Mound Talk

1. Carlos Carrasco, RHSP, AA. Carrasco could potentially have three plus pitches in his fastball, change-up and curveball. His fastball had very good, very late life. His velocity ranges from 89-95. His change-up is deadly with knee-buckling ability and precise command of it. Though his curve still needs work, it made excellent strides on 2007 to have sharper, more defined break. On the negative side, he has delivery issues. His front shoulder opens up too much and he doesn’t keep a true line towards the plate. If he solidifies his delivery, he’ll be much more consistent.
2. Adrian Cardenas, 2B, A. Cardenas has a very nice swing. His bat moves quickly through the zone and he does a good job of driving balls to all fields. his range is adequate at second and he has a good arm. He will need to improve his footwork and first step.
3. Joe Savery, LHSP, A-. Savery has had injuries over his college career (not surprising since he went to Rice) but has also shown very good potential. His fastball is in the low-90s but he’ll probably work more in the upper-80s. He has struggled with his command, but that should come back as he continues to recover from labrum surgery. His delivery isn’t repeatable.
4. Kyle Drabek, RHSP, A. Drabek has very good stuff with a mid-90s fastball and a spike curve sitting around 77 mph. His change-up needs work and he needs to learn to throw it with the same motion as his fastball. His season was cut short in June as he underwent Tommy John surgery which will keep him sidelined until late 2008.
5. Josh Outman, LHSP, AA. Outman has very good arm action on the mound. He uses a low-90s fastball, low-80s slider and a decent change. His fastball has good late life and his slider has hard late life. Outman profiles as a back of the rotation pitcher.
6. Greg Golson, OF, AA. Golson is a five tool player with a lot of athleticism. His speed is his best tool and he’s demonstrated a lot of power potential. However, he struggles to control the zone and doesn’t recognize pitches very quickly. He rarely walks and often strikes out.
7. Jason Donald, SS, A+. Donald has shown good skills at the plate including a .300/.386/.491 line this year at High-A. He has average speed and could steal some bases but needs to improve his first step. he struggled upon his promotion to High-A with strikeouts but if he can shorten his swing a little, that will help. He doesn’t cover the plate tremendously well but does a fair job of spraying the ball around the field.
8. Jason Jaramillo, C, AAA. Jaramillo is a switch-hitting catcher with limited offensive skills. However, he is solid defensively. He has an above average arm and good footwork. He has a good approach offensively, which helps cover his decided lack of skill but is a solid bet to be at least a backup catcher at the big league level.
9. Lou Marson, C, A+. Comparing Marson to Jaramillo is a fun task. Marson has the better bat but needs work defensively. He has a solid swing that helps him produce extra-base hits and has a good eye at the plate. Defensively, he has a comparable arm to Jaramillo but needs a lot of help with his footwork. Marson has a higher ceiling than Jaramillo, and if he develops his defense, he projects as a solid regular behind the dish but the two are very close.
10. J.A. Happ, LHSP, MLB. Spending the majority of the season in Triple-A, Happ struggled with consistency this year. At 6-foot-5, Happ works on a downward plane to the plate. His fastball sits around 90 mph and lacks life. His change-up however is much better with good deception. He uses a 12-6 curve with a slower break to it than most. His command is shoddy though and will need to develop and maintain a repeatable motion.
Flier. Freddy Galvis, SS, A-. Galvis is very good defensively but struggles with the bat. He has a decent approach at the plate but will struggle to hit for average or power.

The Phillies don’t have a very good farm system. There isn’t a lot outside of the top two. Savery and Drabek have injuries to deal with. Outman and Golson have major flaws to overcome. Donald and Jaramillo have low ceilings. So when the system is lined up, there are a lot of major questions that need to be answered. Nonetheless, the Phillies have a good core of young guys on their big league roster and if they can spend the next couple seasons restocking their farm club, they’ll be able to supplement their big league club when Ryan Howard, Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins begin to get too expensive.