Philadelphia Phillies’ 5 Minor Leaguers Most Likely to Contribute in September

Well, the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline has passed, and the Phillies sure made a splash in acquiring Hunter Pence. It came at a high price, though—the Phils had to surrender their two top prospects, first baseman Jonathan Singleton and starting pitcher Jarred Cosart, along with pitcher Josh Zeid and a player to be named later. Fortunately, the Phillies did get $2 million cash from the Astros as well in order to cover Pence’s remaining salary, but more importantly, not surpass the $178 million luxury tax threshold.

Now that it’s August, transactions news has seemingly cooled—for now. Possible waiver trades could occur at any point before the August 31 waiver trade deadline, but once September comes rolling around, that’s when the real excitement begins. Teams will be battling for division titles and wild cards, and rosters will expand from 25 players to 40 at the major league level, meaning that in September, minor league players on the 40-man roster will get a chance to make a name for themselves in the limited time they have to do so.

However, there are some players on the 40-man roster than might not necessarily make it to the big leagues just yet, for a variety of reasons. They could be too young, inexperienced, injured, or simply just not ready to handle the major leagues just yet. So, while one or two of the following players listed will be on the 40-man roster, there might be a few who aren’t, but could be when rosters expand at the beginning of September.

This list is of players who have not yet made their major league debut either, so players like Scott Mathieson, Drew Carpenter and Mike Zagurski will not be included (not like they would necessarily contribute anyway).

Here are five minor league players who the Phillies could see contribute once September roster expansion arrives.  

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