Rear View Mirror – Updates on our Phillies Preseason Top 10

Rear View Mirror

Below is our Prospects1500 preseason ranking for the Phillies Top 10 Prospects.   With the season winding down, it’s a good time to look back and see what happened with them and what their future holds.  This 2017 Phillies Top 50 Prospects list was first published in January 2017.  My updated Phillies Top 50 list is in progress and will be posted here on Prospects1500 soon.


Tier 1:
1. J.P. Crawford, SS
Age: 22 (DOB 01/11/1995)
Crawford bounced back somewhat from a rough 1st half this year to give him a .350 OBP for the year.   The strikeouts continue to be a problem, as he K’s in about 20% of his plate appearances.    The power and speed (5 steals) still haven’t showed up for him.   It’s time to re-evaluate his status at the end of the year updates.

2. Mickey Moniak, OF
Age: 18 (DOB 05/13/1998)
Mickey was the 1st pick of the 2016 draft that didn’t have a clear-cut #1 prospect so the Phillies took the player they thought had the best hit tool.   Mickey looked over-matched this year in the Sally League with a .235 average and a .285 OBP.  Way too early to give up on him being that he is only 19 years old and it’s only been 1 year in the minors but he needs to show something next year to give us all hope.

3. Nick Williams, OF
Age: 23 (DOB 09/08/1993)
Williams continued his high-K, low-walk ways into the major leagues as he was promoted to the big show this summer BUT the guy has shown power every step of the way.  There is more development to be done here but he has the potential to be a 30 home run hitter as soon as next year hitting in the middle of a potentially fun Phillies lineup.

4. Franklyn Kilome, RHP
Age: 21 (DOB 06/25/1995)
This guy did pretty good this year averaging a little less than 9 K/IP with a 1.12 WHIP after being promoted to Double A.  Granted, it was only 26 innings but batters only hit .205 off him.   Franklyn throws in the mid 90’s and has had control problems in Single A and throughout his minor league career.  He has time to harness his control, though.


Tier 2:
5. Rhys Hoskins, 1B
Age: 23 (DOB 03/17/1993)
This guy can flat out rake.   He has taken his insane Double A numbers to Triple A this year but didn’t stop there.  He has also been producing in the Big Show, too, as you may have heard.   He has a great batting eye as evidenced by his MiLB .385 OBP and the .408 OBP in the majors.  A future cleanup hitter who can hit 40 home runs with a .400 OBP?  Yes!  He has the tools to make the necessary adjustments once the pitchers adjust to him.

6. Dylan Cozens, OF
Age: 22 (DOB 05/31/1994)
All of his numbers declined this year from last year’s phenomenal stats.  Dylan currently has a .216 average with a .303 OBP.  He has struck out an amazing 40% of the time in Triple A after a 35% K-rate last year.   Dylan’s power is there but his inability to control the strike zone makes it difficult to foresee a regular starting job soon.  He is young enough to make the adjustments but it’s not going to be easy.

7. Scott Kingery, 2B
Age: 22 (DOB 04/29/1994)
Scott’s power came out of nowhere this year.  After hitting 5 home runs last year in 531 at-bats, he went deep 26 times in 512 at-bats this year.   His BB-rate has stayed the same and the K-rate has decreased.   Kingery wasn’t on the 40-man roster preventing him from seeing the majors this year but an early 2018 promotion is expected.   On a side note unrelated to fantasy, his defense is potentially gold-glove caliber.

8. Sixto Sanchez, RHP
Age: 18 (DOB 07/29/1998)
He’s only 19 years old but he is quickly moving up prospect rankings after a very solid campaign.  Having a 102-mph fastball that he can control doesn’t hurt either.   As of this writing, in 139 IP the last two years, he has allowed only 1 home run, 139 strikeouts and 24 walks.   He has the tools and numbers to be considered a future #2 starter.

9. Cornelius Randolph, OF
Age: 19 (DOB 06/02/1997)
Still kind of young for the league, Randolph showed improved OBP over the year.  Drafted as a shortstop but moved to outfield because of J.P. Crawford’s presence, his bat doesn’t play well for a left fielder due to very modest power.   Projects as a 15-15 type of player with a knack of getting on base.  That would play better at shortstop then left field where you want power.  Also, with the other talented outfielders, it would be tough for Randolph to crack the big leagues with the Phillies.

10. Jorge Alfaro, C
Age: 23 (DOB 06/11/1993)
Rewarded with a promotion to the majors after a pretty good year at Lehigh Valley.  Alfaro has a great arm which will keep him behind the plate.   His power is still developing and he has some K issues but he’s still young enough to succeed but injuries also prevent us from know the exact type of player he will become.   

 

Article featured image of Rhys Hoskins – courtesy of MiLB.com.

Tony Bps Spina is a lifelong baseball fan hailing from the City of Brotherly Love - Philadelphia! Tony has loved baseball since 1980 and has followed the Phillies through good and bad times. Tony is married with 3 kids and works for a financial institution but has enough free time to play in 20 fantasy baseball leagues with 75% of them being Dynasty Leagues. He lives a few blocks away from Citizens Bank Park and attends many Phillies games per year in addition to their minor league teams in Lehigh Valley and Reading. He can be reached on Twitter at @TonyBps1.




3 Comments

  1. Wow really was blown away with the prospects for the phillies . Didn’t know the positive and the weaknesses of each player as it was broken down here . Good work

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