Good start for young Phillies and farmhands

It was a good April for Ruben Amaro Jr. and the Phillies.

You couldn't tell that, of course, by simply watching the games at the big-league level. For the most part, the Phillies have been every bit as bad as advertised. They entered Thursday afternoon's lopsided loss in St. Louis ranked last in the league in hitting, last in the big leagues in OPS and runs, 27th in fielding percentage, and 24th in starting pitching ERA.

That's a special brand of bad, and their 8-15 record speaks for itself.

So, you may be asking, how was it a good April for Amaro and his team?

This Phillies season cannot be measured or chronicled in a typical way. The wins and the losses do not matter. In fact, the losses, in the long run, are better than the wins, a warped view that has become far too familiar around here in recent years. The stated objective by Phillies president Pat Gillick was to begin the rebuilding process in 2015, and in that respect things are off to a good start.

If this is indeed about the future, then the three most important players in the everyday lineup are third baseman Cody Asche, centerfielder Odubel Herrera, and shortstop Freddy Galvis. Asche is 24, Herrera is 23, and Galvis is 25, so they potentially have futures in Philadelphia. They all played well in April.

None of the three figures to be a future superstar, but if they can prove themselves as solid everyday players it would represent one small step in the long rebuilding process. You could argue that Galvis has no future in Philadelphia because former first-round draft pick J.P. Crawford is the shortstop in waiting, and the latter part is true. Galvis, however, proved he could play second base at a Gold Glove level when he started 55 games there in 2012. He is, in fact, a better second baseman than shortstop. If he can continue to do the things he did in April with his bat, then he is a perfect eight-hole hitter on a good team.

Herrera, meanwhile, is a potential Rule 5 draft discovery who can help turn a team around. He might be the future centerfielder, but if he continues to play the way he has the Phillies will find a place in the outfield and in the top of the batting order for him.

You could even argue that it's good that former stars Ryan Howard and Chase Utley struggled through April because it makes it that much more likely they will soon exit and open the door even more for what must be done.

But if you want to see the real seeds of a successful April, you have to look down below at the farm system.

Start at triple-A Lehigh Valley, where the one top prospect the Phillies needed to play well has done so. Maikel Franco had the day off Thursday, but he sat out hitting .318 with a league-leading 10 doubles and a .843 OPS.

Centerfielder Roman Quinn is the best position prospect at double-A Reading and he, too, enjoyed an outstanding April, hitting .347 (fifth in the Eastern League) with a .961 OPS (third in the league). He leads the league in stolen bases with nine and runs with 19.

Amaro's biggest April victories came from the rotation down at Reading. The five key members - Aaron Nola, Jesse Biddle, Ben Lively, Tom Windle, and Zach Eflin - are a combined 8-3 with a 2.55 ERA. Eflin and Windle were acquired in the Jimmy Rollins trade. Lively was acquired in the Marlon Byrd deal.

One month is a small sampling, and Amaro and the Phillies are trying to recover from a huge deficit that was of their own making.

Hindsight is 20-20, but it's fair to say the rebuilding process would be far more advanced if the Phillies had never made the ill-fated trade with Houston for rightfielder Hunter Pence.

Imagine how you would feel right now if Jarred Cosart was already in the starting rotation. Or if first baseman Jonathan Singleton and outfielder Domingo Santana were down at triple-A playing alongside Franco. Without Pence, the Phillies still would have won the National League East in 2011, and the subsequent deal Amaro made with the San Francisco Giants has been a disaster.

It was a good April for the Phillies because even as the losses mounted at the major-league level, gains were being made in the minors and by a trio of the youngest big-league players.

Now they just need five more months like the last one.

@brookob