A few notes on some Phillies minor-league prospects:
As J.P. Crawford recovers from a thumb injury that knocked him out of the Arizona Fall League, catcher Jorge Alfaro is getting closer to getting on the field in the Venezuelan winter league.
Alfaro, 22, was one of five prospects that the Phillies acquired in the deal that sent Cole Hamels and Jake Diekman to Texas in July. (The Phils also received a sixth player in major-league pitcher Matt Harrison, who is recovering from a back injury.)
At the time of the deal, Alfaro was recovering from a left ankle injury that required surgery in June. He was able to play in three games in the Gulf Coast League in late August before suffering a hamstring injury.
According to Joe Jordan, the team’s director of player development, Alfaro is working out in Clearwater and should be ready to join the La Guaira club in Venezuela in a few weeks. Phillies coach/instructor Jorge Velandia is the general manager of that club.
“We’ve been cautious with him, but we’re almost ready to turn him loose,” Jordan said of Alfaro. “The ankle is good, no issues. You can see that in his blocking and defensive work.
“The guy has a real high motor. He does everything 100 percent and maybe he went out too fast (in the GCL). He’s a very interesting player and we’re all anxious to see him. The physical tools are easy to see — the power and the bat speed. We, like everyone else, want to see it in a game and that will happen soon in Venezuela.”
MLB
• It will be interesting to see how the Phillies assign playing time to their catching prospects — Alfaro, Andrew Knapp and Gabriel Lino — at the upper levels of the minor-league system in April.
Alfaro can play some first base. Knapp, who won the Paul Owens Award as the organization’s minor-league player of the year in 2015, played some outfield in college at Cal and has gotten some reps at first base this month in the Arizona Fall League.
• Outfield prospect Dylan Cozens was scratched from the AFL because of a sore elbow. He was replaced by outfielder Aaron Brown. Jordan hopes Cozens can get some time in Puerto Rico later this offseason.
• There were a lot of eyes on 16-year-old slugger Jhailyn Ortiz during the Florida Instructional League, which concluded earlier this month. The Phillies signed the hulking 6-2, 260-pound rightfielder for $4 million in July.
“I really, really like him,” Jordan said. “He’s going to be a good hitter. At age 16, he was out there competing against older guys throwing sliders and changeups in fastball counts. He didn’t have a lot of success in the games, but he’s a baby. He needs time. But I like what I saw. He throws well. He’s got good feet for a guy his size.
“He’ll come to spring training and I’d think extended spring training and the Gulf Coast League would a normal progression for him. We’ve got something there. We just need to polish it. The power is real, we’ve just got to build a hitter.”
• Jordan also liked what he saw of outfielder Cornelius Randolph in the FIL. A gifted lefty hitter from Georgia, Randolph, 18, was the Phillies’ first-round draft pick (10th overall) in June. In its recent Draft Report Card, Baseball America named Randolph the fifth-best pure hitter in the 2015 draft and second-best high school player.
“He’s a good-looking player,” Jordan said. “I’m betting on that bat.”
• Jordan is eager to see Jimmy Cordero in spring training. The 24-year-old right-hander, acquired in July from Toronto for Ben Revere, has always had fire in his arm — his fastball can reach triple digits. Harnessing that fire has been a problem, but Jordan saw progress late in the season. Cordero, in fact, earned a look at closer in the Eastern League playoffs.
“I’ve seen a lot of Cordero,” Jordan said. “I like him. I especially like what I saw late in the season. I saw signs of a pitcher. He showed consistency filling up the zone. He’s as good an arm as we have. We’re anxious to see more.”
• Roman Quinn is back on the field, playing for Licey in the Dominican Republic. The speedy centerfielder went down in June with a torn hip flexor while playing at Double A Reading.
“He’s just as fast as he was,” Jordan said.
Quinn had 10 hits, including two triples and a homer, in his first nine games in the Dominican.