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Well, everybody's been talking about Ken Giles, Jorge Alfaro has been over here healing and preparing to get back into being the Phillies' catcher of the future [echoing] of the future [echo somehow gets louder] OF THE FUTURE.
This is part of the post in which I say something about Alfaro being acquired by the Phillies in the Cole Hamels deal, which if you are finding this out for the first time right now, congratulations on digging yourself out of the pit of self-aware, carnivorous soil that had been slowly digesting you in some remote forest location since the summer.
Anyways, Alfaro was one of like 12 or 13 players who came to the Phillies from the Rangers in the Cole Hamels deal. He is now the catcher of the future. At least he was supposed to be, but then Andrew Knapp happened in Reading this season. Now the Philies have two potential catchers of the future. Life is crazy! But I don't have to tell you that, Escaper of the Predatory Forest Soil.
"It sure is crazy," Alfaro might have agreed back in June while still in the Rangers system, when he underwent ankle surgery for a tendon injury on his left side. Prior to that, he'd been walking around in a boot that did not say "catcher of the future" on the side. He'd been hitting .253 with a .746 OPS and 21 homers for AA Frisco. Following this year's trade, Alfaro got into three Gulf Coast Phillies games, going 2-for-4 with a double.
Now the No. 5 Phillies prospect, so sayeth Baseball America (though this is time of great turmoil among national outlets on the ranking of potential future Phillies stars because there are, just, you know, so freaking many), Alfaro's ankle is all good, and according to Joe Jordan, he is to join Maikel Franco in heading for the glorious diamond fields and warm weather of the winter leagues.
"He looks good," Jordan said. "He is ready to go. We need to get him on the field. He needs to play for a while and knock off some rust. Physically, he has everything you're looking for, but we need to see him play."
It's good for Alfaro that he is up and running, as his nemesis, Knapp, used the Arizona Fall League to only become more powerful. It's an exciting time to be a catcher with the Philadelphia Phillies. An exciting, horrifying time.