Baseball America Releases Phils Top 10 List

Baseball America is in the process of releasing their annual list of Top 10 prospects for each team and released the Phillies this morning. The list is significant for its inclusion of new names; just four Phillies prospects remained on the 2015 list from 2014 and the exclusions were not due to graduation to the Majors.

In a move that should surprise few, the number one prospect in the Phillies’ system according to Baseball America is shortstop J.P. Crawford. 2014 first-round pick Aaron Nola joins the list at number two, followed by last year’s number one Maikel Franco at number three. Center fielder/shortstop Roman Quinn jumped from five to four after recovering from an Achilles injury and last year’s number six, outfielder Carlos Tocci, moved to number five.

Six through ten are all new names to the ranks of the Phillies’ top prospects. Sixth is 22-year old outfielder Aaron Brown, the Phillies third round pick out of Pepperdine in 2014 who hit .268 with four homers and eight steals in 61 games across Williamsport and Lakewood. Seventh is 6’5″ left-handed pitcher Matt Imhof

, the Phillies’ 2014 second round pick out of Cal Poly who posted a 2.98 ERA in 11 starts across the GCL Phillies, Williamsport, and Lakewood.

Number eight is a product of one of Ruben Amaro‘s shrewdest trades, Jesmuel Valentin, son of Jose Valentin. Valentin, a 20-year old middle infielder, was the 51st overall pick in the 2012 draft and had an excellent year at Single-A Great Lakes in the Dodgers organization (.280/.349/.430 with seven homers and 24 steals) before being dealt to Philadelphia. Left-handed pitcher Yoel Mecias, 21, was Baseball America’s pick for ninth while BA selected 19-year old 6’6″ righty Franklyn Kilome as the Phils’ tenth-best prospect after Kilome impressed with the GCL Phillies in 2014.