Re-Ranking Philadelphia Phillies’ Top 25 Prospects After the 2012 MLB Draft
June 11, 2012 by Greg Pinto
Filed under Fan News
After trading away most of their top prospects in blockbuster deals over the last few seasons, the Philadelphia Phillies went into the 2012 amateur draft with one goal in mind: Add top talent back into the system.
Of course, that’s not an easy thing to do when you don’t own a single selection in the draft’s first round. The Phillies wouldn’t choose a player until the 40th overall selection as compensation for losing Ryan Madson.
Even then, the Phillies didn’t do what we expected them to. It seems as though they never do. Instead of selecting a college player with a clear path to the MLB, they select a high school pitcher with a high ceiling by the name of Shane Watson.
Then they selected another high school player. And another. And yet another. They would continue to select high school players as their first five selections in the draft, blowing their pre-draft strategy to smithereens.
Then again, the Phillies’ real strategy for the last couple of seasons has been to draft the player they believed to be the best available. That’s how they wind up with so many high school players.
But there is an obvious risk in drafting high school players. Nine times out of 10, they come into the organization as a project. Their tools are extremely raw, and though they may possess a ton of that natural, raw talent, it will likely take years to develop it into an MLB skill-set.
That’s why there are just two players from this year’s draft class cracking my top 25. The Phillies didn’t draft any clear-cut, top prospects this year. That’s not to say it was a bad draft. They selected a boatload of potential, but few players have the current skill set to be considered a top prospect, at least, in my opinion.
So with a crop of new players ready to come into the system, it’s time to re-rank the Phillies’ top 25 prospects.
That comes with a caveat of sorts: This list is my own opinion and not affiliated with any other prospect lists. For help with evaluation, I referred to the greatest source for Phillies’ prospect information on the web, Phuture Phillies.