The Phillies were smart to keep 22-year old lefty swinging outfielder Dominic Brown who was wanted in return in almost every trade conversation the team had before the trade deadline. He was the #1 prospect in the Phillies’ system coming into this season according to Baseball America. He played in 106 games in Rookie+A+AA ball this season and he was 118 for 395 (.299 avg, .881 OPS) with 65 runs scored, 14 homers, 64 RBIs and 23 stolen bases. The Phillies have enough depth in the outfield to bring Brown along as his own pace.

The Philadelphia Phillies resisted trading 21-year old righty starting pitcher Kyle Drabek and that’s how they wound up with Cliff Lee instead of Roy Halladay. But, in a couple of years that will look like a master stroke by the Phillies. Drabek was the Phillies’ #5 rated prospect coming into this season according to Baseball America and he’s showing why. Drabek has pitched in 21 games (19 starts) in A+AA ball this season and he is 11-2 with a 2.99 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP. Drabek has only allowed 117 hits in 135 1/3 innings this season while whiffing 127 batters which shows what kind of stuff he has. Drabek also has good blood lines as his dad was Doug Drabek. Kyle’s dad pitched 13 seasons in the major leagues appearing in 398 games (387 starts) in which he was 155-134 with a 3.73 ERA and a 1.24 WHIP. Doug Drabek was also the Cy Young Award winner in the 1990 season with the Pittsburgh Pirates. During the 1990 season, Sr. Drabek started 33 games in which he was 22-6 with a 2.76 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP. The Phillies hope that Kyle Drabek learns some tricks from his dad who was a really solid major league starting pitcher.

22-year old righty starting pitcher Carlos Carrasco is the #2 prospect in the Phillies’ system according to Baseball America but he’s not pitching like it right now. He has started 17 games in AAA-ball this season and he is 5-8 with a 5.06 ERA and a 1.41 WHIP. It will be interesting to see if the Phillies move Carrasco this month for a legit major league starting pitcher or keep him.

The Phillies decided to finally give up on veteran righty starting pitcher Kris Benson by releasing him. Benson started 13 games in A+AAA ball this season and he was 1-6 with a 5.78 ERA and a 1.67 WHIP. He allowed a stunning 95 hits in only 67 innings in the minor leagues so the Phillies couldn’t risk bringing him up to the team in a pennant race. They won’t miss him at all.

Drew Carpenter seemed to be a pitcher on the rise in the Phillies’ organization after winning 17 games at Single A-Clearwater last season. But he started this season in AA ball and he failed miserably. He started 11 games in AA-ball this season and he was 2-7 with a 6.94 ERA and a 1.78 WHIP. The Phillies then demoted the 23-year old righty starting pitcher to A-ball and he appears to have found his comfort zone. He has now started 15 games in A+AA ball this season and he is 3-9 with a 5.65 ERA and a 1.50 WHIP. It will be interesting to see how Carpenter handles his next chance in AA-ball as his stuff is good enough to succeed there.