Fewer Phillies on MLB’s top 100 prospect list

Good morning! Let’s dive into the news dumpster …

PROSPECTING: There are a lot of lists ranking the top prospects in baseball. We at Phillies Nation, in fact, will analyze all of them to determine an Ultimate Prospect Ranking for the Phillies system (coming soon!).

One of the prospect lists comes from MLB Pipeline, who over the weekend revealed its top 100. J.P. Crawford is No. 7. Mickey Moniak is No. 19. And Jorge Alfaro is No. 72.

And that’s it. Sixteen teams have four or more players on the list, but the Phils aren’t one of them. Why the change this year?

Basically Pipeline (and many others) argue that the top of the system isn’t as strong, with players performing under expectations (Nick Williams, Cornelius Randolph, Mark Appel).

TOUR DE DOMINICAN: Philly.com’s Matt Gelb and photojournalist David Swanson chronicled the Phillies’ presence in the Dominican Republic for a series set to launch today at Philly.com. Here’s a video preview.

GRAPEFRUITING: Last week we offered our guide to Clearwater for Phillies spring training. The pieces:

• Intro: necessary information for 2017
• What to do in the Clearwater area
• Where to eat in the Clearwater area
• A look at Spectrum Field
• Who to watch on the practice fields
• Why Clearwater matters