Top 10 Phillies prospects list for the 2021 season
The Philadelphia Phillies farm system has hardly been one to receive praise, at least over the past decade; however, there are still several reasons for optimism heading into the 2021 season.
Baseball America recently released its annual Top 10 Phillies prospects list, featuring three right-handed pitchers, three infielders, three outfielders, and one catcher.
Two of these prospects debuted in the majors this past season; they, along with the eight others, have shown signs of promise that can correlate to future success at the big-league level.
10. Nick Maton, INF
Drafted in the seventh round of the 2017 draft out of Lincoln Land Community College in Springfield, Illinois, the 23-year-old Nick Maton has fielded second base, shortstop, and third base so far in his professional career. He has been praised for his solid defensive skills at each position, and could very well become the next “Scott Kingery,” utility-type player on the big-league roster.
The younger brother of four-year veteran reliever Phil Maton — who appeared in more than one-third of the games this past season with the Cleveland Indians — Nick has been praised for his impressive strikeouts to walks ratios; So far through 286 career minor-league games and 1,168 plate appearances, he has struck out only 235 times compared to his 123 walks.
“He’s never going to be a huge power guy, but he’s not going to have the bat knocked out of his hand either, with some extra-base authority from the left side of the plate,” MLB Pipeline writes. “He’s not a burner, but he’s aggressive on the basepaths and is still learning how to steal bases more consistently.”
Maton most recently appeared in the 2019 Arizona Fall League, but appeared in only three games, slashing .333/.385/.667, due to suffering a broken thumb. The Phillies recently added him, along with five other prospects, to their 40-man roster as protection from this offseason’s Rule 5 Draft.