Philadelphia Phillies Receive Favorable New Farm System Ranking

The Philadelphia Phillies are perceived to have partially gutted their farm system to make a run at a World Series this year.

Yet, when ESPN re-ranked each farm system based on the surplus value of its prospects, the Phillies’ system ranking actually went up.

So what happened? Philadelphia went from No. 23 in the preseason to No. 18 after the recent re-evaluation, which included what happened in the MLB Draft and at the trade deadline.

That move is based on the Phillies’ projected surplus value as a system going up from $158 million in the preseason to $187 million in the new rankings.

So what is surplus value? FanGraphs calculated it based on several factors.

First, the site used historical data to determine what each prospect would do in the Majors if called up. Then, the system used that projection to determine what each player would make during their six controllable years as MLB players. Then, the site added up that value to reach the surplus value for each organization.

Philadelphia moved a pair of its Top 30 prospects in one of its trade deadline deals, as the Phillies shipped pitchers George Klassen and Samuel Aldegheri to the Los Angeles Angels. Both were fast risers in the organization after the first half, according to Baseball America.

The Phillies acquired reliever Carlos Estevez in that deal.

Philadelphia only had one significant prospect graduation in the first half, too, as reliever Orion Kerkering — who made his MLB debut last September — accrued enough service time to graduate from the rankings.

Meanwhile, the Phillies acquired talent that boosted their overall value. For instance, the Gregory Soto trade to Baltimore brought the Phillies two of the Orioles’ Top 30 prospects ­— pitchers Seth Johnson and Moises Chace.

Current Top 100 prospects like outfielder Justin Crawford, shortstop Aidan Miller and shortstop Starlyn Caba saw their value in the organization increase. Crawford and Miller both played in the MLB Futures Game and Crawford earned a promotion to Double-A Reading.

ESPN also pointed to the Phillies’ draft haul as having a positive impact. Most notable was outfielder Griffin Burkholder, Philadelphia’s second-round pick. In Baseball America’s new Top 30 prospects list, Burkholder was the highest ranked draftee, ahead of first-round pick, outfielder Dante Nori.

Two other Phillies draft picks ended up in the Top 30 — outfielder John Spikerman and shortstop Carson DeMartini. The pair were third- and fourth-round picks, respectively.