Four Phillies prospects named Baseball America 2018 All-Stars
By John Town
Four Phillies prospects were named classification All-Stars by Baseball America, including one being named Low-A Pitcher of the Year.
With the minor-league season wrapped up, Baseball America released their All-Stars for each classification Friday. Four Phillies prospects were among these All-Stars (all of whom are pitchers): Triple-A Lehigh Valley’s Enyel De Los Santos and Cole Irvin, Low-A Lakewood’s David Parkinson, and short-season Williamsport’s Ethan Lindow.
Pitching has become a veritable strength in the organization with talented prospects at nearly every level. However, hitting has been a major weakness, as evidenced by the recent firings of four minor-league hitting coordinators and the resignation of director of player development Joe Jordan.
BA named Parkinson the Low-A pitcher of the year after a tremendous full-season debut. The lefty finished the year with a 1.51 ERA in Lakewood, which would have been the best in the South Atlantic League if he was not promoted to Clearwater for the last month of the season. In 95.1 innings in Lakewood, Parkinson struck out 115 batters, walked 26, and surrendered just four home runs. He had a 1.05 WHIP and opposing hitters were just .209 against him.
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Parkinson rounded out the year well in Clearwater, going 3-0 in five appearances with a 1.24 ERA, 0.90 WHIP, and 2.89 strikeout-to-walk ratio. The 2017 12th-round pick wasn’t in top prospect conversation to start the year, but he is now ranked No. 19 in the organization by MLB.com. He could move up even further with another strong season next year.
De Los Santos and Irvin both stood out for the IronPigs.
De Los Santos had a 2.63 ERA, 4.04 fielding-independent pitching, 1.16 WHIP, and 2.56 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 22 starts. He pitched well enough to make his major-league debut, but he hasn’t done well in the majors so far with a 5.14 ERA in four appearances.
Irvin has been a quick riser through the system after being selected in the fifth round of the 2016 draft. In 26 appearances for Lehigh Valley, he had a 2.57 ERA, 3.30 fielding-independent pitching, 3.74 strikeout-to-walk ratio, and 1.05 WHIP. He rose from No. 26 to No. 10 in MLB.com’s rankings this year.
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Lindow was Philadelphia’s fifth-round pick last year from Locust Grove High School in California. The lefty posted gaudy strikeout numbers in the Gulf Coast League but struggled with control, walking almost ten percent of opposing hitters.
Lindow took a major step forward with Williamsport this season, posting a 2.19 ERA in 13 starts, pitching 70 innings. His strikeout rate and walk rate fell but his strikeout-to-walk ratio improved to 3.32. Lindow isn’t in top prospect conversation yet as he still needs to add more velocity and/or improve his breaking ball moving forward. However, he at least is worth following when he goes to Lakewood next year.
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It is great to see these pitching prospects, especially ones not at the top of the rankings, get some recognition at the end of the year. Hopefully next year some hitters become All-Stars at the end of the season as well.