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Phillies 2018 top ten prospects ranked by Baseball America

By John Town

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) /
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Baseball America released their 2018 top ten prospect rankings, and a familiar has returned to the No. 1 spot for the Phillies.

With the 2017 season for every team but two, Baseball America is starting their annual series of top ten prospect rankings. They started off with the National League East, and on Monday they released their list for the Philadelphia Phillies.

As a whole, they are huge fans of Philadelphia’s farm, giving it a strong review in their system overview:

"Strengths: The Phillies have one of the deepest farm systems in baseball thanks to a strong international program, trades and high draft picks. Even with Rhys Hoskins and Nick Williams graduating, the club has more upper-level bats ready to help with J.P. Crawford and Scott Kingery. The Latin American pitching pipeline continues to be a strength, led by Sixto Sanchez, with arms like Seranthony Dominguez, Ranger Suarez and Francisco Morales continuing to pop up.Weaknesses:  The Phillies don’t have a glaring weakness on the farm because the system is well balanced. While they have starting pitching prospects in the system, nobody will likely help them in 2018 beyond back-end starters like Drew Anderson or Tom Eshelman."

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The actual top ten list deviates quite a bit from the midseason list and even more so from the list from this time last year:

"SS J.P. CrawfordRHP Sixto Sanchez2B Scott KingeryRHP Adonis MedinaOF Adam HaseleyLHP JoJo RomeroOF Jhailyn OrtizC Jorge AlfaroOF Mickey MoniakRHP Franklyn Kilome"

The most obvious change from the midseason list is the fact that Crawford has returned to the No. 1 spot after being dropped to No. 6 during the season. His scouting report points out several notable changes he made at the plate to get back to top-prospect production at the plate.

Meanwhile, last year’s No. 1 overall pick, Moniak, fell from the top spot in the midseason list all the way to No. 9 after an extremely poor performance in Low-A Lakewood this season. BA still says he has the talent to be a major-leaguer, but his performance indicates he will need more time in the minors than originally thought.

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The two newcomers to the list are lefty JoJo Romero and outfielder Jhailyn Ortiz. 2017 was Romero’s first full professional season after being drafted in the fourth round last year. He took a major step forward, posting a 2.16 ERA in 129 innings between Lakewood and High-A Clearwater. Romero was named the top minor-league pitcher in the system by MLB Pipeline thanks to his strong season. BA said Romero had an uptick in velocity as well as two strong secondary pitches in his changeup and curveball, leaving a potential ceiling of a No. 3 starter.

Meanwhile, Ortiz followed up on his professional debut where he showed a lot of power but not much else in he Gulf Coast League with an incredible showing at the plate in short-season Williamsport. He hit eight home runs in 47 games along with an impressive .302/.401/.560 line. Ortiz’s power and high on-base percentage made up for his 25.1 percent strikeout rate. BA said it will always be a part of his game, but the 19-year-old slugger has the potential to be a high-powered, middle-of-the-order bat in the future.

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The only people who were on the midseason list but didn’t make this one were Rhys Hoskins and Nick Williams, both of whom graduated to the majors this year. Both (especially Hoskins) showed they have more than enough ability to stay in the major-leagues long-term.

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