First round of a dozen spring cuts leaves Phillies with 49 players in big-league camp

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Enyel De Los Santos was among first dozen Phillies reassignments

The Philadelphia Phillies dropped an 8-2 decision on Monday to the visiting Tampa Bay Rays at Spectrum Field in Clearwater, Florida. With that game in the books the club has now officially passed the halfway point of its Grapefruit League schedule.

The Phillies record under the Florida sun sits at 9-7 following the defeat. They now have 14 games remaining on their schedule prior to heading back north for the March 28 regular season opener against the division-rival Atlanta Braves.

Following their game on Saturday, March 9, a first round of seven players were reassigned. After today’s game another round of five reassignments was announced. These dozen roster moves are part of the effort to cut down to the 25 players who will be in the home clubhouse at Citizens Bank Park on Opening Day.

Both 22-year-old pitcher Adonis Medina, who is the Phillies #2 prospect now per MLB Pipeline, and 21-year-old shortstop Arquimedes Gamboa, considered their#13 prospect, were optioned to Double-A Reading on Saturday.

Today the Phillies optioned pitchers Enyel De Los Santos, Austin Davis and Edgar Garcia to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. De Los Santos is the team’s #6 prospect and made his Major League Baseball debut last season, appearing in seven games and making two starts on the mound. Davis saw action in 32 games with the Phillies last season as a situational left-hander.

Reassigned to the minor league camp over the two days were pitchers Cole Irvin, JoJo Romero and Tyler Gilbert, catcher Deivy Grullon, first baseman Austin Listi, infielder Malquin Canelo and outfielder Mickey Moniak. Romero is the Phillies #7 prospect, Moniak #9 and Irvin #16 per MLB Pipeline.

Trio of anonymous players get the start in Phillies 2019 spring opener

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Austin Listi won the 2018 Paul Owens Award

It happens every year at this time. Major League Baseball teams open spring training camps and there are a number of players on hand about whom many fans have never heard.

The Philadelphia Phillies are no exception. So when the club announced the starting lineup for Friday afternoon’s first game of the 2019 Grapefruit League schedule, it was really no surprise to find that it contained a trio of such names.

The players trotting out onto the field at Charlotte Sports Park for the 1:30pm opener against the host Tampa Bay Rays will include first baseman Austin Listi, second baseman Andrew Romine and right fielder Shane Robinson.

Listi was the 2018 Paul Owens Award winner as the Phillies top performing minor league position player. The 25-year-old Texas native was the club’s 17th round choice in the 2017 MLB Amateur Draft out of Dallas Baptist University.

Splitting last season almost evenly between High-A Clearwater and Double-A Reading, Listi slashed .312/.412/.502 with 18 home runs, 84 RBI and a .915 OPS. He appeared in 34 games at first base and 31 games as a corner outfielder combined at the two levels, and even saw three games at third base with Reading. Listi went on to play in the Arizona Fall League where he slashed just .250/.321/.303 with Scottsdale.

Romine is a 33-year-old who has managed to appear in parts of nine big-league seasons despite just a .235/.291/.301 career slash line across 1,323 plate appearances.

The brother of New York Yankees backup catcher Austin Romine, Andrew has built his career on defensive versatility. He has appeared at every position on the diamond in Major League Baseball, including one game behind the plate and seven appearances on the mound.

MLB Pipeline names David Parkinson and Adam Haseley top 2018 Phillies prospects

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(Parkinson was a Phillies 2017 draftee out of Ol' Miss)

The writers at MLB Pipeline serve as the primary online resource for minor league prospect information and evaluation as presented by Major League Baseball.

In voting by their staff, outfielder Adam Haseley has been chosen as the Phillies Hitting Prospect of the Year and southpaw David Parkinson as the organizational Pitcher of the Year.

The 22-year-old Haseley is a lefty bat who was the Phillies first round pick at eighth overall in the 2017 MLB Amateur Draft out of the University of Virginia.

Haseley slashed .305/.361/.433 with 11 homers, 55 RBI and 77 runs over 512 plate appearances split between High-A Clearwater and Double-A Reading this season.

Parkinson will turn 23-years-old in mid-December and was the Phillies 12th round pick in that same 2017 MLB Amateur Draft out of the University of Mississippi.

The left-hander went 11-1 with a 1.45 ERA and 1.013 WHIP in 22 appearances, 21 of them starts, during the 2018 season. He allowed just 91 hits over 124.1 innings with a 141/35 K:BB ratio. 17 of his outings came with Low-A Lakewood and another five at High-A Clearwater.

The key for Parkinson was learning to more effectively utilize his curve. Jim Salisbury in Baseball America quoted Lakewood pitching coach Brad Bergesen:

“He learned to use it in and out of the strike zone, backdoor to a righty, back foot to a righty. He started to understand how to sequence it better. He’d use an elevated fastball off his curveball, and vice versa…David is very analytic and intelligent. He is advanced in game-planning and sequencing. His preparation is excellent. He has deception in his delivery. He knows his strengths and how they play against a hitter’s weakness. He’s never complacent and is always dedicated to finding a way to get better. The sky is the limit.”

The Phillies had previously honored Parkinson as one of their Paul Owens Award winners, which go to the top hitting and pitching prospects in the organization each year. Austin Listi captured the honors among position players.

