Key takeaways from the Phillies Spring Breakout game

Some of the Phillies’ top prospects shined in Friday’s Spring Breakout game against the Pirates.

In the dark days of the post-2011 Phillies rebuild, the Spring Breakout game would have dominated the conversation around this team.

After all, when you’re a fan of the 2016 Phillies and you know you’re going to struggle to win 70 games that season, you’re thinking about the future. The present is just something you have to get through. It wasn’t all that long ago all we could do was #TrustTheProspects and hope they would emerge as big league stars.

Of course, very few prospects ever become impactful big leaguers. Sure, you get the occasional Rhys Hoskins and Aaron Nola, Alec Bohm and Bryson Stott, but there are far more Sixto Sanchezes, Scott Kingerys, Spencer Howards and Nick Williamses lying in the prospect graveyard.

On Friday, Phils fans got a taste of what the future may bring, in some cases sooner rather than later, in the Spring Breakout game, won by the Phils’ minor leaguers, 5-3. The Phils’ aging core will need to be supplemented with young talent, and it’s likely some of these players will be needed to keep the playoff window propped open.

Here’s who impressed.

Moises Chace

Chace got the start for the Phillies and, as the team’s top pitching prospect not named Andrew Painter, he looked pretty good.

The fastball isn’t quite where it was a year ago, in the low-90s on Friday as opposed to the mid-90s it sat after the Phils acquired him from Baltimore in the Gregory Soto trade. Chace came into camp not in the best shape, so he’s likely rounding into form. Jean Cabrera, next in line behind Chace in the prospect pitching pecking order, pitched two innings of scoreless relief just after.

Justin Crawford

Opinions vary wildly on Crawford. On a recent Hittin’ Season episode, Fangraphs’ prospect guru Eric Longenhagen explained why he doesn’t believe Crawford is a top-10 prospect in the organization.

“There’s a big gap here between what this guy is, and what he has the talent to be, than his statistics would indicate. This is a plus-plus runner and all you have to do is look at his BABIPs, this is a plus-plus runner whose run BABIP’s in the .370 to .400 range because he’s faced A-ball defenses.

“The evaluation part is inarguable. Jacob Young has the lowest average launch angle of any qualified big leaguer from 2024, he’s at 4 degrees and Justin Crawford’s at 1. That’s enough to damn him as a prospect, but it’s a data point, when you see his contact depth and also when you just watch him visually, how long his swing is, how completely unable he is to turn on the baseball at all. These start to add up and, at least for me, I think there are some potential issues here.”

In the box score, Crawford appeared to have a big day. He had two hits, including the triple below, as well as a stolen base and a run scored while batting leadoff.

It’s fair to ask if the fly ball he hit to left field isn’t caught by a big league left fielder, or if the ball carries that much when the game isn’t being played in south Florida. And most outfielders, even if they don’t catch it, hold him to a double. The single he hit was a high chopper down the third base line that went over the head of the drawn-in third baseman.

That being said, Crawford’s small ball ability was the reason the third baseman was in, and he showed good opposite field power with his fly ball to the fence. At some point, the rubber will meet the road with Crawford. In the meantime, he had a good day on Friday.

Aidan Miller

The Phillies’ top-ranked position player hasn’t hit much this spring, which is not a big deal. In this game, Miller’s glove stole the show.

There’s been a lot of talk about Miller moving to third base or the outfield at the big league level. From the looks of things here, perhaps it’s Trea Turner who should be worried about moving to a new position soon.

Devin Saltiban & Aroon Escobar

Saltiban is a 20-year-old, right-handed hitting infielder and corner outfielder who absolutely scorched an RBI double in the third inning. He hit 17 HRs in just 97 games for Clearwater a season ago. Escobar, who is also 20, followed Saltiban’s double with an RBI double of his own, a rocket down the third base line that went to the wall. Escobar will likely start the season in Clearwater this spring.

Carson DeMartini

The Phils’ 22-year-old second baseman smacked this opposite field dinger to break a 3-3 tie in the 7th.

DeMartini was the team’s 4th round pick in last year’s Draft out of Virginia Tech. He posted an .863 OPS in 24 games for Clearwater, and could be a quick mover through the low minors given his age and collegiate experience.

Micah Ottenbreit

Ottenbreit is a 21-year-old 6’4”, 190-pound right-hander who put up a 4.33 ERA in 19 starts at High-A Clearwater a season ago. He struck out 9.5 batters per nine while walking 3.9/9. And I don’t care who you are, getting out of a bases loaded, no out jam that you inherited is enough to make the papers.