NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 05: J.P. Crawford #2 of the Philadelphia Phillies looks out onto the field before a game against the New York Mets at Citi Field on September 5, 2017 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. Crawford is making his major league debut. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY – SEPTEMBER 05: J.P. Crawford #2 of the Philadelphia Phillies looks out onto the field before a game against the New York Mets at Citi Field on September 5, 2017 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. Crawford is making his major league debut. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images) /
The Phillies minor-league season is now over, so it’s time to take a look at how each team performed and which players took a step forward.
For the most part, 2017 was a successful season for the Phillies minor-league system. Several prospects took a step forward, which was shown by the several rookies making an impact on the major-league roster by the end of the season. There were some that didn’t progress the way we hoped, but that is to be expected. Development is never a straight line.
Let’s take a look at each of Philadelphia’s six minor-league teams, breaking down who surged, who struggled, and how the team did as a whole.
PHILADELPHIA, PA – SEPTEMBER 15: Rhys Hoskins #17 of the Philadelphia Phillies stands at first base with his glove on his head before a game against the Oakland Athletics at Citizens Bank Park on September 15, 2017 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images) /
Triple-A Lehigh Valley IronPigs
The Lehigh Valley IronPigs were able to squeak their way into the playoffs with six wins down the stretch, finishing the year with an 80-62 record and a wildcard spot. They lost in the first round to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate and the top team in the International League.
Lehigh Valley had a strong start to the season with Rhys Hoskins and Nick Williams powering their offense. Hoskins hit 29 home runs with a .966 OPS in 115 games before being called up to the majors. Williams had 15 home runs of his own along with a .280/.328/.511 line in 78 games before his promotion.
Scott Kingery performed fairly well after a midseason promotion, hitting eight home runs while posting a .294/.337/.449 line in 63 games. J.P. Crawford struggled to start the year, but he surged after a June groin injury with 13 home runs and a .904 OPS since June 20. That second-half resurgence gave the Phillies enough confidence to promote Crawford to the majors when the minor-league season ended.
Dylan Cozens hit 27 home runs by season’s end, but he hit just .210 and racked up 194 strikeouts in 476 at-bats.
Roman Quinn had a decent start to the year, but yet another injury limited the outfield prospect to just 45 games. Jesmuel Valentin suffered a season-ending dislocated shoulder after playing just 29 games this year.
Injuries to the major-league rotation led to a revolving door in the IronPigs’ rotation. Thomas Eshelman and Jake Thompson led the team with 121 and 118.1 innings pitched, respectively. Eshelman finished the year with a 2.23 ERA and 0.94 WHIP in Triple-A, being named the recipient of the Paul Owens award. Thompson was not nearly as effective with a 5.25 ERA.
Nick Pivetta and Ben Lively had strong stints in Lehigh Valley but have since become a part of the major-league rotation. Jose Taveras finished the year with in Triple-A after starting in Clearwater, logging 41 innings with a 1.32 ERA but a 4.22 fielding-independent pitching.
Mark Appel struggled yet again, posting a 5.27 ERA and 1.30 WHIP before another injury cut his season short.
Jesen Therrien was the team’s best reliever with a 1.57 ERA in 28.2 innings before making his major-league debut, but a UCL injury puts his future in question. Pat Venditte logged the most innings of any full-time reliever and had a 3.36 ERA. Hoby Milne and Pedro Beato were both effective relief options as well.
Double-A Reading Fightin’ Phils
2016 was a hard year to follow up for Double-A Reading after Dylan Cozens and Rhys Hoskins combined for 78 home runs and powered the team to the Eastern League playoffs. They took a step back this year as they finished the season with a 72-68 record, a full 20 games behind the division-leading Trenton Thunder.
The team had a strong offense overall as their .749 team OPS was second-best in the league behind the Bowie BaySox. They hit a league-leading 153 home runs and scored the third-most runs of any team.
Scott Kingery led the offense to start the year, hitting 18 home runs in 69 games before a promotion to Triple-A. Carlos Tocci and Jiandido Tromp led the offense for most of the season with a .760 and .813 OPS, respectively. Damek Tomscha, Andrew Pullin, and Drew Stankiewicz all finished the season with a batting average over .300.
Mitch Walding and Kyle Martin led the team with 25 and 22 home runs this season. Walding had an .842 OPS in 99 games, but Martin hit just .193 with a .288 on-base percentage.
The pitching staff was good but not great as many of their better pitchers went up the minor-league ladder. Tyler Viza led the team in innings pitched but finished the year with a 5.22 ERA. Drew Anderson didn’t take the huge leap forward many projected for him as he walked nine percent of opposing hitters but had a 3.59 ERA.
Yacksel Rios led the bullpen with a 1.89 ERA and 2.38 fielding-independent pitching, striking out 11.13 batters per nine innings. Austin Davis also had a strong year in the bullpen with a 2.87 ERA.
High-A Clearwater Threshers
The Threshers had a so-so season, finishing the year with a 67-71 record. Both their pitching staff and hitting was middle-of-the-pack but they didn’t have enough to get into the palyoffs.
Cornelius Randolph didn’t have the best batting average, but he was tied for second on the team with 13 home runs and walked 10.8 percent of the time. His .740 OPS was the best among Clearwater’s qualified hitters. Jan Hernandez led the team with 16 home runs while Wilson Garcia tied with Randolph with 13. No one had a true breakout season, but no one ever does in the pitcher-friendly Florida State League.
