How long can Andy MacPhail survive as Phillies organization again ranked poorly?

Embed from Getty Images

After four years, MacPhail's organization stuck in neutral

The folks at Baseball America collectively produce one of the most respected all-around resources in the game. They are well known for their prospect, draft and minor league coverage. And they also provide some of the best coverage of the deeper issues involving all aspects of the game.

Baseball America is also really good at coming up with lists and rankings. They regularly provide updated rankings lists of the top prospects in each organization. They also do overall organizational rankings as well, which reflect the state of each club’s minor league talent situation.

The Philadelphia Phillies were ranked just 23rd among the 30 big-league organizations prior to the 2019 season. Now the Baseball America organizational ranking has been updated, as they note: “taking the 2019 MLB Draft, our updated Top 100 and new team Top 30s into consideration.”

Those newly considered factors did not help the Phillies. In fact, the organization has now dropped two places, down to just 25th among 30 clubs in Major League Baseball.

Only five organizations are rated lower right now, including the division rival New York Mets just behind in the 26th spot. The Washington Nationals are just ahead of both, sitting in the #24 slot.

The Atlanta Braves embarrassment of prospect riches continues to grow. The defending NL East champions and current division leaders are now ranked in the #3 position. Meanwhile, the rebuilding Miami Marlins have entered the top ten in the #10 spot.

With third baseman Alec Bohm at #37 and pitcher Spencer Howard coming in at #68, the Phillies have just two of the current Baseball America top 100 prospects. It’s not only BA thinking poorly of the Phillies top-level minor league talent. MLB Pipeline currently has just Bohm (36) and pitcher Adonis Medina (75) among their top 100 prospects. Bohm (54), Howard (56) and Medina (71) show up among the current Fangraphs top 100 prospects.

By contrast, the Braves have a half-dozen in the Baseball America top 100, including three youngsters rated higher than Bohm. Both MLB and Fangraphs have the Braves with five on their lists, with four of those ranking higher than any Phillies prospect.

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

Embed from Getty Images
(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.

Lakewood BlueClaws

✔@BlueClaws

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 

2:16 PM - Sep 11, 2018

• 14
• See Lakewood BlueClaws's other Tweets

Twitter Ads info and privacy

Ben Pelletier named as short-season Williamsport Crosscutters POY

Crosscutters take the field in a 2018 game
(Photo by Ruhrfisch has been cropped/shrunk)

The Williamsport Crosscutters became the Class A-Short Season minor league affiliates of the Philadelphia Phillies following the 2006 season.

The Crosscutters play their home games in a facility known as  BB&T Ballpark at Historic Bowman Field. It is currently the second-oldest ballpark in minor league baseball, having opened way back in 1926.

Williamsport is located in north-central Pennsylvania, approximately 180 miles from Philadelphia. It’s about a three-and-a-half hour drivefrom the Philly area using either I-76 or I-476.

In this recently completed 2018 season the Crosscutters finished at 32-44, tied for fifth (last) place in the Pinckney Division of the New York-Penn League.

This year’s Crosscutters Player of the Year is Ben Pelletier. The 6-2, 190lb left fielder turned 20 years old in late August. He was the 34th round selection of the Phillies in the 2015 MLB Amateur Draft out of high school in his native Canada.

Pelletier began the season playing for the Phillies Gulf Coast League East affiliate. He was promoted to short-season Williamsport on June 15.

Over 286 plate appearances across 69 games with the Crosscutters, Pelletier slashed .277/.333/.480 this season. His nine home runs, 45 RBI, and 29 runs scored led Williamsport in each of those offensive categories. In mid-August, Pelletier was named the New York-Penn League’s Player of the Week.

Back in early August, Mitch Rupert at the Sun-Gazette quoted Pelletier on how pitchers have changed their approach with him as the successful season unfolded: “I think I see more and more junk every day. I started the season seeing fastballs. But I’m seeing more off-speed than I did last year or the years before. I have to get used to it a little bit.”

Williamsport manager Pat Borders was quoted by Rupert on his young slugger’s performance and demeanor hitting in the middle of the lineup.

“He’s got a different kind of pop. The ball jumps off his bat a little different than most…He carries himself a little bit more mature…he’s gotten used to the type of attack you get in that hole because it commands a little bit of respect. His growth has been pretty good over the course of the season so far.”

