Prospect list coming in Sunday Inquirer
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Prospect list coming in Sunday Inquirer
Bob Brookover, Inquirer Baseball Columnist
The Inquirer, with input from Phillies beat writer Matt Gelb, super sub Marc Narducci and myself, recently put together a list of the Phillies’ top 25 prospects heading into the 2013 season. The top 10 will be revealed in the Sunday Inquirer with the following 15 coming in the Monday newspaper.
Look for a bonus list Monday of some of the prospects who did not make our list, but were in the conversation.
The best part about our top 25 list is that Phillies director of player development Joe Jordan agreed to comment on each of the players on our list.
Jordan briefly discussed the Phillies’ catching situation, which is intriguing at all levels, but it did not fit into what we were doing with our list.
Carlos Ruiz, of course, is serving a 25-game suspension to start the season because of a failed drug test last year. Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. has indicated that the team will go with veterans Erik Kratz and possibly Humberto Quintero to start the season. He has not ruled out adding another veteran catcher.
Catching became a position of depth for the organization when the Phillies acquired Tommy Joseph from San Francisco in the Hunter Pence trade. Joseph and Sebastian Valle are the two most advanced catchers in the farm system and both appear ready for triple-A Lehigh Valley. Valle, in fact, finished last season with the Iron Pigs after Joseph joined the organization and became the top catcher at double-A Reading.
Cameron Rupp, a third-round pick in 2010, increased his value with a strong season at single-A Clearwater and it’s possible the Phillies will want him to remain the guy behind the plate at Reading for prospects such as Jesse Biddle, Adam Morgan and Austin Wright.
Jordan was asked if it was possible that Joseph and Valle could share the catching duties at Lehigh Valley.
“I don’t think that would be ideal,” he said. “We have some challenges ahead getting everybody in the right spot. Exactly where that is going to be has been heavily discussed, but yet to be determined.”
Shortstop Roman Quinn, the team’s second-round pick in 2011, also has Jordan excited because of his “top-of-the-scale speed.”
“We have to take our time, but he has a chance to impact a game in a lot of ways,” Jordan said. “He has to stay hungry. He was very hungry last year and he can’t lose that.”
Quinn, 19, will open this season at single-A Lakewood.
Read all about the top 25 prospects in the Sunday and Monday Inquirer and let us know what your list would look like.
What a frigging teaze, espec for a guy that lives in SC— titleist_tim- D'Arnaud, Mays, Singleton, Villar, Gose .. oh wait, they're gone.. boy those deals for Oswalt and Pence were worth it cause they were so good in the post-season,,,, oh wait,,, well at least the Phils now have a lot of good players to continue their "success" oh wait they were 81-81 anbd have additonal garbage like Lannan and Delmon Young... oh— warbiscuit
- You also forgot to mention guys like Drabek, Carrasco, Taylor, Golson, Marson, Donald, Knapp & Happ. I suppose you think trading those guys was a disaster as well there, Chicken Little? — The Pack Leader
- @Pack -It's weird that you have that list of these guys ready to go ... Could it be that you are a Phillies PR staffer? A member of the Amaro family? I mean - who else keeps track of traded Phillies prospects who don't pan out. Either way - the Phillies farm system is a mess due to the incompetence of Ruin Tomorrow Jr. I have repeatedly said that you have to count the Halladay trade as the last good trade that Rube-the-Boob made (even if the Mets new catcher turns out to be an All-Star). I think Mr. Dowder makes good points about the age of the guys that the Amaro-nut-huggers expect to be "major league starters" by now. — Copper34
- @cooper ... you think you need to be on the Phillies PR staff to remember who they traded to get Halladay and Lee? Not much of a baseball fan, I'm guessing — phillyl0
- So that's seriously your counter point: I must work for the Phillies because I remember ALL of the guys that they traded, rather than just the ones that help support your poorly thought-out rants? Your thought process is so diluted that it borders on comical. I might ask you: why do you only focus on the negative? Does it make you feel better about your lot in life? — The Pack Leader
- Perhaps you should go join the Phillies Phan Club and leave your happy-go-lucky comments there. In the meantime, real Phillies fans (like me) can root for the team while speaking the truth about RAJ's offseason failures. What borders on comical is the nonsense typed by some commenters (like you). RAJ has been terrible (SI gives him a "D" for his latest efforts). He took a WS Champion and drove it into the ground. That being said, here's some "positive" for you: If the SS would grow up and ditch the JRoll attitude, if Doc and Utley are even 85% healthy, and if they find a way to replace Werth and Burrell with leadership and plate discipline, they could compete with the Nats and Braves. Everybody hits (and, hopefully, catches) Whoooo HOOOO — Copper34
- "In the meantime, real Phillies fans (like me) can root for the team..."
Haha...if you call constant whining and pessimism, "rooting", I think it's time for you to take another look at the definition of the word itself.— The Pack Leader - that's a pretty stupid rejoinder -i was listing the Phils "top" prospects (and should have included Sanatana who may end up better than all of them) --Amaro squandered away over a dozen -- some will prove to be stars and some will not... issue is what was the upshot of all the prospects and hundreds of millions of dollars pi@#Ed away --no post-season success becuase Rube couldn't figure out how to put togtether the bench, bullpen, balance and depth necessary to suceed in post-season and what we're left wiht is a medciore team with no present or future — warbiscuit
- Wow..they are gone..wow I didn't know all these players became major leagues starters? Your knowledge and appititude are amazing.
"Success"...yea...you could put things like "NL East championships", and "World Series Championship," in there to.
Haters will hate I guess right?— ryanrockzzz - Singleton & Villar are only 21, Gose is 22, May is 23, and D'Arnaud is 24. Don't forget about Domingo Santana (age 20). They'll have their time soon enough.
At least RAJ held on to Domonic Brown!?— Jeff Dowder - Wow -- what is "aptitude"??? The Phillies were awesome in 2008 and in 2009. Then, Ruben's fingerprints got all over things. Gave Howard all that $$$, let Vogelsong abd Moss go (for nothing), traded for the wrong guys, signed the wrong guys ... and here we are. The downhill spiral continues. This offseason will hopefully be the low-point as the owners must have figured out that they have a GM that is ruining our tomorrows ... — Copper34
- "..Ruining our tomorrows..."? Cheese and Rice, what an adolescent drama queen! Get some intestinal fortitude, Cooper, or stop being a Phillies fan. Crying because you spent $80 on your JA Happ jersey at Mitchell & Ness? Yes, they let "guys" go precisely because there was an opportunity to win now. This is not a team in rebuilding mode, it was a team that went to back to back World Series and won one and dealt pieces that, to date, have not haunted them. If you know this team's history you have to take the long view and appreciate what this recent run of success actually means...which is more then hoping that Kyle Drabek and Michael Taylor pan out at everyday players. — Special Agent Fox Mulder
- Phillies top prospect is when Howard's salary comes off the books.— fmMD
