Phillies prospect Francisco Morales shines for Lakewood
One of the Phillies brightest, and youngest, prospects shined in his latest outing for Lakewood.
Phillies pitching prospect Francisco Morales is still a ways away from making an impact for the Phils, unless he’s traded for a veteran player at the trade deadline. At just 19-years-old he’s one of two teenage pitchers in the Phillies top-30 prospects according to MLB Pipeline.
The publication projects Morales to be big league-ready in three years for 2022 as a middle of the rotation starter. In the meantime, Morales is leading the Lakewood BlueClaws rotation.
Morales had one of his best outings of the season Saturday throwing five shutout, two-hit innings with only one walk and two strikeouts.
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Andrew Schultz, the Phils sixth round pick this year, blew his second save of the year in the 2-1 eight-inning loss, but Morales outing shouldn’t be clouded.
In his last 26.2 innings for Lakewood Morales has surrendered just two runs and 11 hits, a big change after a rough start to the season. Morales had allowed 13 runs in his first five outings (three starts) and walked nine batters.
A strong turnaround from Morales could turn him into a big trade chip for Philadelphia this summer as they attempt to win now by foregoing the opportunity to grow very young prospects.
Morales could be valuable for a team like the San Francisco Giants or Detroit Tigers who are now entering rebuilds. San Francisco’s rebuild projects to be arduous with the contract of Evan Longoria and a lack of top-tier prospects in their farm system.
Morales won’t help the starting rotation anytime soon, and this team is ready to win now.
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If Morales spins more outings like Saturday’s look for him to arise in trade discussions over the next three weeks leading up to the July 31 trade deadline.
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