The Sad Philadelphia Phillies Tale of International Recruits

A consideration of the Philadelphia Phillies historical and most recent international signings suggests they’ve sort of stumbled around.

With the MLB international signing period for 2020-21 coming up (maybe), it seems time to take a look at your favorite team’s prospects situation, and especially those international signings. In the Philadelphia Phillies case, that matter doesn’t seem a pleasant one, either from a historical or immediate viewpoint.

Recently, for example, MLB.com Phillies writer Todd Zolecki indulged himself in one of the most popular COVID-19 baseball genres, creating a list of the Fightin’s top five international signings in the historical sense. They were, in order, Ferguson Jenkins, Julio Franco, Carlos Ruiz, George Bell, and Juan Samuel. (Raise your hand if you recalled Fergie was Canadian. I didn’t.)

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In order again, this list includes a Hall of Famer, a guy who homered at the age of 48, Roy Halladay’s favorite backstop, a league MVP, and a Phillies Wall of Famer and fan favorite. After Jenkins, four guys who definitely belong in the Hall of the Very Good.

The problem, and herein sits Zolecki’s sly shot at Phillies management is that three of these five largely had success in other uniforms. So, the issue is not so much initially recognizing some level of talent, but also nurturing it and correctly projecting a player’s ceiling early in his career, something the Phillies aren’t always good at.

Very recently, the Phillies foreign-recruit picture hasn’t appeared that bright either, although in fairness to any MLB team, correctly projecting the teens who seem to predominate international signings is just flat-out difficult. However, in considering the 2019-20 Phillies international class, there is this to observe: None of the first international 17 players signed by the Phillies last July is currently listed among the top 30 international prospects by MLB Pipeline, whereas the Chicago Cubs have three, for example.

Additionally, neither are any of those players nor the most recent international player signed, the reed-thin Yhoswar Garcia, among the top 100 MLB Pipeline prospects. The three Phillies prospects on that list are all American-born players who had college careers.

In truth, it may be early for many of the players signed last year to show up on either list, but Ronier Quintero, the Cubs sixth-ranked international signee last summer (among the top 30), is a 17-year-old power-hitting catcher. Chicago gave him nearly three million dollars. The Phillies top international contracts last summer cost them $350,000 apiece. There were three such documents.

But, hey, maybe Randy Vasquez, the shortstop, not the pitcher; Jose Colmenarez, the catcher, not the shortstop; or Fernando Hernandez, the shortstop, not the pitcher who was with the Tigers for two days in 1997, will one day light up Citizens Bank Park in the Phillies red pinstripes.

The Phillies aren’t spending their money in the foreign market, as everyone knows.

The first matter under consideration about that market this year, though, is whether or not the 2020-21 international-signing period will actually start July 2 when it should.