Biggest surprise of the season

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I’m going to run this poll today, and biggest disappointment tomorrow, and then I’ll do the tallying of the votes over the weekend and discuss the results on Monday. Today, vote for your biggest surprise of the season. Feel free to explain your choice or simply post your vote. You’re voting for the player who had the most surprising season to you, using whatever criteria you choose to determine what a “surprise” is. Thanks.

60 thoughts on “Biggest surprise of the season”

  1. Gonna have to go with Michael Taylor on this one. After disappointing college career and disappointing, or some would have said “expectedly bad”, first year I think he’s obviously opened a lot of eyes. The jump from last season to this one, at two levels no less, has been amazing.

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  2. Oh, and as a way to “campaign” for my guy (though I must admit I think he’s the easy choice) take a look at the sidebar on the left under “Readers Top 30”. He didn’t make a single list, PP’s, BA’s, or the readers.

    Maybe this post should be the “second biggest surprise” 🙂

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  3. Gonna go with Lou Marson. Dude tore it up from Day 1, made himself a big time prospect, was an Olympian, and ended the year in Philly. Good stuff. I know he was highly touted but I don’t think anyone expected him to end up in Philly or on the Olympic team.

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  4. Two great choices above but I will say Taylor since I did think Marson would get to majors which I did not forsee for Taylor back in the spring. Obviously Marson is ahead of schedule. It would be neat if Taylor joins him next September.

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  5. Michael Taylor’s emergence is head and shoulders above everything else.

    Honorable mention: Jason Donald’s continued improvement/still being in the system.

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  6. Biggest plus surprise to me was Stutes. I didn’t expect neaarly that performance when he was drafted. Taylor would be #2 for me. That’s the personnel surprises.

    Biggest overall surprise was how many HS kids the Phillies drafted and signed.

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  7. Add me to the Taylor camp. I doubt he was on anyone’s radar at the start of the season, then we waited for him to cool off (didn’t happen), waited for the promotion to see if he was for real, got concerned when he started out 6-39, and then watched him tear it up again – his August numbers are frightening. I personally like the 17 doubles in 109 ABS.

    I agree with Steve Booth. To paraphrase Larry Bird, everyone else is playing for second place for this award.

    For the record, I’m going to go with Collier for second place.

    – Jeff

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  8. Stutes how he handled the jump from college to lakewood was impressive. Taylor was good but he had last year to get used to minor league ball and adjust. Stute just came in and was dominated

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  9. I think the manner in which the team drafted and signed the players they drafted was the biggest surprise. I don’t think anyone saw that coming, some of the later round picks and signings were very inspiring.

    My ‘player’ surprise would be how different of a pitcher Carrasco was at AAA in his limited action. If I can quote NoWheels (I believe he said it) THERE IS SOMETHING ROTTEN AT READING.

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  10. Stutes is a good one as well – disappointing college career, but really put it together once he turned pro. I’m a little concerned that his GO/AO ration wasn’t all that good (below 1, I belive), but I think his other numbers were impressive. Speaking of impressive numbers, Cisco should get a mention as well. You can’t do better than 0 walks.

    Maybe James should split it into pitcher and position player categories. Taylor still deserves the award, if you ask me.

    – Jeff

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  11. Josh Outman, keeping his head above water as a September call-up. You can never have too many talented young lefthanders in your organization. Oh… darn.

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  12. Yes I did and before the season i expect DAVE HUPPERT
    to be the READING manager after all he won. When he was assigned to AAA I expected that the PHILS would place a good team there but instead we got the IRON NOBODIES a bit harsh but…..
    My surprise was how long it took to commit to Happ but this management is great at ignoring facts and making up BS
    that supports what they WANT to happen

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  14. Agree with Taylor being the biggest surprise based on what was expected coming in vs. where he is now and his expectations going forward.

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  15. My vote goes to Micheal Taylor. He dominated at every level he was at this year. I didn’t expect his performance this season to be outstanding after hes average to below average season last year.

    I think its time to move on with the Cardenas, Outman, and Spencer trade. I know its hard, but acceptance is half the battle.

