3 Ways the Phillies are already building around Bryce Harper
2. The Phillies are improving the minor leagues
When your own players are calling out your farm system or lack thereof, you’re probably in trouble. That’s exactly what Harper did at least once in the last few months. The Phillies’ farm system hasn’t been fruitful in a long time; they have several first-round picks who never amounted to anything, and more still languishing in Triple-A, unable to make the leap to the big leagues. They regularly rank between 19th and the bottom of the barrel, and only have a few prospects in the MLB Top 100, though the expected arrival of Bryson Stott in 2022 is something to look forward to.
During the regular season, the Phillies reassigned several front office folks, presumably to make room for offseason hires. So far, they’ve hired Preston Mattingly away from the Padres to be their new head of player development, and this week, they announced the hiring of Anirudh Kilambi from the Rays. The Padres and Rays have had two of the best farm systems in the game for years, clearly something the Phillies would love to replicate. By building a strong farm system, the Phillies can become a self-sustaining team for years to come.