Phillies spring training prospect report: How are the youngsters faring?
The Phillies have several prospects in spring training with them. How are they faring against the heightened competition?
In addition to hammering out the final spots on the roster, spring training is a time to showcase top prospects, especially for a rebuilding team like the Phillies. Many of the club’s best prospects are either on the 40-man roster or non-roster invitees. They have gotten the chance to play alongside and against current major-leaguers.
It’s still early on in spring training, but let’s take a look at how the prospects have performed in spring training.
Scott Kingery
Once again, Scott Kingery is the darling of spring training. He has three home runs in six games with a .333 batting average and 1.308 OPS. Kingery has dazzled at the plate and on the field, making tremendous defensive plays.
The Phillies are preparing Kingery for the majors this spring, getting him to play as many positions as possible. He has already spent time at shortstop and center field this spring with plans to get him time at third base as well. The hope is that if he can play more positions, getting him more playing time should be much easier.
Kingery will almost certainly start the year in Triple-A, both for developmental reasons and to delay his major-league service clock. However, he can be in the majors as soon as April 13 and still have his free agency delayed until 2024. Kingery has remained optimistic about the situation, and if he continues to have a strong spring, he should be in the majors early on.
Dylan Cozens
Dylan Cozens has continued to struggle with strikeouts even in spring training. In 18 plate appearances, Cozens has already racked up seven strikeouts, in addition to two in both of his plate appearances against the University of Tampa. He has just three hits, leaving him with a .176 batting average. All this comes against opponents of Double-A quality per Baseball Reference’s metric.
This isn’t the ideal way for Cozens to start off the spring after striking out 194 times in 135 games last year in Triple-A Lehigh Valley. Strikeouts were an issue even during his 40-home run season in Double-A Reading in 2016; he had 186 in 134 games that season.
There was a chance Cozens could make his way onto the major-league roster as a fifth outfielder. However, if he continues to struggle against minor-league pitchers, a return to Triple-A is nearly guaranteed.
Tom Eshelman
The back end of the Phillies rotation is still wide open with no deals anywhere close in free agency. Plenty of pitchers are competing for two spots, but Tom Eshelman is the only one with a chance who doesn’t have major-league experience.
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Eshelman pitched his way to the Paul Owens award as the organization’s best minor-league pitcher last year with a 2.40 ERA, 0.973 WHIP, and 5.67 strikeout-to-walk ratio between Double and Triple-A. He logged 150 innings, a career-high, so the team opted not to call him up at the end of the season.
Now in spring training with the big-league team, Eshelman has the chance to not only make his major-league debut, but get a full-time job.
In two games so far, Eshelman has thrown 3.1 innings, striking out four batters, walking one, allowing two hits and one run. If he keeps pitching well, there may just be a spot in the rotation waiting.
Roman Quinn
Once again, we are just hoping for one thing from Roman Quinn this spring: stay healthy. 2017 was yet another year lost to injury as Quinn strained the ulnar collateral ligament in his non-throwing elbow diving into third base. It was another injury in a long line of them during Quinn’s career.
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Despite all the injuries, there is still hope Quinn can carve out a role on the team as a fifth outfielder and a base stealing threat late in games. Despite everything that happened, Quinn has retained most, if not all, of his 80-grade speed. He stole 169 bases in 219 attempts through his minor-league career.
The team wants to see what Quinn can do in this potential role. He won’t be playing nearly as often, limiting chances for injuries to occur. Quinn could also wind up playing his old position of shortstop again; he has already spent time there this spring and will continue to.
Quinn has played six games so far this spring, collecting three hits and four walks. One hit was a three-run home run. He has yet to show off his speed with a stolen base this spring.
Next: Phillies 2018 Season Preview: Carlos Santana
As of now, the arrow is pointing up for Quinn. However, it only takes one wrong step for things to fall apart again.