Skip to main content

Seven Phils prospects headed to prestigious Arizona Fall League

Mickey Moniak, image- Jay Floyd
Arizona Fall League rosters were announced this week and the Scottsdale roster is slated to feature some of the Phillies' most exciting prospects.

Set to represent the Phils in the prestigious off-season league that is operated by Major League Baseball are outfielder Mickey Moniak, right-handed pitchers Spencer Howard and Connor Seabold, corner infielder Alec Bohm, shortstop Nick Maton along with left-handed hurler JoJo Romero.

A previously unannounced representative from the Phillies organization that is set to see action with the Scorpions is lefty reliever Zach Warren.

Howard, who was ranked by this outlet as the Phils' top prospect headed into this season, has reached Double A Reading and will likely start game one of the Eastern League divisional playoffs this coming Wednesday.  He missed time earlier this season with a shoulder strain.  In 13 combined regular season starts with Class A Advanced Clearwater and Reading, the 23-year-old has tallied a 3-1 record with a 1.78 ERA and an 11.8 K/9 mark.

Howard, the Phils' 2nd round pick in 2017 is ready for the opportunity to shine even brighter and is pleased to get the chance to do so beside six teammates from his own organization.

"It kind of feels like college summer ball," said Howard after the Fightin Phils clinched the Eastern League's Eastern Division second half title on Friday.  "It does feel more like home when you know you've got a group of guys that you're going with.  I'm excited."

Moniak, who was the top overall selection in the 2016 draft, has made an impact for Reading as well.  The 21-year-old lefty batter sports a .252/.302/.440 slash line in 117 games this season.  Moniak is tops in the league in triples with 13 and is also among the league leaders in RBI, runs as well as hits.

The talented center fielder welcomes the chance to play in a league where many of the elite names in the game sharpened their skills on their paths to the top level of the sport.

"It's a huge honor and just getting selected to be a part of the guys that the Phillies send is something that's really special for me," Moniak stated.  "And having guys like Bryce Harper, Mike Trout, (Ronald) Acuna, (Pete) Alonso and seeing guys go through that league and make a big impact at the big league level a very short period of time after they go through that whole experience of playing in Arizona is definitely something that's exciting and I'm just looking to go out there and continuing my development into becoming the best baseball player that I can be and just getting ready to help out the Phillies as soon as possible."

Seabold, the Phillies' 3rd round pick from 2017, opened the season on the disabled list, missing time with an apparent oblique issue.  In eight combined appearances with Clearwater and Reading, the 23-year-old sports a 3-1 record with a 1.93 ERA and an 8.8 K/9 mark.

Bohm opened the season with Class A Lakewood, was promoted to Clearwater before the end of April and joined Reading's roster in June. In 122 combined games the Phils' top draft pick from 2018 has posted a .306 average with 20 home runs and 77 RBI.

Maton, the Phils' 7th round draft choice in 2017, has split his time this year with Clearwater and Reading also.  In 112 games, the 22-year-old is batting .267 with seven homers, 50 RBI and 12 stolen bases.  

Romero has had an up and down season, figuratively and literally, opening his 2019 campaign with Triple-A Lehigh Valley and moving down to Reading after some struggles, then earning a promotion back to Lehigh Valley once he corrected some concerns.  The 22-year-old has a 7-9 record with a 5.82 ERA and a 7.4 K/9 mark in 24 total starts.

Warren, who was a 14th rounder in 2017, has spent the entire campaign with Clearwater this year.  The Vineland, NJ native has tallied a 1-3 record with seven saves, a 3.30 ERA and a .199 batting average against. 

Phillies prospects will be joined by players from the Mets, Braves, Blue Jays and Giants to make up the Scorpions roster.  The AFL opens play on September 18th.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Justin De Fratus Interview Excerpts- May, 2011

Armed with a 2-0 record, 3 saves and a 2.95 ERA in 15 games this season for the Double A Reading Phillies, Justin De Fratus continues to make strides toward his goal of reaching the Major Leagues. Ranked as a top 10 prospect within the Phillies system last off-season, the 23-year-old De Fratus was in camp with the Phillies during big league spring training. In 3 games with the Phils during the Grapefruit League season, De Fratus allowed 4 earned runs in 4 innings and took a loss. He did strike out an impressive 5 batters in those 4 frames, however. Drafted in the 11th round of the 2007 amateur draft, De Fratus stood out as a force in relief last year for both the High A Clearwater Threshers and the R-Phils. In 49 combined games at the two levels, De Fratus posted a 3-0 record with 21 saves and a 1.94 ERA. De Fratus continued his excellent 2011 by pitching for Team USA in the Pan-American qualifiers held in Puerto Rico, helping the Americans finish with a 9-1 record. He also posted out...

Bubby Rossman's long awaited MLB debut

Eight years after he initially signed a professional contract with the Dodgers and a five-year stretch playing away from affiliated ball, Bubby Rossman became a major leaguer on Wednesday. Added as a substitute for pitcher Kyle Gibson, who is restricted from travel to Canada for the Phillies' series in Toronto, due to his medical inability to be vaccinated from COVID-19, Rossman took the mound for the first time in the majors. Rossman, who was a 22nd round draft selection in 2014 had pitched in 200 professional games before his one-inning outing in the Phillies' 8-2 loss to the Blue Jays. In 27 appearances with Double-A Reading this year, the 30-year-old right-hander has performed well, tallying a 2-2 record with a save, a 3.32 ERA and a .200 batting average against.   The embedded video below features a media session with Rossman from prior to opening day this year, in which the California native discusses his journey through independent baseball and back to affiliated ball w...

Lakewood falls as Lexington takes Sally League title

Spencer Howard, image- Jay Floyd LAKEWOOD, NJ- Only one team can with the last game and unfortunately it wasn't the home club at FirstEnergy Park on Friday night as the Lexington Legends (Royals affiliate) nabbed a 2-1 victory and, in the process, their second Class A South Altantic League championship. With the bases loaded in the bottom of the 9th, the Lakewood BlueClaws failed to plate a run and fell in the best-of-five series, three games to one. Lakewood's lone run came in the 6th inning on a Jhailyn Ortiz RBI single.  Manager Marty Malloy waved another runner home that was gunned down at the plate. Lexington took the lead back in the top of the 9th on a sacrifice fly by shortstop Cristian Perez, who doubled in the Legend's first run in the 5th.  The sac fly brought home left fielder Brewer Hicklen, who beat a close play at the plate. "We had two plays at the plate, one was our guy being out and the other was their guy being safe and that was the dif...