Prospect list coming in Sunday Inquirer
The latest Phillies and baseball news from Philly.com.
Prospect list coming in Sunday Inquirer
Bob Brookover
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.
Comments (64)
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
- amen — zwarte piet
- There's no prospect that will really help or make a difference for the Phils this year. This is an old, injury prone team that will be lucky to stay within 15 games of Washington and Atlanta.— farley
- Pete Orr lives— NewMick314
- what about the big three starting pitchers that all you bandwagoners drooled over about a year ago? dont come back now ya hear!— 420Phillie
- Negadelphia commentators at their best (see above). Even though the Phightins have the best top-to-bottom pitching staff in MLB, Howard/Utley back healthy, and off-season upgrades in CF and 3B....the clueless cowards still whine on their keyboards.— Phront_Runner
- I agree, I am excited for this season because I believe (hope) Howard and Utley will have big years. Pitching top to bottom will be a strength and if either Brown or Ruf (or both) can have a decent year (20 hrs, 80 RBI's, we may be the team to beat. — nevinsed
- I disagree. There have been no upgrades this offseason. The Revere trade was a desperate move by a desperate GM to get someone ... anyone who might look like a regular starting-caliber outfielder. He picked a guy with a .300 average - but he ignored his on-base percentage, his near complete lack of power, his noodle-arm, and his inability to draw a walk (or hit a double). Michael Young was a stud at one point in his career. But, he hasn't played 3B since 2010 (when he was a terrible fielder). BTW - Usually it's the people who call others "clueless cowards" from their computers who are the real the cowards. If Phront Runner is true to his name, he will soon be a Nationals fan ... or doing the "Tomahalk Chop." Not me. I want the Phillies to return to form. The first step is getting a real GM -- someone who can better evaluate talent. — Copper34
- "Even though the Phightins have the best top-to-bottom pitching staff in MLB"
They have Cole Hamels
They have an injured Halladay
They have Lee who hasn't pitched well since, well, seasons ago
Other than that, they're the greatest (HTML deleted)— fmMD - Win or lose, April cannot come fast enough. A game to watch everyday will push my gal off of non-stop Lady Crowley and those somewhat creepy Property Brothers.— bobcitydoc
- Noooo; please fix the first sentence. It should be - Matt, Marc and me - not Matt, Marc and myself. Oy— EAvila
- Noooo; please fix the first sentence. It should be - Matt, Marc and I - not Matt, Marc and myself. Oy— EAvila
- I like a team made up of Halladay, Hamels, Lee, Howard, Utley, Ruiz, Rollins, Papelbon, Adams, Revere, M&D Young, etc. The potential for pleasant surprises from Ruf and our young bullpen guys is exciting as well.— terrycindyian
- still waiting for the 1st prospect we traded in last 4 years to actually make the big leagues as anything but role player or fill in. So far all of those "sure thing" prospects are big time busts. would make every trade again with possible exception of singleton-if he can learn to play rf
— jeff gross - Oh - it won't be long. The Muts just traded their Ace to get one of them!! Many of the others are too young to be in the Majors. Methinks we won't be hearing from "Jeff Gross" when they arrive. Look at it this way - you can always go buy your Tommy Joseph jersey ... get it now - before they become too popular!! — Copper34
- And Cooper you can pull on your Michael Taylor 'jammies before you turn out your night light. One thing I have learned from watching Jim Kaat and Jim Longborg is to not trust a guy who uses the term, "Methinks..." in serious conversation. Really? "Methinks..." — Special Agent Fox Mulder
- The new center fielder is the big "??." If the kid can bat at least 285, steal 40 bases and make all the catches; that'll be sweet. He better catch everything hit his way because he has a lolly-pop arm. Hopefully Ruf can play at least as well as Burrel in his prime. The Phillies of old (70's and 80's) used to mop up on the sub 500 teams whenever they played them. This squad struggles with the Houston types of the NL; they must dominate the lower level teams (for a change) and play at least even with the upper tier teams to contend.— BKMcD
- Like Kratz. He proved he can contribute.— dogman5
- nobody screamed about all the trades ruben made when he made them...no...all you IDIOTS were on board until you had the benefit of hindsight...typical STUPID philly fans— AlexSp
- The Giants are champs.After Posey and Panda and a very good pitching staff,how do they do it? Pitching,pitching ,pitching.How'd the Rangers,Angels,Yankees and even the Dodgers do with all their talent?I think the Phillies have a chance and can't wait for the season to begin.— youwish
- Phrontrunner: "the Phightins have the best top-to-bottom pitching staff in MLB"... you're quite ignorant -- after 2 starters (Hamels and Lee) rest of staff is at best mediocre and might be worse than last year if Halladay proves to be washed up and Kendrick and Lannan prove to be awful..
