It's rare that a player in the minor leagues makes headlines locally. It's even more rare for a player in the minor leagues to make headlines on a national level. Even more rare is when the minor league player making national headlines is in the Phillies system.
To be fair, the Phillies have had a fair amount of success producing home grown talent as of late. From 1998 to 2001, the Phillies used their first round picks on Pat Burrell, Brett Myers, Chase Utley, and Gavin Floyd, all of whom are regulars on the big league club (reaching farther back in time, 1990, Mike Lieberthal, the Phillies starting catcher, was their number one pick).
In 2002, on the heels of several productive first round picks, the Phillies drafted another starting pitcher, Cole Hamels. The scouts were utterly enamored with his talent, but Phillies fans, in their heart of hearts tried not to get too excited. After all, phans had seen many prospects highly-touted by the front office come and go, with hardly a fifteen game winner amongst them. In other words, "we'll believe it when we see it" was the thinking.
Since 1986, the Phillies have drafted nine pitchers in the first round, and none have gone on to have very much success in the big leagues (granted, one is still a work in progress). Given the track record, it is a reasonable thing to wonder if phans should be wary about calling Hamels the organization's savior. But then again, no prominent Phillies prospect has had a minor league track record such as Hamels.
* though drafted by the Phillies, did not pitch entire minor league career with the Phillies
** Wayne Gomes was left off of the list as he was a reliever
*** HR data not available online prior to 1997
Clearly, Hamels is a different breed from the other starting pitchers that the Phillies have drafted and "developed" over the past few years. He has struck out significantly more batters and has allowed an absurdly low number of homeruns [sometimes I have to triple check Hamels stats just to make sure the numbers really are that good].
No disrespect intended, but setting oneself apart from recent starting pitching prospects in the Phillies organization is not the feat it would be in other organizations. Therefore, another reasonable thing to wonder would be just how Hamels stacks up against other minor leaguers in recent history...
FirstInning.com does just that. Overall, the website gives Hamels an "incomplete" grade due to his extensive injury history, but it when comparing his injury-marred 2005 season to other players at a similar level and at a similar age, Hamels ranks highly in terms of strikeouts, though he could stand to improve his control.
Given his 36 to 1 strikeout to walk ratio at AAA Scranton/Wilkes Barre, it appears as if Hamels has done just that.
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