3 Phillies prospects tearing up the Arizona Fall League, and 1 who isn't
Checking in on Phillies prospects in the Arizona Fall League. Who's finding success and who's struggling?
Baseball may be over in Philadelphia for another year now that the Phillies have been booted from the playoffs, but there are still games going on in Arizona — no, not the World Series, as if we needed the reminder of that.
The Arizona Fall League (AFL) is in full swing down in the desert, and a handful of Philadelphia Phillies prospects are plying their trade in the final hurrah of the minor league season. Organizations like to use the month-long league as a finishing school for top prospect talent and to get extra work for some players who need to build up playing time.
Nine players and two coaches from the Phillies organization make up part of the Scottsdale Scorpions roster, along with players from the Washington Nationals, the St. Louis Cardinals, the San Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Angels. The Phillies contingent has helped the Scorpions climb to the top of the six-team league with a 12-8 record.
With a couple of weeks remaining until the AFL wraps up with the championship game, let's check in on a few top-performing Phillies prospects.
Matt Kroon, 3B
Matt Kroon was named one of the AFL's top performers on Wednesday after going 2-for-4 with a pair of singles and a walk. He drove in two and scored four in the Scorpions' 13-4 romp over the Javelinas.
In 15 games (49 at-bats), the 26-year-old is slashing .286/.390/.388. His .778 OPS won't knock your socks off, but it's the fourth-best mark on the Scorpions. He doesn't have loads of power in his bat, but he knows how to hit — he has one home run and two doubles — and has driven in 12 and scored 10 times.
Surprisingly, he has only five stolen bases so far. You would have expected that number to be a bit higher after he swiped 26 this season.
Across three levels, with most of his action coming with the Double-A Reading Fightin Phils, Kroon slashed .326/.399/.526 with 11 home runs, 58 RBI and 26 stolen bases in 97 games.
The most encouraging thing about his regular season was his final stop in Triple-A with the IronPigs. Kroon had no problems adjusting to the new level with a .381 batting average and a 1.165 OPS in 15 games in Lehigh Valley. He was exceptionally productive, with seven doubles, two triples and three homers to drive in 13 and score 12.
Gabriel Rincones Jr., LF
The Phillies No. 9 prospect, Gabriel Rincones Jr., is slashing .311/.432/.525 through 16 games (61 at-bats) in the Arizona Fall League. His .957 OPS is the third-highest mark on the Scorpions.
So far this month in the desert, Rincones has collected 19 hits including two home runs, five doubles and a triple, usually hitting near the top of the order. He has also contributed 11 RBI and scored 19 times. Not to mention his 10 stolen bases, which puts him up near the top of the leaderboard, two off the steals leader who has 12.
Per his MLB Pipeline scouting report, Rincones "has the chance to be solid at the plate with potentially plus power, using an advanced approach to drive the ball to all fields."
Rincones has been showing off his advanced approach and solid hit tool in Arizona. He spoke to Sam Dykstra of MLB.com about his approach following a big outing in the Scorpions' 9-8 walk-off victory last week.
"Every guy has a different swing," Rincones said, per Dykstra. "But for me, it's going out there, doing damage, owning an approach, knowing when to manipulate the point of contact. [It's] just situational hitting, getting the job done."
In that game, the 22-year-old went 3-for-4 with a triple, a walk and three runs scored. He showed off his easy power with his triple that would have traveled 452 feet if not for the in-play batter's eye in center field, according to Dykstra.
The Phillies' third-round pick in 2022 just made his professional debut this season, splitting time between Low-A and High-A. In 120 games, he hit .248/.351/.427 with 15 home runs, 60 RBI, 81 runs scored and 32 stolen bases.
Oliver Dunn, 2B
Oliver Dunn had a great first season in the Phillies organization and continued that into a strong showing in the Arizona Fall League. In 13 games (50 at-bats), Dunn has two home runs, four triples, nine RBI, 11 runs scored and nine stolen bases.
The 26-year-old has been by far the most dynamic Phillies' hitter and leads the Scorpions in batting average (.340), on-base percentage (.459) and slugging percentage (.680). His .680 SLG puts him fourth overall on the AFL, while his 1.139 OPS ranks him fifth.
To date, the highlight of his AFL season came last Wednesday, Oct. 19, when the Phillies' hitters carried the Scorpions to a 9-8 walk-off victory. Hitting out of the lead-off spot, Dunn was instrumental in the victory, going 2-for-4 with a double, a triple, three runs scored and the game-winning RBI on a walk-off walk (one of his two free passes on the night).
"Tough AB. I was looking for something more over the middle part of the plate just because he was cutting in, and he was just missing off," Dunn said after the game. "That's my first walk-off ever, let alone walk-off walk."
In 119 games with Double-A Reading, the former 11th-round draft pick slashed .271/.396/.506 with 21 home runs and 16 stolen bases.
As Dykstra points out: "That’s an especially solid performance for a player who moved from the Yankees to the Phillies in the Minor League portion of last offseason’s Rule 5 Draft."
"I'm really grateful to the Phillies," Dunn said, per Dykstra. "This was a great opportunity for me, getting to play every day. They've treated me awesome. I have nothing but good things to say about the Phillies."
Dunn isn't currently ranked in the Phillies Top 30 prospects by MLB Pipeline, but that may change after his 2023 season.
Christian McGowan, SP
Starting pitcher Christian McGowan, the Phillies' No. 14 prospect, hasn't had an ideal Arizona Fall League experience. The seventh-round pick in the 2021 draft came to the AFL to build up his innings after returning from Tommy John surgery in late July.
McGowan only threw 25 2/3 innings over nine outings during his brief return tour. He moved from the Florida Complex League through Low- and High-A before finishing his regular season with a brief appearance in Triple-A.
The 23-year-old right-hander got off to a good start in his AFL debut on Oct. 5, earning a nod as a top performer on the day after throwing four scoreless innings. He gave up three hits, walked one and struck out two in that outing against the Desert Dogs, which the Scorpions won 3-2. He only needed 41 pitches and was all around the zone with 26 strikes.
According to MLB.com, "McGowan limited damage by keeping the ball out of the air — 10 of the 11 batted balls against him came on the ground."
Unfortunately for McGowan, he didn't fair as well in his next two starts.
On Oct. 12, he managed to get through five innings against the same Desert Dogs but gave up four runs on seven hits. The silver lining here is that all the scoring came on two-run home runs in both the first and second innings. He finished with four strikeouts, didn't issue a free pass and picked up the win as his offense powered to a 9-6 victory.
He needed 81 pitches (44 strikes) to get through his Oct. 19 start, in which he took the loss against the Surprise Saguaros. He went 4 1/3 and gave up five hits and two runs, including a home run. He had trouble locating in this one, walking three while only striking out two.
All told, McGowan currently sports a 1-1 record with a 4.05 ERA and a 1.43 WHIP in three starts. He has given up six runs on 15 hits while striking out eight and walking four through 13 1/3 innings of work.
While he certainly hasn't had the AFL we'd hoped for, it's good to keep in mind that the month-long league is typically a hitter-friendly affair, and at this point, McGowan is just working on building up his surgically repaired arm.
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