{"id":78112,"date":"2016-04-05T15:27:31","date_gmt":"2016-04-05T15:27:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sandbox.web.rcn.net\/rcntv\/?p=78112"},"modified":"2023-04-25T14:25:53","modified_gmt":"2023-04-25T14:25:53","slug":"sportstalk-shop-phillies-prospects-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/sportstalk-shop-phillies-prospects-update\/","title":{"rendered":"The SportsTalk Shop:  Phillies Prospects Update"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/TtQd3Rtg1KY\" width=\"425\" height=\"350\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Today here at \u201cThe Shop,\u201d we bring you comments from the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.milb.com\/index.jsp?sid=t1410\">Phillies minor league<\/a> prospects followed by some insights on their \u201cceilings\u201d and potential arrival times in the Big Leagues.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/rXdhNnIWvOk\" width=\"425\" height=\"350\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Starting right-handed pitcher <a href=\"http:\/\/www.milb.com\/player\/index.jsp?sid=t1410&amp;player_id=622097#\/career\/R\/pitching\/2015\/ALL\">Jake Thompson<\/a> and left-handed hitting outfielder <a href=\"http:\/\/www.milb.com\/player\/index.jsp?sid=t1410&amp;player_id=608384#\/career\/R\/hitting\/2015\/ALL\">Nick Williams<\/a>, seems to be the odds-on favorites among the top blue-chip prospects to get the call to the major leagues.<\/p>\n<p>Williams could be helped by the fact that <a href=\"http:\/\/m.phillies.mlb.com\/player\/605125\/cody-asche\">Cody Asche<\/a> won\u2019t start the season on the <a href=\"http:\/\/philadelphia.phillies.mlb.com\/index.jsp?c_id=phi\">Phillies <\/a>roster and <a href=\"http:\/\/m.phillies.mlb.com\/player\/571437\/aaron-altherr\">Aaron Altherr<\/a> won\u2019t be ready until late in the summer.\u00a0 Both Asche and Altherr were penciled in as starters for the parent club before spring training began.\u00a0 Because of the \u2018numbers\u2019 issue in the outfield\u2014or, more appropriately, LACK of numbers, Williams could be one player that gets bumped up a little earlier than expected.<\/p>\n<p>Plus, Williams had a torrid September last year, during the Reading Fightin\u2019 Phillies playoff run, which the organization\u2019s top brass saw first-hand.\u00a0 A quick start by Williams might give Phillies fans what they\u2019ve already started clamoring for\u2014and that\u2019s a fast promotion to the Big Leagues for some of these high-profile prospects the team received in trades over the last year.\u00a0 However, it has usually been the Phillies objective to get young players as much minor-league seasoning as possible before reaching the major leagues.\u00a0 Given the team is not ready to contend and there\u2019s really no reason to start these players \u201cfree agency clocks\u201d (the time teams have players under contract), you probably won\u2019t see many of these players before Memorial Day.<\/p>\n<p>A quick example that supports this theory if <a href=\"http:\/\/m.phillies.mlb.com\/player\/596748\/maikel-franco\">Maikel Franco<\/a>, who got hot in Triple-A to start last season and was promoted while he was swinging the bat well.\u00a0 Dominic Brown is probably a good example of the ill-effects of rushing a young prospect through a system too quickly.<\/p>\n<p>If a team\u2019s success starts with pitching, Philadelphia should be in good shape when you look at their Triple-A starting rotation.\u00a0 Joining Thompson are <a href=\"http:\/\/www.milb.com\/player\/index.jsp?sid=t1410&amp;player_id=571446#\/career\/R\/pitching\/2015\/ALL\">Mark Appel<\/a> (a former top draft pick), <a href=\"http:\/\/www.milb.com\/player\/index.jsp?sid=t1410&amp;player_id=621107#\/career\/R\/pitching\/2015\/ALL\">Zach Eflin<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.milb.com\/player\/index.jsp?sid=t1410&amp;player_id=571527#\/career\/R\/pitching\/2015\/ALL\">David Buchanan<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.milb.com\/player\/index.jsp?sid=t1410&amp;player_id=605388#\/career\/R\/pitching\/2015\/ALL\">Adam Morgan<\/a> (the latter pitched well enough to make the Phillies out of spring training but was demoted in favor of power-armed Vincent Velasquez).\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0The Phillies have so much depth in fact, that two pitchers (Alec Asher and <a href=\"http:\/\/m.phillies.mlb.com\/player\/605894\/severino-gonzalez\">Severino Gonzales<\/a>) who pitched for the Phils last year will start this season down in Double-A.\u00a0 While not all of these hurlers may be impact players at the major league level, the team has much needed depth and find themselves in the fortunate situation in which not all of these young arms HAVE TO mature into top-level pitchers in order for the franchise to have continued success.