The Prospect Pasture - May 12

The month of May has been good to some prospects, but pretty bad to others. Let’s start with the good:

Single-A Clearwater’s Kyle Drabek, the Phillies’ fifth-best prospect as ranked by Baseball America, currently leads the Florida State League in innings pitched (40.2) and strikeouts (51). Drabek’s closest competition on the strikeout leaderboard is Lakeland’s Duane Below with just 38 punchouts. The 2006 first-round pick has a 2.21 ERA to go along with his 1.131 WHIP and should be in line for a promotion to AA Reading at some point this summer if he can continue his dominance.

Clearwater outfielder Dominic Brown leads the Florida State League in total bases (69), slugging percentage (.612) and OPS (1.014). He has been an offensive machine, made evident by his .327 average, six home runs and 26 RBI. He’s currently batting .351 in his last 10 games with two home runs and 11 RBI.

Reading southpaw Antonio Bastardo has been impressive since transitioning from the bullpen to the rotation. He threw six innings of one-hit ball last night and recorded 10 punchouts. Bastardo is flashing a 1.77 ERA and 0.787 WHIP as a starter. He leads the Eastern League in overall WHIP (0.830) and his overall ERA (1.63) is fourth-best on the leaderboards.

But it hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows for everybody.

Lehigh Valley starter and second-ranked prospect Carlos Carrasco has been struggling badly of late, giving up 13 earned runs in 9.1 total innings over his last two starts. His ERA has jumped from a respectable 4.50 to an Eaton-esque 6.62 since May 7. It is still early in the season, but he is losing value if the Phillies consider moving him in a July trade.

Drew Carpenter, Carrasco’s teammate and fellow starter, has also been having trouble in his last two starts. He has given up four runs in each of his last two starts, which lasted five and six innings, respectively. He has not been as prone to the big inning as Carrasco, so hopefully Carpenter can straighten himself out quickly.

Photos courtesy MiLB.com.

The Prospect Pasture - April 30

The Phillies depth of pitching prospects has been making the organization proud of late as many players wasted no time getting on the right track.

Right-handed pitcher Vance Worley, the Phillies’ third round pick in the 2008 draft, made the jump from Low-A Lakewood to AA Reading this year and threw seven scoreless innings for Reading last night, allowing just three hits and a walk while striking out seven. The 21-year-old out of Long Beach State College has a flashy 0.945 WHIP to go along with a 7.8 K/9 through his first four starts.

Add Worley to the list of under-the-radar pitching prospects that have performed brilliantly in the early season, along with Mike Stutes (AA Reading), Yohan Flande (A+ Clearwater), and Carlos Monasterios (A+ Clearwater).

Top overall prospect Dominic Brown hit his second home run of the season in Clearwater yesterday en route to a 4-3 win over the Dundein Blue Jays. The outfield prospect currently leads the Threshers in triples (2), stolen bases (5), slugging (.478), and RBI (13).

Sixth-overall prospect Michael Taylor had a big night in Reading, banging out a double and two singles in a 2-0 victory over the Altoona Curve. The 23-year-old outfielder leads the team in just about every offensive category.

Photos courtesy MiLB.com.