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.)
RHP Mauricio Llovera
Phillies #15 prospect according to MLB.com … 24 years old … signed 2/12/2015 - from El Tigre, Venezuela
Mauricio made just 14 appearances ( 12 starts ) at Reading in 2019 before being shut down with a forearm strain. We got to see and chat with him thereafter at the Complex as he returned to Clearwater and finished the year in rehab with Coach Burris. This spring, after beginning with the rehab group in January pre camp, he was given the green light to compete again. He appeared in 4 Grapefruit League games tossing 6 innings yielding 1 run on 3 hits while striking out 6 batters.
The young hurler has always had a big arm dating back to his 2016 GCL days when he was popping mid to upper nineties as a starter, he pitched primarily out of the bullpen the following season for Lakewood before returning to a starting slot in 2018 with Clearwater and then Reading last summer. Control is sometimes an issue ... stuff is not as he’s got an electric arm with a very good changeup that he brings from the same release point, there’s also a slider that has the chance to be a plus pitch with more repetition. We’ve watched him for four seasons now ... has a big league arsenal.
Projection : it’s been my humble opinion that Mauricio would be a tremendous asset as a reliever ... aka Ryan Madson, early in Ryan’s career he was able to toss multiple innings out of the pen with power stuff ... when I watch Llovera I see that type of skillset and capability. He’s also got enough to continue as a starter but from this observer’s view he could become a real weapon out of the pen.
