With universal off days each Monday of the regular season across Minor League Baseball, it allows a chance to take a look at some of the Top 30 prospects in the Phillies’ organization.
There is a lot of excitement around the players in the upper levels in Triple-A Lehigh Valley and Double-A Reading, but there is also some high-end talent in the system playing in High-A Jersey Shore and Low-A Clearwater.
Phillies Minor Leagues
Triple-A Lehigh Valley IronPigs
#3 Justin Crawford, OF- There are a lot of eyes on the speedy outfielder and his progress due to the lack of production from Brandon Marsh. Crawford started on fire in his first nine games at the Triple-A level, hitting .325 to go with a .357 on-base percentage.
The talented 21-year-old has cooled off at the plate as of late after starting this past week’s series against the Syracuse Mets with a three-hit game where he drove in two RBIs. In the six-game series against the Mets’ affiliate, Crawford went 5-for-24 (.208) at the plate with a double, three RBI, two walks, seven strikeouts, and one stolen base.
A 27% strikeout rate in the series is a considerable spike compared to his 8% through the first eight games of the season, where he whiffed just three times across 37 plate appearances.
There will certainly be some growing pains with the highly touted outfielder as he continues to acclimate to the highest level of minor league pitching. He’s already shown flashes of what he can be as a hitter to start the season.
The speed is there, without a doubt. Crawford is tied with Tampa Bay’s Chandler Simpson for the fastest time to first base, clocking in at a blazing 3.70 seconds.
#8 Mick Abel, RHP – The former 15th overall pick in the 2020 MLB Draft has done a solid job to put the tough 2024 campaign in the rearview to start the season. He made his third start of the season on April 12 against Syracuse and went five innings, allowing four runs, three earned, on five hits while posting his second consecutive seven-strikeout game.
The righty fired three scoreless innings before an unearned run came across in the fourth, and then Abel ran out of gas in the fifth, allowing a three-run double to Joey Meneses.
Abel has been flashing his arsenal, which is what drew the Phillies to draft him with their first pick back in 2020. His fastball sits 96-97 m.p.h., along with a solid breaking ball. He will need to continue to find ways to put together complete starts and avoid walks. His four walks in his most recent outing were more than he had in his previous two starts, which spanned 11 innings, where he issued just two free passes.
Abel is 1-2 with a 3.94 ERA in the young season.
#10 Gabriel Rincones Jr., OF – The power-hitting corner outfielder started the season reaching base in each of his first 12 games of the season, helping him post a .353 on-base percentage during that stretch. His streak came to an end in the first game of a doubleheader on Sunday.
In the series against Syracuse, Rincones Jr. slashed .227/.292/.591 across 24 plate appearances. Of his five hits on the week, two left the yard, including his third of the season, which was a missile at 112.7 m.p.h. off the bat.
Despite the quiet series, Rincones Jr. is slashing a respectable .265/.316/.547 with an OPS of .863 through the first 14 games of the season.
#12 Seth Johnson, RHP – The right-hander leads the IronPigs pitching staff with an impressive 1.88 ERA through his first three starts of the season, which also is the 16th-lowest in all of International League, thanks to a winning effort in his last start on April 10 against Syracuse.
The 26-year-old tossed five innings of one-run ball, allowing just two hits, three walks, and a season-high six strikeouts. During the season, Johnson was 2-0 with a 1.88 ERA and had 17 strikeouts in 14.1 innings of work.
#23 Michael Mercado, RHP – Mercado, who had a cup of coffee with the Phillies last year, logged his second save of the season on April 9 which surpassing his season total from a year ago. The late-inning reliever is looking to build on a strong 2024 season where he was named the IronPigs Pitcher of the Year after posting a 2.07 ERA in 32 games, with 10 being starts, and notching one save.
Mercado looks to bounce back after his most recent outing on Sunday, where he was tagged for three runs in an inning of work, which inflated his season ERA to 8.44.
#24 Otto Kemp, INF – Kemp has showcased his power in Triple-A, clubbing four homers through the first 15 games he’s played in to start the season, which is tied for the second most in the International League. His 17 home runs he hit in 2023 between Jersey Shore and Clearwater is his career high, and Kemp is more than a quarter of the way to that number before the end of April. The power surge is a bit surprising as he graded out at 40 according to MLB Pipeline, which is below average, but Kemp has seemed to have tapped into some more power as of late.
