As some of you may have heard, the Philadelphia Phillies won the National League Championship last year. The shots of Harper’s opposite field home run in game 5 of the NLCS with the jubilant call of Scott Franzke’s “Bedlam At The Bank” will forever be remembered. But most of all we will remember the group of dudes who meshed so well together and brought baseball back to a city that had not fielded a playoff team in 11 years. A major part of this clubhouse camaraderie were the young group of players that made up the Phillies daycare. They even made shirts! Every one of these players contributed to the Phillies success in breaking their playoff drought in which they only broke because two young players by the name of Matt Vierling and Alec Bohm took All-Star closer Josh Hader deep in a random June game. These young players are poised to only get better this year so here are a few of those players.
Alec Bohm:
Alec Bohm has to be one of the more intriguing stories in recent Phillies history. He went from a mid-April game where he committed 3 errors in one inning and famously said “I Fu**ing hate this place.” To being a cult favorite in the city of Philadelphia. It was his showing of accountability that the fans truly appreciated. The fans in his next at-bat gave Alec Bohm a standing ovation and since then he has not looked back. His defense showed some improvements strictly from the eye test and he continued to improve with his bat being a steady presence in the lineup in the absence of Bryce Harper. There have been recent reports entering spring training that Alec Bohm has bulked up and gained some weight this offseason while pulling the ball in the air. This can simply mean only one thing; Alec Bohm is going to be good and the league should be terrified.
Bryson Stott:
Bryson Stott joined the opening day roster with some lofty expectations for 2022. It is kind of hard not to have those expectations when he hits around .500 in spring training while showing some incredible maturity at the plate. He got off to a rough start with inconsistent playing time and having to adjust to big league pitching. Eventually Stott would find himself in the everyday lineup due to injury issues when Jean Segura injured his hand on an attempted bunt in June. Soon after that he started to show flashes of his potential putting up better at-bats and playing solid defense at second base. When the trade deadline came the Phillies had so much trust in him that they released veteran shortstop Didi Gregorious to give him the keys to shortstop. He continued to show improvement at the plate and on the field throughout the second half and into the postseason when he battled out multiple at-bats of 9 or more pitches with one of those resulting in an RBI double off Spencer Strider which led to a Rhys Hoskins bat spike and a 6 run Phillies third inning for the Phillies. In 2023 we are looking for Bryson Stott to just grow as a player. His plate discipline is very good for someone who has been in the league for as short a time as he has. He has an All-Star shortstop in Trea Turner to mentor him for years to come. I see Bryson Stott only going up from here. Will he be an All-Star? Who knows, but the odds seem to point to him getting better.
Brandon Marsh:
A late season acquisition, Brandon Marsh did not have much time to adjust to his new clubhouse but you probably wouldn’t guess. He quickly made adjustments with Kevin Long vastly improving his hitting numbers while being a stable presence in centerfield. His speed allowed the Phillies to shift Nick Castellanos to his right more to put him in a spot where he’s running in and to his left on plays which is statistically his best defensive alignment, (Exhibit A: the 3 diving catches in the postseason.) Brandon Marsh was once a top 40 prospect in all of baseball. The potential is there and we’ve seen it in spurts. He’s got great range in the outfield and incredible speed on the base paths and he’s steadily improving at the plate. If there is anyone who can turn into an All Star on this team it is potentially Brandon Marsh, and he will be on the team for at least the next 6 years.
Darick Hall:
Yes, this is an interesting pick. Will Darick Hall be the first baseman of the future if Rhys Hoskins walks this upcoming offseason? Maybe, maybe not. But one thing is certain; Darick Hall hits homers, and he hits them far. He is one of those players who if he lowers his strikeout rate he could be a guy with light tower power, at least in a platoon role. In the absence of Bryce Harper, Darick Hall is going to play the role of home run hitter. Will he succeed? Well we certainly hope so.
Andrew Painter:
The ma throws gas. It is pretty self-explanatory. He is the top pitching prospect in all of baseball for a reason. He is potentially a five-pitch pitcher with command of all of his pitchers. He could be Yu Darvish with a Justin Verlander fastball. Now we probably shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves but it’s hard not to. Painter dominated through 3 levels of the minors posting incredible strikeout numbers and not a lot of walks. He is also only 19. He will be on an innings limit, but there is a chance that those innings will be glorious for Phillies fans to witness.