Several pitchers had strong seasons for the Threshers. Cole Irvin had a 2.55 ERA and five percent walk rate before being promoted to Double-A. Harold Arauz struck out 9.38 batters per nine innings between the bullpen and rotation. Franklyn Kilome had a 2.59 ERA and 3.54 FIP in 19 starts before his promotion to Reading. JoJo Romero had a 2.24 ERA in 10 starts after a midseason promotion.
Luke Leftwich emerged as an effective reliever, logging 80 inings in 42 relief appearances. He struck out 30.1 percent of opposing hitters while walking just 6.4 percent. He led all pitchers with 60 or more innings with a 2.12 FIP. Tyler Gilbert finished the season with a 1.30 WHIP and 2.95 ERA in 35 appearances. Jacob Waguespack made 24 appearances between the rotation and the bullpen and had a 2.89 FIP before being promoted.
Low-A Lakewood BlueClaws
Lakewood started off the season strong, just missing the division title in the first half of the season as their winning percentage was a mere three-thousandths lower than the division winner. They fell off in the second half, posting a 33-36 record after the break. They finished the season with a 73-66 record, 3.5 games back of the best overall team in the division.
Pitching was the strong point of the team as their 3.26 ERA was third-best in the South Atlantic League and they led the league with a 1.15 WHIP. The rotation was littered with top-30 pitching prospects like Sixto Sanchez, Adonis Medina, JoJo Romero, and Ranger Suarez.
Sanchez was strong in his full-season debut, posting a 2.41 ERA and a team-leading 2.35 fielding-independent pitching among those with more than 50 innings pitched. Romero had a 2.11 ERA and 3.76 strikeout-to-walk ratio before being promoted to Clearwater. Suarez had a minuscule 1.59 ERA with a 27.8 percent strikeout rate. Medina spent all year in Lakewood but was effective, striking out 10 batters per nine innings with a 3.01 ERA.
Will Hibbs was the team’s best reliever, finishing the year with a 1.77 ERA and 0.75 WHIP in 61 innings.
The hitting was far less effective as they finished the year with a collective .661 OPS. The lone bright spot on the offense was Darick Hall, who broke the team’s home run record with 27 in 114 games. He finished the year with a .272/.340/.533 line and 96 RBI.
Last year’s first round pick, Mickey Moniak, had a disappointing season as he finished the year with a .236/.284/.341 line. Daniel Brito also struggled, managing a .615 OPS. However, both were in their age-19 season, so expecting them to blow the top off of the league was probably too much.
Short-Season Williamsport CrossCutters
Williamsport didn’t have the most established prospect power this season as most of the top 2016 Gulf Coast League talent went to Lakewood rather than Williamsport. There were some strong individual performances, but it was only enough to get the CrossCutters to a .500 record this season.
The top hitting prospect on the team was outfielder Jhailyn Ortiz, and he showed why this year. He tied for the team lead with eight home runs while collecting a .961 OPS. He walked 9.6 percent of the time and hit .302, both of which were improvements upon his 2016 mark.
Last year’s third-round pick, Cole Stobbe, was the other player tied with Ortiz for eight home runs, but Stobbe hit just .203 while striking out in 307 percent of his plate appearances.
Several of this year’s draftees wound up in Williamsport, most notably first-round pick Adam Haseley for a time. He posted a .270/.350/.380 line in 37 games. Fourth-round pick Jake Scheiner and seventh-round pick Nick Maton both made their professional debuts in the New York-Penn League but had an OPS below .700.
Kyle Young led the pitching staff, posting a 2.77 ERA and 2.20 fielding-independent pitching in 13 starts. The 6’10 19-year-old struck out 27.4 percent of opposing hitters while walking just 5.7 percent. This year was a big step forward for Young and he should make his way to Lakewood next season.
Second-round pick Spencer Howard struck out 12.71 batters per nine innings but also walked 5.72 per nine. If he finds his control, he could be a dangerous pitcher. Third-round pick Connor Seabold only logged 10 innings as a reliever before being promoted to High-A Clearwater, but he never pitched for the Threshers.
Rookie-Level Gulf Coast League Phillies
The Gulf Coast League Phillies made it to the playoffs for the second straight year, finishing with the best record in the GCL at 36-22, good for a .621 winning percentage. They scored the most runs, had the highest OPS, and had the second-lowest ERA. However, they lost to the Yankees East team in the semifinal, one-game playoff (notice a trend here?)
Yahir Gurrola, Quincy Nieporte, and Ben Pelletier led the Phillies’ offense. Nieporte had a team-leading five home runs and .848 OPS. Pelletier hit three home runs with an .835 OPS while Gurrola had a team-high 147 wRC+, posting a .333/.437/.390 line before jumping up to Williamsport.
The strength of the Phillies’ pitching staff came from the bullpen. The team’s top pitchers by fielding-independent pitching, Jakob Hernandez, Anton Kuznetsov, and Rafael Carvajal all worked almost exclusively from the bullpen.
Fiifth-round pick Ethan Lindow and eighth-rounder Jhordany Mezquita both pitched well. Mezquita finished the season with a 0.72 ERA and and 2.92 strikeout-to-walk ratio while Lindow struck out 11.06 batters per nine innings with with a 3.21 FIP.
