An inside look at the Phillies top prospects.
(MLBPipeline lists the top 30 prospects on each team’s website. While biding time waiting for baseball to resume, Steve Potter will provide his views of these young players. A Clearwater resident, his passion is seeing and following these prospects in person. Normally, Spectrum Field and Carpenter Complex are his second homes. His 4th Annual Phillies Minor League Digest is on sale at www.amazon.com.)
C Rafael Marchan
Phillies # 7 prospect according to MLB.com … 21 years old … signed 7/3/2015 ... from San Cristobal, Venezuela
Rafael took advantage of unexpected opportunities to play in Grapefruit League games this spring and made a huge impression on skipper Joe Girardi with his defensive prowess. For those of us who’ve watched him we were very happy that others were able to see what we have over the years ... Rafael is a very affable young man, very well liked by everyone who gets to know him.
Rafael has a rocket arm and quick release which has enabled him to nail 36 percent of would be base stealers, he’s got excellent framing and blocking skills and very soft hands, is an intuitive pitch caller that pitchers really enjoy working with as he takes command and knows his staff.
Projection : I expected Rafael to begin 2020 at Clearwater which is where he finished 2019 playing 22 games there but also figured he would finish the season at Reading. He’s been a consistent above average hitter throughout his career ( .285 AVG in 765 AB’s) that seemingly always puts the ball in play ... hard line drive hitter. The young man had stellar defensive tools, is a good hitter and has above average speed and base stealing skills ... he will play at some point in the big leagues - how he continues to develop offensively will determine how much.
