32 thoughts on “Phillies Instructional League Roster as of September 16, 2014”

1. First look at the young (16yo) LA players they signed this Summer. Exciting stuff.
   Thanks for getting the list.

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   1. Most of the likely prospects missing from the FIL roster are Latin kids who I assume will play in the winter leagues—Alezones, A. Rivero, Joes Mecias (on the DL most of the year), Cuicas, Marte, Canelo, Tocci, Hiciano, Tromp.
      Others probably because they (like Pullin, in the FIL to work on a position change?) already played a full schedule onver the summer–Viza, Yackawl Rios, Zach Green.

      But there are others I for one anticipated would be on the roster–guys who didn’t get much work because they spent most of the year on the DL–Drew Anderson, Thornhill. Maybe some from the DSL & VSL are not deemed young & not ready–like Luis Mendoza, Edwin Rodriquez.

      But some omissions are flat out surprising, at least IMO, because they seem likely to figure in the Phillies plans for the future—Denton Keys, Jesus Posso, Jose Pujols.

      What the roster emphasizes is the marked tendency of the Phillies to depend more on international signings (the new MLB rules are well suited to the Phillies “Branch Rickey theory” of strong scouts signing quantity consistently, giving small bonuses to a lot of very young kids not getting the spotlight yet—the Phillies operate three academies, two in the DR, and the Rickey approach makes even more sense scouting 14-16 year old kids in 3rd world circumstances than in did for his Cardinals & Dodgers in the Great Depression & immediate post-WW2 years).
      More than half the FIL roster (most of it other than the 2014 draft signings) are international signings, IAT those who are anticipated to play winter ball.

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      1. I believe you’ve made a similar statement before- what gives you the impression the Phils are operating two Dominican academies?

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2. First thing I noticed is the depth of pitching talent (Imhof, Leibrandt, Suarez, etc.). Will be very interesting to follow.

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3. Wow, pretty shocked to see Nola and Crawford on this list, particularly Nola since I thought they were shutting him down.

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   1. Reports I’ve read in the paper say he is just there to work on things like fielding. He won’t pitch.

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   2. JP said he was going there to work on his backhand and Nola said he was going to work on pick off move. Great opportunity to work on specific things for these guys. Lots of really young guys showing up. Sometimes its more interesting to see who is not there. I’m glad Pullin is there and we know why (26…)

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      1. About time someone realizes he needs to work on his fielding. Said he’s working on his backhand. Guess that’s because he has limited range to the 5 hole as I have been saying for months. At least he realizes his limitations.

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         1. What exactly is your beef with crawford? Everyone needs to work on something but your disdain for him seems somewhat personal?

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            1. Yeah, it’s been some time since I’ve been as annoyed by a poster as I am by the “Anonymous Crawford Hater.” Dude, what is your problem? Crawford is, by quite some distance, the best prospect this team has had since Cole Hamels. If you forced me by gunpoint to predict who the Phillies all-time hits leader will be in 2035, I honestly would pick Crawford and not Jimmy Rollins. And this from a prospect who has his glove as a carrying tool – a legitimate credential as I’ve seen him glide effortless to balls in person; the guy will be a superb major league fielder.

               You are both an ass and a moron – so stop it already. If you want to pick on bad prospects there are plenty around to choose from, but J.P. Crawford is not among them.

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               1. 2 Comments:

                  1. I think you are putting Crawford in a catogory that he shouldnt be in . . . everything I’ve read says that even if he reaches his ceiling he won’t be as good as Rollins. I understand he could always go above and beyond what scouts think however I’ve yet to see anyone say he could be better than Rollins.

                  2. Did anyone else see Crawfords extended interview with Scott Palmer (Trying to find it)? Palmer asked what has been the biggest adjustment in terms of hitting did you make going from HS to professional baseball? Crawford said “I’m facing pitchers who throw good off speed pitches on a more consistent level. It’s not so much hitting fastballs bc I’ve seen for the most part the same velocity playing wit Yac West which was a showcase team I played with”. That’s not word for word but close.

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               2. Agreed on everything but the all-time hits leader comment…let’s temper our expectations. I like the enthusiasm, but whoa nelly.

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               3. The Rollins comp is silly in the same way that ANY comp between a prospect in A ball and a near hall of fame player at the end of his career is silly. Even setting aside “ceiling,” 2000 plus games at SS is pretty rare. The chance that Crawford will match that is low.

                  On ceiling, though, I would say:

                  Base running – clearly Crawford’s ceiling is lower than Rollins’ actual accomplishments.
                  Defense – Crawford’s ceiling may be as high as Rollins’ accomplishments, but likely he’ll end up lower.

                  BUT as a hitter, I would say that Crawford’s ceiling is CLEARLY higher than Rollins’ actual performance. Rollins, as much as I like him, has been roughly a league average hitter, even a tad below. Crawford certainly could be better than that.

                  The Phillies hits record, though, is unlikely. A LOT would have to go right to make that happen.

