Phillies Prospect Report: Threshers’ Slugger Turning Heads
Which Phillies prospects finished last week on a strong note and who’s slipping in the rankings
The Phillies farm isn’t what it was a couple of years ago when they were rated as the worst farm system in baseball. Now with an abundance of talent, we look at two prospects who are rising among their peers and those who have slid early in the season.
Trending Up: Ramon Rosso, RHP, Lakewood
Rosso is one of many pitchers having a great season so far in Lakewood. It’s only his second professional season, but the 21-year-old has a 1.44 ERA in 25 career games (24 starts).
According to milb.com, Rosso is one of four4 Lakewood pitchers and six BlueClaws to be selected to the South Atlantic League All-Star Game.
As of June 8, the 6’4″ right-hander was 3-1 with a 1.62 ERA in 10 starts. He has two double-digit strikeout performances including 12 Ks in 5.0 innings on April 11 against West Virginia.
Rosso is a strikeout machine, notching 70 of them in 55.2 innings. The downside is that his strikeout numbers have prevented him from going deep into games because he throws so many pitches. He hasn’t pitched more than six full innings all year, but he is nasty.
With bullpen usage increasing every year, starting pitchers only need to go five or six innings now, so Rosso is looking pretty good in Lakewood right now.
Trending Up: Austin Listi, 1B, Clearwater
Listi is haunting the dreams of opposing pitchers in the Florida State League this year, slashing an unbelievable .339/.451/.552 for the Threshers.
He has done it all this year with a combination of power and average with eight home runs and 42 RBI.
He has a patient approach at the plate and will take what he’s given, similar to Rhys Hoskins when he is at his best. Listi had 15 doubles and 65 hits in 192 at-bats. More impressively, Listi has walked 32 times and struck out 37 times, showing great discipline at the plate.
Listi is putting up some incredible numbers down in Clearwater. To get up to the big leagues with the Phillies, he’ll probably have to learn to play the outfield. He’s already started playing some games in the outfield in Clearwater, so we’ll have to see if he sticks out there.
Trending Down: Alexis Rivero, RHP, Reading
Rivero was promoted to Reading from Clearwater on May 9 and has been decent since, but his 2018 season hasn’t been great.
In Clearwater, he was 3-4 in save opportunities but posted a 6.91 ERA in nine games. He hasn’t been asked to save any games in Reading, but his ERA is 3.00 in nine games since his promotion.
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He only managed 17 total strikeouts in 26.1 innings as of June 7th. If Rivero wants to make it to the Phillies as a reliever, he will have to figure out how to strike out more hitters.
With the way Gabe Kapler mixes and matches his bullpen arms, Rivero will have to be dependable to get a strikeout in a big spot if needed.
Right now, Rivero is far from being dependable in that way. He has been better since his promotion, but his season has been underwhelming thus far.
Trending Down: Dalton Guthrie, 3B, Lakewood
Guthrie has had a rather pedestrian start to 2018. He is hitting .242 with three home runs and 14 RBI in 45 games.
While it could be worse, he isn’t bringing much else to the table. His OBP is .280, and he only has 11 extra-base hits.
The future at third base is still unclear for the Phillies, especially with Gabe Kapler playing J.P. Crawford at third since his return from the DL. Most likely, trades will make the situation a bit more clear later this summer, but for now, Guthrie needs to step up his game for the organization to notice him.
Next: Phillies: Power Ranking Players from 2008
If he can get on base more often and string together a few more extra base hits, the son of former big league pitcher Mark Guthrie will be a much more complete player.