Post-Spring Prospect Primer
Published on March 23, 2026 under Florida State League (FSL)
Clearwater Threshers News Release
Baseball season is officially here! With Spring Training drawing to a close, more than just the major league season is around the corner. Though the excitement of watching the Phillies chase their third World Series title is the big draw that brings many fans to pack BayCare Ballpark in February and March, it is also a precursor to the Clearwater Threshers season at the same park. While recent Threshers like Dante Nori, Aroon Escobar, and Kehden Hettiger joined the Phillies as Non-Roster Invitees for the Spring, most Phillies minor leaguers spend much of the Spring season at the Carpenter Complex next door. Rosters at every level of the minors are beginning to come together, and here are some noticeable trends from the Spring that could affect the upcoming minor league season.
Youth Movement on the Phillies Farm
In the past three years that the prospect-centric Spring Breakout games have taken place, each team's roster has been a decent measuring stick as to the strength of their farm system. From the opening game in 2024, it was clear that Philadelphia aimed to utilize this showcase as an opportunity to put some of their youngest stars on a bigger stage than many of them had ever seen. The 2024 Spring Breakout team featured three starters who had only played in rookie ball as a pro, and the next two teams featured more players with a similar level of experience. This past year's Spring Breakout roster pool featured 40 Phillies farmhands, 27 of whom had not played above High-A. Of the 20 pitchers, only three had thrown in Double-A or above, with one of the pitchers, Moisés Chace, out for the entire spring with an injury.
Phillies prospect Felix Reyes gets ready at first during the Spring Breakout game against the Blue Jays.Tori Heck
That was not the case for the Minnesota Twins, who trotted out a lineup primarily comprised of Double-A and Triple-A players that took down the Phillies in the first Spring Breakout game of the Spring by a 9-3 margin in Fort Myers. Meanwhile, the Phillies have utilized the Spring Breakout game to throw some of their younger prospects on the big stage. 2025's spring breakout squad was the youngest yet for the Phillies, with only Felix Reyes having experience in Triple-A ball before the exhibition series, and Reyes only spent the final week of 2025 in Lehigh Valley.
This certainly does not mean that the Phillies are behind in their development of prospects; in fact, Philadelphia has steadily risen from the bottom tier of MLB farm systems to the top half, according to MLB Pipeline's rankings. What it is showing is careful development with an emphasis on young talent. Eduardo Tait was called up to the Threshers before his eighteenth birthday in 2024, and he is certainly not the only teenager making a splash in the Phillies' minor leagues.
Phillies infield prospect Matthew Ferrara sprints to third base after a hit for the ThreshersNathan Ray
Clearwater has made the playoffs in each of the past three seasons, and their postseason leaders throughout have been inside their first month as a professional in each of those past three seasons. First, it was Aidan Miller crushing his first professional home run and finishing the 2023 playoffs leading the Florida State League in hits less than one month after he debuted with the Threshers. Last season it was the 18-year-old Matthew Ferrara who provided the lion's share of offense for Clearwater, with three members of the Phillies 2025 draft class combining for all three Threshers RBIs in two playoff games.
This might not seem out of the ordinary, as an emphasis on young talent has long been a strategy dominating when filling out minor league rosters. But it seems that the Phillies have fielded younger teams lately, especially at the lower levels of the minor leagues. Last season was the first time in Threshers' history that no non-rehabbing Thresher was born before 2000, and three of the five drafted position players (including the 20th rounder who did not sign) were selected out of high school by the Phillies in the 2025 Draft. The Phillies could potentially start three infielders in Clearwater who are 18 years old or younger, a rare occurrence even in Single-A. But the Phillies have done an excellent job of finding diamonds in the rough via the draft class or any type of free agency, as 20-year-olds Aroon Escobar and Dante Nori transformed from solid prospects to two of the best at their respective positions in the entire minor leagues. The Phillies emphasis on signing and drafting young talent is clearly starting to pay off handsomely.
Phillies first-rounder Gage WoodNathan Ray
The Next Phillies Ace and Elite Reliever Are Already Here
Pitching has been a central focus for the Phillies over the past few seasons. Aaron Nola and Orion Kerkering are two of the only current Phillies pitchers who came up through their minor league system, with the vast majority of Philadelphia's starting rotation and bullpen coming from trades or free agency in recent years.
The adage that a team can "never have too much pitching" still holds true today. After a hitter-heavy draft in 2024, 56 percent of the Phillies' 2025 draft selections were pitchers, with 13 of their 14 new arms having NCAA experience. Matthew Fisher, the lone high school pitcher drafted by the Phillies in 2025, made his professional debut in the first Spring Breakout game against Minnesota, earning a strikeout and retiring all three batters he faced since leaving Memorial High School in Indiana this past year. Fisher was projected to be a first or second-round pick, but he may not be the biggest steal of the draft.
Gage Wood is expected to be the next great Phillies pitcher, with experience both starting and coming out of the bullpen in college. But the next great reliever for the Phillies may have been chosen four rounds later. The Phillies took a pitcher in the fifth round last year for the first time since 2022, and that fifth-round arm factored into the Phillies' playoff bullpen barely a year after he was drafted. That was Orion Kerkering, who has remained a fixture in the Phillies' bullpen since, and the Phillies drafted a similar pitcher in the fifth round of 2025 in Gabe Craig.