The infielder is having a strong start to the season, slashing .273/.388/.58,2 and ranks tenth in the league with his .970 OPS. He continued to add to those numbers with a solid series against Syracus,e thanks to a slash line of .316/.480/.579 to go with an impressive 1.059 OPS.
At the plate, Kemp went 6-for-19 with a pair of doubles, a home run, and two RBI to go with four walks. If the California native can keep up the numbers along with the power, he could be an intriguing player for the Phillies shortly.
Double-A Reading Fightin’ Phils
#2 Aidan Miller, SS – Miller is part of the trio that headlines this system, along with Crawford and Andrew Painter. The shortstop, who was the 27th overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft by the Phillies, is off to a slow start in the Eastern League, getting adjusted to Double-A after playing the final five games of last season with the Fightin’ Phils.
After a strong season debut where the 20-year-old homered as part of a two-hit game, Miller is just 1-for-24 of the next six games with four walks and ten strikeouts.
Miller showed flashes of his potential during Spring Training, and the talent certainly is there. He is ranked as the eighth best shortstop in all of baseball and the 25th-best prospect in all of baseball according to MLBPipleline.com.
#5 Moises Chace, RHP – Chace came to the organization as the second player in the deal along with Seth Johnosn last year when the Phillies traded Gregory Soto to Baltimore. Chace has an impressive arsenal and has a chance to make an impact in the future with his electric stuff.
The 21-year-old made his season debut on April 9 against the Yankees Double-A affiliate in the Somerset Patriots, where he tossed two innings, allowed a run on a hit with three strikeouts. His command was an issue, walking four of his ten batters faced.
#11 Jean Cabrera, RHP – The 23-year-old is coming off a strong season last year where he took a big step forward in terms of his durability and increased workload despite not having the stature of your typical workhorse starting pitcher.
Cabrera is coming off a loss his last time out on April 10 against Somerset where he went 4.1 innings and allowed three earned runs on three hits with four walks and four strikeouts. Through two starts, the righty is 0-1 with a 4.00 ERA. He has four batters in each of those two outings, so he will look to improve his command.
High-A Jersey Shore BlueClaws
#17 Mavis Graves, LHP – It’s been a slow start for the majority of Top 30 prospects in the system with the BlueClaws. Graves is the lone bright spot in the first week of the season as he’s pitched to a 3.86 ERA in two starts. It is a small sample size as Graves has only logged 4.2 innings, but he has posted a solid 11:5 strikeout-to-walk ratio to this point.
Low-A Clearwater Thrashers
#1 Andrew Painter, RHP – The biggest news arguably across all of MiLB was the highly anticipated season debut of one of the top pitching prospects in all of baseball on Friday. Painter certainly flashed his electric repertoire, touching 100 mph on three occasions with his fastball to go along with a devastating breaking ball.
Command was a bit erratic for the No. 7 prospect in all of baseball, but that was to be expected after not toeing the rubber in a meaningful game since 2022. Painter, on a pitch count, went 1.1 innings, allowed two hits, two runs, and a walk, and struck out three on 37 pitches.
Taking a deeper look into his line, the two singles he gave up were weak contact (61 and 61.8 mph exit velocities,) while he generated nine whiffs on 17 swings. The two runs surrendered came after he was pulled from the game.
MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki spoke with Dave Dombrowski about Painter’s start as the club will continue to build up the talented right-hander.
According to Zolecki’s article, Rob Thomson said Painter could throw three innings and 50 pitches in his next start.
#4 Eduardo Tait, C – The 18-year-old catcher is off to an impressive start through the first eight games of the season. It should come as no surprise considering the young backstop is a career .310 hitter since joining the organization as an international free agent out of Panama, the same home country as former stalwart behind the plate in Carlos Ruiz
Tait is slashing .281/.378/.656 with a 1.034 OPS, and he is flexing his muscles. Of his nine hits on the season, three are doubles, and three more are home runs. Picking up a hit in all but two games to start the season to go along with his power, Tait is tied for the lead in the Florida State League with his three homers while fourth in slugging percentage and seventh in OPS.
#13 Aroon Escobar, INF – The infielder joins Tait as another hitter who is mashing to start the season. Escobar, in his first full season as a pro, is hitting .345 on the season (10-for-29), which is good for eighth in the league in his first seven games played. He already has 12 RBIs, which leads the Florida State League, and he’s already halfway to his career-high total of 24 RBIs, which he had in 2023 33 games playing in the Dominican Summer League.
Photo By: TMB/Icon Sportswire
