Phillies outfield plans: How they look heading into 2018
By John Town
Andrew Pullin
I didn’t include Pullin in this list because he is a standout prospect. At best, he is a left fielder with just enough of hitting profile to eventually make it as a bench outfielder if he’s lucky and everything breaks right. I added him because of the decision the Phillies front office will have to make with Pullin this offseason.
Last year, Pullin was left off the 40-man roster and therefore went unprotected from the Rule 5 draft. There was enough of a prospect profile to warrant some concern he could be selected, but the problem was he had played just 46 games in Double-A and retired for a month during the season. No one selected Pullin, so he remained with the team that drafted him.
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This season, it won’t be a guarantee that Pullin would go unselected again. In 67 Double-A games to start the year, he hit 14 home runs with a .925 OPS, almost his good as his Reading numbers from the year before. He was promoted to Triple-A in June but has not hit the same way, posting a .230 batting average with just two home runs in 34 games.
The Phillies have plenty of top-end prospects that need to be protected like J.P. Crawford, Rhys Hoskins, and Franklyn Kilome.
This leaves little room for fringe guys like Pullin. It’s a shame to have to expose him, but it’s a problem you have to face when you have to put your priorities in your better players.
If Pullin goes unprotected and some how makes it through the Rule 5 draft, or gets protected, there’s a chance he could make it as a reserve outfielder on the major-league team. However, it’s more likely he returns to Triple-A and tries to repeat his success from Double-A.