Philadelphia Phillies: Stock Up, Stock Down for Top 10 Prospects in Week 1

For the Phillies‘ top 10 prospects (per Baseball America), the first handful of games of their respective seasons have yielded divergent results.

This is admittedly the ultimate “small sample size” analysis—none of these players is even a full week into the season.

But the analysis has to start somewhere, and these games count as much as any others this season.

 

STOCK UP

Jesse Biddle: The best young arm in the organization is off quite well, with six strong innings (one earned run on two hits) in a win over the New Hampshire Rock Cats for Double-A Reading.

Roman Quinn: Jimmy Rollins’ likely heir apparent is hitting .333 at Class-A Lakewood with three stolen bases in four games.

Adam Morgan: In the rotation for Triple-A Lehigh Valley, Morgan took a no-decision against the Syracuse Chiefs in his first start of the season, but the numbers (six innings, six hits, two earned runs, five strikeouts) were the sort of numbers that win games.

Darin Ruf: Good stuff from Ruf, who is shaking off what had to be a disappointing spring by hitting .294 with a couple of doubles in 17 at-bats at Lehigh Valley thus far.

Carlos Tocci: The 17-year-old phenom is going to be eased in some at Lakewood, but through two games he is hitting .286.

 

STOCK DOWN

Tommy Joseph: The possible replacement for Carlos Ruiz (Chooch’s contract is up after 2013), Joseph is scuffling at Lehigh Valley with a .167 batting average and no extra-base hits in three games.

Jonathan Pettibone: Another highly regarded starter in the system, Pettibone was cuffed around by the Syracuse Chiefs in his initial start—six earned runs on eight hits and three walks in 5.1 innings.

Ethan Martin: The young right-handed starter lasted only 4.1 innings, yielding four earned runs on three hits and four walks against the Syracuse Chiefs.

Cody Asche: With Michael Young tending third base on a one-year deal, the Phillies are hoping Asche can develop quickly enough to take over sooner than later. But Asche‘s .125 average, .188 slugging percentage and .222 on-base percentage through four games will not do it.

Maikel Franco: Speaking of third base, the 20-year-old Franco is off to a slow start at Class-A Advanced Clearwater, hitting .143 and slugging .214.

 

QUICK READ

Ruf remains the most likely call-up of these 10 players. He probably will not make it up before Memorial Day, particularly if Delmon Young gets back from his injury on the expected timetable.

And none of the starting pitchers is likely to see Philadelphia unless the Phillies fall out of the race early and start unloading the likes of Roy Halladay and (sad to say) Cliff Lee for whatever they can get.

Still, with the Phillies stumbling out of the gate (again), an occasional look to the future this season will probably be worthwhile.

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