Craig was almost unhittable in his three outings for the Threshers last season, joining the team after an All-American senior season at Baylor. One inning of watching him pitch and you will recognize a similar fastball-sweeper combination employed by both pitchers, a combination that took Kerkering from Single-A Clearwater to the majors within a year of his professional debut. If Craig has a similar beginning to his career to Kerkering's, he may have a similarly quick path through the Phillies' farm. An all-conference reliever and finalist for two national pitching awards, Craig did not allow a hit in three games for Clearwater last season, walking one batter in three shut-down innings during the final month of the Threshers' season. Like Kerkering, he never entered a game for the Threshers before the seventh inning, emphasizing his role as a high-leverage reliever who will likely be a closer in the minors this season. He entered rather early in the first Spring Breakout game of the Spring, but going back to his regular role as a late reliever could give him a chance for a rapid rise, even as high as the Phillies bullpen this season.
For a closer-turned starter like Wood, his role is not locked in for his first full season as a pro, but early usage makes it seem like he is ticketed to be the perfect future ace for the Phillies. In three professional outings, two for the Threshers and one in the Spring Breakout win for the Phillies over Toronto, Wood started all three times, showing off his elite stuff with multiple strikeouts in every inning he has thrown. And Wood is a gamer, a man who wanted to pitch in order to have the most control possible over the outcome of the game. His fastball stays in the upper 90s no matter how many pitches he throws, and he is an intense competitor. There may still be some parts of his game to refine in the minors, but Wood seems destined to be a starter that hitters fear when he works his way up.
Phillies outfield prospect Justin Crawford connects on a hit for the Clearwater Threshers at BayCare Ballpark.Nathan Ray
Best Outfield in the Minors?
Justin Crawford's major league debut will mark the first full-time outfielder that the Phillies have called up from their farm system since Johan Rojas made his professional debut in August of 2023. But Crawford is just the headline of a farm system that is absolutely loaded with depth in the outfield. It may not show up in the top prospect rankings, but the Phillies may have the strongest outfield depth across the entire minor leagues. Over the last few MLB drafts, infielders have been more prevalent among Phillies' draft picks than outfielders, with just one outfielder drafted and two signed as non-drafted free agents by the Phillies in 2025. Those three outfielders set multiple hitting records across the NJCAA (Jack Barker), had the most leadoff home runs in the NCAA in 2025 (Jonathan Hogart), and one of the only NCAA outfielders to win multiple conference defensive player of the year awards since joining the Division One ranks (Nathan Humphreys). The Phillies added the top-ranked outfielder in the 2026 International Free Agent class to that group, with the 17-year-old Francisco Renteria immediately jumping into Philadelphia's top five. Four of their top-10 prospects are outfielders, and that doesn't begin to scratch the surface of the Phillies' young talent in the outfield.
With Crawford beginning in the majors and Renteria starting in rookie ball, Dante Nori and Gabriel Rincones Jr. round out the Phillies' top 10 outfield prospects, with both knocking on the door of the major leagues. Rincones Jr. was hurt for most of the spring despite being invited to big league camp for the second-straight season, and Dante Nori transformed from a prospect with one week of high minors experience to one of the elite young outfielders in the minors after hitting .400 and earning a spot on the All-Tournament Team in the World Baseball Classic. He had the least professional experience of any outfielder on the Italian roster and still started every single game for the most successful Italy team in the history of the WBC. As impressive as their minor league runs have been, some equally impressive outfield prospects have flown under the radar at the start of their professional careers.
Injuries take no prisoners in baseball, and they have been the main setback for two of the brightest young stars in the Phillies' system. Drafted one year apart, outfielders Griffin Burkholder and TJayy Walton have been hampered by injuries since they signed their contract with the Phillies, with Burkholder unfortunately suffering his first injury in his second professional at-bat in 2024. A common denominator for both of these young players is that 2025 is the first year that they will enter the season fully healthy. Walton's action has been limited since getting injured early in his first full season back in 2024, and Burkholder has only recently ramped up to full action in drills and exhibitions this spring. Athletically, both of these players are potential five-tool outfielders with elite power, especially since they are both 21 and under. Flashes of their elite potential have been shown in limited action with the Threshers and FCL, but Burkholder and Walton are the archetype for what the Phillies have been finding in their outfield over the past few seasons: young, athletic outfielders that can play any role in the outfield that their team needs.
From Raylin Heredia to Cade Fergus and many more in between, we have seen multiple Phillies prospects shine everywhere in the outfield all over the Phillies' minors. Even infielders like Bryson Ware, Raider Tello, and Devin Saltiban have taken outfield reps with tremendous success after coming up in the infield with Philadelphia. But a common thread between all of these players is strong arms and consistent bats, making the do-it-all outfielder a coveted position for the Phillies. Saltiban was the team and Championship Series MVP for the Adelaide Giants in their title-winning 2025-26 season, a run that could not have happened without the addition of Heredia midseason. The players who have changed positions have adapted without a hitch, and the outfielders who have risen through the system lately appear positionless and versatile as they carve out their place for the Phillies. The current outfield in Philadelphia may be as open of a competition as Phillies fans have ever seen, with younger players and rookies like Crawford to be straight in the mix with newly added veterans like Adolis Garcia. But with a number of talented minor league outfielders ready for their shot at the show, there could be a lot of new faces in both the Phillies outfield and players to watch among the elites of the minor leagues.
Florida State League Stories from March 23, 2026
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