The minor league workgroups posted here list all the Phillies minor league players currently in camp.  It is likely that most of the players in group 5 will end up at either Williamsport or on the GCL team in Florida.  This year there are 17 new players on the roster that have not previously played for the Phillies on their U.S. affiliates.  Given the huge number of new faces it is likely that a few will get sent back to their home country leagues (usually the DSL or VSL) prior to the start of the season.  A final reason for the larger number of new faces is that the U.S. work visa limits have been eased in recent years.  This allows more players to play in the U.S. or simply work out at Extended Spring Training in the minor league complex with all the coaches present.

This post will briefly go through the new names in camp with a summary of their statistics.  The comments here are all based on statistics and observations on a handful of players from news stories over the Internet.  In most cases we will not know how good these players are until we see them in action here.  If 3-5 players turn out to be solid prospects among this group the Phillies will have done well.

Hitters

C – Sebastian Valle – At age 17/DSL, Valle is one of the better prospects in this group.  A left-handed hitting catcher with good “catch and throw” skills, Valle put up a solid .801 OPS in the DSL at age 16.  He showed good patience and developing doubles power while hitting .284.  He is the first Phillies signing from Mexico in a long time.

C – Ferrel Gomez – age 21/DSL – Gomez also played in the DSL.  Last year was his third season and he finally showed some offense (.276 with .758) after being under the Mendoza line his first two seasons.  He is likely a lesser prospect than Valle given his age and career.

SS – Lendy Castillo – Age 19/DSL – Castillo has good size for a SS (6.1″, 170) and solid defensive skills.  He is still developing offensively as he hit a soft .286 (only .685 OPS).  Castillo must improve his offense to be more than a backup infielder as he moves up the ladder.  He has some speed with 12 SB.

IF – Harold Garcia – Age 21/VSL – Garcia has played 2B and 3B mainly in the VSL for 3 seasons.  He has some doubles power, hitting .296 with a .785 OPS.  In the winter he hit .312 with 7 HR and a .903 OPS in the junior Venezuelan Winter League.

IF – Yonderman Rodriguez – Age 21/VSL – Rodriguez has played 4 years in the VSL, finally putting together a good offensive season last year (.361, .868 OPS, 13 2B, 19 SB).  Rodriguez can play SS, 2B, and 3B, though he was supplanted at SS last year.  He is a little old for a prospect (like Garcia), so he needs to continue hitting to show that last year was not a mirage based upon his age and experience.

IF – Jakub Sladek – Age 17 – Sladek is a 6’6″ infielder who likely profiles as a 3B.  He was recently signed from the Czech Republic and is likely to make his GCL debut in 2009 after one more year in Europe.

CF – Leandro Castro – Age 18/DSL (19 in June) – Castro is a speedy CF (6.7 in the 60) who has developing power.  He hit .278 last season with 6 HR and a .779 OPS while stealing 24 bases.  More importantly he got better as the season progressed and was a major factor in the DSL team’s second half winning streak.

OF – Fabio Murakami – Age 20/VSL – Murakami is one of the 4 Brazilian players signed by the Phillies a couple of years ago.  He played 2 seasons in the VSL, hitting .277 with a .707 OPS last year.  A Brazilian player of Japanese descent (note that 16 of the 20 members of Brazil’s Pan American team in 2007 were of Japanese descent), Murakami is probably a second tier prospect.

OF – Tomas De Los Santos – ??? – A Vladimir De Los Santos has played in the DSL the past 3 seasons.  If Tomas is that player, he is a 21 year old OF that hit .337 last year with a .903 OPS.  De Los Santos, like Rodriguez, is not likely a top prospect as he was a little old for his league last year.

OF – Angus Roeger – Age 18 – Roeger is one of the latest signings from Australia.  He hit .276 with an .841 OPS in the Australian Academy last year and showed good speed (6 3B, 24 SB).  Roeger is still young, so he could still return to Australia and the academy for one more year if he would face a numbers game at GCL (as last year SS Alan Schoenberger faced).

