Philadelphia Phillies: Spring 2017 top 10 prospects
By Matt Veasey
The Philadelphia Phillies’ new top 10 prospects ranking for spring of 2017 sees a new player making his debut on the list.
Back in November of 2016, I provided my Philadelphia Phillies top 10 prospects ranking. At that time, I broke down each player with an individual scouting report.
While my Fall prospect list is more detailed, in the Spring the ranking will usually provide a much simpler straight-up list. However, I will add some general commentary if there are major updates.
First, let’s take a look back at the Phillies’ top 10 prospects from the Fall of 2016:
10. Scott Kingery
9. Kevin Gowdy
7. Ben Lively
4. Roman Quinn
1. Jorge Alfaro
I also provided a list of “near misses”, naming several prospects who fell just outside of the top 10. That included a link to each of the individual top 10 prospects ranking pieces.
Related Story: Phillies Fall 2016 top 10 prospects and near misses
The Spring 2017 ranking has just one new entry, and one player exiting. However, there are a few of those remaining players who are shuffling up and down the overall list.
The newcomer is first baseman Rhys Hoskins, who was one of the near misses six months ago. Hoskins has exploded out of the gates in the opening weeks of the 2017 campaign.
With AAA Lehigh Valley, Hoskins is hitting for a .330/.412/.631 slash line. The 24-year-old has eight homers, 21 RBI and 20 runs scored to lead the Phillies’ top minor league club in each category.
While Hoskins has entered the top 10, pitcher Kevin Gowdy has exited. That is really no condemnation of Gowdy’s potential. He would be a near miss, if I were to do such a list at this time. The switch is purely due to Hoskins’ production.
SPRING 2017 PHILLIES TOP 10 PROSPECTS
Without further delay, here is my Philadelphia Phillies Spring 2017 top 10 prospects ranking. As was the case last year, I will do a more thorough evaluation in November, reflecting how each player actually performed this season.
The listing below will show the player’s place in the rankings, their last name, age, position and current affiliation level.
10. Hoskins (24), First Baseman, AAA Lehigh Valley
9. Kilome (21), Pitcher, High A Clearwater
8. Lively (25), Pitcher, AAA Lehigh Valley
7. Kingery (23), Second Baseman, AA Reading
6. Randolph (19), Outfielder, High A Clearwater
5. Williams (23), Outfielder, AAA Lehigh Valley
4. Crawford (22), Shortstop, AAA Lehigh Valley
3. Quinn (24), Outfielder, AAA Lehigh Valley
2. Moniak (19), Outfielder, Low A Lakewood
1. Alfaro (23), Catcher, AAA Lehigh Valley
As you can see, a half-dozen of the prospects are already at the highest level of the Phillies minor league system. The more the big league team struggles, the more likely we are to see a number of these prospects at Citizens Bank Park as early as this summer.
Next: Phillies prospects who deserve promotion
When the Fall rolls around, I’ll be back with a more detailed breakdown of each top prospect who makes the list. At that point, we could see at least one more new entry. The Phillies select eighth in next month’s MLB Amateur Draft, which will bring in another quality youngster to the system.