5 Phillies prospects the farm system may have ruined forever

The Philadelphia Phillies farm system may be where top prospects’ careers go to die.

The team’s .500-or-under record every year since 2011 has ensured that they get solid draft picks every year, including the first overall pick in 2016, Mickey Moniak.

Yet their farm continues to be ranked at the bottom of the MLB barrel and they’ve had little fruit to show for their labor. At the trade deadline, former top pitching prospect Spencer Howard was dealt to the Texas Rangers after the Phillies were apparently unable to solve his persistent issues on the mound. He had a 5.72 ERA in 11 big-league games with the Phillies this season and has a 9.17 ERA in seven starts for the Rangers since the trade.

At some point, the common denominator is the franchise, and developing prospects becomes an organizational failure. With Dave Dombrowski cleaning house, it’s clear the franchise has reached that realization.

Here are some of the top prospects the Phillies have failed to develop in recent years:

Did the Phillies ruin Scott Kingery?

Kingery was the Phillies’ second-round pick in 2015, and they signed him to a six-year contract extension before he even made his MLB debut on Opening Day in 2018.

In his first two seasons, Kingery hit .242/.291/.407 with a .698 OPS, 27 home runs, 90 RBI, 57 doubles, and six triples in 273 games. He was one of several MLB players who contracted the coronavirus in 2020, and between that and lingering injuries, he struggled in the shortened season.

This year, he began his season in Triple-A and was not called back up until late April. He played in only 15 games before being designated for assignment and being outrighted to the minors. He only managed one big-league hit in 19 at-bats and struck out 12 times. In late July, the team announced that Kingery required season-ending shoulder surgery.

Part of the problem with Kingery’s development was that the Phillies bounced him around, making it hard for him to find his footing defensively. He’s already played shortstop, second and third base, and every outfield position in only 324 career big-league games. But offensively, his struggles have led to him posted negative WAR in three of four career seasons with the Phillies.

It’s unclear what Kingery’s career will look like when he rehabs from his surgery, but between his playing struggles and the albatross of a contract the Phillies gave him, it makes sense that no other franchise bit when the club offered him up this summer.

Will the Phillies ruin Mick Abel and Andrew Painter?

Mick Abel and Andrew Painter were the Phillies’ first-round picks in 2020 and 2021, as they desperately attempt to develop homegrown pitching. The two righties were both selected out of high school, and have both since entered the farm system.

Ahead of the 2021 season, Baseball America ranked Abel the 99th overall prospect in the game, MLB ranked him 76th, and Baseball Prospectus ranked him 54th.

The 19-year old Abel spent the season with the Low-A Clearwater Threshers, posting a 4.43 ERA over 14 starts, with 66 strikeouts over 44 2/3 innings. He only allowed five home runs, but 22 earned runs overall, and he issued 27 walks. If he can lower his H9 and BB9 rates, he will rise quickly in the system.

Painter, who was the 13th overall pick in this year’s draft, had a 0.38 ERA in 47 innings in his last season of high school ball. The former Gatorade Florida High School Player of the Year has already impressed Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez, who admired how the young pitcher is “really poised on the mound.”

It’s too soon to tell if Abel or Painter will develop into big-league pitching, but hopefully, Dombrowski’s farm system shakeups will put the newest first-rounders in better hands than the prospects who’ve come before them.