"off-season upgrades in CF and 3B": hard to see how Revere is an "upgrade" over Victornio who despite an off-season has much better arm, much better on base pctge and ops --and no replacement at all for Pence
while "upgrade" at 3rd base from last yerar's disaster just requires anyone adequate, unclear if M. Young is even that as he might be as bad a fielder as Wigginton and may be washed up as hitter too, in which case Phils still don't have a 3rd baseman..
and morons like you and ryanrockjazz just show your ignorance and parochial naivete if you think there are just a couple of posters who rip Amaro's awful destruction of this franchise over past few years and realize that Rube is incompetent -- go "enlighten" yourself if you dare and read SI, ESPN, crashburnalley, cbs, SBNation , the goodphight, etc etc instead of wallowing in your self-delusion— warbiscuit - You can't really think that those "commenters" are real Phillies fans? No way. They are shills. They have an agenda that is in no way aligned with a love of the Phillies. They are hoping Phils fans just continue to be blind to the horrendous personnel moves of Ruin Tomorrow Jr. — Copper34
- Doesn't SI pick the Eagles to win Super Bowl every year? — mwcnabb
- how Clueless Rube turned a championship team into a bad one with one of the highest budgets in baseball and never won in post-season:
1. signed an over-the-hill Ibanez for 3 yrs, $36 mil, 2. re-signed Moyer 2 yrs, 3. re-signed Bruntlett, 4. traded valuable backup catcher for nothing (Tashner), 5.did nothing to improve Phils bullpen in 2009 thus relying on a closer with an era over 7.0, 6. relied on an aged Pedro to be no. 2 starter in 2009 post-season, costing Phils World Series, 7. traded away Cliff Lee for peanuts, 8. traded away 3 top prospects for Halladay when could have kept Lee for same price, 9. signed Blanton to inexplicable $24 mil extension, 10. signed useless over-the-hill non-hitting Polanco (3 yrs, $18 mil wasted --no offense at 3rd base for 3 yrs), 11. signed Baez (2 yrs), 12. acquired Herndon and kept him on roster for all of 2010 so as not to "lose" him, 13. signed Schneider to 2 yr deal, then re-signed him, 14. failed to add a starter after losing Lee for peanuts thus requiring loss of 3 prospects to acquire Oswalt who provided only a half-season of half-decent pitching, 15. signed Gload and other worthless bench garbage, 16. gave Howard a $125 million extension almost 2 years before his current contract was due to expire--the worst extension in baseball history, 17. did nothing to improve worst bench in baseball in 2010, 18. did nothing to assist fading offense in 2010, thus costing Phils chances in 2010 post-season, 19. did nothing to replace Werth after 2010 thus having to trade 3 top prospects in July to acquire overrated Pence, 20. went into 2011 post-season with still suspect offense and bench, costing Phils chance in 2011, (that's just 2009-2011 so far)...— warbiscuit - ryanrockjazz": rube won "World Championship" as g.m.?! you're as ignorant as you are stupid— warbiscuit
- cont. - Rube's awful moves/non-moves 2011-2013:
21. kept Mike Martinez, 22. did nothing to replace Howard's lost production at 1b for 2011, 23. did nothing to replace Utley's lost production at 2b, 24. did nothing to replace Polanco's non-existent offense at 3b, 25. signed closer Papelbon for absurd price that could have acquired legitimate offense (Ramirez, Beltran, many other options) or more depth in bullpen, 26. wasted $50 mil on a closer who had been and remains awful in big spots; 27. signed over-the-hill d.h. Thome for NL team with no DH, 28. did nothing to add a lefty reliever pre-season other than sign a consistently awful Willis, 29. did nothing else to help bullpen other than awful Qualls, 30. acquired Wigginton, 31. acquired Nix, 32. let Moss go for nothing, 32. let Grilli go for nothing, 33. let Vogelsong go for nothing, 34. traded Pence away for useless trash, 35. traded Victorino for awful Lindblom and trash, 36. traded Blanton for nothing, 37. did nothing to strengthen 2013 outfield other than a slap hitter in cf, 38. did nothing to strengthen 3rd base except an over-the-hill awful fielding Young, 39 did nothing to improve starting pitching other than awful Lannan, 40. got no corner outfielder other than awful fielder/awful person/mediocre hitter D.Young, 41. kept Manuel as manager, etc.— warbiscuit - only an imbecile would think a g.m. "improves" a team by getting 2 guys named Young to be starters who can can't field at all (or hit much) and a center fielder who can catch but not throw and can't hit anything other than an occcasional single, and "improves" the starting staff by adding Lannan and Cook— warbiscuit
