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 Spencer Howard
Phillies # 2 prospect according to MLB.com … 23 years old … 2017 2nd round selection out of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo University (CA).
There’s been a lot of chatter about Spencer and with due cause. Last summer he spent a great deal of time at the Complex rehabbing a sore shoulder. We got to see him pitch up close in bullpen sessions, live BP and GCL action as he made his way back.
While the competition he was facing was overmatched the quality of pitches was very much evident. He can get upper 90’s seemingly with ease on his FB but we were most impressed by the break and movement on both his slider and curve ball, both knee bucklers. When he tossed in the change-up coming out of the same arm slot and arm speed as the heater it was just lights out for the hitters. The young man has superior tools.
Spencer wore fellow pitcher Jack Perkins’ practice shirt many times this summer at the Complex (seems he had lost his); we teased him that he couldn’t fool us ... we knew who he was 🤓 ... very pleasant young man. His personality bodes well for his future, doesn’t seem to let things bother him much, stays positive and focused.
Projection
The secret is out as Spencer had an outstanding stint in the Arizona Fall League and also drew a lot of attention this spring in camp. He stayed in FLA during the shutdown and continued to work. There’s top drawer talent here and in my humble opinion he’s ready to shine right now. Can be a really good one for an extended period of time.
Spencer Howard - Photo by Steven Kiebach