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.)
OF Mickey Moniak
Phillies # 11 prospect according to MLB.com … 22 years old … 2016 1st round selection out of La Costa Canyon High School, Encinitas, CA
I remember Mickey’s first spring training camp in Clearwater and being impressed how cordial he was with autograph seekers, never wavered in responding to folks. We’ve watched him grow over the past four years, each season he has put on more muscle, the youngster we saw in 2016 now has a big league frame.
When you’re the top selection in the entire draft expectations are very high, perhaps to a point where they are impossible to achieve. If Mickey has felt the pressure or criticism he’s been very effective in not showing it, the young man posts every day. There’s been steady progression ... this past season he hit the ball where it was pitched much more consistently and with more authority, led the Eastern League in triples and was second in total bases, fifth in doubles. Defensively he’s always been very good, excellent reads, route running and arm strength with sneaky fast speed.
Projection : Mickey will play in the big leagues, I have no doubt. The overall skillset is there to have a prolonged career. I’ve talked to quite a few scouts about him, the opinions waver from a fourth outfielder projection to an everyday player but all agree he has a big league game. From my perspective he’s very capable of being an everyday center fielder - a Brett Gardner type production is well within his means.