<\/p>\n<p>If a couple of these guys can contribute consistently for the Phillies, they will have a nice pitching staff for years to come.\u00a0 This is a sharp contract when the team looked at having just a couple blue-chip prospects in the farm system and, when most of these guys fizzled out, the team struggled with very few reliable reinforcements available to help out.<\/p>\n<p>For more insights on the Phillies top minor league prospects, check out our most recent \u201cSportsTalk\u201d podcast, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rcn.com\/atvn\/sports-talk\/\">here <\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t forget to share your baseball opinions by emailing us (<a href=\"mailto:rcnsportstalk@rcn.net\">rcnsportstalk@rcn.net<\/a>) and tune in to hear us read and respond to your opinions on our Thursday \u201cRCN SportsTalk\u201d show live at 7pm and on our weekly podcasts.<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today here at \u201cThe Shop,\u201d we bring you comments from the Phillies minor league prospects followed by some insights on their \u201cceilings\u201d and potential arrival times in the Big Leagues. Starting right-handed pitcher Jake Thompson and left-handed hitting outfielder Nick Williams, seems to be the odds-on favorites among the top blue-chip prospects to get the&#8230;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"Yoast SEO Relevanssi index exclude","inline_featured_image":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4,5],"tags":[638,641,111,640,635,636,323,643,354,637,634,642,639],"class_list":["post-78112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","category-sports","category-the-sportstalk-shop","tag-aaron-altherr","tag-adam-morgan","tag-cody-asche","tag-david-buchanan","tag-ironpigs-baseball","tag-jake-thompson","tag-maikel-franco","tag-mark-appel","tag-mlb","tag-nick-williams","tag-phillies-prospects","tag-severino-gonzales","tag-zach-eflin"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The SportsTalk Shop: Phillies Prospects Update - ATVN<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Phillies prospects\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The SportsTalk Shop: Phillies Prospects Update - ATVN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Phillies prospects\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/sportstalk-shop-phillies-prospects-update\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ATVN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-04-05T15:27:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-04-25T14:25:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chris Michael\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Chris Michael\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/sportstalk-shop-phillies-prospects-update\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/sportstalk-shop-phillies-prospects-update\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Chris Michael\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6aba8df7f74bf50b72426776afd0067a\"},\"headline\":\"The SportsTalk Shop: Phillies Prospects Update\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-04-05T15:27:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-25T14:25:53+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/sportstalk-shop-phillies-prospects-update\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":581,\"commentCount\":0,\"keywords\":[\"Aaron Altherr\",\"Adam Morgan\",\"Cody Asche\",\"David Buchanan\",\"IronPigs Baseball\",\"Jake Thompson\",\"maikel franco\",\"Mark Appel\",\"MLB\",\"Nick Williams\",\"Phillies prospects\",\"Severino Gonzales\",\"Zach Eflin\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Featured\",\"Sports\",\"The SportsTalk Shop\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/sportstalk-shop-phillies-prospects-update\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/sportstalk-shop-phillies-prospects-update\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/sportstalk-shop-phillies-prospects-update\\\/\",\"name\":\"The SportsTalk Shop: Phillies Prospects Update - ATVN\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-04-05T15:27:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-25T14:25:53+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6aba8df7f74bf50b72426776afd0067a\"},\"description\":\"Phillies prospects\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/sportstalk-shop-phillies-prospects-update\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/\",\"name\":\"ATVN\",\"description\":\"Local Programming &amp; Astound Digital Cable, Internet &amp; Phone Services\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6aba8df7f74bf50b72426776afd0067a\",\"name\":\"Chris Michael\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"\\\/atvn\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/Chris-Michael-Sports-Talk-Shop-Author-Image1.jpg\",\"url\":\"\\\/atvn\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/Chris-Michael-Sports-Talk-Shop-Author-Image1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"\\\/atvn\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/Chris-Michael-Sports-Talk-Shop-Author-Image1.