Pitchers

RHP – Freddy Ballestas – Age 21/VSL – While not young, Ballestas has a chance to be a solid prospect.  He was named the Phillies 31st prospect by Baseball America even though he has not yet played in the U.S.  He has good size at 6’3″ and 170 and reportedly has a low 90s fastball with some projection remaining.  Last year he dominated the VSL going 9-3 with a 1.26 ERA (100 IP, 62 H, 19 BB, 98 K).  Ballestas might have a chance at a Williamsport assignment given his age (like Segio Escalona last year), though GCL is the safer bet.

LHP – Juan Colmenarez – Age 21/VSL – Colmenarez took a major step forward in his 3rd VSL season, going 6-5 with a 2.51 ERA (93.1 IP, 76 H, 11 BB, 89 K).  He also pitched a no-hitter last year.  Colmenarez has great control and a decent K rate.  As a left-hander he will get chances as a starter and a reliever.

LHP – Yohan Flande – Age 22/DSL – Flande is another LHP who finally makes the step up to the U.S. after 3 consecutive sub 3.00 ERA years in the DSL.  Last year he led the DSL club in IP and went 3-2 with a 2.36 ERA (72.1 IP, 61 H, 27 BB, 62 K).  His age is a warning on his prospect status.  He is most likely a reliever candidate at GCL.

LHP – Esmelvin Jiminez – Age 21/DSL – Jiminiz was a new signee last year at a relatively late age.  He pitched well in limited time (3-0, 1.69 ERA, 26.2 IP, 17 H, 10 BB, 27 K).  One can never have too many left-handed pitchers in the lower minors.

RHP – Ebelin Lugo – Age 18 in April/DSL – Lugo was one of the solid younger arms who propelled last year’s DSL team.  He went 6-1 with a 2.79 ERA (58 IP, 46 H, 25 BB, 32 K).  He will need to raise his K/IP to be a solid prospect.

RHP – Cristobal Mata – Age 21/VSL (22 in June) – Mata is another slightly older late signee from last year.  In limited time at the VSL he went 3-1 with a 1.87 ERA (24 IP, 23 H, 12 BB, 25 K).

RHP – Reginal Simon – Age 18/DSL – Simon is the Phillies signee from Haiti, though he reportedly grew up on the Dominican side of the island.  Simon has good size at 6’3″ and 177 and potentially lots of projection left on his 90 mph fastball.  Last season he went 5-1 with a 1.69 ERA (64 IP, 46 H, 33 BB, 38 K).  His H/IP ratio is outstanding for such a young pitcher, though like Lugo, he will need to strike out more batters as he matures.

A couple of notes on other players seen in the workgroups – Alberto Cambero returns after missing all of 2007.  He will be 22 in April, however, and has probably fallen behind Ambiorix Rincon at 2B.  Francisco Murillo (1B/OF) is also in the 5th workgroup though it should be noted he hit .338 with 17 HR and a 1.222 OPS in minor league Winter Ball.  Hopefully he gets a shot at Lakewood or Williamsport.  Finally we have the return of Gilmar Periera after missing 2007.  Apparently he spent the summer playing with the Brazilian team in the Pan American games.  The New York times says he has a 95 mph fastball.  He is still only 19 years old (20 in June).

Summing up, most of these players are not top prospects.  Among the hitters, Sebastian Valle and Leandro Castro are probably the two to watch with the most potential.  Other older players like De Los Santos and Rodriguez might put up better stats, but they are lesser prospects.  On the mound the two to watch are probably Freddy Ballestas and Reginal Simon (with a 3rd being Ebelin Lugo).  They are probably a notch below Carlos Carrasco as prospects, but they both could certainly put together solid seasons like Miguel Matos did last year for GCL.

If anyone has any scouting reports from the web on these players, this post would be a good place to collect them.  Hopefully some of our friends in Florida can also post some impressions from the minor league spring training games.