Phillies promote Mickey Morandini

FORMER PHILLIES All-Star second baseman Mickey Morandini will be back in red pinstripes in 2016.

Morandini was hired Monday as the team's first base coach, the Phillies announced. Morandini rounds out the 2016 coaching staff for first-year manager Pete Mackanin.

Morandini, 49, was the hitting coach at Double A Reading in 2015, his fifth season on the team's player development staff. During that time, Morandini managed at both short-season Williamsport (2011) and Low-A Lakewood (2012-13).

A fifth-round pick in the 1988 draft, Morandini spent parts of nine seasons with the Phillies (1990-97, 2000). He was a member of the 1993 National League championship team and was a National League All-Star two years later.

In addition to handling the first base job, Morandini also will be a baserunning coach in 2016. He replaces fellow former Phillies second baseman Juan Samuel at first base - Samuel will shift across the diamond to coach third base next season.

Samuel and another former Phillies infielder, Larry Bowa, agreed to contracts last week. Bowa, who had interviewed for the Miami Marlins managing job last month, will return as Mackanin's bench coach.

In addition to Bowa and Samuel, pitching coach Bob McClure and hitting coach Steve Henderson are returning to the coaching staff. Last month, the Phillies hired Rick Kranitz (bullpen) and John McLaren (catching) to replace Rod Nichols and John Mizerock.

Baseball America published its end-of-season rankings for the top 10 prospects within each team and three of the players the Phillies received in the Cole Hamels trade checked into their top five.

Shortstop J.P. Crawford, not surprisingly, was tabbed the team's top prospect. Following him in Baseball America's top 10 were outfielder Nick Williams, righthanded pitcher Jake Thompson, catcher Andrew Knapp, catcher Jorge Alfaro, outfielder Cornelius Randolph, righthander Franklyn Kilome, outfielder Roman Quinn, righthander Adonis Medina and outfielder Carlos Tocci.

Williams, Thompson and Alfaro were among the six players the Phillies received from Texas in the July 31 trade that sent Hamels to the Rangers.

Like Crawford, Knapp and Quinn, both Thompson and Williams played on a Double A Reading team that captured the Eastern League's East Division title in 2015. Alfaro, meanwhile, missed most of the season while recovering from an ankle injury; he's considered a superior defensive catcher to Knapp, who earned Paul Owens Award honors in September after hitting .308 with an .876 OPS, 35 doubles, 13 home runs in 118 games between Class A Clearwater and Reading.

The youngest player on the list: Randolph, ranked sixth by Baseball America.

Randolph turned 18 a week before he was selected by the Phillies with the 10th overall pick in the 2015 draft in June. Randolph hit .302 with an .866 OPS in 53 games with the Gulf Coast League Phillies this summer.

Blog: ph.ly/HighCheese