I went Walding as well. Wasn’t much that excited me w/ what’s left. As scary as it sounds I even gave a brief consideration to Greene. I just couldn’t do it,though.
K/9 below 7 isn’t terribly inspiring. That he made it through a full year starting is a good sign, as his small frame is a concern in the longterm, so he’s worth keeping an eye on. I think he’ll likely wind up in the bullpen eventually, and if his stuff ticks up in short bursts, that could be useful. I have him around 40 on my list.
My last two would be Wright and Hiciano. Wright struggled a little last year, but did well in the fall and has a great arm and good upside. With things being as they are with starting pitching depth I wish he could transition back to starting but if not, he still could be a really nice lefty reliever.
As for Hiciano, I’ve got a sense we might have a really interesting multi-talented player here with good pop. Of course, I thought the same thing about Gauntlett Eldemire, who turned out to be a pretty bad player, but with an awesome name.
catch…I think the Phillies have determined that ship has sailed as for Wright trying to transistion back to a starter. I would have liked them to stay with him longer as a starter….maybe if Morgan doesn’t come around they may try it again.
Weird, I wrote a comment and it doesn’t appear to have posted.
I’m going Collier, then (as foreshadowed) Larry Greene Jr. as Mr. Irrelevant. I still think his one big tool, power, should earn him a place at the back of the Top 30, as a I don’t think any of these other guys have shown even one potential major league tool. Maybe Walding’s defense at 3B, which I think is supposedly quite good. But anyway, as I’ve argued before, Greene had decent numbers at Williamsport two years ago, and if there is even a tiny slight chance that his problems last year were strongly related to his physical fitness, that’s a problem that could be addressed through better training/nutrition/self-discipline. That’s something that players like, say, Marlon Byrd have been able to do. (Although of course, there may be some other “nutritional” contributors when it comes to Byrd.)
Matt has made the case that including Greene is the Top 30 at this juncture is purely wishful thinking. And that’s probably true. But at this point on the list, it’s all just wishful thinking for me–I don’t know much about guys like Hiciano or Tromp, which may just be indicative of my habit of skipping over the DSL box scores.
Gueller for me at this point. Athletic and uninjured are more important than the lack of pitchability. He has been very disappointing, though he still has better stuff than all but the top 4 or 5 other arms in the system.
Reports were more that he was inconsistent. One day showing mid 90s velocity and the next barely hitting 90. While this could always be an unannounced injury, mechanics are an equally plausible scenario. We put too much importance on small sample size performance from really young players, especially pitchers. We are talking our 29th prospect here and I tend to go with the higher end tools over performance at this point.
Hiciano and Tromp look fine, but they’re the #3 and #4 hitters by OPS from Williamsport. By contrast, we have no Williamsport Pitchers on our list so far. 19 year old CF Herlis Rodriguez, the top (.970) OPS hitter for the GCL Phillies, is not yet on our list, and we have no GCL pitchers. At Lakewood, Willie Carmona and Art Charles hit like Tromp and Hiciano (they’re reasonably in the #40-50 range), and we have put only Shane Watson on the list among the pitchers. At Reading, we’ve omitted Gillies who had numbers like Tromp and Hiciano – because he should have had them at LV. Our only pitcher from Clearwater is Kenny Giles, where Milner was arguably the top performer. I’d put Herlis over either Tromp or Hiciano as the next hitter, and Milner as the next pitcher.
Rodriguez is the same age as Hiciano and started the year at a lower level. He also didn’t seem to flash any intriguing power or speed tools. Carmona and Charles are 1B, and both are older than most true prospects at that level. Gillies was 25 in Reading, showed no power and offers little projection.
To compare them, it seems like you’re ignoring age and positional value as well as underlying numbers. Herlis Rodriguez hit well in the GCL but it was buoyed by a high BABIP.
Not true. Herlis is 9 mo younger than Tromp, 5 mo younger than Hiciano. He has more positional value as a centerfielder. And if you look at the underlying K rate, Herlis looks much better than he other two.
GCL and Williamsport are the two lowest levels of the minors- you have to have a ton of upside to compensate for the lack of proximity. It’s even harder for low-level pitchers because of TINSTAAPP. We just don’t have pitchers with the upside to justify ranking them when they’re so far away.
Phuture Phillies 
wide open for Hoby Milner!
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Milner , or Walding right
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Hiciano.
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Yes walding
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I went Walding as well. Wasn’t much that excited me w/ what’s left. As scary as it sounds I even gave a brief consideration to Greene. I just couldn’t do it,though.
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Final two: Gabriel Lino and Zach Collier.
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Hiciano. Go take a glance at his numbers. He double jumped, (probably should have played GCL in 2012), and he’s got some real power.
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Wow we have a strong system if Milner can’t crack the top 30.
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K/9 below 7 isn’t terribly inspiring. That he made it through a full year starting is a good sign, as his small frame is a concern in the longterm, so he’s worth keeping an eye on. I think he’ll likely wind up in the bullpen eventually, and if his stuff ticks up in short bursts, that could be useful. I have him around 40 on my list.