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Congrats to 2018 BlueClaw David Parkinson and 2017 BlueClaw Austin Listi, named winners of the Paul Owens Award for top performers in the Phillies Minor League system. https://atmilb.com/2NzBve0 

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Sixto Sanchez pulled from Arizona Fall League by Phillies

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Play gets underway today in the Arizona Fall League, the annual fall showcase event for some of the top prospects from each organization in Major League Baseball.

The Philadelphia Phillies were scheduled to send eight players to participate in the AFL with the Scottsdale Scorpions squad: first baseman Darick Hall, third baseman Luke Williams, shortstop Arquimedes Gamboa, outfielder Austin Listi, and pitchers Luke Leftwich, Seth McGarry, Tyler Viza, and Sixto Sanchez.

However, just yesterday the Phillies announced that Sanchez, the club’s top prospect, was being pulled out of the league. The move appears to be largely cautionary in nature.

Sanchez turned 20-years-old at the end of July. He went 4-3 with a 2.51 ERA and 1.071 WHIP this past season with the High-A Clearwater Threshers. The right-hander allowed 39 hits over 46.2 innings across eight starts with a 45/11 K:BB ratio.

He was really beginning to heat up when the Phillies shut him down due to elbow discomfort following a start on June 3. In his previous four outings, Sanchez had gone 3-1 while allowing just 15 hits over 25.2 innings with a 29/4 K:BB ratio.

Sanchez would never return, and the AFL stint was going to give him a chance to get some more innings of work in before taking a break for the winter.

Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia described the circumstances of his removal from the Arizona Fall League as follows:

“Sanchez was firmly on the road to recovery and getting work in the Florida Instructional League when he recently came down with soreness in his right collarbone. Team medical officials are not alarmed by the issue and they are confident that Sanchez will be fully healthy and ready to go for spring training. However, the setback cut into Sanchez’s preparation time in Florida so the team has decided to err on the side of caution and hold him out of the AFL.”

The other seven Phillies prospects will open their Fall season tonight against the Mesa Solar Sox in Scottsdale, Arizona. The six teams of the AFL are divided into two divisions. Each is scheduled to play a 30-game schedule which ends on November 15, with a championship game scheduled between the two division leaders on November 17.

When healthy, Sanchez combines a 70-grade fastball with fantastic control and improving curveball and changeup offerings that have led to his being rated not only the Phillies top prospect, but also one of the most exciting arms in the entire sport.

He is currently ranked as the 21st overall prospect by MLB, and the #6 right-handed pitching prospect in the game. Assuming he is healthy in the spring, you should expect Sanchez to reach Double-A next season.

Again, given health, by spring training of 2020 when he will still be just 21-years-old it is likely that he will push for a spot in the Phillies starting rotation.

Originally published at Phillies Nation as "Phillies pull top prospect Sixto Sanchez as Arizona Fall League gets underway"

2018 Paul Owens Award winners as top Phillies minor leaguers

Paul Owens (center) was with Phillies for half-century
(Photo: Matthew Veasey)

The Philadelphia Phillies established the annual Paul Owens Award back in 1986 to recognize the top performing player and pitcher in their minor league organization.

The award was named in honor of Owens, the 10th person selected to the franchise Wall of Fame back in 1988, the first non-player enshrined there by the team.

Owens spent nearly a half-century with the organization from 1955 through his death in 2003 as a minor league player and coach, scout, farm director, manager, general manager, and executive.

The GM and architect of the 1980 World Series championship team, Owens also managed the club during two stints which included guiding the 1983 club to the National League pennant.

The winners of the 2018 Paul Owens Award were announced today. The pitching honors went to David Parkinson, while the hitter honors were bestowed upon Austin Listi.

Parkinson is a 22-year-old left-hander who was the Phillies selection in the 12th round of the 2017 MLB Draft out of the University of Mississippi. A 6-2, 210lb native of Henrico, Virginia, Parkinson went 11-1 across 22 games, 21 of them starts, in a season spent with stints at both High-A Clearwater and Double-A Reading. He allowed just 91 hits over 124.1 innings with a 141/35 K:BB ratio.

Listi also split his season between Clearwater and Reading. The 6-0, 218lb 24-year-old was the club’s 17th round MLB Draft choice a year ago. A native of Huffman, Texas, Listi slashed .312/.412/.502 with 18 homers, 25 doubles, 84 RBI, and 63 runs scored this year. A first baseman and outfielder on defense, Listi actually appeared in more games as a DH than at any defensive position.

Parkinson is currently ranked at #19 on the MLB.com list of top Phillies prospects. He ranked 18th on our own Phillies Nation top 20 Phillies prospects list published on August 8.

The well-respected prospect evaluator John Sickels of Minor League Ball commented in his August 22 review of the Phillies farm system that “Parkinson has gone from a Grade C into the B range somewhere with a brilliant season in A-Ball (1.43, 130/32 K/BB).”

Previous Paul Owens Award recipients include Wall of Famers Mike Lieberthal (1992) and Pat Burrell (1999). Also honored previously were 2008 World Series heroes Jimmy Rollins (1997), Ryan Madson and Chase Utley (both 2002), Cole Hamels and Ryan Howard (both 2003), and Howard again in 2004.

Current Phillies players to take home the honors include Maikel Franco (2013), J.P. Crawford (2014), Andrew Knapp (2015), Dylan Cozens and Rhys Hoskins (both 2016), and Scott Kingery (2017).

Originally published at Phillies Nation as "Phillies name 2018 Paul Owens award recipients"