Though not ranked among the Phillies organizational top prospects by any of the major scouting or evaluation sites at this point, Pelletier did show up among the “other top vote-getters” section of the Reading Eagle’s top thirty Phillies prospects survey released on September 1.

Pelletier could find himself starting to show up on more top prospect lists in 2019 should he repeat this caliber of performance. He is currently getting extra at-bats as part of the team’s instructional league entry.

Originally published at Phillies Nation as "Williamsport Crosscutters Player of the Year: Ben Pelletier"

Phillies Top 20 Prospects Summer 2018

Embed from Getty Images

Pitcher Sixto Sanchez is the consensus top Phillies prospect

The Phillies Nation official Top 20 Philadelphia Phillies prospect ranking has been compiled from a survey of select members of our current staff.

Taking part in the survey were myself, Editorial Director Tim Kelly and staff writer Alec Whitaker, who produces our “Minor League Mash-up” series and regularly covers the Phillies minor league system here at Phillies Nation.

Each of these staffers presented their own individual Phillies Top 20 Prospect lists, which were then compiled into what you find presented below as our official ranking.

The staff here at Phillies Nation all follow the organization on a regular basis, from the lowest levels of the minor leagues on up through the big league club. We regularly read over the evaluations of both industry experts and others who closely follow the team.

We also attend games at a number of levels, watch TV broadcasts of the big club and minor league affiliates, and get to see players and prospects actually perform on the field.

These types of lists are always going to be subjective in nature. However, we incorporate the opinions of industry experts from places such as MLB Pipeline, Baseball America and a variety of other respected outside resources in helping to form our individual opinions.

This Phillies Nation version of the current Phillies Top 20 Prospects reflects those influences. It presents fans with a realistic picture of the very best youngsters now moving through the organization’s minor league system.

As for qualifications, we operated with the standard that to be considered, players must have not used up their MLB rookie qualifications of 130 big league at-bats or 50 innings pitched.

To come up with each player’s ranking, I simply took each of our three staffer’s lists and assigned a numeric point value based on those lists. A first place ranking from our staffer got you one point, a fifth place spot five, a 12th place spot got you 12 points. Add up the points for a total with the lowest being the best, and that’s how the final PN rankings were established. There were 15 prospects who received votes from all three of us.

You will find full write-ups on the top 10, and then 11-20 simply ranked. As a bonus, players who were mentioned by one of our staffers but who didn’t make the official rankings will be noted as well.

PHILLIES NATION: PHILLIES TOP 20 PROSPECTS

Sanchez was rated in the top spot by all three Phillies Nation evaluators.

1. Sixto Sanchez, RHP: The consensus top Phillies prospect at this time, not only on our PN list, but also per every reputable industry resource. Sanchez just left his teenage years behind a little over a week ago, and has spent the past couple of months on the minor league disabled list after suffering inflammation in his right (pitching) elbow. Signed by the Phillies as a 16-year-old international free agent out of his native Dominican Republic back in 2015, Sanchez has been advancing incrementally through the club’s farm system ever since. Over eight starts at High A Clearwater this season, he’s gone 4-3 with a 2.51 ERA and 1.071 WHIP, allowing 39 hits over 46.2 innings with a 45/11 K:BB ratio. Whitaker commented that “no one in the Phillies system has as much upside as the 20-year-old flamethrower.” MLB.com backs up that description with their scouting report: “It’s hard not to get excited about Sanchez’s combination of pure stuff and feel for pitching. While he is just six feet tall, he’s strong and athletic with a repeatable delivery that points to a future in a rotation. He can hit triple digits with his four-seam fastball and also features a two-seamer with a ton of sinking action. His fastball is better than its pure velocity because of its movement as well as his ability to command it extremely well. His secondary stuff continues to improve, with a breaking ball he adds and subtracts from and a changeup he shows a good feel for at times. Both will flash above-average to plus, and given his overall feel for pitching, there is confidence both will get there consistently in time.” The Phillies are being understandably conservative in handling his rehabilitation. It is hoped that he will return to pitching this month. Assuming he is recovered and progresses physically, it would not be unreasonable to expect Sanchez to reach Double-A Reading next season, and possibly get a taste of Triple-A Lehigh Valley as well. By spring of 2020, when he will still be just 21 years of age, Sanchez should be pushing for a role in the Phillies starting rotation.