2022 Phillies Mid-Season Prospect Rankings - A+

Hitting struggles have persisted all year for the A+ Jersey Shore Blue Claws, who sit at just 31-55 at the All-Star Break, but the club has been boosted by strong pitching production out of a core made up mostly of former high school draftees. Here are the club's top fifteen prospects:

Andrew Painter
Mick Abel
Kyle Glogoski
Christian McGowan
Ben Brown
Ethan Wilson
Erubiel Armenta
Andrick Nava
Victor Vargas
Rixon Wingrove
Carlos De La Cruz
Cristian Hernandez
Luis Garcia
Rafael Marcano
Albertus Barber

Painter of course of the biggest name on this list as the consensus top prospect in the system having just turned 19 and already dominating at the A+ level. Abel at #2 is no surprise, but Glogoski takes the wide open #3 spot having shown well in his return from an injury-crossed 2021 season. Brown is having a breakout season, and could see his stock rise even more if he can translate his A+ success into AA success. Armenta slides a bit thanks to less impressive production in his second go at the A+ level. Nava looked poised for a breakout season in his first year above the rookie level, but he was sent down to Clearwater after his hot stretch ran out. Two names increasing their stock this season have been Vargas and Wingrove, both of whom have rebounded this season after nightmarish 2021 campaigns. Hernandez, Garcia, Casey Martin, and Nicolas Torres, on the other hand, have struggled to perform at the A+ level, with the hitters particularly taking a hit after having already played at the A+ level prior.

2022 Phillies Mid-Season Prospect Rankings - Low-A

The Clearwater Threshers, in spite of having struggled to hit very much this season, have a 42-44 record and boast an interesting collection of recently drafted and signed pitchers. Because of this the list of prospects to watch at this level is long. Here are the top 15:

Hao Yu Lee
Alexeis Azuaje
Samuel Aldegheri*
Corey Phelan*
Eiberson Castellano
Wilfredo Flores
Starlyn Castillo
Jared Wetherbee
Rodolfo Sanchez
Buddy Hayward
Tommy McCollum
Andrew Brown*
Micah Ottenbreit
Gabriel Cotto
Fernando Lozano

Lee, as expected leads the way in spite of having missed time with injury this season thanks to continued strong production at the plate as Clearwater's youngest regular in the lineup. The same thing could be said about Azuaje, though he could struggle to stay atop these rankings if his health issues persist. Aldegheri and Phelan have missed most of the season, with the former just starting a rehab assignment and the later recovering from cancer treatment. Castellano appears for the first time on any list after having jumped from the DSL to A-ball and having held his own in a long-relief/starting role, having taken this jump better than #20 Jean Cabrera and #23 Oswald Medina. McCollum and Cotto have made big gains since the start of the season, as the pair went unranked on the prior list and now reside within the top-15. Sanchez meanwhile jumped from 27th to 9th, while Flores went from 20th to 6th. Rapidly falling on the list are Yhoswar Garcia and Jamari Baylor, now at 19th and 25th, respectively. Both have struggled to hit in their second runs at the Low-A level, putting them at risk of falling out of the prospect picture entirely.

2022 Phillies Mid-Season Prospect Rankings - FCL

Now that the All-Star break has arrived, it's about time that you'll see all the "mid-season" this and that in the world of baseball. While never the mathematical midpoint in the season, the All-Star break still provides a good point at which to evaluate the progress of things within the MLB season. I have decided to take another look at the Phillies prospects, following the same procedure I did in the past by ranking prospects level by level. Because it is during the season, I will consider a player who is on the 60-day IL for a level but has only played in rehab at a lower level as part of the former level's list. Starting off we will examine the FCL level again. The FCL Phillies 11-17 and boast an interesting collection of position prospects in particular. Here are the rankings for the team:

Rickardo Perez
Nikau Pouaka-Grego
Jordan Viars
Gavin Tonkel*
Lou Helmig
Diego Gonzalez
Jaydenn Estanista
Estibenzon Jimenez
Jonathan Petit
Giussepe Velasquez
Ricardo Rosario
Sergio Sanchez
Jose Pena
Daniel Mejia
Nick Fanti*

Rickardo Perez is the consensus top prospect of this group and it isn't really close. A former top bonus-getter on the international amateur market, Perez moved up to the FCL after a year with the DSL Phillies and has come out of the gate hitting for a .357 average in 16 contests. With the organization's wealth of catching depth, he could be a name on the move in the near future, but if not, he will be a name to watch rise though the levels of the system. Nikau Pouaka-Grego is also a name to watch, as he has been the club's best hitter at just 17. The New Zealand-born shortstop has slashed .326/.475/.478 in 15 contests. Lou Helmig was also a member of the same class as him, but has not impressed as much off the start. Jordan Viars and Gavin Tonkel, meanwhile, were high school draftees from the 2021 class, though both have dealt with injuries this season.

Adventures in Customs #3 - Darick Hall (Phillies Set #39)

In conjunction with my already extant desire to create custom cards and with a bit of inspiration from The Phillies Room's Chachi set (make sure to give it a look), I have, over the past two seasons, deigned to fill out a set of cards for every member of the Phillies from the current season, effectively supplementing the ones already in the main Topps line. To introduce this set, let's start off with #39, Darick Hall, who is making his MLB debut today batting cleanup.

