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Phillies prospect Jake Thompson could start season in the big leagues

Jake Thompson ended last season with a 1.80 ERA in his seven starts with double-A Reading after being acquired from Texas as part of the Cole Hamels trade. The righthander was ready for a promotion to triple A. The only problem was triple-A Lehigh Valley's season had already completed.

Thompson could enter spring training stuck in the middle between the IronPigs and the Phillies. He will likely land an invite to major-league spring training, where a strong performance would push his cause to skip triple A and open the season with the Phillies. Righthanders Aaron Nola and Jerad Eickhoff and lefthander Adam Morgan are likely locks for the rotation. The team also expects to add a veteran starter, like they did last season with Aaron Harang and Chad Billingsley.

The Phillies could opt to send Thompson to Lehigh Valley and promote him after two months or so in order to delay his arbitration by a year.

"The players will dictate their own timelines," general manager Matt Klentak said on Thursday afternoon. "When they are ready, we will allow them to reach the big leagues and achieve whatever their ceilings may be. But I do believe that we want players to be ready to stick here. I don't know if developmentally, it does any player a service to flip them up and down throughout the course of a year if it can be avoided. If it can be avoided, we want the player to be ready the moment he gets started."

Thompson, 21, struck out 34 batters and walked 12 in 45 innings with Reading. He had a 4.72 ERA in 17 starts with Texas' double-A affiliate. Thompson pairs a sharp, breaking slider with a changeup and low-90s fastball. He has a habit for forcing groundball outs.

Baseball America ranked Thompson last week as the organization's third-best prospect. Klentak said he would not be opposed to a player skipping triple A en route to the big leagues.


"There's definitely two schools of thought about that in the baseball ranks," Klentak said. "Some people believe that a prospect should touch every level before they reach the big leagues, even if it just for a short stint. Others say that it doesn't really matter where you come from as long as you're ready. I try not to operate in absolutes if I don't have to. If a player is ready developmentally, I think he's ready. We will promote him when the time is right."