Hey friends, I’m back solo this time to drop in some thoughts on my looks at the Philadelphia Phillies Low-A prospects while the Clearwater Threshers were in Fort Myers a couple of weeks back (May 11th-16). Sorry for the delay! I’ll do my best to get these out to you all sooner next time around. Enjoy and feel free to reach out to me on Twitter for more info.
This time around we’re going to run through a handful of hitters that I saw over the course of the week as well as one pitcher. I'‘ve already touched on Mick Abel and Casey Martin here, so we’ll exclude them from this look.
Johan Rojas - Outfielder
Rojas is a toolsy, lanky outfielder with a short, flat swing that packs a punch. Very athletic build with a high waist, wide shoulders, and long limbs. He’s a bit of a free swinger, attacking almost anything in the zone, and doesn’t appear to have great feel for the strike zone. That said, he’s got good hands and a knack for getting the bat on the ball, even if he’s just fouling a pitch off to extend the at-bat. The swing is short and sweet; he’s almost throwing his hands at the baseball and whipping the barrel through the zone -- and the barrel is long through the hitting zone given how flat the bat path is. There is definitely some swing and miss to his game still that’s exacerbated by his lack of a plan at the plate. With some refinement to his approach and some good weight on the frame, you don’t have to squint too hard to see a ceiling of an above-average hitter with above-average power and speed, to boot, should everything break his way. Exciting player to watch.
Baron Radcliff - Outfielder
Radcliff is a large man with limited athleticism. I clocked a 4.46 home to first (well below average) and even underway the steps are choppy. He’s got a thick, strong build on a big, 6’4” frame with long legs and a higher waist. Assuming he maintains his conditioning, there’s a solid chance he could stick as an outfielder; if he doesn’t, it’s a first base only profile that will put even more pressure on the bat. Speaking of the bat, one look at Radcliff tells you that we’re talking 60 or 70 raw power. He’s big, he’s strong, and there’s decent bat speed. The power will never be a question. The deciding factor for Radcliff is whether or not he can make enough contact. There is a lot of swing and miss in his game and pro pitching has given him fits so far. He’s swinging through anything and everything right now (33 K% at the time of publishing). It’s essentially an all-or-nothing pull or whiff approach and it’s not working. The one thing that is going in his favor though is a decent eye at the plate. He’s got some feel for the zone and is more than willing to take a walk if the pitcher will oblige.
Luis Garcia - Shortstop/Second Baseman
Not to be confused with the Nationals’ or Astros’ Luis Garcia. This Luis Garcia is on the smaller, more athletic side. He’s got more of a classic middle infield profile where the hit tool, speed, and defense stand out while the power lags behind and that was on display when I saw him. In the field, there was a distinct difference when Garcia was manning short and when Casey Martin was (sorry, Casey). Garcia’s actions are smooth and his instincts are good and he very much looks like a guy who could stick at short for the long term. He looks the part. At the dish, it’s been a little more of an adventure so far. A switch hitter, I saw Garcia mostly from the left side and there was a good bit of swing and miss and weak contact. There’s some steepness to the bat path that allows him to lift the ball a little (and he’s already left the yard twice this year), but the power profile is one that is much more conducive to line drive contact. It’s more of a gap to gap doubles profile with a few triples mixed in rather than a legitimate home run threat. The approach is solid as he’s somewhat selective and has some feel for the zone. I think he ends up closer to average hit and run tools with an above-average glove. More looks needed, for sure.
Carlos De La Cruz - Outfielder
The first thing you notice about De La Cruz is the XXL frame. He’s listed at 6’8”, 210lbs and looks every bit of it. With that frame comes long, long limbs and with those long levers comes a good amount of swing and miss. It’s not all about the limbs though as his approach and pitch recognition were lacking, as well. He swung through pitches over the heart and breakers that landed off the plate. All that said, the swing is pretty simple and short, so it’s not all bad, but it looked like a future 4 hit at best when I saw him. There’s plenty of power in the bat with some solid bat speed, too, so when he connects he can do damage.The bat to ball skills are just not there right now and when you pair that with a swing-heavy, undiscerning “plan” at the plate, it’s going to be an adventure.
DJ Stewart - Third Baseman
Stewart is the guy you love to root for. A 39th(!) round pick back in 2017, he has come to Low-A and has been hitting with a vengeance. The body is fairly unassuming despite being listed 6’2” and 205 lbs -- there’s just nothing that stands out on a pro field, it’s a fairly average strong build. Looks like a corner guy. At the plate he was fairly unassuming in the ABs I saw, too. He’s just hitting right now. It’s a solid approach and he gets the barrel to the ball and finds green. He makes hard contact, too, launching three over the fence so far this year (1 coming in Fort Myers while I wasn’t in attendance); but my point is that there’s some legitimate feel for contact here even if he does swing and miss sometimes. Strong dudes with feel for contact always have a shot to climb the minor league ladder no matter where they were drafted. Keep an eye on Stewart the rest of the summer.
Starlyn Castillo - Right-Handed Pitcher
Castillo is a strong dude with a cannon for a right arm. He’s got a medium frame (6’) with a sturdy 210-pound build. The limbs are long and his wide shoulders stand out right away. He came on in relief but threw multiple innings when I saw him on May 13th. He uses a full windup with an abrupt leg kick and moderate effort to the plate. It’s a slight drop-and-drive delivery and uses a 3/4s arm slot; the arm is pretty quick. He features a fastball that sat 90-94 and reached back for 96 when he wanted it. The fastball showed some ride with solid run; he worked up with it often as well as to the arm side, boring in on righties. He also showed a breaking ball at 80-84 that felt like a cross between a power curve and a slurve. It flashed good bite but most sat in the average range with an 11-5 shape. Most featured good depth with a little sweep to them and he worked it down and to the glove side almost exclusively. The command was pretty lackluster, to be blunt, as he issued 5 free passes over 3 innings. It was your typical showing of live stuff that the pitcher couldn’t control. It seems to have been an off night for his command when you look at the season stat line, but I simply can’t tell you that it was pretty that Thursday night.