- Those two keep counting the prospects as stars and what the phil's currently have as garbage. Grass is always greener. If the Phils had not made those deals and missed the playoffs those years they would have been yelling that Rube held on to guys that are still not in MLB and passed on Oswalt who had a great second half that year and Pence. You can't win with biscuit and Copper just tune them out and move on.— rhcjr2
- Oswalt
2010 post-season: 1-1, 19.2 inn., 8 runs (6 er), 3hrs
2011 post-season: 0-1, 6 inn, 5 er (1hr)
total 2010-2011 post-seasons: 1-2 3.93 era,13 runs (11 earned), 4 hr's
2011 regular season: 10-11 3.69 for team that went 102-60
cost for 2 good months of Oswalt (Aug-Sept 2010): Villar (shortstop with power -- higher ranked than any current Phils hitting prospect, incl Brown and Mayberry and Ruf), Gose (already in majors --may be future Bourn or Revere), Happ (current no. 4 or 5 --probably more upside than Lannan)— warbiscuit - Steve Carlton had losing record in 1983 when Phils made WS. Cliff Lee blew 4-run lead. Loser Ben Francisco won game 3 of 2011 NLDS with homer. — mwcnabb
- 1 year of Pence --cost: Singleton, Cosart, Santana, Zeid
2011 post-season: 4 for 19, .211
traded for Schierholz (no longer on team),Joseph (middling prospect --nt top 100 per Baseball America) and another low-level non-prospect, so in retrospect (since Oswalt and Pence are long-gone, as is Scheirholz), Rube gave up Villar, Gose, Happ, Singleton, Cosart, Santana, and Zeid (7 prospects, 6 highly rated) for non-prospects Joseph and Rosin and 1 win from Oswalt in 2010 post-season— warbiscuit - and if Clueless rube didn't give away Lee before 2010 for peanuts (or acquired or retained anothter starter like Myers --who was much better than Oswalt first half of 2010) then Rube wouldn;t have had to make panic move for 2 good months from overrated washed-up Oswalt
and if Rube replaced Werth with one of many outfielders availible after 2010 then he wouldn;t have had to make awful panic deal for overrated PEnce..
bottom line deals for Oswalt and Pence were both unnecessary if Rube did his job in off-season, they were 2 of worst trades of decade and depleted Phils orgnaization, the effects of which will comtinue ot be felt for years— warbiscuit - No it won't. Phillies have 2012 draft, 2013 draft, 2014 draft and so on. — mwcnabb
- Saw Cody Ashe several times last year at Reading. He has an excellent swing and could become a 15- 20 HR guy with experience. He certainly will be a .300 hitter. In my mind, he is their top position prospect.— McGooter
- @McGooter. Congratulations. You are the only commenter to actually stay on point.
Asche, Joseph, Galvis and Ruf are definitely part of the future. I'd say Ruf is the top prospect. Hoping he gets a real chance to play this year.— zubzub - Franco may end up being a better third baseman than Asche. He's not far behind. No way would I pencil in Asche as a .300 hitter yet. Career, he's under .300 in the minors. He also doesn't get top prospect type marks for his defense. But I think he may end up being pretty good. John Mayo's recent rankings (MLB) don't even have Asche in the top 10 of 3B prospects (one guy, I know). Interestingly enough he has Ruf at #5 ... but for 1B. He has Singleton as #1 at 1B. Sound familiar? Singleton was looking good as a first baseman when we had him then they tried moving him around since Howard was (is) blocking 1B. After Singleton was traded to Houston he went back to 1B and started excelling again. Ruf is in a similar boat moving from 1B to LF.
