These Phillies Prospects Get Awards and Here’s Why They Are Important

For the second straight year, the Philadelphia Phillies Minor League Prospects were rated a top 20 system in Major League Baseball. The organization has four players on the list of the Top 100 Prospects in Baseball:

-Right-Handed Pitcher Andrew Painter: 8th Overall
-Shortstop Aidan Miller: 27th Overall
-Outfielder Justin Crawford: 63rd Overall
-Catcher Eduardo Tait: 92nd Overall

One of the priorities placed on Dave Dombrowski when he was named President of Baseball Operations in December 2020 was to help rebuild the Phillies' Minor League system.

The organization had numerous top prospects who never fulfilled their potential, and Dombrowski has gone out of his way to protect the top talent in the Phillies' farm system.

So we should not see it as any coincidence that the three players who were named Phillies Minor League Players of the Month are not the organization's Top Five Prospects. This is a good sign that the Phillies' Minor League System is developing good depth.

The Phillies' Top Minor League Players For The Month of April

The most important name on the list of the Phillies Minor League Players of the Month is Mick Abel. The Right-Handed Pitcher was the 15th overall pick in the 2020 MLB Draft and was a former Top Ten Pitching Prospect in Baseball.

But Abel's struggles with command in the last couple of years have led to him dropping out of the Top 100 MLB Prospect Rankings. Heading into the 2025 Minor League Season, Abel was coming off a disappointing 2024 season with a 6.46 ERA in 24 starts.

Now 23 years old, Mick Abel has looked like the top tier prospect the first seven starts at Triple-A Lehigh Valley in 2025. Abel has 32 strikeouts in his first five starts; Overall, his 42 strikeouts this season is third most among all Pitchers at Triple-A.

The biggest intriguing name on the Phillies Players of the Month for April is Otto Kemp. The undrafted free agent signing of the Phillies has risen through the Minor League System to be considered a legitimate option to be called up to the big league club in 2025.

In his first 25 games at Triple-A this season, Kemp has eight Home Runs and 24 RBI in April. After 32 games, Kemp leads all hitters at Triple-A with 35 RBI and .703 Slugging Percentage. Kemp is a right-handed hitter, so he has a unique value to the Phillies with a Major League Roster heavy with Left-Handed Hitters.

The third player named to the Minor League Players of the Month for April is Aroon Escobar. The 20-year-old from Venezuala has played games at Third Base, Shortstop, and Second Base in his four years in the Phillies Minor League System.

In 2025, Escobar is playing at Single-A Clearwater, where he has a .360 Batting Average in 19 games played in April. Overall, Aroon Escobar's batting average is fourth best at the Single-A level (.333 through 22 games), and his 21 Runs Scored are tied for the most in the Florida State League.

Moving forward, those three players will be interesting names with watch. If those three keep producing, the Phillies will have a difficult decision to make: are these guys part of the organization's future or could they be trade assets to improve the 2025 Phillies ahead of the MLB Trade Deadline?