Phillies 2016 Grades: Rotation
By Matt Veasey
JAKE THOMPSON
Thompson was the Phillies top-rated pitching prospect, and depending on the ranking service was the #2 or #3 overall prospect in the Phils minor league system and certainly a Top 100 overall prospect in the entire game when he was promoted to make his big league debut on August 6th.
He came to the Phils from the Texas Rangers as a key piece of the big six-player haul the team received at last year’s trade deadline in exchange for Cole Hamels and Jake Diekman.
Thompson didn’t fare well in that first start, lasting just 4.1 innings at Petco Park against the host San Diego Padres.
He allowed six earned runs on seven hits while walking two batters against the normally light-hitting Friars in what is known as one of baseball’s best pitching environments.
It didn’t get better over his next few outings. After four starts, Thompson was 1-3 with a 9.78 ERA and had allowed 22 hits over 19.1 innings with a 13/13 K:BB ratio. He looked for all the world like he simply was not ready for prime time.
But then the rookie settled down, began trusting his stuff, and showed that he belonged after all. Over his final six starts, Thompson went 1-1 with a 3.41 ERA. He allowed just 31 hits over 34.1 innings during that span.
Thompson was shut down for the season following a September 25th loss to the New York Mets after having thrown 183.1 combined innings at AAA Lehigh Valley and with the Phillies.
In 2017, Thompson should have an inside track to a regular role in the Phillies starting rotation, and would have to look bad down in Clearwater while being outpitched by others to lose that role.