Categories: Minor Leagues

Baseball America’s midseason Top 30 prospects ranking includes new Phillies top 3

Double-A Reading’s Griff McGarry is the fourth-best prospect in the Phillies farm system, according to Baseball America. (Cheryl Pursell)

Ahead of the Aug. 1 trade deadline, Baseball America updated its ranking of the Top 30 Philadelphia Phillies prospects. Here’s Baseball America’s new top 15 along with their preseason ranking. You can see the full rankings on Baseball America’s site.

RHP Andrew Painter (1)
RHP Mick Abel (2)
OF Justin Crawford (4)
RHP Griff McGarry (3)
OF Johan Rojas (5)
RHP Orion Kerkering (25)
INF Hao Yu Lee (6)
OF Símon Muzziotti (8)
INF William Bergolla Jr. (13)
OF Gabriel Rincones Jr. (7)
OF Ethan Wilson (9)
RHP Alex McFarlane (10)
INF Jesus Starlyn Caba (14)
RHP Wen Hui Pan (N/A)
RHP Andrew Baker (11)

Here are a few takeways:

Last year’s first-round pick Justin Crawford has crept in to the top three. “Crawford is still raw and is years away from the big leagues, but his exciting blend of tools profiles well as a top-of-the-order bat who provides plus defense in center field,” BA writes. Through 38 games with the surging Low-A Clearwater Threshers, Crawford is slashing .336/.394/.436 with no home runs and 26 RBIs.
Double-A Reading’s Griff McGarry moves down a spot to four. He missed the first month of the 2023 season with an oblique injury. He had his best start of the season on June 10 as he struck out eight over five shutout innings. The Phillies want to see him make at least a few starts in Triple A before they begin considering him as an option to pitch in the big league rotation. As of June 14, his next scheduled start is Friday, June 16 at Double A.
If you’re looking for prospects outside of McGarry and Andrew Painter who can potentially impact the big league club this year, look no further than 2022 fifth-round pick Orion Kerkering. BA thinks his fastball and slider are 70-grade pitches on the 20-80 traditional scouting scale. He’s currently pitching out of the bullpen in High A after starting the season with Low-A Clearwater and has a 1.19 ERA in 22 2/3 innings in the minor leagues this season. A promotion to Reading could be coming soon for the 22-year-old. He could be a late-season addition to the Phillies bullpen.
William Bergolla Jr., the Phillies’ top international signing in the 2021-22 class, is skipping the Florida Complex League and playing for Low-A Clearwater.

Rule-5 pick Noah Song makes the list at No. 30. Rob Thomson told reporters in Arizona that Song threw two innings of a simulated game on Tuesday. He’s “pretty close” to beginning a rehab assignment, per Alex Coffey of the Philadelphia Inquirer

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The Phillies farm system is stacked with pitching talent at the top. The club’s best position players, Crawford, Bergolla, Johan Rojas and Gabriel Rincones Jr., for example, are all years away from the majors.
Years of surrendering draft picks and international bonus pool money from the signings of qualified free agents is a big reason why the Phillies system lacks major-league ready impact talent. Phillies Nation explored this during spring training when an Aaron Nola extension was still on the table. The draft pick compensation rules for luxury tax paying teams could lead the club to the decision to re-sign Nola — and maybe even Rhys Hoskins — in the offseason.