CINCINNATI -- By now, Phillies fans are more than familiar with the organization’s top few prospects -- but a couple of new names jumped into the Top 5 in MLB Pipeline’s midseason re-rank, released on Monday.
The very top of the list remained unchanged, with Andrew Painter, Aidan Miller and Justin Crawford leading the way. But just behind that highly touted trio is Gage Wood, the electric right-hander whom the Phillies selected out of the University of Arkansas in the first round of the 2025 Draft. Infielder Aroon Escobar rounds out the Top 5 after jumping up eight spots from his No. 13 preseason ranking.
With the Phillies restocking their farm system with plenty of arms in the Draft and shipping off some prospects at the Trade Deadline, let’s take a closer look at where things stand now:
Here are the Phillies’ top prospects:
1. Andrew Painter, RHP
2. Aidan Miller, SS
3. Justin Crawford, OF
4. Gage Wood, RHP
5. Aroon Escobar, 2B
Complete Top 30 list »
Biggest jump/fall
Here are the players whose ranks changed the most from the preseason list:
Jump: Keaton Anthony, 1B (Preseason: N/A | Midseason: 15)
The 24-year-old Anthony just keeps on hitting. After slashing .322/.446/.470 last year while playing mostly at Single-A Clearwater and High-A Jersey Shore, Anthony began this season with Double-A Reading -- and he picked up right where he left off.
Anthony hit .330 with a .902 OPS over 49 games before getting bumped up to Triple-A Lehigh Valley, where -- you guessed it -- he's still raking. He entered Monday slashing .313/.374/.433 over 33 games with the IronPigs.
Fall: Michael Mercado, RHP (Preseason: 22 | Midseason: 30); Mavis Graves, LHP (Preseason: 17 | Midseason: 25)
Mercado has had a few brief stints in the big leagues over the past two seasons, struggling to an 11.81 ERA in 16 innings over eight appearances (two starts). A second-round pick by the Rays in the 2017 Draft, the 26-year-old righty has a 5.35 ERA in 29 appearances with Triple-A Lehigh Valley this season -- more than double his 2.07 ERA over 32 outings with the IronPigs last season.
As for Graves, the 21-year-old left-hander was a sixth-round pick by the Phillies in 2022. He showed some serious flashes last year, posting a 3.64 ERA and racking up a ridiculous 117 strikeouts over 84 innings -- an average of 12.5 per nine innings. The most encouraging sign, though, was that he cut his walk rate nearly in half from 7.7 walks per nine in 2023 to 3.9 in '24. Those command woes have returned this season, with Graves averaging 5.3 walks per nine, though he still has 88 strikeouts in 70 innings.
New to the list
Here are the players added to the Top 30 from outside the organization:
No. 4: Gage Wood, RHP (26th overall pick in 2025 Draft)
No. 7: Cade Obermueller, LHP (Second-round pick in 2025 Draft)
No. 10: Matthew Fisher, RHP (Seventh-round pick in 2025 Draft)
No. 18: Sean Youngerman, RHP (Fourth-round pick in 2025 Draft)
No. 24: Eiberson Castellano, RHP (Returned from Twins after being taken in Rule 5 Draft)
No. 29: Cody Bowker, RHP (Third-round pick in 2025 Draft)
Best tools
Players are graded on a 20-80 scouting scale for future tools – 20-30 is well below average, 40 is below average, 50 is average, 60 is above average and 70-80 is well above average. Players in parentheses have the same grade.
Hit: 55 -- Justin Crawford (Keaton Anthony, Dante Nori)
Power: 60 -- Aidan Miller
Run: 75 -- Justin Crawford
Arm: 60 -- Bryan Rincon (Aidan Miller, John Spikerman, Dylan Campbell)
Defense: 60 -- Dante Nori (Bryan Rincon, John Spikerman, Dylan Campbell)
Fastball: 70 -- Andrew Painter (Gage Wood, Alex McFarlane)
Curveball: 55 -- Gage Wood (Matthew Fisher, Eiberson Castellano)
Slider: 65 -- Cade Obermueller
Changeup: 60 -- Jean Cabrera
Control: 65 -- Andrew Painter