Baseball America recently released its list of the top ten Philadelphia Phillies prospects. It’s no secret the Phillies have emptied out the farm system as of late to acquire top talent like Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt, and Hunter Pence.
What this means is that the Phillies’ prospects are mainly in the lower levels of the minor leagues, with the low-A Lakewood BlueClaws or the high-A Clearwater Threshers. Domonic Brown no longer qualifies as a prospect, so Threshers starting pitcher Trevor May gets the nod as the organization’s top prospect.
Freddy Galvis remains the best chance to make a contribution in 2012. The shortstop is just a .246 career hitter in five years in the minor leagues, but he fared well in a late-season promotion to Triple-A last year, hitting .298 in 126 plate appearances.
Galvis is as slick-fielding a shortstop as there is, and if he were to replace Jimmy Rollins on the big-league club in 2012, the Phillies likely wouldn’t miss a beat defensively. That’s not going to happen, though. GM Ruben Amaro, Jr. has said the team wants to get younger, but going with an unproven 21-year old on a World Series caliber roster is a long shot.
Galvis may get the call up should Rollins (or whoever plays shortstop for the Phillies next year) get injured, and he will almost certainly see big league action by the time the September roster expansions roll around.
All four pitchers on the list are just single-A hurlers – May, Jesse Biddle, Jonathan Pettibone, and Brody Colvin. None can be expected to make an impact on a major league roster for at least several seasons.
The fifth and seventh prospects on the list are a pair of future closers in Phillippe Aumont and Justin DeFratus. DeFratus saw major league action in September, pitching four innings. Each could be the closer of the future for the Phillies, but that’s not likely to happen for several seasons.
The Phillies have made it known they are interested in either re-signing Ryan Madson or acquiring free agent closer Jonathan Papelbon. There are also several young relievers on the team who may be able to serve as closers sometime down the road – Antonio Bastardo and Michael Stutes. If either Aumont or DeFratus makes the team next season, he will almost assuredly be used in low-pressure situations initially.
Sebastian Valle, the third-rated prospect, is a single-A catcher who appears to be a similar player to Carlos Ruiz. Valle is just in high-A though and has progressed very slowly through the minor league ranks, as 2011 was his fifth season in the Phillies organization. Valle should be expected to at least reach Double-A by next year, but he won’t contribute anything to the major league team. Valle’s eventual debut in the major leagues could coincide nicely with Ruiz’s depature; the Phillies have Ruiz signed through 2012 with an option for the following year.
The ninth and tenth prospects on the list are a pair of players low in the organization: outfielder Jiwan James and third baseman Maikel Franco. James is a talented outfielder for the Threshers, while Franco barely even saw action for the low-A BlueClaws last season.
Neither will make an impact with the Phillies for several years, although Baseball America does project Franco as the club’s starting third baseman in 2015.
What will be key for the Phillies to get younger is allow those players to continue their development but also keep them in the organization. The Phillies have traded away 17 prospects in the past four years, and while it has brought over top talent in the team’s efforts to win now, it has also cleaned out the farm system.
Buy MLB Playoff Tickets | Buy Philadelphia Phillies Apparel
