Matt Vierling was selected as the organization’s #21 prospect. He received 48 of the 203 votes cast (24%). Deivi Grullon finished second receiving 39 votes (19%). Mauricio Llovera received 19 votes. Starlyn Castillo received 15 votes. Kyle Young received 12 votes.
I know some of you aren’t happy with this selection. But, aside from an increase in access via Twitter, there is no unusual traffic associated with this poll. (I have quite a few hundred followers there, and my tweets are almost exclusively Phuture Phillies). And, a couple days ago, Grullon and Vierling had 13 and 12 votes apiece. I have no reason to void this Readers’ Poll. We may not agree with the plurality here, but nobody questioned Grullon getting votes as early as #4 or other similarly odd tendencies during earlier polls.
Connor Brogdon received 9 votes.
Jhailyn Ortiz, Cole Irvin, and Christopher Sanchez received 8 votes.
Luke Leftwich received 7 votes. Josh Stephen received 4 votes each.
David Parkinson, Cornelius Randolph, Bailey Falter and Addison Russ received 3 votes.
Brett Schulze, Austin Listi, Darick Hall, and Colton Eastman received 2 votes each.
Dominic Pipkin, Victor Santos, Jamari Baylor, Ben Brown, Josh Hendrickson, and Guarner Dipre received 1 vote each.
Results, so far –
- Alec Bohm
- Spencer Howard
- Bryson Stott
- Erik Miller
- Mickey Moniak
- Francisco Morales
- Connor Seabold
- Ethan Lindow
- Adonis Medina
- Luis Garcia
- JoJo Romero
- Simon Muzziotti
- Rafael Marchan
- Damon Jones
- Johan Rojas
- Logan O’Hoppe
- Enyel De Los Santos
- Nick Maton
- Kevin Gowdy
- Kendall Simmons
- Matt Vierling
The total prospects on the ballot is forty-three.
Phuture Phillies 
I liked Matt Vierling as the 5th round pick a few years ago, and he even started hot last season at CLW…then really tailed off the second half. Hopefully he can come in this spring and be ready to go for the entire season. Assume he will start at CLW again.
Is he the 21st ranked Phillies prospect?
….IMO, he would have been ranked about 10/15 slots lower, in that area around 30/35.
Agreed Romus. I think the positive is in looking at the names that haven’t been picked yet. On their surface probably no stars (maybe Jamari Baylor) but quite a few names have really strong chances of being solid big leaguers especially on the pitching side.
you want a lottery ticket on a front end starter you got: Castillo and Pipkin maybe
You want mid to back end starters you got: Ben Brown, Glogoski, Llovera
Closer type stuff in Sanchez and Dohy. 7th 8th inning guys Brogdon, Russ
Deivi should be something close to an everyday catcher in the MLB not with us of course but a very suitable back-up. Listi has a chance to be a role player.
It’s looking pretty good.
Good assessment.
Luke Leftwich? He’s the current vote leader and I don’t get it. He is a 25 year-old who was absolutely hammered in AAA. I’ve got Grullon and then Llovera.
He was on the Family and Friends Plan last season…. or was it 2018?
One of those years if I recall..
Yeah, that’s what it sound like. More power to the Leftwich crew. It’s a public vote, so they can vote.
I’ll take one of Grullon and Llovera as well.
Well, Cole Irvin is up to 8 votes! I will continue to vote for him until he makes it.
Leftwich goes from 7 votes to 27 currently………….not buying it.
Went Castillo for his upside as stated above
Honestly … this year’s poll is beginning to remind me of American Idol the year people kept voting for Sanjaya as a joke.
Vote early and often….get your nephew in the top 30!
Castillo for me again.
Twasn’t me who did the early vote for Grullon, but I could see a quality catcher with power being a primary asset and therefore worthy of being voted for in the poll as early as #4, and if the total number of votes is around what it was the previous polls (which I think it was) perhaps complaints about ballot stuffing do a disservice to the poll winner. As a side note, I went to cast my current vote for Grullon yesterday and apparently I had already voted – at least my vote got rejected with the nice little note “apparently you have already voted. So – nice job with putting that screen in the polling software!
I got to see Grullon a bit last year and while he has a good bat not sure about his status as a defensive catcher. Maybe it’s me but he looks like he could drop a few lbs. Not real mobile.
With Grullon, there is a lot to like as he has become a power guy as a catcher.
However, the one thing that irks me about him….is his weight.
On the record he is listed at 6’1″, 180 lbs….come on!
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/grullde01.shtml
For the last 3/4 years he has probably tipped the scales at 220 lbs plus, all as a 20 to 23 year old player….and far from 6’1″.
That should not have happened….the Phillies should have seen to that.
Twins sent Sano down in the summer of 2018 to Ft Myers to lose the weight or else.
Phillies should have put restrictions on Grullon.
He turns 24 years old soon, and it probably would be to his benefit to shed the mid-section of 15/20 lbs.
.
Agree Rom, there are a lot of ifs with any prospect but this is one you would think be part of the plan.
With the exception of Lindow after the top 9 they are all a couple rolls of the dice of ever being significant big leaguers. I agree pitching is more valued on the bottom 20 or so that we pick. I know he is not a popular vote but I am hoping Ortiz can turn it on this year, even though I know he will have trouble making many of our top 30’s.