Hall is a former 14th rounder who spent just one season in college, making the professional jump after an explosive two-way season as a draft-eligible sophomore at Dallas Baptist. As a professional, Hall has been a heavy-hitter at every level, producing 20 home runs or more in every full season as a professional, save last season. He just recently cracked 20 for Lehigh Valley, putting him two clear of Royals phenom Vinnie Pasquantino (who debuted just yesterday) for 1st in the International League. Now in the Major Leagues, Hall hopes to be a piece in the puzzle that is replacing the lost bat of Bryce Harper in the Phillies lineup.

Adventures in Customs #2 - Ender Inciarte

Now, let's talk about the non-2018 stuff. Put simply, it never presents as well. The formatting is off, and you can't use the horizontal format. Additionally, I think the complete white border simply doesn't lend to as cool-looking of cards. That said, I still have plenty of newer and older material that is worth the time of day, such as this specimen:

Inciarte was a favorite player of mine around when he came up. An underrated type to be sure with solid all-around ability. He's fallen off quite a bit these last few years, which led to his stint in the Reds system last season. Personally, I think the Reds have great uniforms and it trickles down a bit to their Minors affiliates, particularly the Bats. The Reds color scheme and logo also presents well on the 2021s as well.

Obviously, something of note here is the name and position aren't in the right spot. This is simply how the custom designer does it, though honestly I've never liked the name location/size/etc. for the 2021 Topps design, so it's never much bothered me. Also, this is another card which I considered two photo orientations for, the other being shifted a bit more to the right.

Photo credit: Louisville Bats Twitter

Adventures in Customs #1 - Thad Ward

I've been thinking recently what next to post on here for some time, and toyed with a few ideas, but I finally decided on bringing into the fray an idea I've considered for some time - presenting some of the custom cards I've created. Now, as a preface, yes I use the Topps.com one, and yes I know they don't want you using it with players and it's more just a novelty thing, but seeing as I'm not printing them and make no money (nor plan to) off of this page, I've decided I will show some of my projects. I've been working on these cards since I found out that Topps had a custom care maker, and have numerous cards scattered across a few laptops (which I really need to consolidate a bit more before my work ends up getting lost, but that's another story). Recently I've made a few 2022-style cards using the new 2022 option on the site, but the template that's actually worked the best for me over time has been the 2018 one. This is the only one that has remained available in horizontal for some time now, and the front design is mostly accurate to the real 2018 Topps set. I think the horizontal format works best for most good images you can find for a player, and is especially great for pitchers, as will be seen going forwards. Anyways, why not start off with one of these 2018 editions?

Our first specimen is Thad Ward, more or less because his 2018 edition is the only one I have on this laptop at the moment. This is actually one of two 2018 Wards I did, with the other being a lest zoomed-in edition. I've had a harder and harder time over the course of my card customizing figuring which zoom/position of the image for a card is best, so I've tended to make multiple of some of the cards I have made. Ward, unlike a lot of my specimens, does not appear centered on this card, but I felt this positioning looked real visually appealing, so I stuck with it.

I hope to iron out this format a bit going forward, but I'll leave this post here due to it already being a bit long with the explanation and all. I'm hoping to post a few more of these soon and better explain this project along the way. Also, in a final note, I hope to try and find the image I used for each card at the end of my custom posts so as to give some credit to the images I used for each card. I can't guarantee this, as some images are older and proba1bly harder to locate now, but I'll do what I can.

Photo credit: Gwinn Davis

2022 Phillies Prospect Rankings - MLB

Wrapping up our level-based prospect rankings for the Phillies system, we investigate players who last topped out in the Majors. This list - like the AAA list - has changed a bit since it was first formulated, with Adonis Medina chief among the departing prospects. Once again this is a mostly top-heavy list, as follows:

Matt Vierling
Hans Crouse
Cristopher Sánchez
Mickey Moniak
Kent Emmanuel
Ricardo Sánchez*
Damon Jones
Andrew Bellatti - returned to prominence in the Minors in 2021 after injuries.
Kyle Dohy

Yeah, that is all. Vierling, Crouse, Sánchez, Moniak, Jones, and Dohy are your roll-overs, while the rest are waiver claims and MiLB deals. Vierling shot from AA to the Majors last season and dazzles at both levels. While he's likely due for some regression, it still looks like he can be at least a 4th outfielder in the Majors going forward and perhaps more. Crouse appeared late last season, but spent most of 2021 in AA. He'll need more AAA action, but his dynamic stuff should air his progress towards some role in the Major Leagues. Cristopher Sánchez showed well last season as a long reliever, and his impressive stuff could translate into serious success if he can limit the walks. At this point, it's hard to know what to expect from Moniak, who was solid in AAA, disastrous in the Majors in 2021, but has showed progress under new Phillies hitting coach Kevin Long.

Regarding the rest - a collection of assorted arms - there is much higher risk. Keep an eye on #6 Ricardo Sánchez and #8 Bellatti. The former was long a decent prospect in the Braves system, but has yet to establish himself in the high Minors. He will get that chance with Lehigh Valley this season after missing 2021 with injury. Bellatti, meanwhile, showed well back in 2015 with the Rays, but didn't return to the Majors until 2021. He's hard to project at this point, but if everything clicks than he could provide a boost to the Phillies bullpen.