With the Brewers now crowned the champions of the baseball world, there has been a lot written about lessons to be learned from them and how said lessons could be applied to various team around the game. The Phillies have not been immune to this discussion as there have been a few think pieces about which ideas and/or practices they could adapt to how they have constructed their various rosters and what the Phillies could learn from that. It’s all well and good, but it sort of feels like an exercise
in them trying to catch up.
Instead, I wanted to take a different approach to this. Both the Brewers and Rays have reached the pinnacle of their leagues mostly because they have zagged where others have zigged philosophically, made good players even better with a successful player development system and eschewed the big move to continue making smaller moves that have paid off in a big way. One area that people always think that the Phillies could be better at is in the drafting of players. Had they drafted better players, they would now be in the position to stock a roster full of players capable of piling up victories. But what if I asked you this: what would you have done were you the Phillies? Would you have made the same moves that they did? If given the chance to draft a certain player based solely on a scouting report held in front of you, are you sure you’d take the same player that is on the roster of the current world champion?
Thanks to the Baseball America archives, we can go back and look at scouting reports from when players had been drafted to see which player you would take were you in charge of making the final decision. I’ve edited a lot of this by blanking out names, positions, handedness if necessary and where the player was drafted from – college or high school. That way, you can’t just say, “Oh, that’s Player X, I’ll just take him.” I also promise you that all of these are accurate, straight from the pages of Baseball America. Outside of these minor edits, these were the actual scouting reports at the time of the draft.
It’s a fun little game, so let’s play!
Player A:
Perhaps more impressive than ______’s power output is his improved plate discipline this season. He’s cut his strikeout rate and significantly improved his walk rate, taking the free pass more frequently than striking out for the first time in his ______ career. He has an exceptional understanding of the strike zone and always seem to have a plan when he steps in the batter’s box, with the ability to make adjustments within an at-bat.
Player B:
Even with that said, _____ was still voted a first-team Preseason All-American, the best pure hitter in the class, the best defensive infielder in the class with the second-best arm, and the No. 3 athlete in Baseball America’s preseason survey to major league scouting directors. ______ is among the more polished _____ players with an advanced ____-handed hit tool and rarely swings and misses with a patient approach that allows him to hit the ball where it’s pitched.
Both infielders then when they were drafted, both infielders still. Based on these reports, which player are you taking?
If you said Player A, congrats – this is who you drafted. If you said Player B, congrats – this is who you drafted.
Alright, alright, maybe you got that one. However, about these two outfielders. Which one are you taking?
Player A
His speed translates to good range in center field, where he has a fringe-average arm with good accuracy. ________ hit .359/.443/.559 in 2021, showing a simple, direct swing from the left side without much movement. [He] mostly stays within that zone, with good hand-eye coordination to make frequent contact, even on times when he does chase. ______ does a good job of going with where the ball is pitched, with quick hands, and he’s able to pull inside fastballs up and in while also sending pitches on the outer third to left field. ________ has some sneaky power for his size, with the ability to drive the ball out pull side when he gets a pitch up in the zone, but it’s more occasional pop that plays below-average in games.
Player B
However, his second half was impressive, and he managed a .319/.430/.550 line with eight homers and more walks (33) than strikeouts (20). As evidenced by those walk and strikeout numbers, _______ controls the zone well and also has a solid all-fields approach, with the power to drive pitches on the outer half over the fence to the left-center gap. Some scouts think his swing is a bit too stiff to truly be a plus hitter, but he does have plus raw power. Those offensive tools are the carrying tools for _____, who profiles as a left fielder thanks to limited arm strength and below-average running ability—though he did steal nine bags in 13 attempts this spring.
Which player are you taking? If you said Player A, congrats – this is who you drafted. If you said Player B, congrats – this is who you drafted.
See? Fun, right? I have to admit, when I looked at that, I thought I’d fool a lot of people.
There are other players that you’d like to also compare, but it’s almost not possible. During the draft, there are misses on a player simply because of where they are picking in that draft. For example, I could try and fool you into thinking the Phillies picked a different pitcher over Jacob Misiorowski, but that wasn’t the case. In that year that Misiorowski was selected, he was taken in the second round, a round in which the Phillies did not have a pick in the first place. Would they have taken him if given the opportunity? We’ll never know that answer, but you can see why an exercise like this isn’t always apples to apples.
But it sure is fun! Here is another.
Player A
He’s maybe ______ tall, and while he can touch 94 mph, he generally sits at 90-92. But his high-spin rate fastball gets swings and misses up in the zone and he has three average or better pitches that all play up thanks to his plus control and command… ________’s plus mid-70s changeup is a weapon with excellent deception and late drop. He’ll use it against righties and lefties and is comfortable pitching in and out. He also throws his fastball to all four quadrants of the strike zone with plus control. His mid-70s curve is an average offering as well and like everything else he throws, he commands it well.
Player B
_________ has been one of the most heavily scouted pitchers in the state of Michigan this spring and is an exciting projection arm who’s young for the class. Listed at 6-foot-4, 175 pounds, _______ only turned 18 in May and has shown a solid three-pitch mix. He typically pitches in the 89-92 mph range and has touched 93-94 in the past and has two solid secondaries in a mid-70s spike curveball and a changeup in the low 80s that he’s shown good feel for as well. Scouts might want to see more present stuff, but it’s hard to see _______ not throwing harder in the future as he adds weight to his frame. The curveball has good traits now with plenty of depth and could be a real weapon when he’s able to add more power to the offering.
Which player are you taking? If you chose Player A, congrats – this is who you drafted. If you chose Player B, congrats – this is who you drafted.
This one was kind of easy as we all probably would take the guy with the advanced changeup. Still, would you have guessed that the player the Phillies chose was taken two picks before the player the Brewers chose? Of course you would.
What does any of this mean? Nothing really outside of it being something fun to do. If you were looking to draw some conclusions about these two teams, the easiest thing is to see the drastic difference in how the Brewers develop players compared to how the Phillies have done it. Who knows what might have happened had the Phillies actually taken Bohm and turned him into a slugging third baseman from the right side. Would it have changed the course of the franchise? It’s possible, but we can at least see that they aren’t really all that great at bringing players close to their full potential.
That’s one of the biggest differences between the two teams and a reason for why the gap between them exists. If the Phillies don’t close it soon, the championship drought is likely to continue.