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My last two would be Wright and Hiciano. Wright struggled a little last year, but did well in the fall and has a great arm and good upside. With things being as they are with starting pitching depth I wish he could transition back to starting but if not, he still could be a really nice lefty reliever.
As for Hiciano, I’ve got a sense we might have a really interesting multi-talented player here with good pop. Of course, I thought the same thing about Gauntlett Eldemire, who turned out to be a pretty bad player, but with an awesome name.
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catch…I think the Phillies have determined that ship has sailed as for Wright trying to transistion back to a starter. I would have liked them to stay with him longer as a starter….maybe if Morgan doesn’t come around they may try it again.
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Like many so prospects, he just wasn’t able to run the Gauntlett.
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Ack, this joke was meant to be posted to the comment above. WHOMP WHOMP WHOMP [sad trombone]
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I went canelo here.
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Weird, I wrote a comment and it doesn’t appear to have posted.
I’m going Collier, then (as foreshadowed) Larry Greene Jr. as Mr. Irrelevant. I still think his one big tool, power, should earn him a place at the back of the Top 30, as a I don’t think any of these other guys have shown even one potential major league tool. Maybe Walding’s defense at 3B, which I think is supposedly quite good. But anyway, as I’ve argued before, Greene had decent numbers at Williamsport two years ago, and if there is even a tiny slight chance that his problems last year were strongly related to his physical fitness, that’s a problem that could be addressed through better training/nutrition/self-discipline. That’s something that players like, say, Marlon Byrd have been able to do. (Although of course, there may be some other “nutritional” contributors when it comes to Byrd.)
Matt has made the case that including Greene is the Top 30 at this juncture is purely wishful thinking. And that’s probably true. But at this point on the list, it’s all just wishful thinking for me–I don’t know much about guys like Hiciano or Tromp, which may just be indicative of my habit of skipping over the DSL box scores.
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Both Hiciano and Tromp were in Crosscutter box scores last year. Tromp was an all-star. Hiciano was there late, but racked up a good hitting resume.
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Scrap heap time. Which of last year’s failed sleepers shall I choose?
Went with Walding. Not with much confidence, but a degree appropriate to 29th in the system.
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Gueller for me at this point. Athletic and uninjured are more important than the lack of pitchability. He has been very disappointing, though he still has better stuff than all but the top 4 or 5 other arms in the system.
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Does he? I had read last year that he wasn’t really showing the fastball that helped get him drafted.
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Reports were more that he was inconsistent. One day showing mid 90s velocity and the next barely hitting 90. While this could always be an unannounced injury, mechanics are an equally plausible scenario. We put too much importance on small sample size performance from really young players, especially pitchers. We are talking our 29th prospect here and I tend to go with the higher end tools over performance at this point.
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Hiciano and Tromp look fine, but they’re the #3 and #4 hitters by OPS from Williamsport. By contrast, we have no Williamsport Pitchers on our list so far. 19 year old CF Herlis Rodriguez, the top (.970) OPS hitter for the GCL Phillies, is not yet on our list, and we have no GCL pitchers. At Lakewood, Willie Carmona and Art Charles hit like Tromp and Hiciano (they’re reasonably in the #40-50 range), and we have put only Shane Watson on the list among the pitchers. At Reading, we’ve omitted Gillies who had numbers like Tromp and Hiciano – because he should have had them at LV. Our only pitcher from Clearwater is Kenny Giles, where Milner was arguably the top performer. I’d put Herlis over either Tromp or Hiciano as the next hitter, and Milner as the next pitcher.
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Rodriguez is the same age as Hiciano and started the year at a lower level. He also didn’t seem to flash any intriguing power or speed tools. Carmona and Charles are 1B, and both are older than most true prospects at that level. Gillies was 25 in Reading, showed no power and offers little projection.
To compare them, it seems like you’re ignoring age and positional value as well as underlying numbers. Herlis Rodriguez hit well in the GCL but it was buoyed by a high BABIP.
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Not true. Herlis is 9 mo younger than Tromp, 5 mo younger than Hiciano. He has more positional value as a centerfielder. And if you look at the underlying K rate, Herlis looks much better than he other two.
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GCL and Williamsport are the two lowest levels of the minors- you have to have a ton of upside to compensate for the lack of proximity. It’s even harder for low-level pitchers because of TINSTAAPP. We just don’t have pitchers with the upside to justify ranking them when they’re so far away.
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Hiciano then Canelo then 31 Nunez
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Voting Munson for one last time.
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Mitch Walding? Haven’t been following each pick. Was there a plane crash or something?
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Yeah just saw that. Walding in the top 30 is kinda puzzling.
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You must not know much about the young 6 3″ frame with a sweet swing and gold glove defense at 3rd base. Big year for Waldo
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Wish this year he would take that sweet swing from the batting cage and translate it to real game action.
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