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  17. I saw Michael Taylor in spring training and I couldn’t believe what he looked like. Visions of Dave Parker and Dave Winfield come to mind when you see him because he looks like a major athlete. However, he has to be the biggest surprise of the year because he turned himself into the organization’s number 1 prospect in my mind. While Marson is terrific and I think he’ll be a starting catcher in the big leagues very soon, will he ever be a star? While I think he can be a very good catcher with a higha verage and great OBP, I don’t think he’ll ever develop the power to be a star. Carrasco, as good as he may be, is he really a possible #1 some day? I don’t see it. Michael Taylor has the “potential” (he only did it in A ball but he really did it) to be a #3 hitter on a playoff team and I don’t believe the organization has another player who we can say that about at this time. That’s a huge surprise from where he was a year ago.

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  18. Michael Stutes was a great surprise, but in terms of suprises that I think are more likely to realize themselves at the big league level, I think after looking terrible, even starting this season- he looked like he has big time major league skills after that.

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  19. My biggest surprise was how the Phillies went about the draft this year. It was just a complete 180 from previous seasons and really has me excited.

    If you were intending for a player, I’d have to say Taylor. I just don’t know how anybody could have guessed at the numbers he’d put up this year. A lot of people thought that Marson had a chance to be good/great, but I doubt many even had Taylor on their radar.

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  20. R. J. Swindle and Les Walrond. If someone had asked you in March which pitchers might earn call-ups, who would have mentioned either of these names???

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  21. At least one PP reader had Taylor on their radar back in November, nominating him for Prospect #29:
    # thebestrbevr21 Says:
    November 6, 2007 at 5:49 pm

    Mike Taylor

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  22. Longtime reader. Not a lot of posts though but I meje them count don’t I?
    Yea as soon as I researched michael after we drafted him. I fell in live with his size/athleticism combo.
    This is one pick I did make right

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  23. Not adding anything new here, but Taylor was certainly the most pleasant surprise.

    Honorable mention goes to Lou Marson — whose season was more successful than anyone could have predicted — and Greg Golson — who proved this year that he’ll certainly be a major leaguer in some capacity. Bastardo was also impressive in Clearwater before injury struck in Reading. Finally, draft picks like Stutes* and Cisco were very impressive early, but as college arms ripping through the low minors, they can’t be compared to Taylor and the others.

    *(In true Posnanski-esque fashion) Jeff O: Stutes actually had a good groundball ratio: 53.7% for the season, compared to only a 28.4% flyball ratio. Cisco was even more impressive: 61.2% groundballs to to 30.9% flyballs.

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  27. I would actually say Bastardo had he’d stayed healthy. He was above and beyond our (at least mine) expectations in AA. But I think Marson’s success all year in AA is by far the biggest surprise.

    Marson

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  28. Everyone went to the up side. I’ll go for the negative surprise. Jaramillo and Carpenter disappointed for most of the season. I thought Jason would be with the big club by the All Star break. He’s not even on the radar now. Carpenter was so bad at AA that I thought they should shut him down before he shot himself. He came back at the end of the season and made up for a lot of that. I was expecting a lot out of Andrew. Honorable mention was D’Arby Myers. Oh yeah, I forgot super prospect Adam Eaton.

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  29. To not pick Michael Taylor is just straining to be different. Not one person expected him to have the season he had, and frankly the only people who even faintly imagined it were those who pegged him as as a possible “surprise player of the year” before the season. And even they can’t claim they expected it, by the very definition of the prediction itself. Some other players had good seasons, better seasons than they’d had previously, but nothing totally out of line with past performance. Michael Taylor hadn’t had a good season since high school, then had far and away the best minor league season in the system. HUGE surprise.

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  30. Friar –

    You’re right about Stutes – pretty decent groundball ratio. Now I can’t remember which of the 2008 draft picks I was thinking about who had good numbers but a less-than-stellar groundball ratio. Usually I check my stats before I post. That time I didn’t. Oh well. Hopefully he (and Worley and Cisco) continue to do well next year. I wonder if they all get bumped to Clearwater.

