The Philadelphia Phillies outfield production left a lot to be desired in the end, but there is definitely hope for the future.
There is probably a wide swath of the larger Philadelphia sports fan base who were not paying much attention to the Phillies during the month of September.
Unless you are, like myself, one of the hard cores who follows closely year ’round no matter the circumstances, you missed something significant and exciting.
That exciting and significant development was the somewhat unexpected promotion and insertion into the regular lineup of outfield prospect Roman Quinn following the conclusion of the minor league playoffs.
The 23-year old speedster has worked his way towards the top of the Fightin’ Phils batting order, producing four stolen bases and eight runs scored over his first 65 plate appearances over 14 games, 13 of those as a starter.
Those may not sound overly impressive at first blush. But extrapolated out over a full season at the top of the order, and we are talking about a likely base line of 40 stolen bases and 80 runs scored for the switch-hitter.
He is also weighed down by a .226 batting average that is sure to increase by at least 50 points as he adjusts to the big league level. His on-base percentage of .349 is already acceptable.
I’ve been harping the talents of Quinn for the past couple of years, so the fact that I am a fanboy is no surprise to anyone who follows.
But I believe that anyone who has watched his speed on the bases and that same speed as well as his throwing arm in the outfield now is well aware that I haven’t been selling a bill of goods. Quinn is the real deal, and he is the Phillies future in center field.
Quinn is one of seven Phils outfielders for whom I am going to provide a grade for their 2016 performance.
I’ll be leaving out a quartet of relatively inconsequential players who each received fewer than 100 plate appearances: Darin Ruf, David Lough, Emmanuel Burriss, and Cedric Hunter.
The seven who will receive grades are Quinn, Odubel Herrera, Peter Bourjos, Tyler Goeddel, Cody Asche, Aaron Altherr, and Jimmy Paredes. So let’s begin with the dispensing of their 2016 report card grades.