Phillies Prospect Update: Who is trending heading towards the trade deadline?

Which Phillies prospects took a major step forward last week?

With the Manny Machado sweepstakes heating up, the Phillies have to decide which prospects they’d be willing to give up to land the superstar shortstop. It’s likely to be a large haul, and could include prospects in this week’s prospect update.

Here are two prospects trending up and two who took a step back last week in the Phillies organization.

Trending Up: JoJo Romero, LHP, Reading

The 21-year-old left-hander didn’t have the best start to his season. In his first eight starts, he was 1-4 with a 5.70 ERA.

However, in his last ten starts Romero is 6-2 and his ERA has dropped all the way down to 3.80.

In his last start before the All-Star break, he tossed seven scoreless innings against Bowie, giving up six hits and striking out four in the victory.

His best start of the year came in a win against Trenton on May 30th. In that start, Romero hurled eight innings, gave up one run on five hits and struck out seven Thunder batters.

He’s shown all season long that he can pitch deep into ballgames. He’s pitched at least six innings in twelve of his eighteen starts. Furthermore, he’s reached 100 pitches ten times and has reached 110 pitches twice.

Romero is becoming a workhorse and his name has been thrown around in rumors about a Machado trade. It’s yet to be seen if he’ll be offered up, but his recent play has increased his value tremendously.

Trending Up: Adam Haseley, LF, Reading

Haseley was called up from Clearwater to Reading on July 10 after slashing .300/.343./.415 in 79 games for the Threshers.

He had five home runs, 39 RBI, 13 doubles and 5 triples in those 79 games. All of that earned the former eighth-overall pick out of Virginia a promotion to Double A.

Since his promotion, Haseley has been off to a hot start in Reading and earned Eastern League Player of the Week honors. It’s only been four games, but he has shown every bit of what made him a first-round pick.

After four games in Reading, Hasely is five for thirteen with a .500 on-base percentage and a .923 slugging percentage. In his second game in Reading, he went 3-4 with two home runs, a double and three RBI.

Haseley is one of the team’s top non-pitching prospects. Don’t rule out losing him in a Machado trade, but I don’t think he’d be part of the package heading to Baltimore.

Trending Down: Mauricio Llovera, RHP, Clearwater

Llovera isn’t a household name in the Phillies’ farm system, but he’s had some decent numbers in the last few years.

The highest his ERA has been for a full season before this year was 3.35. This year his ERA is 4.35 in 14 starts and one relief appearance. He has a 2-7 record and has struggled of late.

In his last ten games, Llovera is 0-5 with a 5.62 ERA in 49.2 innings of work. He’s only pitched into the sixth inning three times in that stretch and has two starts that ended after three and two-thirds innings. He has to find a way to get deeper into his starts.

He likely won’t be part of a Machado trade, but he is the type of player the Orioles might take a flyer on. He’s had good numbers before and this is his first season being a full-time starting pitcher.