The Phillies season and their minor league affiliates' season are in full swing. With the season already a few months in, movement down in the Minor Leagues is starting to pick up. The Phillies are currently the only team in MLB that has not had a player make their MLB debut this season. The only time they have called down to the minors to bring up someone to the MLB roster is in the case of an injury, but every player called up as previous big-league experience.
Down in the farm there has been plenty of movement.
Outfielder Cade Fergus made the jump from High-A Jersey Shore all the way to AAA Lehigh Valley last week. While with Jersey Shore Fergus was hitting .237/.383/.419. After one game with Lehigh Valley, Fergus was sent down to AA.
The Phillies made a pair of moves involving catchers this past week. Clearwater's Luis Caicuto was promoted to High-A, while Andrick Nava was promoted to AA. Nava was hitting .314 with 21 RBI's. Reading now will feature both Nava as well as Phillies prospect Caleb Ricketts behind the plate. Caicuto's numbers were not as stellar, but his promotion fills the void at catcher with Jersey Shore.
One of Jersey Shore's top hitters Otto Kemp is headed to Reading after his recent promotion. The team's hitting leader in 2024 is headed to Reading.
With Kemp heading to Reading, the Phillies announced that 2024 1st round pick and 3rd rated prospect Aidan Miller is being promoted to High-A. This move should come to no surprise as Miller has been tearing it up down in the minor leagues. Miller's quick rise through the minors is a great sign into the future of Phillies baseball.
Phillies 2024 6th round pick George Klassen has been arguably the best minor league player in the Phillies farm system this year. The 22-year-old pitcher has been untouchable for Clearwater in 2024. He currently has an ERA under 1 and has 50+ strikeouts in 58 innings pitched.
Miller and Klassen have both been stars down in low-A in 2024. Many experts will say that the jump from low-a to high-a can be one of the most challenging jumps a player will make in their career (excluding AAA to the MLB.) Even though both players are still a few years away from making the Phillies roster, there is still a good chance that both players could be promoted to AA at some point this season.
The Jersey Shore BlueClaws now features 8 of the Phillies top 30 prospects. Miller and Klassen are joined by Justin Crawford (4th), Bryan Rincon (7th), William Bergolla (11th), Wen Hui Pan (13th), Emaarion Boyd (16th), Hendry Mendez (22nd), and Samuel Aldegheri (23rd).
As the season continues, there will be plenty of more movement. There is a good chance that players listed above will be on the move by September or even earlier. Even if a guy has not been promoted yet, there are still plenty of potential prospects that have had stellar seasons so far.
-Adam Mack