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A look at Phillies' prospects
After trading seven top prospects for Cliff Lee and Roy Halladay, many fans figured the Phillies’ farm system was empty.
After all, the Phillies gave up catcher Lou Marson, infielder Jason Donald and pitchers Carlos Carrasco and Jason Knapp for Lee last July.
Then last December, the Phillies dealt right-hander Kyle Drabek, the team’s top pitching prospect, catcher Travis D’Arnaud, the team’s top catching prospect, and outfielder Michael Taylor, the team’s second-best outfield prospect, to Toronto for Halladay.
All seven players were rated among the Phillies’ top 10 prospects by Baseball America.
But don’t fret Phillies fans. The farm system is far from bare. As a matter of fact, there are plenty of talented players in the system. Granted, many are at the lower levels of the system and might be a few years away, but there is still plenty of talent in the cupboard.
The gem of the organization is outfielder Domonic Brown, a 6-5, 200-pound five-tool player. Brown can hit for power, he can hit for average, he can run, field and throw. Through last Thursday, Brown was hitting .327 with one home run and seven RBI for Reading, the Phillies’ Double-A affiliate in the Eastern League.
Any team that talks trade with the Phillies wants Brown. The first time I saw him was in 2008 at low Class-A Lakewood, and when he stepped to the plate, I immediately thought of Darryl Strawberry. Brown, who was a wide receiver recruit by the University of Mimai coming out of Redan High School in Lithonia, Ga., in 2006, was a 20th-round draft choice by the Phillies.
He probably lasted that long in the draft because teams figured he’d honor his football scholarship, but the Phillies stayed with him and were able to sign him for $200,000, according to published reports.
Besides Brown, there are a few other highly touted prospects at Reading.
Shortstop Freddy Galvis has been compared defensively to Omar Vizquel, who has won countless Gold Glove Awards during his career. Galvis is 20 and won’t be 21 until November. Granted, he’s on the small side at 5-10, 155, but he began to drive the ball at Clearwater last season. Defensively, he can play in the major leagues right now. Whether his bat will allow him to be anything more than a utility player remains to be seen. He could be a stud or he could be Tomas Perez.
Outfielder Tyson Gillies is a 21-year-old who batted .341 with nine homers, 42 RBI, 104 runs scored and 44 steals for the high Class-A High Desert Mavericks in 2009. He came to the Phillies from Seattle along with right-handers Phillippe Aumont and J.C. Ramirez in the Lee trade this past winter.
Pitching wise, the Reading team is loaded with prospects. Besides Aumont and Ramirez, there are right-handers Vance Worley, Mike Stutes and Mike Cisco and lefty Yohan Flande. Worley is 22, Stutes is 23, Cisco will be 23 on May 23, and Flande will be 24 all season long. All are starters, although Stutes has been used in relief this season and Worley will probably end up in the bullpen if he makes it to Citizens Bank Park some day. Closer B.J. Rosenberg is hurt right now, but at 24 he has a definite future in the back end of a major league bullpen.
Next time, we’ll look at the low Class-A Lakewood Blue Claws and the high Class-A Clearwater Threshers.
o o o
When the Phillies traded Lee to the Seattle Mariners, many Phillies fans were disappointed.
The Phillies received the 6-7 Aumont, a speedy center fielder in Gillies and Ramirez in return for Lee, the 2008 A.L. Cy Young Award winner who led the Phillies to the World Series last season.
Aumont, 21, was the key to deal for the Phillies and his effort last Sunday had to excite fans. Aumont tossed six no-hit innings for Double-A Reading in his longest start this season. Aumont had four strikeouts and walked two.
Aumont, the 11th overall pick in the 2007 draft by Seattle, could end up being a closer in the majors, but the Phillies wanted him to start this season to work on his repertoire of pitches.
For his efforts, Aumont was voted the Eastern League Pitcher of the Week for the week ending April 25. He made a pair of starts for Reading that week and posted a record of 1-1 with an ERA of 0.82 with nine strikeouts in 11 innings pitched. Heading into last Friday’s action, Aumont was 1-1 with a 3.32 ERA in 21-plus inning.
