Phillies 2023 Arizona Fall League/International Winter Leagues

[Squire]

Phillies Arizona Fall League Participants

OF Gabriel Rincones
INF/OF Matt Kroon
INF Oliver Dunn
RHP Christian McGowan
RHP Andrew Baker
RHP Dominic Pipkin
RHP Mitch Neunborn
LHP Jordi Martinez

[Mod's note: This clearly warrants its own thread! - J]

[Matt_Winkelman]

Also C Caleb Ricketts

[Austinfan]

OF Gabriel Rincones
INF/OF Matt Kroon
INF Oliver Dunn
RHP Christian McGowan
RHP Andrew Baker
RHP Dominic Pipkin
RHP Mitch Neunborn
LHP Jordi Martinez

Interesting group, since these are the players the organization sees as a year or so from the majors.

Kroon had a break out year after a career interrupted by injuries and COVID. Despite being 27, only 1260 minor league PA and 521 college PA - most college players have 750 college PA and 2000 milb PA before they hit the majors.

Dunn is similar, he'll be 26 next year with 1053 milb PA and 713 college PA.

Neunborn is an Aussie pitcher they brought over at 25, who dominated at Jersey Shore.

So these three are probably candidates for rapid promotions or the waiver wire at their age.

Pipkin has come out of nowhere after struggling as a starter, injured last year and came back as a RP in Reading in the second half of this season. Wonder if he had a big velo jump as a RP?

Baker I don't get, great stuff, but no control whatsoever, I'd thnk he's well behind a bunch of other RPs,

[Matt_Winkelman]

Pipkin has been upper 90s, up to 100 out of the bullpen.

They still really like Baker. They apparently have worked on a splitter. He is a very classic AFL add, just try and get him the reps and work on getting the delivery all synced up again. He is also only 23 and won't be Rule 5 eligible until after next year, so they have plenty of time to try and get him right.

[andyb]

McGowan is the interesting one to me. Clearly he needs the innings but he has also been showing pretty good mid-90s stuff and maybe there is a little more there as he works his way back. If there is a guy on this list with upside surprise it is likely him.

On offense I guess Rincones is the guy to watch as he gets into a better offensive environment. I am just not buying it yet but interested to see more.

[zambonir]

Baker seems like the kind of guy they would sign as a minor league FA or trade for if he was older/Rule 5 eligible. So why not try and work on your own player?

[andyb]

Steve Potter on the contingent here:

9/22/23 : Arizona Fall League

BTW we should probably just make this the catch-all 2023-24 Winter Ball thread. Not enough traffic historically to have multiple threads.

[julio]

BTW we should probably just make this the catch-all 2023-24 Winter Ball thread. Not enough traffic historically to have multiple threads.

Well, I'm game... there is about a one-month overlap with the Dominican Winter League.

[andyb]

And Australia and Mexico and Puerto Rico and even Venezuela. Maybe Eduardo Tait gives the Panamanian league a shot!

[andyb]

Not a great place for this, so here is as good as any. Steve Potter's summary of 2023 in the system has some notes at the end on instructionals (completed in the Dominican) and performance camps (upcoming in October).

9/24/23 : That’s a Wrap - The 2023 Phillies Minor League Season

[andyb]

Phillies catching prospect Rickardo Perez was removed from the suspended list. The reason for his suspension was never announced, but he missed the entire 2023 season and I have no idea what it means for his future.

— Matt Winkelman ( @Matt_Winkelman ) September 26, 2023

Also both Micah Ottenbreit and Erubiel Armenta throwing down in Clearwater as part of their rehabs. Ottenbreit only had 2 appearances this season coming back from TJ surgery before he was shut down. Not sure Armenta's injury but he was out all year.

9/26/23 : News and Notes

[andyb]

Arizona started yesterday with Rincones going 2-4. Also, Taylor Lehman pitching for a pretty good Dominican team. More here:

10/3/23 : Fall Phillies Minor League Baseball Roundup

[andyb]

Nice start by Christian McGowan. I wonder if he is closing in on being our 4th best starting pitching prospect behind Painter, Abel, and McGarry. Probably between him and McFarlane.

10/6/23 : Fall Phillies Minor League Roundup

[bkox]

#Phillies prospect Gabriel Rincones Jr. launches his first #AFL23 HR 455 feet pic.twitter.com/4hO9vlHj6W

— MLB's Arizona Fall League ( @MLBazFallLeague ) October 11, 2023

[andyb]

And another one for Rincones:

No. 9 @Phillies prospect Gabriel Rincones Jr. had 2 hits including a long home run in the Arizona Fall League! pic.twitter.com/B7pLyHjKA0

— Phillies Player Development ( @PhilsPlayerDev ) October 14, 2023

Edit - maybe the same HR as the AFL stats only have Rincones with 1. Oliver Dunn tearing things up too (10-23, HR, 8 SB, 1258 OPS).

Keith Law article has some Phillies notes. He likes Oliver Dunn as a legit major league utility candidate. Also has a mixed review of McGowan (likes the stuff but thinks he is a reliever) and Baker (no walks in the 2 outings Law went to.

Law: Scouting the top prospects I saw at the Arizona Fall League

[Squire]

Rincones was 2-4 with a double and HR last night (October 17th) as well. Rincones OPS is .991 now and Dunn is north of 1.200

[zambonir]

So much fun to not care much about this thread!

[Austinfan]

Law gave Dunn a nice writeup, I think Dunn and Kroon will compete for a bench spot in ST, along with Muzzioti.
Dunn has more upside than Castro, and Kroon may turn out to be a better hitter, and more versatile than Pache.
Muzzioti has to beat out Caves.

[andyb]

Dunn and Kroon almost certainly don't have more upside than Castro (776 OPS in AAA at age 23). They might make decent utility players, but they are 26 or 27 and compiling stats in an offensive park at Reading. They are probably not as good as Vierling for instance.

It is nice to have cheap utility players, but the reason we got Castro is the possibility that he improves to being an 800 OPS major leaguer by the time he is 26 or 27. Probably won't happen, but we got him for his upside and his present value as a platoon bat.

We'll also probably go out and get a better LH outfield bat than Cave in the offseason. Muzziotti had a poor back half of the season and he might be in as much danger of getting dropped from the 40 at some point as anybody. Whether we get an OF probably depends on where Harper plays which depends partly on their Hoskins decision.

[zambonir]

They used to say the most popular athlete in Philadelphia was the back-up quarterback and the most popular athlete on this board is always some future AAAA player.

Muzziotti still has one option right? That's probably why he never got considered for a call-up. More than one of these guys (Muzziotti, Pache, Wilson, Cave) is going to get traded or DFA'ed. Will Kroon even go on the 40?