and get at least half the action behind the plate – they might also trade for a servicable back-up like they did at second last year. You are right, they are not comfortable with Coste as a first option behind the plate, he seems proficient at calling a game, but his work at the plate is a little weak. They also have something against him which, I think, is primarily his age, I can’t imagine it’s personal.

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  11. BYW – Good Pudge Fisk story. Catchers are weird like that, many develop very late as hitters. The reason, I think, is two-fold. First, they are spending so much time focusing on mastering the pitchers and the position that offense gets overlooked. Second, because they call games, I think they get better at picking up pitchs sequences. In short, I think, as they mature, they guess better, which is why you will often see older and somewhat physically stronger catching prospects all-of-a-sudden develop impressive power in their late 20s or early 30s. That doesn’t usually happen at other positions.

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  12. Marson, Jaramillo, d’Arnaud, Sanchez, Gosewich, Kennelly. I’d like to see them trade Jaramillo since he really doesn’t have much of a chance to start in the bigs with Ruiz keeping it warm until Marson is ready. d’Arnaud could really be something special, but we don’t have enough on him yet to rank above JJ. Sanchez, as I’ve said before on this site, was the centerpiece in the package we got for Abreu, so I still think he could end up being productive. This is an organizational strong point and it would seem that with the dearth of catching in the majors, we would trade one or two of these guys to help with some depth in the field, namely 3rd base.

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  14. Jason Jaramillo, Lou Marson, Travis d’Arnaud, Jesus Sanchez, Tim Kennelly, Tuffy Gosewich.

    Jaramillo because he’s the most proven. Marson because I like his ceiling and he’s developing nicely. d’Arnaud because he’s got a ridiculously high ceiling but is still young and unproven/unpolished. Jesus Sanchez because he’s merely a defensive catcher at this point. The last two because I don’t really know much about them, but simply for that reason, I sort of view them as organizational filler.

    I don’t think Jaramillo will start at the Major-League level for the Phillies. They’re quite happy with Ruiz and by the time he’s not very productive anymore, Marson will (hopefully) be ready.

    That being said, I hope I eat my words and Jaramillo overtakes Ruiz on the depth chart on the big club and puts up better numbers than Ruiz does.

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  15. Marson, Jaramillo, D’Arnaud, Gosewich, Sanchez. Sanchez seems to have taken a little step back last year. I originally heard he was the guy in the Abreu trade the Phils liked the most. Marson seems to be developing very nicely and that was a great point that he has caught two championship teams the last two years. That to me is a good sign. The Phillies seem to be high on Jaramillo in case of an injury to Ruiz or Coste, but a trade does make sense for the right player. D’Arnaud though drafted high is a long ways away. Gosewich they must think highly of to send him to the AFL.

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  16. I would agree with Rickey Branch that Naughton should be on this list. Only a couple of years ago there was debate as to whether he had a higher ceiling than Marson. I also feel that Gosewich has gotten a raw deal. he had a decent season at Clearwater 2 years ago and was rewarded with a demotion to Lakewood so that some veteran retreads could catch at Reading. I am sure that was a significant psychologic blow to him and it is not unusual to see minor leaguers mope when they receive assignments that are surprisingly short of their expectations.

    d’Arnaud, Marson, Jaramillo, Gosewich, Naughton, Sanchez, and Tim Kennelly in my opinion.

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  17. Nice job on the pre and post Estellela comparisons…..it certainly was night and day the transformation that he made! Marson is the guy who will eventually be the Phillies everyday catcher for the better part of the next decade starting probably in 2010. Jaramillo will probably be dealt this season at the trade deadline to pick up that missing piece.

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  18. Mark —
    I don’t recall that debate where anyone thought Naughton had a higher ceiling than Marson. He had a truly crapcious offensive season in 2006 and didn’t even make the BA depth chart coming into this season. He did show a lot more with the bat in 2007 and is as young as Marson, but a level behind. But, I agree he belongs ahead of Gosewich, Sanchez, and Kennelly.

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  19. Marson, Jaramillo, d’Arnaud, Gosewisch… and I don’t know enough about the rest to comment.

    I could just repeat Catch 22 f/k/a H Man’s argument for Jaramillo over d’Arnaud, but since he’s said it already I don’t see the need. I’d assume Gosewisch would have to be fourth based on a decent track record from college and the fact that someone thought highly enough of him to send him to fall ball.

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  20. Marson, Jaramillo, d’Arnaud, Sanchez, Gosewich, Kennelly.

    With the state of Major League back up catchers making 3-4 million dollars, Jaramillo will be up this year, I think he will go north with the team from Spring Training.

    I think Catchers true defensive 140 games per year catchers tend to develop their hitting chops later.

    I think Catching is by far the Deepest Position Player ranking for the Phils.

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  22. Catch 22 f/k/a H Man Says:
    January 3, 2008 at 9:29 am

    Marson, Jaramillo, d’Arnaud and I have no idea about the rest of the guys.

    I 2nd

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  24. I’d rank them:

    1. Marson – Big step forward last year, always had tools
    2. D’Arnaud – Raw offensively but lots of upside
    3. Jaramillo – Ceiling may be as a backup – lack of offense
    4. Valle – Here more by default as others are not really prospects any more. Will only be 17 this year probably in GCL.
    5. Naughton
    6. Sanchez
    7. Gosewich

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  25. Jaramillo’s offense will be OK behind the plate. I like him more than most do, but still like Marson more:

    Marson
    Jaramillo
    D’Arnaud
    Valle
    Hill

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  26. Great start for Joel Naughton in the Aussie Claxton Shield tournament. Joel went 3 for 4 with a homer, a double and three RBI. In the picture he looks like a young Dutch Daulton as he circles the bases. http://www.baseball.ch/

    “With the game in the balance, Rams catcher and Philadelphia Phillies prospect Joel Naughton launched a 2-run home run over the right field wall and into the neighbouring property to stake the home side a 4-2 advantage.”

    http://www.smpimages.com.au/search.php?search=joel+Naughton

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  27. its gosewisch,naughton, then marson..tuffy had really good plays last he a good defense playerthen naughton because he got better then last year then marson cus he has a shoulder surgey

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  28. Tonight Naughton finally broke out of his 0 for the season with a two out, two rbi double and a two out single to knock in the winning run in the bottom of the 8th. Joel has played on three continents since the first of the year . He caught for Queensland in the Aussie national tournament, was the catcher for Australian national team in the Olympic qualifiying tournament in Taiwan in March then went to minor league camp in Clearwater and finally got his bags unpacked in tonight in Lakewood for the season.

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