By the way, Gillies is struggling a bit at Reading, batting .185 heading into last Friday’s action, but he’s a solid prospect at 21 years old.
The 21-year-old Ramirez is 2-1 with an ERA of 5.32 for the high Class A Clearwater Threshers. In 23-plus innings, he has struck out 21 and walked just six. He throws hard and is a solid prospect.
o o o
Remember Carlos Monasterios?
Well, he’s one of the four guys who was traded to the Phillies July 30, 2006, for right fielder Bobby Abreu and the late Cory Lidle. The others were catcher Jesus Sanchez, relief pitcher Matt Smith and shortstop C.J. Henry.
Monasterios, a right-handed pitcher from Miranda, Venezuela, languished for four seasons in the Phillies system, making it as high as Double-A Rading. The New York Mets selected Monasterios in the Rule V draft last December and then traded him to the Dodgers and he has pitched pretty well so far this season.
Through Sunday, Monasterios was 0-1 with a 1.69 ERA in 16 inning. He started one game, but is mostly being used as a reliever by the Dodgers.
Although he had a great arm when the Phillies acquired him from the Yankees, Sanchez just couldn’t hit, so the Phillies converted him to pitching as a last resort and he’s done remarkably well. Last season, his first on the mound, he went 10-6 with a 3.44 ERA in 26 starts and helped low Class-A Lakewood capture the South Atlantic League title.
The Phillies like him so much, they protected him on the 40-man roster this year. He’s at Clearwater in the high Class-A Florida State League. Heading into Friday night’s action, he was 0-3 with a 3.52 ERA.
Smith pitched in nine games for the Phillies in 2007 and had an ERA of 11.25. He later had Tommy John surgery and kicked around the minors.
Henry, a former "can’t miss" first-round draft pick by the Yankees who turned out to be a bust, hit .222/.296/.353 in 953 minor league at-bats over four pro seasons.
He gave up baseball and pursued his true love, basketball, and is now a member of the Kansas Jayhawks, where he was a freshman reserve guard this past season. His younger brother, Xavier, also a freshman, was a stud this past season for the Jayhawks.
After all, the Phillies gave up catcher Lou Marson, infielder Jason Donald and pitchers Carlos Carrasco and Jason Knapp for Lee last July.
Then last December, the Phillies dealt right-hander Kyle Drabek, the team’s top pitching prospect, catcher Travis D’Arnaud, the team’s top catching prospect, and outfielder Michael Taylor, the team’s second-best outfield prospect, to Toronto for Halladay.
All seven players were rated among the Phillies’ top 10 prospects by Baseball America.
But don’t fret Phillies fans. The farm system is far from bare. As a matter of fact, there are plenty of talented players in the system. Granted, many are at the lower levels of the system and might be a few years away, but there is still plenty of talent in the cupboard.
The gem of the organization is outfielder Domonic Brown, a 6-5, 200-pound five-tool player. Brown can hit for power, he can hit for average, he can run, field and throw. Through last Thursday, Brown was hitting .327 with one home run and seven RBI for Reading, the Phillies’ Double-A affiliate in the Eastern League.
Any team that talks trade with the Phillies wants Brown. The first time I saw him was in 2008 at low Class-A Lakewood, and when he stepped to the plate, I immediately thought of Darryl Strawberry. Brown, who was a wide receiver recruit by the University of Mimai coming out of Redan High School in Lithonia, Ga., in 2006, was a 20th-round draft choice by the Phillies.
He probably lasted that long in the draft because teams figured he’d honor his football scholarship, but the Phillies stayed with him and were able to sign him for $200,000, according to published reports.
Besides Brown, there are a few other highly touted prospects at Reading.
Shortstop Freddy Galvis has been compared defensively to Omar Vizquel, who has won countless Gold Glove Awards during his career. Galvis is 20 and won’t be 21 until November. Granted, he’s on the small side at 5-10, 155, but he began to drive the ball at Clearwater last season. Defensively, he can play in the major leagues right now. Whether his bat will allow him to be anything more than a utility player remains to be seen. He could be a stud or he could be Tomas Perez.