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               4. Guys, of course, any time you project a prospect in high A ball, no matter how good he looks at the time, the odds dictate that it’s not likely he’s going to become the all-time hits leader of an established franchise and so, naturally, there are numerous reasons why the odds say that Crawford will not achieve that peak, including the fact that he may be traded or leave as a free agent or get injured, or lose his focus (see Hanley Ramirez), or, just not be nearly that good. The list goes on and on.

                  That said, personally, I feel that Crawford is going to be a special player and I think he’s got as good of chance to be the type of player I described above as anybody we’ve seen on this team in a long, long time.

                  When I think about Crawford, it brings to mind the give and take between the Yankees’ top scout and the general manager before they drafted Derek Jeter. The issue at the time was whether Jeter was going to play professional baseball or, instead, play college ball, I believe at Michigan (he’s from Kalamazoo). When the brass of the Yankees asked where “Jeter was going” – meaning college or pro baseball – the scout’s response was “Cooperstown.”

                  I’m not suggesting that Crawford is HOF bound (that’s even a bigger stretch than being the Phils’ all-time hits leader) – but I think this kid’s ceiling is absolutely huge and I like everything I’ve been seeing and reading about how he is going about his business of playing and improving himself. And don’t be surprised if you look up in 2031 and find that Crawford has caught up to J. Roll in the Phils hits category. It could easily happen.

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         2. you give anonymous a bad name

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         3. We are not entertained

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4. No Morgan? I thought the Phils were planning to have him pitch in instructs.

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   1. This is only guys on actual roster, there are always more guys down there who will appear in games as “rehab”. Morgan tweeted yesterday that he was putting on a uniform to pitch

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      1. Do you know if Biddle will be pitching in the florida instructional league? I read that he would be according to an article on the phillies website a week or two ago.

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      2. I am guessing there are another 10-15 guys down there and just not on the list because they are really not official games. Alezones is likely down there for instance even if he will pitch a little in Venezuela this winter. He is probably ticketed to short season next year so instructionals plus 30 IP in a winter league is not too much for him.

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5. Interesting, well to me at least, that no Tocci. Don’t remember the specifics of the article but I thought there was discussion of him hanging around for supervised workouts. Or maybe they just said “your skills are fine, here’s a dump truck of protein powder – go forth and grow”.

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   1. I read that the plan for him was weight gain this offseason. No mention of instructs or winter ball as part of the plan.

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6. Appreciate your continued good work Jim.
   First thing that I noticed from the spreadsheet….players heights and weights seem to be pretty upfront, accurate and informative.

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7. Alastre listed at 6’1″ and 157lbs. Pardon the pun but that seems like he is Tocci Lite

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   1. He better be careful or Scott Harris may eat him. I hadn’t even really noticed the height/weight but it’s one of the great things about baseball. You can have a Scott Harris (6’4″, 251) playing right alongside a Grenny Cumana (5’5″, 150). Yup – these are the things we chat about when the minor league season is over:) Come on AFL!!

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      1. The reason I like to look at hts/wts, and in particular the Latin kids, is to see their potential growth.
         I guess it is the Tocci-effect.
         I look at someone like a 17-year old Luis Encarnacion at 6’3″, 227 lbs and see some future power tool, especially if he chisels his size. Though he is slow afoot and limited to maybe 1st or LF someday, the power tool intirgues me.

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         1. I guess it doesn’t always work. Point of fact, Larry Greene. Is he on the list above? What can he learn in instructs? Larry, this is a baseball. This is a bat. Bat hits baseball. Baseball goes miles and miles. Put me in coach. I’m ready to play, today…

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            1. Unfortuanely, Larry Greene, even with the size, not sure chiseled physique, did not have the luxury of playing baseball continually from 5/6-years old and up and through the year, like the Latin kids have. After football, I assume baseball was his next sport, and that, my guess, started also later in his childhood, and then he was in a HS league that wasn’t as competitive as many others.

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      2. Cumana’s height is somewhere between Eddie Goddell’s and Dylan Cozens’. Speaking of Cozen’s, ?U@ buddy?

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   2. Chase Utley was 6’1″ and 185 in college. Very possible Alastre ends up around that size in 4 years which is plenty. He already has one important Utley skill – the HBP. 22 last year in 252 PA. So at 157 he must be pretty tough already.

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   3. he is technically bigger than Tocci but not as tall, either way not everybody needs to be made of granite and 220 pounds , if you play shortstop or second or a position where speed is beneficial than its not so such a big deal until you step up to bat and then without size / strength you could end up a fourth outfielder or utility infielder, and I would say its easy to bulk up and get strong than to become a good hitter and have the baseball instincts he has , that being said I would be lying if I said I wasnt a little disappointed this year in what Tocci did , I know young and all that but that why I said somewhat and not really disappointed

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8. I am excited to hear about Suarez. Hopefully, the coaches give him a lot of attention.

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