Top prospect lists do a good job of showing the minor league talent in an organization. However, the cut off can arbitrarily cut off players who have graduated, but are important part of the organization’s young core. Given the small sample size nature of the spring I am not altering my Top 30 for this list.
So here is the list:
1. Maikel Franco
2. Jesse Biddle
3. J.P. Crawford Continue reading Top 10 Under 25
The extended spring was released today. I have posted it here for you:
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Players:
Cody Asche – 23 – MLB
Maikel Franco – 21 – AAA (1)
Harold Martinez – 23 – AA
Anthony Phillips – 23 – A+
Zach Green – 20 – A- (16)
Mitch Walding – 21 – A-
Jan Hernandez – 19 – SS (24)
Trey Williams – 20 – SS
Luis Encarnacion – 16 – Rk (15) Continue reading Positional Preview Third Base
Baseball Betsy has been providing updates on the injury from her site.
Players:
Jimmy Rollins – 35 – MLB
Freddy Galvis – 24 -MLB
Andres Blanco – 29 – AAA
Troy Hanzawa – 28 – AAA
Edgar Duran – 23 – AA
Roman Quinn – 20 – A+ (7)
Casey Serna -24 – A+
J.P. Crawford – 19 – A- (3)
Robinson Torres – 22 – A-
Malquin Canelo – 19 – SS (28)
Damaso Gonzalez – 17 – Rk
Grenny Cumana – 18 – Rk
Hugo Arrocha – 18 – Rk
Players:
Chase Utley – 35 – MLB
Cesar Hernandez – 23 – AAA (18)
Albert Cartwright – 26 – AA
Carlos Alonso – 26 – AA
Angelo Mora – 21 – A+
Samuel Dove – 23 – A-
Andrew Pullin – 20 – A- (29)
Jair Morelos – 20 – SS
Positional Overview: True second base prospects are a rare breed, because they must be able to play a physically demanding position and hit enough to be major league regulars. Unless they can fake shortstop their floors are off of major league rosters, and so it means they are undervalued until they can show that major league ceiling. The Phillies have been blessed with one of the best second basemen of the past 10 years in Chase Utley. Utley is now into the decline phase of his career and the search for a suitable replacement is on the horizon. The system really only has two guys in that discussion; Cesar Hernandez is near major league ready, but there are plenty of questions about whether the bat can play as a major league regular, and further away is Andrew Pullin who is still getting used to playing the position.
Players:
Ryan Howard -34 – MLB
Darin Ruf – 27 – MLB
Jim Murphy – 28 – AAA
Cody Overbeck – 27 – AAA
Brock Stassi – 24 – AA
Chris Serritella – 24 – A+
Art Charles – 23 – A+
William Carmona – 23 – A+
Wilmer Oberto – 21 – A- Continue reading Positional Preview – First Base
With the major league club falling apart (almost literally), it turns to the minor league system to provide the optimism in 2014. The problem is that the farm system is not good right now. Ranking wise, it has been as high as 14, but for the most part it settles in the 20-25 range. The good news is that it is trending up and with the right set of circumstances it could come close to the top farm systems in the game.
Lets start by looking at the makeup of the Top 5 farm systems in Baseball America’s Handbook (Top 100 rankings included, these rankings may differ due to the BA ranking process). Continue reading Road to a Top Farm System
This January, Mike Buttil of Razzball reached out to me about answering some questions for a fantasy baseball preview on the Phillies. The article is now out and you should go read it here.
I thought I would take this opportunity to dive into the world of fantasy baseball. I am a huge fan of deep dynasty leagues and I keep most of my writing on that to my personal site. But for now we are going to take a brief look at the Phillies farm system in terms of short and long term fantasy baseball. Continue reading A Quick Step Into Fantasy (Baseball)
A busy morning for the Phils who announced several roster moves. C Lou Marson was released. P Kenny Giles, P Cesar Jiminez and SS Andres Blanco were re-assigned to minor league camp. OF Zach Collier, OF Tyson Gillies, P Jeremy Horst and C Tommy Joseph were optioned to minor league camp. I wouldn’t characterize any of these moves as a surprise absent mild surprise at Marson’s release. Thinking of that as a positive, maybe the Phils are feeling more comfortable with Tommy Joseph’s health.
Phuture Phillies 