The Philadelphia Phillies have plenty of intriguing prospects proliferating the farm system. Some are already well-known among fans, and some are complete anomalies. Baseball America recently released their sleeper MLB prospect picks for every team in 2026 (subscription required), and an interesting name came up as the Phillies' representative on the list.
You might be expecting to see something here about the likes of Cade Obermueller, Matthew Fisher, or even Sean Youngerman, but the relatively unknown pitching prospect Ramon Marquez was Baseball America's Phillies sleeper pick to keep an eye on.
Marquez was born in Phoenix, Arizona but later moved to Mexico and the Phillies signed the now 20-year-old for just $10,000 during the 2025 international signing period (subscription required).
Pitching prospect Ramon Marquez is Baseball America's Phillies sleeper pick heading into the 2026 season
According to Baseball America scouting reports, Marquez has a 92-96 mph four-seam fastball that grades out at 55 on the 20-80 scale and a 60-grade changeup as his bread-and-butter pitches. The right-hander also possesses a 40-grade slider that still needs some work if he plans to be an effective starter down the road. He has a compact and repeatable delivery to consistently hit the strike zone. The Phillies like his athleticism with the ability to put on more strength as he fully develops to round out his form.
Last season, Marquez spent the year split between the Florida Complex League and the Single-A affiliate Clearwater Threshers. Just looking at some of the numbers at first doesn’t tell the whole story. His 3-3 record with a respectable 4.42 ERA and 1.26 WHIP doesn’t really jump off the page.
Ramon Marquez has the best swinging strike rate in Low-A since Aug. 1 🔥
— Baseball America (@BaseballAmerica) September 8, 2025
The Phillies righty is one of our top fantasy targets at the level this week.
(🎥 @PhilsPlayerDev)pic.twitter.com/BxFJACOxIR
However, Marquez held the opposition to just four home runs all season while striking out a whopping 72 batters in just 55 innings. Moreover, he finished off the year strong, with back-to-back five-inning starts where he gave up one run or less and recorded more than six strikeouts in each, including a one-hitter in his final outing of the season.
Marquez is currently No. 14 in Baseball America's Phillies top prospect rankings and No. 26 according to MLB Pipeline, although that ranking has yet to be updated for 2026 and should change once the new list comes out.
With that glimpse of sustainable potential from 2025, it’s no wonder why Baseball America chose Marquez as the Phillies’ sleeper prospect to monitor this upcoming season. Hopefully his growth and development go according to plan and he turns out to be the wise investment the Phillies believe him to be.