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Chris Michael\"},\"description\":\"Chris handles play-by-play for RCN sports events, including baseball, football &amp; basketball games and produces\\\/hosts the station\u2019s 60-minute live call-in show. Among Chris\u2019s other responsibilities include reporting on local news &amp; sports stories, conducting \u201cTake 5\u201d interviews with community and political leaders, producing commercials, voiceovers and promos; and generating blog entries and videos on the internet. Click here to listen to the weekly Sports Talk podcast.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/author\\\/rcntvchris\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The SportsTalk Shop: Phillies Prospects Update - ATVN","description":"Phillies prospects","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The SportsTalk Shop: Phillies Prospects Update - ATVN","og_description":"Phillies prospects","og_url":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/sportstalk-shop-phillies-prospects-update\/","og_site_name":"ATVN","article_published_time":"2016-04-05T15:27:31+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-04-25T14:25:53+00:00","author":"Chris Michael","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Chris Michael","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/sportstalk-shop-phillies-prospects-update\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/sportstalk-shop-phillies-prospects-update\/"},"author":{"name":"Chris Michael","@id":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/#\/schema\/person\/6aba8df7f74bf50b72426776afd0067a"},"headline":"The SportsTalk Shop: Phillies Prospects Update","datePublished":"2016-04-05T15:27:31+00:00","dateModified":"2023-04-25T14:25:53+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/sportstalk-shop-phillies-prospects-update\/"},"wordCount":581,"commentCount":0,"keywords":["Aaron Altherr","Adam Morgan","Cody Asche","David Buchanan","IronPigs Baseball","Jake Thompson","maikel franco","Mark Appel","MLB","Nick Williams","Phillies prospects","Severino Gonzales","Zach Eflin"],"articleSection":["Featured","Sports","The SportsTalk Shop"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/sportstalk-shop-phillies-prospects-update\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/sportstalk-shop-phillies-prospects-update\/","url":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/sportstalk-shop-phillies-prospects-update\/","name":"The SportsTalk Shop: Phillies Prospects Update - ATVN","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-04-05T15:27:31+00:00","dateModified":"2023-04-25T14:25:53+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/#\/schema\/person\/6aba8df7f74bf50b72426776afd0067a"},"description":"Phillies prospects","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/sportstalk-shop-phillies-prospects-update\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/","name":"ATVN","description":"Local Programming &amp; Astound Digital Cable, Internet &amp; Phone Services","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/#\/schema\/person\/6aba8df7f74bf50b72426776afd0067a","name":"Chris Michael","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"\/atvn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Chris-Michael-Sports-Talk-Shop-Author-Image1.jpg","url":"\/atvn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Chris-Michael-Sports-Talk-Shop-Author-Image1.jpg","contentUrl":"\/atvn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Chris-Michael-Sports-Talk-Shop-Author-Image1.jpg","caption":"Chris Michael"},"description":"Chris handles play-by-play for RCN sports events, including baseball, football &amp; basketball games and produces\/hosts the station\u2019s 60-minute live call-in show. Among Chris\u2019s other responsibilities include reporting on local news &amp; sports stories, conducting \u201cTake 5\u201d interviews with community and political leaders, producing commercials, voiceovers and promos; and generating blog entries and videos on the internet. Click here to listen to the weekly Sports Talk podcast.","url":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/author\/rcntvchris\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78112"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78112\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78113,"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78112\/revisions\/78113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}