2023 Phillies Prospect Rankings - AA

The Fightins struggled last season, finishing just 61-77 in the Eastern League, but as the season wore on more talent rose into the team's rotation and lineup. Let's break said players down.

Andrew Painter^
Mick Abel^
Carlos De La Cruz^
Johan Rojas
Albertus Barber^
Ethan Wilson^
Jhailyn Ortiz
Ethan Lindow
McKinley Moore
Josh Hendrickson
Braden Zarbnisky
Brett Schulze
Andrew Baker
Andrew Schultz

Painter, ranked amongst the top small handful of prospects in the game, is the obvious #1 here, but the talent continues on from there. Abel and De La Cruz had strong 2022 campaigns, boasting their stocks and putting both in position to potentially debut in 2023. From there, however, the talent drops off, in no small part due to names departing recently (Logan O'Hoppe, Billy Sullivan IV, and Ben Brown are just some names who would make this list if they weren't dealt). Plenty of RP talent still remains however. Barber had an up-and-down 2022, but his overall Minors numbers are nice. Moore (already promoted to the Majors since this list was compiled) has intriguing stuff and limits home runs well. Schulze was dominant again last season, and some others had down season but still have strong stuff.

2022 Phillies Mid-Season Prospect Rankings - AA

Known for its legendary offensive environment, FirstEnergy Stadium kn Reading can help create some amazing offensive seasons that can springboard prospects to the Majors, while creating the first Major roadblock in a pitcher's development. Many prospects have found these things out this season, and it's part of why Reading has scuffled most of the season. But how about their top prospects? Here were the top 15 at the All-Star Break.

Logan O’Hoppe
Erik Miller
Billy Sullivan IV
Noah Skirrow
Griff McGarry
Johan Rojas
Braden Zarbnisky
Matt Seelinger
Jhailyn Ortiz
Trevor Bettencourt
Brian Marconi
Ethan Lindow
McKinley Moore
Blake Brown*
Josh Hendrickson

Logan O'Hoppe remains a standout at the levels at which he has played. He's pushed further into the game's top catching prospect charts with an excellent season at Reading. Miller has continued his strong production as a professional while being limited in his innings. Sullivan continues to impress out of the back of Reading's bullpen and could be due for AAA soon. Skirrow has shown better results at AA this season along with increased strikeout propensity. McGarry continues his rise, while Rojas's early success at the level helped him with an aggressive ranking here. Better AA numbers this season have helped Ortiz. Look out for Bettencourt, Brown, and Hendrickson as guys who can rise back up the rankings if they can stay healthy.

2022 Phillies Prospect Rankings - AA

Reading's FirstEnergy Stadium is known as one of the most hitter-friendly parks in all of the Minors, making it a tough beast to conquer. As it turned out, Reading was also the starting point for a lot of Phillies prospects in 2021, such as Matt Vierling, Simon Muzziotti, and Francisco Morales, but most ended up in AAA or the Majors. Here are some of the best that did end up here.

Erubiel Armenta
Billy Sullivan IV
Ethan Lindow
Noah Skirrow
Carlo Reyes
Trevor Bettencourt*
James McArthur
Jhailyn Ortiz
Luke Miller
Matt Kroon
Andrew Brown
Tyler Lehman
Tyler Phillips
Oscar Gonzalez

Again, here we have a short list, and once again one that is pitcher-heavy. Armenta is a name I had actually never heard of at the start of the season, but if you don't know it than it's best you do. The Tijuana product was otherworldly at three levels of the Minors, reaching AA with just twenty-one innings of regular-season professional experience under his belt. All told, he posted a monster 19.2 K/9 over 23 frames, mowing down 49 of the 104 batters he faced - over 47%! Another arm to watch is Sullivan, a UDFA product out of Delaware who was converted to the bullpen due to injury issues - ones that ended his 2021 season. However, he still managed to make AA before he recorded his eighteenth professional out, the held his own at AA thereafter. Should his health hold, Sullivan is a pitcher who could aid the Phillies as early as this season.

More arms file in after these two. Lindow was a serious prospect coming into last season, but he was demoted to A+ partway through the season. This is a make-or-break season for him, especially now that he is Rule V eligible. Skirrow, meanwile, is a Liberty product who posted a 1.07 ERA over his first nine outings of the season in a mixed role, but struggled after a promotion to AA and was also demoted late in the season. Carlo Reyes followed up a strong 2019 as an older DSL player with a strong 2021 across three levels, though his decent AA ERA was aided by some UER. Finally, Bettencourt is already 27 and missed most of both 2019 and 2021 with injury, but if he can get back on track his track record in the Minors shows he could be a useful arm out of the bullpen.