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4 emerging superstars the Phillies may soon fear in the NL East

Who are the up-and-coming stars in the NL East who will be a thorn in the side of the Phillies for years to come?

By Michael Fisher |
Washington Nationals v Atlanta Braves
Washington Nationals v Atlanta Braves / Todd Kirkland/GettyImages
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Each year, a new crop of players arrives in The Show, and while some won't be able to cut it and others will wind up being serviceable big leaguers, a small handful will head out on the path to superstardom.

Even among top prospects, it's not always a sure thing that they'll pan out to be the stars we hope. For every success story like Bryce Harper, there's a plethora of disappointing cases, like the Philadelphia Phillies' own Scott Kingery, an unfortunate result from such a promising start.

Who are the emerging stars in the NL East that the Phillies need to keep an eye on this year and in the future?

There's plenty of talent in the division, but we're going to narrow the scope down to the youngest, most promising players who have the potential to ascend to the top levels of the league and wreak havoc against the Phillies and the rest of the NL East.

Francisco Alvarez

Francisco Alvarez is about as streaky a hitter as they come, but at the end of the day, the young slugger is going to put up big power numbers. The New York Mets' catcher of the present and the future graduated from the minors with 70-grade power and immediately put it to use in the big leagues.

After debuting with five games at the end of 2022, Alvarez, who's still just 22 years old, took over as the Mets' primary backstop last season, playing in 123 games. The youngster might never hit for a high average but could regularly put up 30-home run seasons. In 423 plate appearances in 2023, he hit only .209 but slugged .437, launching 25 homers and driving in 63 runs for an awful New York squad.

When we call him streaky, it's no joke. His 2023 monthly splits are outrageous, with an OPS that rode a rollercoaster all season, from .494 in April to 1.029 in May, and then .534 in June to a .974 mark in July. You get the idea.

Alvarez had himself a game against the Phillies at the end of September last season, hitting two home runs and driving in six.

Okay, both dingers came off Michael Plassmeyer, but you can still see the explosive power stroke.

What makes us think Alvarez is the real deal? He hits the ball hard regularly, according to his Statcast data. The rookie registered a 114.1 mph max exit velocity, in the top nine percent of the league, last year and put up an average exit velocity of 90.1 mph. He barreled the ball 12.8 percent of the time and ran a 45.1 percent hard-hit rate.

Michael Harris II

Okay, this one might be cheating a little. Michael Harris already burst onto the scene with a Rookie of the Year Award in 2022 and followed that up with a solid 2023 campaign. Plus, he's buried in a stacked Atlanta Braves lineup beneath the likes of Ronald Acuña Jr., Ozzie Albies, Austin Riley, and Matt Olson.

At 22 years old, Harris is the youngest hitter in the Braves nine and has spent most of his career thus far at the bottom of the order, but has superstar written all over him. Making a name for yourself must be hard when Acuña Jr. is your teammate.

Originally a third-round pick in 2019, the Braves were sold on Harris' abilities early and signed him to an eight-year, $72 million contract extension during his 2022 rookie campaign. He hit .297 that season, with an .853 OPS, 19 home runs, 64 RBI, and 20 stolen bases in just 441 plate appearances.

Despite getting off to an infamously poor start in his sophomore season, batting .174 through the end of May, the talented center fielder went off for the remainder of the year. He hit .326 over the final four months of the season, posting an .887 OPS with 16 home runs, 49 RBI, and 15 swiped bags in 416 plate appearances.

Over 27 career games against the Phillies, Philadelphia pitchers have held Harris to a .248 batting average but he has still put up a .779 OPS with six home runs, 16 RBI, and five steals.

Just to stick one more feather in his cap, Harris can also handle the glove in center, with 10 DRS, 13 OAA, and 12 RAA in his two seasons in the bigs. And you may recall, he was pivotal in the shocking double play to end Game 2 of last season's NLDS.

Harris looks like he's going to be a thorn in the side of the Phillies for years to come.

Eury Pérez

Moving to the mound, we look to Miami and see the Marlins' starting pitch depth as deep as ever. Already with Sandy Alcantara, Jesús Luzardo, Braxton Garrett, and Edward Cabrera, the youngest starting pitcher of them all, Eury Pérez, might just be the best of the bunch.

The towering 6-foot-8 right-hander announced his arrival last season. Debuting in May, he went on an impressive run of 11 starts, pitching to a 5-3 record with a 2.36 ERA, a 1.09 WHIP, and 10.29 K/9 — all at only 20 years old.

Pérez was sent down for an extended All-Star break in the minors to manage his innings, as he racked up 53 1/3 in his first taste of the majors. Before his trip to Triple-A, Pérez put up four quality starts in his final five outings, allowing only one run in those four games while striking out 31 batters.

When he returned to the big leagues, he wasn't as sharp over his final eight starts before getting shut down with a pelvic injury. While he ran a 4.26 ERA over his last six weeks of action, his crowning achievement was a six-inning, 10-strikeout, two-hit shutout over the Dodgers in Los Angeles in August.

Pérez features a sizzling fastball that sits 98 mph, a nasty 86 mph slider, an 81 mph curveball, and a 90 mph changeup. His full arsenal of quality pitches led him to a 33.7 percent whiff rate last season, in the 93rd percentile on Statcast rankings.

If you're wondering how good this kid is actually going to be, you don't have to look very far to find an answer. Baseball America recently published their updated dynasty pitcher rankings for fantasy baseball, and Pérez takes the No. 4 spot among some impressive company, right behind Shohei Ohtani, Spencer Strider, and Gerrit Cole.

Unfortunately for the Phillies, it looks like this young stud will be around for a long time.

CJ Abrams

Our final entry comes from the Washington Nationals and their young budding superstar CJ Abrams. The 23-year-old shortstop was originally a first-round pick (sixth overall) of the San Diego Padres but was never put in a position to succeed out west, being rushed through the minors. He ended up in the NL East as part of the package for Juan Soto in August 2022.

Touted as a prospect with some top-level tools, Abrams graduated from the minors with elite 80-grade speed and a potential plus-plus hit tool with more-than-average power. His final line from 2023 won't knock your socks off — well, maybe the 47 stolen bases will — but he put up a .245/.300/.415 slash line with 18 home runs and 64 RBI in 151 games.

But that doesn't really tell the tale of the potential havoc Abrams could wreak on the NL East. He spent the first part of 2023 hitting eighth and ninth in the Nationals' sparse lineup and didn't have a good time. In 78 games, he hit .233 with a .674 OPS, only 11 stolen bases and posted an 80 wRC+.

Around the All-Star break, the team finally moved him to the top spot in the order, and Abrams didn't look back. In 73 games, he improved at the plate with a .256 average and a .746 OPS, cutting his strikeout rate from 22 percent to 16 percent. He hit 11 home runs, 12 doubles, three triples, and ran wild with 36 steals in 38 attempts. He could potentially be a 25-home run, 70-steal player.

While he didn't have a great showing against the Phillies overall in 2023, he did show off his easy speed with an RBI triple in July.

And then in August, Abrams put the hurt on Michael Lorenzen with a three-run home run.

Abrams has the potential to be a game-changing star in the NL East, if he can put all the pieces together. Considering he was only 22 last season in his first full year in the majors, he's going to provide the Phillies with some stiff competition for years to come.

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