    – Jeff

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  32. @ Jeff O:

    Just speculating, but you may be thinking of Knapp (38.8% groundball, 41.3% flyball), since the college draftees — at least the starters — all did a good job keeping the ball on the ground. While that’s a bit discouraging from Knapp, it’s tempered by a couple of things: (1) his K numbers were great (10.91 K/9); (2) there’s a good chance he’s still tweaking his mechanics; and (3) he was 17 for most of the season. But yes, it’s still an area to keep an eye on, and hopefully we see him throwing on more of a downward plane next season.

    Oh, and for what it’s worth, I’m with you: Worley, Stutes, and Cisco should all start at Clearwater next year.

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  33. Yeah, Knapp is who I was thinking of, and if I understand correctly, it’s not unusual for a higher strikeout guy to not really be a groundball pitcher – Hamels is usually pretty close to even with his go/ao. Knapp is definitely a guy I’m excited about – especially if he works out the kinks in his delivery

    – Jeff

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  35. 1-Michael Taylor (and it’s not close)
    2-Michael Stutes (dominating)
    3-Jason Donald (hit .381 at the Olympics)
    4-Michael Cisco (30K, 0BB, 0HR, 0.63WHIP in 35IP at Lakewood)
    5-Lou Marson (knew he was good but what a tremendous season)

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  36. How can it not be Taylor?

    In rookie ball last year, he was like Hamilton this year – terrible. Hell, Murphy and Overbeck had better first seasons this year than Taylor did during his first season.

    Taylor came out of nowhere to rise to one of the top players at two different levels of A ball. Stutes and Cisco are distant seconds IMO and we already knew Marson and Donald could perform to some degree.

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  38. Taylor with his season and athletics hes earned himself a possible top 100 on BA when he wasnt even a top 30 on 3 different PHILLIES prospect lists thats why hes the BIGGEST SURPRISE.

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  39. I’m not going to rate in a guy in A ball as my biggest surprise personally. Mine has to be Donald. A guy who could have joined the Club in September and actually made a difference. Before this year he was rated as POSSIBLY a utility player.

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  43. Just rechecked STUTES stats again reimpressed. Ya gotta luv
    more K’s then innings also a few wild pitchs Keeps them lose
    lol.
    anyone know what happened his last year in college???

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  45. Five All Star catchers on 5 of the 6 minor league teams: Jaramillo, Marson, Naughton, D’Arnaud and Valle.

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  46. Draft picks like Stutes and Cisco certainly put up great numbers in limited action, but the biggest surprise has to go to Michael Taylor who simply mashed just about the whole year.

    Lou Marson is a distant 2nd although I’m keeping my fingers crossed that he gets a legitimate shot at the everyday job in Philly next year.

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  47. Taylor illistrates something we tend to forget. Don’t place too much importance in first year pro performance. All players have a different makeup and each needs to find his equilibrium as a pro in his own way and time.

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  49. Congrats to Lou, First major league hit! he’s been looking good behind the plate and looked very athletic going first to third. Not too shabby.

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  53. You might wanna sell your Coste stock. Shudda happened at all star break think Mr Lou will sleep tonight ???

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  55. That’s Marsonrific!!!

    Lou Marson has arrived gentlemen.

    Say hello to the Catcher of the Future. Next year I’m thinking a Ruiz/Marson platoon.

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  56. That’s crazy NEPP, the platoon is going to Lou Marson/Mou Larson. Larson looks just like Marson, but has a Sal Fasano quality Fu Manchu.

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  58. hr bb rbi
    Taylor DH 4 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 .286
    kissock 2inn no runs
    nice day for the farm hands

    stat notes check out Happ 1-3 inning for the Phils

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  59. Biggest Surprises:
    From Lakewood:
    1. Taylor
    2. Stutes, Cisco, Worley: 3 starred great in Lakewood
    3. Mattair
    From CLW:
    1. Continued performance of Taylor
    From Reading:
    1. Jason Donald & Lou Marson
    From LV:
    1. Leaving Happ in the minors too long…
    2. The promotion of Swindle to the Phillies

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  60. I’m a huge Claws fan…I really want but hoping it won’t inhibit their growth of starting: D’Arnaud, Stutes, Worley, Cisco in Lakewood just to start the season….b/c all of them are terrific.
    Hoping Lakewood gets Slate and DeFratus and a few other good ones from Williamsport & GCL next year!

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