4 Phillies prospects who could steal roster spots at Spring Training

Which Philadelphia Phillies prospects could earn roster spots at Spring Training 2022?

The Philadelphia Phillies‘ offseason was already pretty quiet before the lockout effectively silenced the league. They lost out big-time on free agents who would have been perfect for them, including Starling Marte, and have thus far been unable to come to terms with remaining free agents, such as Kyle Schwarber.

The organization also doesn’t have a lot of money to spend, unless they decide to exceed the luxury tax threshold, which they have never done before.

They absolutely should be spending money to build a team around Bryce Harper and Zack Wheeler, but that’s not what we’re here to talk about right now; we’re here to talk about the Phillies prospects who could earn roster spots by stealing the spotlight at Spring Training.

Here are four players to watch this spring…

4. Francisco Morales RHP

The Phillies’ starting rotation needs more than Zack Wheeler. They’re going to need Ranger Suárez to replicate what he did in 2021, for Aaron Nola to get infinitely better, and for Zach Eflin to get healthy, but the rotation really needs new blood.

Francisco Morales is young, but the Phillies’ number-five prospect is getting closer to the big leagues. In fact, he’s the only pitcher who spent the entire year on the 40-man roster without appearing in a big-league game; he pitched for Double-A Reading and Triple-A Reading in 2021, accumulating a 6.28 ERA over 24 games, including 22 starts.

Morales allowed 4+ runs in nine of his games, but he also struck out 6+ batters in nine of his games. He finished the season promoted to Triple-A, where he made two scoreless starts.