Pair of Phillies prospects make drastically opposite moves in Top 100 update

Baseball America's Top 100 Prospects June update (subscription required) saw more changes for some of the Philadelphia Phillies' top young players, with two players making drastic moves on the leaderboard. According to MLB Pipeline, injured pitcher Andrew Painter, shortstop Aidan Miller, pitcher Mick Abel, outfielder Justin Crawford, and shortstop Starlyn Caba are the club's top five prospects for 2024.

Let's look at where Baseball America ranks two of the Phillies' top young players Miller and Abel.

Pair of Phillies prospects make drastically opposite moves in Top 100 update

Aidan Miller continues to develop into a fine young player. He spent last season with the FCL Phillies and Clearwater Threshers in Single-A. This season with Clearwater, the shortstop posted a .275/.401/.483 slash line with five home runs and 10 stolen bases in 39 games.

Baseball America didn't include the infielder in their Top 100 prospect rankings at the start of the year. The publication ranked the 20-year-old as the No. 37 prospect in May. He jumped 16 spots to No. 21 in June.

"When we polled scouts and front office officials for their standout prospect of the first two months of the season, Miller was the most common name," Baseball America wrote in their update.

The Phillies promoted Miller to High-A with the BlueClaws on June 9. In 12 games, the Dunedin, Florida native has slashed his way to a line of .220/.373/.366. He needed time to adjust to Single-A following his promotion last year, and it looks like he'll need an adjustment period before he improves his offensive numbers with the BlueClaws.

According to MLB.com's Paul Casella, Dave Dombrowski, Phillies president of baseball operations, praised Miller after the promotion: "He's really just played well overall. He's played well offensively, defensively. His work ethic has been good. He's played shortstop very well. He's really done everything we've asked of him as a young player."

Dombrowski mentioned that Phillies assistant general manager of player development Preston Mattingly believed the time was right to challenge Miller at the High-A level: "Preston thought it was the right time to do it, so he thought he'd go ahead and challenge him at the next level. He believes he's ready to be challenged at that level. We just felt it was the right time to do it."

Teams that end up being sellers will be interested in acquiring Miller if the Phillies are looking to upgrade before the July 30 MLB trade deadline. It may be championship or bust for the Phillies this season, but trading away a promising young prospect like Miller is risky.

Mick Abel, who has struggled with the Lehigh Valley IronPigs in Triple-A, is going the other way in the rankings. Baseball America listed him as the 67th-best prospect in April, followed by No. 78 in May. The publication didn't include him in their June Top 100 update.

The 22-year-old right-hander has a 1-7 record and a whopping 7.08 ERA and has had trouble allowing home runs since his time in Double-A with the Reading Fightin' Phils in 2022 and last season. In 27 career starts with the club, Abel surrendered 20 homers. He has allowed 12 home runs in 12 starts so far this year.

Abel's earned run total by month is not good based on his high ERA. The 15th overall pick in 2020 surrendered 11 earned runs in four starts in April, followed by 18 in his five May outings. He has allowed 14 earned runs in his three starts this month. Will he remain a starter with Lehigh Valley for the remainder of this year? He has been overmatched since the start of the season.

Where do the other Phillies top prospects rank?

Fans must wait until 2025 to see Andrew Painter back in action while he recovers from Tommy John surgery. Baseball America ranked him as the 13th-best prospect in April and May. However, the promising starter dropped to No. 20 in June.

Justin Crawford continues to live up to his promise in High-A with the BlueClaws. The speedy outfielder is slashing .286/.331/.408 with four home runs and 24 stolen bases in 58 games. June has been Crawford's best month of the season, posting a .291/.317/.430 slash line.

Baseball America ranked Crawford as the No. 66 prospect in April followed by No. 54 in May. He is ranked as the 48th-best young player in June.

Starlyn Caba is currently with the rookie Phillies club of the Florida Complex League (FCL). He didn't begin the year in the Top 100 rankings, but the 18-year-old has demonstrated his promise so far and was ranked as the No. 55 prospect in June.