— s - Let's not forget Gillick's decisions to trade two A pitching prospects (Gavin Floyd, Gio Gonzalez) for Freddy Garcia.— comin4ya23
- let's not forget that Gillick won the World Series after his various bad moves --and is in the HoF for winning 3 Championships and building 4 franchises into elite team- all Rube has done is take an eilte organization and turn it into an aging expensive meciocre one with no present or future— warbiscuit
- Phillies should have won the World Series in 2007 if Gillick hadn't attempted to make Rod Barajas the starting catcher and Wes Helms/Abraham Nunez his starting 3B. I guess Amaro had his hands all over that one too - right???!!— michael2_19030
- Don't be silly, the 2009 WS is the biggest disaster in recent Phillies history.
And that one was on Chollie who is clearly the worst situational manager in the NL East, and is in the lower 1/3 of baseball.
He costs the Phillies 5-7 games a season. He is not a net plus.— fmMD - The nice thing about trading away these supposedly top-flight prospects is that we can sign them as free agents in 6 years and not deal with learning the strike zone, sophomore slumps...let them toil with 100-loss teams like Astros and Mets.— mwcnabb
- Ruben could have a team of Pujols, Mike Trout, David Wright, Miggy Cabrera, Justin Verlander, Matt Holliday, Felix Hernandez, Matt Cain, Clayton Kershaw, Matt Kemp, Asdrubal Cabrera, Mike Stanton, a stocked farm system, etc., and someone would still complain.— carlosbeltran
- That's nothing, the Phillies had bad year last year, with a worse one coming up, and people are saying silly things like they're "excited" about the Phillies.
When I hear that, I assume they must be Mets fans.— fmMD - What a bunch of crybaby trolls and comments on here. Gillick didn't win the Series. Amaro didn't lose the Series. The PLAYERS lost the Series and their injuries and ineffectivenss have caused the downward spiral, not Amaro. (and for the record you all know I don't even like Smuggles). It's the players, they have to do it and they haven't. How do you think the owner of the Rangers feel, being there twice, once within 1 strike of a championship and lose? How does the owner of the Angels feel after giving Pujols a quarter of a BILLION dollars and seeing him not perform and the team not win the WS? As always how do you think the Yankee owners feel, spending all they do and not winning it EVERY year? C'mon trolls, knock off the stupidity and c'mon decent people ignore the trolls. They'll crawl back under their bridges and back into their meanigless existences, eventually.— Mark1npt
- And, oh yeah...how about the owners of the stacked Tigers team last year? Or the ultra spending ultra stacked Dodgers of this coming season? What's going to happen when they DON'T win it this year either? I guess you idiots can blame all their futility on Amaro too and the 7 degrees of Kevin Bacon effect that all his trades had on unsettling all the crucial balances in the rest of the baseball universe for all the other teams, too? Right? Thought so. Please, if you can't say something even remotely CONSTRUCTIVE just shut up and leave. You don't bring anything of any value to the table.— Mark1npt
- The Angels haven't even made the post-season since 2009. Their payroll is now approaching the Phillies'. Since the Phillies opened their wallets a few years ago they've really been closest to the Red Sox in payroll -- another team that hasn't seen the post-season since 2009. So other GMs with money definitely have the same issues. The Dodgers are going to be interesting to watch. They've pushed their payroll up to or past the Yankees. But they've done some odd things with that money like signing 8 starting pitchers. Seems like it could end being a circus in LA this year.
Perspective is needed by some. Only 5 teams have won 5 or more consecutive division titles in a row. Of course the Braves had that incredible run in the 90's into the 2000's ... but only one WS title to show for it.— s - Have faith, Mark. Most of us that read here are level headed. The vocal minority here give all of us Philly fans a bad name which is why I sometimes attempt to bring balance. The trolls? Well, I do come here for the entertainment value, too. The funny thing is that some of the basement dwellers won't be able to sleep tonight knowing the Top 10 Prospects story is coming at 3 am.— vafan
- "Marc Narducci and myself" ...impressive.— Mortimer G Fingenfinderstein III
- I thought their top prospect was Dom Brown. Or is there a 5 year limit on the title.— Mortimer G Fingenfinderstein III
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