Phillies 2014 Top 30 Prospects 11-20

20. Cord Sandberg, OF - Sandberg was a 2-sport star in High School. He was a star QB with a full ride to play in the SEC (though it was at one of the lesser SEC schools). He was also a star Outfielder with a ton of tools and upside. At present, Cord has the range to still play Center, though he may mature out of that. That will be fine as he has plenty of Arm for Right Field as well. He also has the power in his bat to star in Right Field and anchor a lineup. Still, Sandberg is as raw as they come. His swing is huge and loopy, leading to weak contact (when he makes it). If the Phillies spend a few years fixing his swing and he gets the reps at the plate to start recognizing pitches, he could be a big piece of a future Championship core. Still, there's a lot of Zach Collier here. These guys are great gambles, but they're definitely gambles.

19. Deivi Grullon, C - This is admittedly a pretty aggressive ranking (well, I though it was until Baseball Prospectus released their Phillies Top 10 a few days ago). Grullon is kind of like Galvis behind the dish. Defensively, at 17 he's already a top Catcher and he'll only get better at framing pitches and blocking balls. He's not a fast runner (few Catchers are) and he'll never have much Power. The hope is that he can get his hit tool to the point that he can hit in maybe the .260 range. He already shows good patience as a hitter and should get enough walks to end up with a pretty respecatble OPS. At current he struggles a lot against same side pitching, so that will be important to follow going forward.

18. Jose Pujols, OF - There are certain prospects that you just kind of fall in love with and root for them more than their current abilities suggest you should. I've been a big Kelly Dugan fan for years, but I was always careful not to let that affect how I ranked him. I want to rank on actuals and ceiling, not on how neato I find the player. I tried to avoid that this year with Pujols. Unlike Dugan, who's solid across the board but has no single big tool. Pujols is a far, far different player. His hit tool is currently quite bad, he's a fairly average runner (think Dom Brown), his arm is above average and his Defense is currently quite rough. What is exciting about Pujols is that he may have the best raw power in the system. There are a ton of moon shots in that bat. The problem is that you need to hit the ball, before you can worry about how far it goes. Pujols made swing adjustments last year that improved his power, his K rate and his Power. Honestly all but his power remained pretty rough, but I'm optimistic that if he was able to make that adjustment he may be able to continue improving.

17. Adam Morgan, LHP - In what's about to become a common theme on this list, Morgan would be much higher if it weren't for his injury. Morgan could be a solid #2 Starter, but at worst looks like a #3 workhorse. At least that was my take pre-season. Then 2013 happened and everything went haywire. His Fly Ball rate rose, his K rate dropped and his BB rate rose. All that led to his HR rate doubling and his WHIP rising to 1.61. As we learned later, Morgan was pitching with a sore shoulder and was shut down mid season. He attempted to come back briefly, but the soreness remained and he was shut down for the year. Last month he had shoulder surgery. The phrase "Shoulder Surgery" is on many Career tombstones across MLB history. All this makes ranking difficult, but I still believe in Morgan's talent enough that I decided to split the difference, so to speak between him dropping off the radar and remaining a top prospect. It won't be 2015 until we know which is the right way to look at Morgan as he'll miss almost all of 2014, at best.

16. Shane Watson, RHP - For the most part you can copy Morgan's comment and place it here. Morgan's more advanced and Left Handed, but otherwise they are pretty similar profiles for their ranking here. The only thing that has me ranking Watson higher is that Watson's injury is from playing Raquetball, not from Pitching. Additionally, reports seem to indicate that Morgan's injury was slightly more serious. Same as with Morgan it will be 2015 before we really know how Watson is recovering.

15. Tommy Joseph, C - It was a bad year for Joseph, as he suffered a concussion and tried to come back, but needed to sit for the rest of the season. Joseph was catching again in Fall leagues, so there is hope he can stay behind the plate. Joseph's in a tough spot though as his only other position would really be First Base, where his bat would make him a non-prospect. I'm gambling with this ranking that he can stay at Catcher, but he'll need 2014 to work on his receiving skills and his hitting.

14. Andrew Knapp, C - Speaking of injured Catchers... My first run through this list right after the season, Knapp was Top 10. Then he had Tommy John Surgery. For a Catcher who needs to work on his Defense losing much of the year is a bit unfortunate, but there's plenty of time for work on Knapp's D. What's going to carry Knapp is his bat. Knapp has good power and patience; at Catcher these would play as average to above average. If he has to move to the Outfield, these will need to improve further.

13. Zach Green, 3B - I'm ambivalent about Green. He's done nothing but rake so far and finished 2013 among the league leaders in HR, OPS and SLG. He showed a decent Walk rate, but also a very high K rate. There are some concerns about bat speed, as his swing is below average in speed (though guys have overcome those issues to play in the Majors before). For Green it's all going to be about breaking pitches (as is true for many prospects). His ceiling is pretty similar to Franco's, though his Defense can probably be a little better than Franco's and he's a hair faster as a runner. Green will play his first year of Full Season Ball in 2014 and it will be intersting to follow if he makes the jump to Clearwater at some point this Summer how he handles seeing better breaking balls.

12. Dylan Cozens, OF - I'm perhaps even more ambivalent about Cozens. Part of me wanted to leave him off the list entirely based on some of his past behavioral issues. That said, to be fair, if he stays on the straight and narrow and works on his game, like Green, he has middle of the order power. He's a massive human being, but because of that he has a lot of swing and miss. He's also so big that he's likely going to be forced to First by the time he makes the Majors. At that point, he'll have a ton of pressure on his bat.

11. Cesar Hernandez, 2B/OF - Cesar is almost certain to have some future as a Utility player. He has a good hit tool, good speed, he's a good defender at Second (not so much in Center, but he has the speed, that if he gets used to it he should be at least adequate out there). The one thing he doesn't have is Power. That may not matter, but it could lead to Pitchers challenging him and letting him hit into more outs driving down his OBP. Plus, with Revere, can you carry a second guy who won't really hit Homers? Alas, Cesar will get much of 2014 in Lehigh Valley to work on his Center Field D and he'll be first in line to replace Utley after his current contract.