Phillies invite eight prospects to spring training, including Scott Kingery

The Phillies have extended invites to eight prospects not on the 40-man roster, including second baseman Scott Kingery and pitcher Tom Eshelman.

One of the most exciting parts of spring training is getting to see some of the Phillies top prospects in big-league camp with the players they are expected to join in the future. Scott Kingery generated plenty of buzz in spring training last year as a non-roster invitee. He will get the chance to do so again this year.

The team announced Tuesday the group of eight prospects that will join the major-league squad during spring training as non-roster invitees. Notably not among the group was Mark Appel, who was removed from the 40-man roster this offseason and is expected to move to the bullpen.

Kingery leads the way in terms of prospect status among this group. Baseball America ranked him as the third-best prospect in the system earlier this offseason. After dazzling in spring training, he hit 26 home runs with an .889 OPS between Double-A Reading and Triple-A Lehigh Valley. He is expected to start the year back in Triple-A but should be in the majors at some point during the season.

Tom Eshelman is coming off a strong year as well, winning the Paul Owens award as the club’s top minor-league pitcher. In 23 starts between Reading and Lehigh-Valley, he had a 2.40 ERA, 0.973 WHIP, and 5.67 strikeout-to-walk ratio with a 13-3 record. There is an outside chance he makes the rotation, but a return to Triple-A is likely as well.

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Two new faces to the organization, J.D. Hammer and Enyel De Los Santos, will be in spring training as well. Both were in Philadelphia last week for the rookie education seminar. Hammer was traded to the Phils as part of the package for Pat Neshek at the trade deadline last year, while De Los Santos came over from the Padres in exchange for Freddy Galvis.

Andrew Pullin is the only other player besides Kingery who has been invited to major-league spring training before. He was left exposed to the Rule 5 draft this year, but no one took him. He had a .925 OPS in 67 Reading games last year, but it fell to .691 once he was promoted to Lehigh Valley.

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Cole Irvin skipped over Low-A Lakewood and went straight to High-A Clearwater to start the 2017 season, performing well with a 2.55 ERA. However, he stumbled once he got to Reading as he had a 4.06 ERA.

Brandon Leibrandt made 25 starts in 2017, logging a 3.62 ERA between Reading and Lehigh Valley. He also went unselected in the Rule 5 draft.

Edgar Cabral was Philadelphia’s 11th-round pick in 2015. He split 2017 between Lakewood and Clearwater, hitting .310 with an .819 OPS in 24 games once he joined the Threshers.

Cabral is regarded as the top defensive backstop in the system.

Next: Sixto Sanchez ranked No. 10 right-handed pitcher

The spring training roster now numbers 58 players with the 40-man roster, 10 players invited earlier this month, and now these eight prospects.