Outfielder Tyson Gillies is a 21-year-old who batted .341 with nine homers, 42 RBI, 104 runs scored and 44 steals for the high Class-A High Desert Mavericks in 2009. He came to the Phillies from Seattle along with right-handers Phillippe Aumont and J.C. Ramirez in the Lee trade this past winter.
Pitching wise, the Reading team is loaded with prospects. Besides Aumont and Ramirez, there are right-handers Vance Worley, Mike Stutes and Mike Cisco and lefty Yohan Flande. Worley is 22, Stutes is 23, Cisco will be 23 on May 23, and Flande will be 24 all season long. All are starters, although Stutes has been used in relief this season and Worley will probably end up in the bullpen if he makes it to Citizens Bank Park some day. Closer B.J. Rosenberg is hurt right now, but at 24 he has a definite future in the back end of a major league bullpen.
Next time, we’ll look at the low Class-A Lakewood Blue Claws and the high Class-A Clearwater Threshers.
o o o
When the Phillies traded Lee to the Seattle Mariners, many Phillies fans were disappointed.
The Phillies received the 6-7 Aumont, a speedy center fielder in Gillies and Ramirez in return for Lee, the 2008 A.L. Cy Young Award winner who led the Phillies to the World Series last season.
Aumont, 21, was the key to deal for the Phillies and his effort last Sunday had to excite fans. Aumont tossed six no-hit innings for Double-A Reading in his longest start this season. Aumont had four strikeouts and walked two.
Aumont, the 11th overall pick in the 2007 draft by Seattle, could end up being a closer in the majors, but the Phillies wanted him to start this season to work on his repertoire of pitches.
For his efforts, Aumont was voted the Eastern League Pitcher of the Week for the week ending April 25. He made a pair of starts for Reading that week and posted a record of 1-1 with an ERA of 0.82 with nine strikeouts in 11 innings pitched. Heading into last Friday’s action, Aumont was 1-1 with a 3.32 ERA in 21-plus inning.
By the way, Gillies is struggling a bit at Reading, batting .185 heading into last Friday’s action, but he’s a solid prospect at 21 years old.
The 21-year-old Ramirez is 2-1 with an ERA of 5.32 for the high Class A Clearwater Threshers. In 23-plus innings, he has struck out 21 and walked just six. He throws hard and is a solid prospect.
o o o
Remember Carlos Monasterios?
Well, he’s one of the four guys who was traded to the Phillies July 30, 2006, for right fielder Bobby Abreu and the late Cory Lidle. The others were catcher Jesus Sanchez, relief pitcher Matt Smith and shortstop C.J. Henry.
Monasterios, a right-handed pitcher from Miranda, Venezuela, languished for four seasons in the Phillies system, making it as high as Double-A Rading. The New York Mets selected Monasterios in the Rule V draft last December and then traded him to the Dodgers and he has pitched pretty well so far this season.
Through Sunday, Monasterios was 0-1 with a 1.69 ERA in 16 inning. He started one game, but is mostly being used as a reliever by the Dodgers.
Although he had a great arm when the Phillies acquired him from the Yankees, Sanchez just couldn’t hit, so the Phillies converted him to pitching as a last resort and he’s done remarkably well. Last season, his first on the mound, he went 10-6 with a 3.44 ERA in 26 starts and helped low Class-A Lakewood capture the South Atlantic League title.
The Phillies like him so much, they protected him on the 40-man roster this year. He’s at Clearwater in the high Class-A Florida State League. Heading into Friday night’s action, he was 0-3 with a 3.52 ERA.
Smith pitched in nine games for the Phillies in 2007 and had an ERA of 11.25. He later had Tommy John surgery and kicked around the minors.
Henry, a former "can’t miss" first-round draft pick by the Yankees who turned out to be a bust, hit .222/.296/.353 in 953 minor league at-bats over four pro seasons.
He gave up baseball and pursued his true love, basketball, and is now a member of the Kansas Jayhawks, where he was a freshman reserve guard this past season. His younger brother, Xavier, also a freshman, was a stud this past season for the Jayhawks.
posted by Brian Freeman at
6:41 AM
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