Phillies Lower-Minors Prospects Ranked by Baseball America

Several Phillies prospects ranked in Baseball America’s Top 20 in the Gulf Coast Leauge, New York-Penn League, and South Atlantic League.

Recent draft classes and international signings have loaded the Phillies minor-league system with talent. This talent has collected in the lower minors between the short-season leagues and Low-A ball.

Baseball America began their yearly rankings of each minor league this week, including the Gulf Coast, New York-Penn, and South Atlantic Leagues. So far, seven Phillies prospects have appeared on Baseball America’s lists.

So far, the most Phillies appeared on Ben Badler’s GCL list. No. 1 overall draft pick Mickey Moniak ranked as the best prospect in the league. Pitcher Sixto Sanchez, second baseman Daniel Brito, and outfielder Jhailyn Ortiz ranked seventh, 12th, and 15th, respectively.

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Brito is the biggest surprise on the list for me. Coming into this season, he was on few, if any, Top 30 lists. Badler praised Brito’s approach at the plate, saying he “has an advanced hitting approach for his age with good plate discipline and pitch recognition skills.”

Later in the rankings chat, Badler talked about both Moniak and Sanchez, who broke out this year.

When asked if Moniak could start in Low-A Lakewood next year, he agreed and furthered the notion, saying “Moniak is polished enough that, if the Phillies want to push him, he might even be a candidate to finish the year in High-A, like the Astros did with Kyle Tucker this year.”

Meanwhile, a fan asked Badler to compare Sanchez to other young pitching prospects Franklyn Kilome and Adonis Medina. Badler only added to the Sanchez hype, saying he is farther along than both Medina and Kilome at this stage.

Speaking of Medina, he was the only Phillies prospect to rank on Michael Lananna’s New York-Penn League list, coming in at No. 11. Medina came behind other talented young pitchers, including lefty A.J. Puk, whom many predicted the would head to Philadelphia in this year’s draft.

Lannana likes Medina’s potential, as he said Medina “should miss more bats as he learns to command his weapons. He has mid-rotation starter upside.” No one asked about Medina in the ensuing chat.

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Finally, the Phils placed two pitchers on J.J. Cooper’s South Atlantic League list. Franklyn Kilome, the best pitching prospect in the system according to MLB.com, came in at No. 8 on the list. Jose Taveras also snuck on the list at No. 19.

Cooper noted how Kilome’s curbevall transitioned from a spike curve to a more traditional version this year. Once Kilome got his fastball-curve mix honed in, “he dominated in the second half by recording a 2.77 ERA with 12.0 strikeouts per nine innings after a 1-6, 5.09 first half.”

Matt Winkleman of Phillies Minor Thoughts was truly surprised with Taveras’s presence on the list. He agreed with Cooper’s assessment of Taveras as a “future No.4 starter,” but asked if that profile has any value. Winkleman compared Taveras to Ben Lively, Alec Asher, and David Buchanan, along with “a host of other fringe right handed starters.”

In addition, Cooper noted in the SAL chat that plenty of Lakewood pitchers just missed the Top 20, including Alberto Tirado, Luke Leftwich, and Edgar Garcia. According to Cooper, one scout said of the Lakewood staff:

"“That team doesn’t have anyone who projects as a No. 2 or No. 3 starter, but it had a lot of future MLB relievers and backend starters. Impressive staff.”"

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Overall, the Phils lower levels in the minor-leagues have plenty of talented prospects. Some will remain in the lower-minors next year, while others will reach High-A Clearwater or possibly even Double-A Reading in 2017.