Five Phillies prospects who could be in majors by end of 2018
By John Town
Cole Irvin
Backing up De Los Santos in Lehigh Valley’s rotation is Cole Irvin, who has also been having a great season so far. In 17 Triple-A starts. he has a 2.89 ERA, 4.74 strikeout-to-walk ratio, and 1.07 WHIP. His fielding-independent pitching is better than De Los Santos’s at 3.31 and Irvin’s WHIP is the best in the International League.
Irvin has been rising quickly through the minors after being selected in the fifth round of the 2016 draft. He started last year in High-A Clearwater before rising to Double-A midseason. The club remained aggressive with him and assigned him to Triple-A to start the year. The move paid off as Irvin is also a Triple-A All-Star this season.
Irvin is having as good of a season as anyone in Triple-A, but the lefty is stuck in the minors largely due to the fact that he doesn’t have a 40-man roster spot. He still won’t need protection from the Rule 5 draft until next year, so adding him to the roster isn’t a priority.
Despite that, Irvin would be a valuable addition to the team this year. The team is severely lacking effective lefties, and Irvin fills that need and then some.