The Philadelphia Phillies have a number of excessive draft picks which might be getting near their probability to play within the Majors.
Pitcher Andrew Painter, Philadelphia’s first-round choose in 2021, might be known as up someday this 12 months. That’s the plan, in line with Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski. Outfielder Justin Crawford, the Phillies’ first-round choose in 2022, is at Triple-A Lehigh Valley.
Aidan Miller, the Phillies’ first-round choose in 2023, is at Double-A Studying and he just lately did one thing that would make him a future complement or alternative for present shortstop Trea Turner.
Miller has at all times been a stable base stealer. However this season with Studying he’s taken it to a different degree.
He just lately stole his fortieth base of the season. In doing so, he turned the primary Studying participant to steal 40 or extra bases in a season since 2009, per the workforce’s public relations director, Jake Starr.
Total, this has been Miller’s worst season statistically with a slash of .233/.351/.375 in his first 85 video games. He’s near matching final 12 months’s house run whole with 9, however his run manufacturing is manner down from 2024. Miller has 27 RBI.
However he’s change into a progressively higher base stealer. He took simply 4 bases in his first 20 video games in 2023. Final 12 months he stole 23 bases. Now, he’s on tempo to take not less than 50 by season’s finish.
That makes Turner an fascinating comparability. Turner has at all times been a stable and productive energy hitter, as he averages 24 house runs each 162 video games. However his base-stealing prowess has been a plus since he broke in with the Washington Nationals in 2015.
He has a 162-game common of 40 stolen bases, and he has 304 profession stolen bases, with 25 this season going into Friday’s recreation towards the Texas Rangers.
Turner isn’t going wherever. He’s signed by means of 2033. However, with Alec Bohm’s impending free company in 2027, Miller has the time to seek out his energy, advance to Triple-A and, maybe, play alongside Turner for the early a part of his profession.
The Phillies chosen him within the first spherical (No. 27 total) out of Mitchell Excessive Faculty in New Port Richey, Fla., within the 2023 MLB draft. He performed 20 video games within the Phillies’ system late that 12 months and batted .303.
Final 12 months he began the season at Class-A Clearwater and was promoted to Excessive-A Jersey Shore on July 13, adopted by Studying on Sept. 3. In between Clearwater and Jersey Shore, he performed within the MLB Futures recreation at Globe Life Area in Arlington, Texas, throughout All-Star Recreation weekend.
In 102 video games in 2024, he slashed .261/.366/.446 with 11 house runs and 60 RBI. He additionally had 28 doubles, six triples, 100 strikeouts, 56 walks and 23 stolen bases.
