I mean, duh.
Taking the top overall spot as the team’s top prospect, in a shocking move that absolutely no one saw coming, is Andrew Painter, winning 93% of the vote. Garnering votes for themselves were Aidan Miller (5%), Justin Crawford (2%) and Eduardo Tait (1%).
It should come as no surprise that Painter is the top dog. He is rountinely mentioned as the team’s top prospects by all national outlets, it consistently discussed as a top 10-20 prospect overall in the game and might be one of the best bets to assume the title “Ace” from Zack Wheeler. We all know the plan for Painter this season, so it doesn’t need to be repeated. Just suffice it to say – he will probably be better than any trade deadline addition the team can make once he finally arrives for good in the majors.
Now that the top spot has been claimed, now we move on to choosing who you think is the team’s #2 prospect.
With each new post, we’ll reveal who won the voting for that particular slot, then post new players for you to vote on, adding another one to the list each time until we get to our final tally of 20. Once we get to 20 top prospects, we’ll do an honorable mention post at the end. If a player gets traded to another team, we’ll just chuck him right on outta here and all the players will move up a spot. If a prospect gets acquired, we’ll ask where he should go on the list.
Probably the most important thing about this whole process – please vote. Give us a few minutes of your time, just click a button and then we can discuss other players and things in the comment section, but don’t forget – VOTE!
Here are five candidates for the team’s second best prospect along with scouting reports from Fangraphs (or Baseball Prospectus where indicated).
Aidan Miller
2025 expected level: AA Reading, 2024 stats: .261/.366/.446, 11 HR, 60 RBI, 20 SB
His explosive hands have lovely lift out in front of the plate, and he adjusts them nicely to breaking stuff. Miller can still roast ’em even when his weight shifts early and his hands are responsible for doing all the damage. Because his hands fire late and take a path that creates scoop and lift, Miller will probably always be vulnerable to fastballs running up around his hands. But he’s so dangerous throughout the rest of the zone that his production isn’t likely to bottom out because of this issue.
Justin Crawford
2025 expected level: AA Reading, 2024 stats: .313/.360/.444, 9 HR, 61 RBI, 42 SB
Not only will Crawford’s ability to slug against big league stuff (and defenses) be limited by his swing’s tendency to drive the ball into the ground, but he may have serious issues against high fastballs that simply haven’t been exposed yet by mid-minors velocity. Crawford also isn’t an especially skilled center fielder; his reads and routes aren’t great. His speed should allow him to be okay there in time, but it isn’t a value-adding aspect of his profile.
Moises Chace
2025 expected level: AAA Lehigh Valley, 2024 stats (w/ PHI): 6 GS, 28 1⁄3 IP, 48:10 K:BB
When Chace is locating his fastball to the belt, hitters have no chance against him…[t]here is going to be a dominant fastball here, and there are flashes of good secondary stuff that ideally can be polished so Chace can max out…Chace’s slider flashes late, hitter-freezing, two-plane bend, but it doesn’t do so consistently. His changeup has, at times, ridiculous tailing action and can steal strikes running back over the glove-side corner of the plate, but again this is rare. His release is pretty inconsistent generally, which is totally normal for a 21-year-old with this kind of arm speed, but also creates some relief risk.
Eduardo Tait
2025 expected level: A Clearwater, 2024 stats: .302/.356/.486, 11 HR, 73 RBI, 5 SB
Tait swings with bad intentions, selling out for pull power with enormous effort. He already has average big league raw power, which is very exciting for a hitter his age, even more so when you consider he’s a lefty-hitting catcher. He’s performed well in spite of a semi-concerning lack of plate discipline. In addition to his indulgent, expansive approach, Tait can struggle to get on top of fastballs up and away from him. He’s likely to have a flawed offensive skill set exposed as he climbs the minors, but so long as Tait keeps getting to power and developing behind the dish, that’s going to be okay. His leap from his first pro season to his second was encouraging in this regard. Tait is still not a good defender, but he’s much better than the year before. He has good raw arm strength but takes too long to exit his crouch, and his ball-blocking needs to take better advantage of his size instead of relying on his hands all the time.
Gabriel Rincones, Jr.
2025 expected level: AA Reading, 2024 stats: .252/.347/.453, 11 HR, 32 RBI, 23 SB
Rincones has plus left-handed power, but he struggles too much with secondary stuff to consider him a lock to be a suitable 400 PA platoon guy. Rincones’ limited amateur baseball reps and his time missed due to injuries leave room for him to improve a bit into his mid-20s, enough to be a lesser option of this sort.
So now, it’s your chance to vote. You’ve got 48 hours – go on and vote! If you have an option that isn’t listed here, let us know in the comments!