phuturephillies favorite Kevin Goldstein is doing updates of all the farm systems in baseball, and today is the NL East. He has two nuggets of note
Nailing It On Naylor: Profiled in a recent Ten Pack, Australian righty Drew Naylor has a 2.59 ERA in nine starts for Low-A Lakewood, with even better peripheral numbers, including just 39 hits allowed in 59 innings to go with 65 strikeouts and 15 walks. One scout who recently watched Naylor liked what he saw on a scouting level as well. “He needs to tighten some things up, and there is still some real rawness to his stuff, and his command is average, but he has real strikeout pitchability,” said the scout. “He sat at 91-92 with good movement and has a really good put-away curve with a big bend–-almost a 12-6 bend. I liked the arm quite a bit.”
Good Bat, Questionable Glove: Double-A Reading shortstop Jason Donald has rarely given anyone reason to question his hitting, and this year is no different, as he’s hitting .296/.409/.409 in 31 games for the R-Phils. A scout who recently saw Reading fell in with most who have evaluated Donald–-loving the bat, but wondering where he fits in defensively. “I saw the bat really good; that bat will play and carry him to the big leagues and keep him there a while,” said the scout. But the defense? “He’s such a grinder at shortstop-–he makes the plays, but nothing looks easy for him, and he sits back on too many balls while trying to make up for it with his plus arm. He could play second or third, but you wouldn’t want to over-expose him at shortstop.”
Its great to hear on Naylor, obviously, and you have to like that scouts are starting to get in line on Donald’s bat. Again, finding him a home defensively will be the issue. You know, 3B is right near SS, it might not hurt to try….

