2023 Phuture Phillies Readers’ Vote: #3 Prospect

2023 Reader Top 30

We’ll move on to the Readers’ Top Thirty vote for the #3 prospect.

Abel’s spot in the poll will be filled by Brett Schulze.

 

12 thoughts on “2023 Phuture Phillies Readers’ Vote: #3 Prospect”

  1. I’ve seen your requests that I add players. I expected this pushback but also thought I might get a little, “What’s this guy doing on a poll?” for one of the guys I did include in the #2 and #3 polls.

    As for your requests –
    I think Damon Jones at 28 is too old to be considered a prospect. The only guy I would consider at that age (or older) would be Noah Song because of his special circumstance, but not until he comes off active duty.

    Kendall Simmons, Justin Viars, Jean Cabrera, Yemal Flores, and Dominic Pipkin are all young and I will reconsider including them. Ethan Wilson is not so young. It would help if more people would pitch in their support either for or against these guys and others in the comments section.

    Regarding Bryan Rincon – he had a terrible 12-game season in the FCL but looked good during Instructs. I don’t know if I can put a .177 hitter on a poll. He did have 4 XBH (2 doubles, 2 HR) among his 6 hits with the FCL, though.

    Since I’m limiting choices on polls to 10-20 prospects, that means that even some of the 60-plus guys I included in my opening prospect list won’t make it to a poll. Any suggestions I add to the polling process will push others out.

    I fully expect to have to drop promising DSL players from polls in favor of the guys who have better name recognition and not-so-promising careers so far.

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    1. What are the goals to consider when voting?

      Highest career war expected?
      1st to crack the starting lineup?
      Highest War for the first , 3 yrs after cracking ML lineup?
      Best toolset for success ?

      All of the above? !!

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      1. Very subjective. My value of Rojas’ 20% chance of becoming a stud may be the same as your value of his 80% chance of becoming a journeyman utility player. There’s no consensus on evaluation standards with polls. Someone votes on looks…who can quantify the results. Fun maybe, but not scientific to say the least.

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  2. I went with Griff. I read what Jim posted, and I wavered on my pick. But, until I see Rojas hit a little bit, I couldn’t put him at #3. Crawford is too new for me, and I considered Lee Hao Yu also, but I think the way the organization has raved about McGarry’s stuff, I am going to take a leap of faith, and think he improves his command issues.

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    1. I agree with all of this. There is no doubt that Rojas is an absolutely electric athlete with all the physical skills you could want, including amazing fielding ability and extraordinary base running capabilities. But his hit tool is still suspect and I don’t know why people say his walk rates are good, but they aren’t good – not at all. He walked 38 times in 556 PA this year – which translates to a kind of bad .309 overall OBP, although he was better in Reading and better again in the AFL. Ultimately, to be a productive big league player, he is going to need to find a way to get on base on at least a .330 or .340 clip to make use of his running skills. As for McGarry, it’s all about control. His pure stuff is as good or better than anyone’s in the entire organization – yes, including Painter and even including Wheeler and Nola. But his control, while improving, is not yet good. My view is that, when he is ready for the big leagues he should start in the big leagues as a reliever and work with Cotham and he can then transition to a starter as and when he is ready to start and when the need is there.

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  4. I’m closing the poll after 98 votes. Grif McGarry received 50% of the votes cast. Johan Rojas edged Justin Crawford for second place in this poll.

    The next poll will be up tomorrow morning.

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  5. Final results –

    Griff McGarry: 49 votes, 50%
    Johan Rojas: 21 votes, 21.43%
    Justin Crawford: 19 votes, 19.39%
    Carlos De La Cruz: 2 votes, 2.04%
    Andrew Baker: 2 votes, 2.04%
    Gabriel Ricones: 1 vote, 1.02%
    Rickardo Perez: 1 vote, 1.02%
    Lee Hao Yu: 1 vote, 1.02%
    Dalton Guthrie; 1 vote, 1.02%
    William Bergolla: 1 vote, 1.02%

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    1. I think the top 5 are pretty obvious (with Crawford and Rojas in some order) but after that things will open up all over the place.

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  6. I went with Rojas but I am fine with McGarry. I know some of you think he may be first to make it to the big leagues if he can harness his control.

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    1. McGarry seems like Andrew Baker plus 1 yr?

      They seem like they have several/many guys either ready to turn on the switch and progress or flounder into oblivion. A couple are coming off injuries such as McGowan.

      Baker and McGarry both need control!, but what I read from “the fan” says that the instructors and coaching staff are trending towards having them throw toward the middle and allow movement to effect hittability. Probably not a bad idea till they get better command, but command should be the gospel. Nolan Ryan was much more effective after 30 than before.

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      1. No, not really. Yes, they both struggle with control but McGarry has starter stuff and starter stamina. McGarry has like 3 or 4 potentially plus pitches. Baker, right now and probably into the future, is a pure reliever. He throws gas and is working on a breaking pitch. If Baker can throw strikes with his FB and show a decent breaking pitch, he will progress rapidly through the system, but his ceiling is lower (due to his projected role). McGarry’s bar will be higher, although, as I said, he may start as a reliever, but his ceiling is much higher than Baker’s because of his potential role as a starter.

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