The FIL is finally under way, games have been rained out for the most part so far, so reports have been limited to following players on twitter. Rather than break down the full list or just give you the list, here is somewhere in between. I am going to highlight a couple names to watch in each group (I am also splitting the VSL/DSL players out separately).
Pitchers:
James Buckley, Ranfi Casimiro, Zach Cooper, Delvy Francisco, Mitch Gueller, Jordan Guth, Nic Hanson, Deton Keys, Manaure Martinez, Mark Meadors, Will Morris, Nefi OGando, Yacksel Rios, Feliberto Sanchez, Matt Southard, Jessen Therrien, Tyler Viza, Kevin Walter
Andrew Anderson – Anderson is coming off a good statistical season, but the reports seem to be more pitchability than stuff. To me he seems like a Jonathan Pettibone starter kit with a decent fastball, a second above average pitch, a third average pitch, and a good clue how to use them. It is the secondary pitches that are the ones to watch most in instructs.
Daniel Child – Child found himself in Clearwater to end the season. He managed to put up good numbers despite low strikeout totals. A good fall and spring could fastrack him to the big leagues as a middle reliever.
Catcher:
Corey Bass, Deivy Grullon, Andrew Knapp
Jake Sweaney – Sweaney did not get off to great professional debut, but he has the raw tools to be an above average catcher. Having been a two sport athlete in HS he needs all the reps he can get. He is going to have to fight Grullon for playing time in XST and likely Williamsport next year so he needs to make the most of his opportunities.
Infielders:
Malquin Canelo, JP Crawford, Zach Green, Jan Hernandez, Andrew Pullin, Mitch Walding, Trey Williams
Luis Encarnacion – Encarnacion is listed as a infielder but if he stays in that group it is going to be at first base. He is likely to be overmatched this fall but it will good for him to start getting reps. The bat will have to carry him, but the good news is that it is what the Phillies paid for.
Art Charles – Teams rarely send non-prospects to instructs, but Charles has intriguing power. The numbers are down this year but nowhere suppresses power like Lakewood. He will be 23 this fall and so he will be old for hi-A, but the K rate is dropping and the walk rate is staying good. He won’t come near any list but he has the power and approach to put up silly minor league numbers at some point.
Outfielders:
Venn Biter, Dylan Cozens, Larry Greene, Jose Pujols, Cord Sandberg
Bryan Martelo – To be honest I had forgotten about Martelo, but the Phillies did give him $250,000 and he has a solid RF profile. He likely will go to the GCL next year where we will learn more. For now just getting some initial impressions of him would be nice.
Carlos Tocci – Tocci is likely to see very little game action as he is already exhausted, but it is good to see the Phillies doing some level of “debrief” with him. I would expect him to be working on his baserunning with some other work. You should see a lot of Biter and Sandberg manning CF this fall.
International Arrivals:
Edgar Campusano, Angel Meija, Ricardo Pinto, Alexis Rivero, Jesus Posso, Grenny Cumana, Carlos Duran
Freddy Zorrilla – The Phillies brought Zorrilla over this spring and many though he would stick in the GCL this year, but ultimately the Phillies sent him to the VSL. Zorrilla put together a decent season on the surface but he still walks at a low rate with a ton of strikeouts. The power still needs to come along but it is certainly a projectable frame.
Not on the Roster but In Florida:
Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez, Shane Watson, Roman Quinn
Phuture Phillies 
Bryan Martelo is a person I am, following. I was impressed by his saying that he wants to show how local Colombian baseball leagues can produce players of value. I am surprised not to see Jesus Chavez, who ate up the Venezuelan League with his stuff. Pinto and Duran had very good seasons in Venezuela. Encarnacion is, of course, of great interest. Casnelo obviously has impressed the coaches. They may want to see if they can push Knapp up to Clearwater this year. It was published that Zach Cooper is also in FIL..
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Cooper is buried in the pitcher list.
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I would not be surprised if Chavez is slated to start in the Mexican Winter League which starts in a week or two. He was a little old, but he did dominate and we have seen with Severino Gonzalez that dominance can mean something even if you are a year older than ideal.
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Is Encarnacian limited to 1st base? Any chance he could play LF? True that Howard would be long gone by the time he could arrive in the bigs. But having LF as one option gives him and the Phils better options. Supposedly he is not “flexible” so these two positions would be his limitations for arrival in 4-5 (?) seasons. Two options are better than one.
On Tocci: as you say he probably needs rest because of his youth and frame. Still, working on refining his on field techniques along with a muscle and weight gain over the winter might give us a guy whose limitations now will yield a stronger prospect soon and we could stop wondering just what he is as a prospect. If not now, when?
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The thought is that Encarnacion could at least come up as a LFer, I would be he is playing 3B right now, the footwork, arm, and body aren’t going to be there long term. He is going to be a guy that move down the defensive spectrum over time, but there is no reason to give him too much to worry about right now.
I don’t think they are going to put him on a weight plan this winter, but I would expect him to get larger (the thought being he is only 18, let him go home and mentally relax with next offseason as the time to really start adding on a lot). But it is absolutely critical he refines the rest of his game while we wait for the strength to arrive. Baserunning was something I have heard, I bet he is out shagging flies in CF while players take BP to work on his routes.
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Starting line up – Wright, Astudillo, Charles, Pullin, Crawford, Green, Wells, Revere, Zorrilla. Crawford lead off, but he didn’t bat again until the 5th because of all the extra hitters. Cozens hit a wind-aided homerun out of the stadium to right-center. After Wright – Anderson, Southard, Pinto, Ogando, Therrien, Walter, and Francisco pitched. After 5 batters and 1 out in the top of the ninth, they had thrown a combined 189 pitches (98 strikes). Pinto, Ogando, and Therrien were the most effective. They weren’t scoring errors, but I counted 5 – Astudillo (throw), Crawford (throw, fielding), Revere (throw), Williams (throw from first to home). Revere’s was the most egregious. He launched a throw from 40 feet behind the infield dirt that was 20 feet up the third base line. He also isn’t running well. He was 0-3 with two bouncers back to the pitcher. Jan Hernandez hit a home run to right-center. Bass, Crawford, Williams, Canelo, and Cumana also made solid contact as they came back to tie the game at 8 in the eighth.
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Thanks Jim for the report.
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good to see astudillo back, but i didn’t see him on the roster. how did walter look?
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He looked okay. Eight of 11 first pitch strikes. Two walks, 2 Ks. Caught a bad break on the triple he gave up in his second inning, flare down the left field line that Biter dove for and missed. Biter was slow getting up to retrieve the ball. He may have thought it was a foul ball.
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Julsan Kamara?
Article is not certain if complete list is found within . Is it? If not where can it be found?
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This is the complete list as of a week ago when I received it. Some guys who had been injured have been added like Astudillo who are more there as rehab, you should also see cameos by the AFL guys as they get ready.
Julsan is currently in Germany finishing up high school, he should be stateside in spring 2014
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Benny Looper on Kamara:
The ball comes off his bat well and we think there is potential power there,” said Benny Looper, the Phillies assistant general manager, player personnel. “He has general athleticism and we are hoping that translates to a good baseball player.” “He hasn’t played a lot and with a lot of international signings he needs to be taught how to play the game,” Looper said. “He has good tools and we are looking forward to working with him”.
…translation – a toolsy guy, but fortunately, not a number one draft choice
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He is essentially the equivalent of one of the Phillies toolsy HS draft picks from a town with little competition. Always happy to have them in the system, you just don’t want to be spending premium resources on them
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