Mid-days On The Fanatic: Weekdays 10am – 2pm

Mid-days On The Fanatic: Weekdays 10am – 2pm

Mid-days On The Fanatic: Weekdays 10am – 2pm

LOS ANGELES, CA - JULY 17: Justin Crawford poses with his Carl Crawford after he was picked 17th by the Philadelphia Phillies during the 2022 MLB Draft at XBOX Plaza on July 17, 2022 in Los Angeles, California.

It feels like it has been so long since the Phillies had a farm system worth talking about. They have had good prospects here and there. Some even worked out. Guys like Aaron Nola, Rhys Hoskins, Bryson Stott, and Alec Bohm have turned into at the very least solid MLB Players. But for so long they have had to rely on free agency and trades to bring in high-level talent. Even now, many of their best players are not homegrown. Bryce Harper, Trea Turner, Zack Wheeler, Kyle Schwarber, Nick Castellanos, and JT Realmuto all come from elsewhere. Under Matt Klentak and Ruben Amaro, there were not many Phillies prospects that panned out the way we thought they would.

Since 2010 only 6 players that came through the Phillies farm system have made it to an All-Star game. Granted a couple of them made it multiple times. Cole Hamels, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Carlos Ruiz, Dom Brown, and Aaron Nola. Only 1 of them have made it since 2015. Odubel Herrera and Shane Victorino also made it, but they were rule 5 picks and did not come through the Phillies system. Not exactly a good sign for the Phillies’ ability to develop talent. But things have started to turn around.

For one, they have a capable Exec in charge of things now. Dave Dombrowski seems to know what he is doing and has won in other cities. But also, other people around the MLB are starting to show some respect for the Phillies farm system. MLB Pipeline recently did a survey of MLB Execs asking questions about who is the best prospect in baseball. Who has the best speed? What prospect will make the best future closer? Which prospect do they see having a breakout season? And other questions of that nature. And the Phillies were showing up all over the survey. They might actually have a good farm system for once.

See what Phillies showed up in the survey below:

  • Justin Crawford

    Justin Crawford appeared twice in the survey. Most notably executives voted that he had the best speed in the Minor Leagues. 19% of those polled chose Crawford. He also received the 6th most votes for “most underrated prospect.” Crawford had 47 steals in 55 attempts across 87 games. He also had 22 doubles and 8 triples. His first full season in the Phillies system was so good, it has people thinking he could be up in the Majors by 2025. He is currently listed as the Phillies 3rd best prospect, and the 77th best overall

    Florida Prospect Report on Twitter: "#phillies OF prospect Justin Crawford shows that speed on the successful steal attempt #athlete pic.twitter.com/gOwovsYx9H / Twitter"

    phillies OF prospect Justin Crawford shows that speed on the successful steal attempt #athlete pic.twitter.com/gOwovsYx9H

  • Andrew Painter

    Andrew Painter also appeared all over the survey. He had the 2nd most votes for being the “best pitching prospect”. His slider received 4% of the vote for the “best secondary pitch” and he received the 3rd most votes for “best pitchability.” For those saying pitchability is not a word, they recognized that, but defined their made-up word as having the best feel for how to use their pitches, on top of having good command. Painter has walked just 25 batters across 109.1 innings in the minors but has struck out 167. The Phillies hoped he would debut last season, but after undergoing Tommy John, we will have to wait until 2025 to see him in Red Pinstripes.

    Last year in this same survey he was voted as the best pitching prospect, and his fastball and curveballs both received votes for being the best pitches in the minor league system. But a year off of pitching should be expected to drop him a bit.

    Aram Leighton on Twitter: "Andrew Painter has been one of the most impressive arms in the entire minor leagues this season. Fastball sits in the upper 90s with insane vertical break and then he can snap off sliders like the one below.Through 20 IP in Low-A, Painter has a 53 K% and 0.00 ERA. He's 19. pic.twitter.com/S4SBSrLSum / Twitter"

    Andrew Painter has been one of the most impressive arms in the entire minor leagues this season. Fastball sits in the upper 90s with insane vertical break and then he can snap off sliders like the one below.Through 20 IP in Low-A, Painter has a 53 K% and 0.00 ERA.

  • Aidan Miller

    Aidan Miller is the most recent edition to the Phillies farm system. He was their first-round pick last year and has only played in 20 games so far. But there seem to be some people around the MLB high on his potential. He received 4% of the votes for breakout prospect, which placed him 3rd in the rankings. Despite barely seeing the field, he is already listed as the 90th-best prospect in baseball. We did not see much of his HR power in his short stint last year, but we did see him get it to the gaps in the form of 3 doubles and a triple. And scouts think he has the profile to turn into a plus HR hitter.

  • Orion Kerkering

    Orion Kerkering also got a couple of shoutouts from the MLB Execs. Like Painter, his slider got 4% of the vote for being the best secondary pitch. And he received 7% of the vote for “Best Future Closer.” Kerkering got some run last season in the playoffs, and it did not go well. But expecting a guy who had pitched just 3 innings in the Majors to step in during the playoffs, was maybe an unfair thing to ask. The stuff that made him so filthy down in the minors is still there, and he should feature heavily in the Phillies bullpen this year.

    Rob Friedman on Twitter: "Orion Kerkering, Slider Movement (front/hp view).Good luck. pic.twitter.com/mKIlDFzWWw / Twitter"

    Orion Kerkering, Slider Movement (front/hp view).Good luck. pic.twitter.com/mKIlDFzWWw

  • Bryce Harper

    Obviously, Harper is far past being a prospect and didn’t come up in the Phillies system. but he did get mentioned in the survey. Two questions they asked were “Who is the best minor league prospect ever?” and “Who is the best amateur prospect ever?”. Harper was voted as the 4th best Minor League prospect ever (7% of the vote), behind Mike Trout, Ronald Acuna, and Adley Rutschman, and the best Amateur prospect ever (21% of the vote). Pat Burrell was 3rd among the amateur prospects with 5% of the vote.

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