MLB Pipeline updated its Top 30 rankings for each team post-trade deadline, and the Phillies have some notable changes. They include two of their draft picks from July’s draft inside the top 10 and a shortstop who finds himself in the top five thanks to a very strong season.
Let’s take a look at the newest rankings for the farm system.
There was no change at the very top from the pre-trade deadline rankings, with Gage Wood, Aidan Miller and Francisco Renteria still holding the top three spots on the list.
Wood has been solid all season long. He earned an aggressive jump to Double-A earlier in the year, skipping High-A Jersey Shore altogether. Wood has a fastball that is arguably major league-ready, currently sitting at 96 mph, touching 99 on occasion. He pairs that with a solid curveball that can be a plus pitch when it’s on while continuing to work on his slider and newly developed splitter.
Wood also finds himself No. 33 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 list.
In 12 starts with Double-A Reading, he has a 4.84 ERA with 66 strikeouts to just 12 walks in 44 ⅔ innings.
Miller has lost this season due to recurring back issues. He will look to bounce back next year and prove he is worthy of the high rankings he has consistently received since being drafted.
Renteria could very well be the most exciting prospect in the system. At just 17, he is also a Top 100 prospect in baseball, ranked No. 81, and he has been mashing the baseball this season down in the DSL.
The outfielder has put up video game-like numbers so far in his first season as a pro, slashing .374/.455/.658 with a 1.113 OPS in 50 games. He has nine doubles, nine triples and nine home runs with 50 RBIs, 28 walks, 35 strikeouts and 21 stolen bases.
His advanced metrics are just as impressive. He has a 12.9 BB% to go with a 15.7 K%, an impressive .274 ISO and a 163 wRC+. He should start next season in Low-A Clearwater and could rise fast if he continues to swing the bat the way he has.
Tyler Spangler, the team’s first-round pick in this year’s draft, slots in at No. 4 in the club's system.
Similar to Miller, the No. 36 overall pick has dealt with some back issues that tanked his stock after he was forced to miss his entire senior season of high school. As a junior, he lit up the travel circuit competing in MLB’s High School All-America Game and the Area Code Games.
He comes in with highly graded tools (55 hit, 55 power, 50 run, 55 arm, 55 field, overall 50) and was slated to head to Stanford to play college ball before the Phillies offered him $3.25 million to sway him to turn pro. He should start next season in Low-A Clearwater alongside Renteria.
Shortstop Bryan Rincon has skyrocketed up the system’s rankings. Starting at No. 29 back in March, he now sits as the club’s fifth-ranked prospect post-trade deadline. Viewed as MLB-ready with the glove, the bat finally caught up to his leather this season, which has helped him catapult up the rankings.
The 14th-round pick back in 2022 is having a career year at the plate while playing the entire season in Double-A Reading. In 94 games, he’s slashing .251/.395/.478 with an .873 OPS, all surpassing his previous watermarks by a wide margin.
More notably, he tapped into his power this season, bashing 38 total extra-base hits with 18 doubles, two triples and a career-high 18 home runs. Prior to this season, the 22-year-old belted just 22 long balls combined in his first four seasons as a pro.
There are also some newcomers that find themselves either inside the top 10 or on the Top 30 list in general, including five of this year’s draft picks.
Second-rounder Caden Bogenpohl finds himself at No. 8. The 6-foot-6, 245-pound outfielder has showcased his power in his early stint with Clearwater, hitting to the tune of .357 with a .419 on-base percentage and .536 slugging percentage, good for a .955 OPS in just eight games as a pro so far. He also has swatted a pair of doubles and a home run.
A product of Missouri State who has produced the likes of Drake Baldwin, Ryan Howard and Luke Voit, Bogenpohl’s calling card is his power. He will forever be linked to the former Phillie slugging great, breaking Howard’s school freshman home run record with 20.
There is a swing-and-miss in zone in his profile, but overall, he typically showcases a solid approach at the plate by not chasing non-competitive pitches.
Juan Parra is someone to keep an eye on as well. He has been overshadowed by Renteria in the DSL, but he has held his own. Also 17, the shortstop was another international signing in this year's class for the Phillies and was a top 50 international prospect.
A switch-hitter, Parra is slashing .298/.455/.449 with a .904 OPS in 51 games this season. He has 11 doubles, two triples, four homers and 27 RBIs. Perhaps more impressive, he has 45 walks to 35 strikeouts, showing a keen eye at the plate. There’s a chance he could slide over to second base, but he is another young hitter that should be monitored as he continues to progress.
Ruger Riojas is a 23-year-old righty who the Phillies selected in the third round this year out of Texas. Due to illness, Riojas lost some of his draft stock, but that didn’t deter the Phillies, who signed him for slightly underslot value. With a fastball that could push Wood’s in terms of best in the system, the former Longhorn also has a splitter that can be just as nasty an offering while mixing a slider, cutter and curveball.
It remains to be seen if he will continue to throw that expansive arsenal or if the Phillies want him to hone in on perhaps a four-pitch mix, but he is still an intriguing arm.
Lastly, Nathan Humphreys is a good story to follow. Signed as an undrafted free agent last summer, Humphreys left Dallas Baptist University as its most prolific hitter, littering their record book where he ranks second in career stolen bases (58), third in walks (122), sixth in home runs (39), eighth in RBIs (163), ninth in doubles (49) and tenth in hits (226).
He started the season in Low-A Clearwater as one of the older players in the league, but handled it well, earning a callup to High-A Jersey Shore, where he is acclimating to the new level of pitching. With the Threshers, he slashed a respectable .264/.388/.472 with an .860 OPS in 70 games with 12 homers and 41 RBIs.
To check out the full Top 30 list, click here.
MORE: The Phillies curse that makes no sense