Daily News | Three Phillies prospects to keep an eye on as the minor league season kicks off
are likely to place their second first baseman — and eighth player overall, not counting top pitching prospect Andrew Painter — on the injured list.The Dodgers opened the season with nine players on the injured list. So did the Yankees, who were missing 60% of their starting rotation. The Mets and Braves are down eight and six pitchers, respectively, including their aces and closers .The Phillies raised the stakes to a new level. Doing it again is a historically tough challenge.
“He’s worked really hard to get his bat path in a better spot to drive balls more consistently,” Phillies minor league director Preston Mattingly said this week. “It’s been publicized about him hitting a lot of ground balls. Some of the adjustments we’re trying to make allow him to get the ball on a line a lot more and hit the ball in the gaps and be the exciting player we think he can be.
“It is an area that we feel strongly that we have some depth there,” Mattingly said. “But we’ve got to continue to refine the bats. Defense is one thing, and it buys you a lot of [development] time. But as everybody knows, to play in the major leagues you’ve got to be able to hit, too.
Indeed, De La Cruz’s power makes him a potential difference-maker. And with a well-stocked outfield at Reading — Rojas, 2021 second-round pick Ethan Wilson, and lefty slugger Baron Radcliff will play most of the time — De La Cruz will see time at first base, according to Mattingly.
Skirrow led Phillies minor leaguers last season in starts and innings pitched but also posted a 4.36 ERA between Reading and Lehigh Valley. Team Canada recruited him for the WBC, an experience that he described as “surreal,” and he held Colombia to two hits in five scoreless innings of a 5-0 victory on March 14.
“Whenever you get thrown onto the big stage, you’re playing with major league players and against major league players, I think it was really a boost to his confidence that he belongs on that level,” Mattingly said. “We kind of thought this. Letting him go out and do it and perform the way he did, it was great for the kid.”
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