With the MLB lockout finally over, players are on the move again and baseball is set to be played again. The season is set to start in due order, but so are most Minors seasons. As I find myself excited to see what the Phillies will do, so am I about their prospects. With that in mind, why not go and rank them? That's what everyone seems to be doing these days. I, however, will do so by level. Why? Well, it's easier to do so this way for me given I have a large bias towards more advanced players, so this stratification allows us to better compare players. I will also say I'm a big believer that good prospects get results, so this will be very production-based. Given that there is much shifting amongst players with AAA and MLB experience who are prospects this time of year, we will start at the lowest level of the system and discuss players who topped out with the FCL Phillies last year.
First, lets discuss players who did not reach this level. This includes players like Rickardo Perez (DSL Phillies Red), Yemal Flores, Jean Cabrera (DSL Phillies White), and William Bergolla Jr. (just signed). I will not be ranking these players, simply because I do not know enough about these players as a whole to do so, and players this far down the system and so young are hard to project. Naturally though, those four remain names to watch.
In moving to the stateside rookie level, here is the list that I have constructed.
Andrew Painter
Hao Yu Lee
Jordan Viars
Alexeis Azuaje
Micah Ottenbreit
Corey Phelan
Jordan Fowler
Gavin Tonkel
Andrick Nava
Edward Barboza
Jake McKenna
Jose Pena Jr.
Jose Valadez-Acuna*
Anthony Quirion
Matt Goodheart
Cash Case
Naturally this comes with a bit of explaining. Painter's name is already quite well known by Phillies fans. His polish was lauded at the time of the draft, and while he managed just six innings in 2021 with the FCL outfit, he was impressive allowing just four hits, no walks, and striking out twelve batters. Is he already ready for Clearwater?
Following Painter are some less lauded but quite interesting prospects. In the #2 spot is Lee, a prospect who starred for Taiwan's youth baseball outfits. He did not miss a beat after debuting late in the FCL season, slashing .364/.440/.773 in nine contests. Viars was the club's 3rd rounder last season and showed well as one of the FCL's youngest players with a 1.048 OPS in September. Azuaje slashed .400/.509/.867 in a limited showing at the age of 19 in the FCL last year. I'm not much familiar with him, but it will be curious to see what he can do in a larger showing this season. Ottenbreit rounds out the top five. He was the club's 4th rounder last year. He does not turn 19 until May.
The rest of the names on this list are either real young guys who haven't shown much yet or older players that preformed decently. Phelan in particular is interesting, but I've been able to dig up little on him he was a HS UDFA in 2020 who allowed just one run in 9.2 IP at the FCL outfit last year. Also, this list ends with Cash Case. Case is almost 23 and has shown very little in the minors since debuting as a pro in 2017, but his signing after not playing since 2019 is curious to me. A Clearwater guy, perhaps he showed well at a club workout. He's perhaps just an org. filler, but it's curious they signed him of all the options they would have had. I placed Case in the FCL bracket because his last professional action came at the rookie level.
This concludes my FCL Phillies prospects roundup. My aim is to move on to Low-A Clearwater next.
