Phillies prospect Franklyn Kilome to make Triple-A debut in playoffs
By John Town
The Phillies have decided to shut down three pitchers from their Triple-A rotation, so Franklyn Kilome will debut in Lehigh Valley in the playoffs.
While the Phillies are on their way to a potential 100-loss season, their Triple-A affiliate, the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, are about to start a best-of-five series against Scranton in the International League playoffs.
However, the IronPigs will be without three of their five starting pitchers as Thomas Eshelman, Jose Taveras, and Brandon Leibrandt are done this season after hitting their innings limit.
Instead, Lehigh Valley will feature a rotation fairly inexperienced in Triple-A action. Drew Anderson will pitch the opener after making just one Triple-A start this year. Elniery Garcia and Jacob Waguespack will starts Games Two and Three; neither has pitched in Triple-A before. Henderson Alvarez, the veteran journeyman who was pitching in independent ball up until Aug. 22, will start Game Four.
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If the series lasts a full five games, Philadelphia’s second-best pitching prospect and No. 8 prospect overall according to MLB.com, Franklyn Kilome, will start and make his debut in Triple-A. The 22-year-old made his Double-A debut earlier this season and has a 3.64 ERA in just five starts in Reading so far in his career.
Mark Appel was activated from the disabled list and will be available in the bullpen.
Victor Arano, Mitch Walding, and Malquin Canelo were all also promoted to round out a flurry of 13 transactions for Lehigh Valley.
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Kilome has to be added to the 40-man roster this offseason to protect him from the Rule 5 draft, so the team would probably like for him to be in Triple-A next season. However, that possibility is up in the air as Kilome posted a 1.33 strikeout-to-walk ratio, 1.35 WHIP, and 4.27 fielding-independent pitching in Reading this year. He may have to start back in Double-A to work out some of the kinks.
Garcia and Waguespack will also make their Triple-A debuts in the playoff series. Garcia served an 80-game PED suspension this season. He returned to make five starts in Reading, walking more batters than he struck out but managing to keep a 1.75 ERA.
Waguespack went undrafted in 2015 but signed with the Phillies. He spent 2017 between the bullpen and the rotation, collecting a 3.93 ERA and 1.329 WHIP between High-A Clearwater and Double-A.
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Eshelman, Leibrandt, and Taveras all had solid seasons but Leibrandt is coming off shoulder surgery last year while Taveras and Eshelman are in just their second full season of action. All three set career highs for innings pitched in their minor-league careers.