HWL Wrap: Brown Shines, Drabek Returning To Form
Posted by Tim Malcolm, Mon, December 01, 2008 12:12 PM | Comments: 17
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The Hawaiian Winter League closed play this weekend, and the prospects who represented the Phillies over there finished quite a strong campaign.
21-year-old outfield prospect Dominic Brown was the league’s top hitter, striking a .389 average and league-leading 1.047 OPS (he was on base more than half the time). Though his power numbers weren’t high, he walked more than he struck out, a good sign considering he had a 72/22 split for Lakewood this year. He was named to the all-league team.
Fellow outfield prospect Michael Taylor joined Brown with the Honolulu Sharks, but struggled with a .247 average and .759 OPS. Both Brown and Taylor remain top outfield prospects, with the former heading to Clearwater in 2009, and the latter possibly moving up to Reading.
The only pitching prospect in Hawaii was Kyle Drabek. The former first-round pick threw 20.2 innings, striking out 19 and walking four en route to a 3.05 ERA. Best of all was his 0.58 WHIP, which led the league. He’ll hopefully be back in line after Tommy John surgery sidelined him in 2007. Look for Drabek, 21 in 2009, to start the year in Lakewood.
Posts: 0 Griffin
Jim Callis of Baseball America said that Dominic Brown was the best prospect in the Phillies system. That was pretty surprising.
Posted: 12:18 PM on December 1, 2008
Posts: 0 The Sports Complex :: Blog Archive :: Checking in with the Masses :: Philadelphia City Paper :: Philadelphia Arts, Restaurants, Music, Movies, Jobs, Classifieds, Blogs
[...] going forward.PHILLIESMatt at the Good Phight plays with paper. Good read.Phillies Nation reports on the Hawaiian Winter League and the Phillies’ prospects who played there. This is why I love baseball.and over at Beerleaguer, Jason Wietzel checks in on Antonio [...]
Posted: 12:47 PM on December 1, 2008
Posts: 0 Jamie
Brown is impressive, but I don’t know about labeling him the best in the system at this point. Wait until he sees some AA pitching, and then make a little more of an educated guess. After all, that’s all it is. He does look good, though.
Posted: 12:48 PM on December 1, 2008
Posts: 0 harry
jamie, brown will only be in high A next year. kissock was another phillie pitcher that had a good HWB, but i wouldn’t really call him a prospect.
Posted: 04:29 PM on December 1, 2008
Posts: 0 Griffin
MLB.com started their list of top 50 overall prospects in baseball. They listed #’s 41-50 and Lou Marson was number 43.
Posted: 04:55 PM on December 1, 2008
Posts: 0 Don M
that’s it… only #43!!!! How can that be when everyone on here is so sure he’s going to the Hall of Fame
Posted: 05:12 PM on December 1, 2008
Posts: 0 Eb
I am excited about Drabek. I think that kid is going to be an Ace, and will be on the MLB Phils by age 23
Posted: 05:12 PM on December 1, 2008
Posts: 0 Eb
I like Lou a lot but I see him being a good catcher but not having the bat to be a great catcher.
Posted: 05:13 PM on December 1, 2008
Posts: 0 Don M
Eb, I agree… but with Ruiz, you have a defensive catcher, who has proved he’s good enough… and hopefully his bat will come back around.. Everyone wants to praise Marson as the greatest thing ever, but they forget that Ruiz was .300 hitter in the minor leagues
Posted: 05:40 PM on December 1, 2008
Posts: 0 Chuck P
Marson is going to be a good player… at the plate, he’s not Pudge or Piazza but those guys are few and far between. Can he be Joe Mauer? Certainly, but he still has a long way to go. #43 is probably right… he has only his better than .300 once in four years and he doesn’t have much power. He certainly knows how to get on base but with all that being said… if he’s going to be an everyday catcher, what do you do with Ruiz?
And #43 is ranked higher than Jeff Samardjia (the same guy who played 26 games in the majors last season, while compiling a 2.28 ERA and holding opponents to a .226 avg).
Posted: 05:43 PM on December 1, 2008
Posts: 0 Manny
Don M. you are absolutely right! Carlos Ruiz batted .300 in 2006 and .307 in 2007 in Triple A.
Wow… I’m speechless.
I think Ruiz will surprise most of us here next season with a better-than-.250 average… Still, at this point, I’d like to see Marson in the mix. Coste would have to become our 3rd catcher or just remain as a right-handed pinch-hitter.
Posted: 05:49 PM on December 1, 2008
Posts: 0 Chuck P
At these names begin to unfold, which of these players do you expect to make the MiLB list (I have an asterisk next to the ones that I believe could be considered top 50 caliber):
Carrasco*
Donald*
Taylor*
Brown
Hewitt
Carpenter
Savery
Mayberry
Berry
Tracy
Drabek
D’Arnaud
By the way… John Sickels at minorleaguebaseball.com had D’Arnaud ranked above Marson.
Posted: 05:59 PM on December 1, 2008
Posts: 0 mike
The thing about marson is he has a good eye at the plate.Right now he is like a lot of minor league prospect, he must prove he can handle major league pitching. but he has a good upside he has improve at each level. Played in olympic, allstar games international competition. I think he is the kind of catcher who can someday with his eye at the plate and bat control be a 2 nd hitter in the lineup or in the eight hole turn over the lineup. Ruiz could bounce back and hit enough for him to start but its one of the strongest position in the minors. We have three other catchers in the minors who in two years could be knocking at the door.
Posted: 06:19 PM on December 1, 2008
Posts: 0 NJ
Marson is best served staying in the minors and maturing as a reciever this year, he’s still very young compared to most of the elite catching prospects and almost all have struggled in recent years that weren’t brought on slowly and mentored by a good defensive catcher. The lesson has to be JR Towles in Houston who was thrown out even with a good defensive guy there in Ausmus and barely lasted a few weeks. Ruiz is the starter, Coste the back-up and soon Marson will be the primary with Ruiz backing up but with our Philly crowd it can’t be forced.
Drabek’s really exciting, he’s the one guy we can be aggressive with through the minors and have throw out of the back of the bullpen before becoming a full-time starter a couple of years+ down the road.
Posted: 06:52 PM on December 1, 2008
Posts: 0 Griffin
Interesting note, as the lists of players offered arbitration comes in with the deadline being at midnight. The Yankees did not offer Pettitte arbitration (which is no surprise) but they didn’t offer it to Abreu either. Ibanez was offered arbitration, so if you sign him you give up draft picks.
Posted: 06:59 PM on December 1, 2008
Posts: 0 Art D.
On Drabek: I’m hoping he will start the season at Clwtr FSL and if he makes the progress he seems capable of, to Reading mid or 2/3 season.
What he needs is innings; he can get that at CLWTR as well as Lakewood. And, the competition there is more advanced than Lakewood.
Getting those innings and stretching out his arm post-surgery is the need. Should he reach 75 inns at Clwtr and well, the move to Reading would be in order.
If his body/arm can take it, he might then work in the AFL making it possible for him to be up sometime in ’10!
He has mucho talent; all he needs is those innings!
Posted: 07:51 PM on December 1, 2008
Posts: 0 mike
The only thing keeping drabek from making the team is he has to show, he has matured . His stuff is major league, 6-12 curve 93-95 fastball and changeup. he will be fast tracked. he gave up a homerun to lose the championship game in hawaii, the coaches were impressed how he handled it . So he might be maturing and he would really give this team a shot in the arm. he is a legit 1-2 potential.
Posted: 09:26 PM on December 1, 2008