One of the Phillies top prospects had a career night for the Lakewood BlueClaws.
Coming out of the bullpen for the sixth time this year, Phillies prospect Francisco Morales was dominant for the Lakewood BlueClaws.
While typically a starter with eight starts under his belt this year, Morales pitched four innings Friday night striking out seven batters and allowing just one hit.
Unfortunately, Lakewood lost 1-0 despite outhitting West Virginia 4-2 at home, putting the BlueClaws 12 games under .500 this season.
Ranked by MLBPipeline as Philadelphia’s eighth-best prospect and fifth-best pitching prospect, Morales has four games with at least seven strikeouts this year.
The 19-year-old Venezuelan native now has a team-high 73 strikeouts in 46 innings for Lakewood.
In 2016 Morales signed with the Phillies for $900,000 when he was 23rd overall on MLB Pipeline’s Top 30 International Prospects list. He’s projected to be years away from helping Philadelphia, making him a potential trade chip this summer.
MLB Pipeline projects Morales to be MLB ready in 2022, which isn’t bad for a kid who doesn’t turn 20 until November. The righty has a career 4.26 ERA with 185 strikeouts in 37 games between the Gulf Coast League, Williamsport, and Lakewood.
Philadelphia doesn’t have many big-name pitching prospects in their organization after trading Sixto Sanchez and Franklyn Kilome within the last year. Adonis Medina is their only pitching prospect ranked in MLB Pipeline’s top-100 prospects (77) and Morales is one of six pitching prospects in the Phillies top-10.
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