Prospect at a glance: Ben Lively
The Phillies last month added four starting pitcher prospects to the upper levels of their farm system. We take a look at the most recently acquired of those pitchers, righthander Ben Lively.
In the span of 21 days last month, the Phillies added four starting pitcher prospects to the upper levels of a depleted minor league system. None of the four are considered can't-miss prospects, but each has a legitimate chance to over the next couple years develop into a mid-to-back end of the rotation big-league starter.
Throughout the next four days, we'll take a closer look at each of the four newest Phils' farmhands – Zach Eflin, Tom Windle, Ben Lively and Joely Rodriguez. First up is Lively, since he was the most recently acquired.
Ben Lively
Age: 22 (turns 23 on March 5)
Height, weight: 6-foot-4, 190 pounds
Draft position: fourth round (135th overall) in 2013
College: Central Florida
Lively, the right-hander the Phillies received from the Reds for Marlon Byrd, projects as a back-end of the rotation starter but is definitely among the organization's top 10 prospects.
He will likely start his Phillies tenure in double A Reading, where R-Phils skipper Dusty Wathan could have a pretty intriguing staff at his disposal. Lively's repertoire consists of four pitches – a slider, curveball and a change up to go with a low-to-mid 90s fastball – and features a delivery that can be deceptive to hitters.
An impressive 10-1 record and 2.28 ERA in 13 starts that featured 171 strikeouts in 151 innings earned him a June promotion from high A Bakersfield to double A Pensacola, across the bay from his hometown of Gulf Breeze, Fla. His 13 starts there yielded a more pedestrian 3-6 record and 3.88 ERA but he still averaged more than a strikeout an inning.
The Reds in December named Lively, who started last summer's California League All-Star game, the organization's minor league player of the year. Baseball America had ranked him Cincinnati's 12th best prospect, but he likely checks in somewhere in the No. 7 to 10 vicinity among the Phillies' current prospect pool.