For the first time in longer than my brain without researching can remember, the Phillies have an honest to God rookie class that will be expected to play a significant role in the 2026 season. Sure, we’ve had rookies join the team in recent years, but Andrew Painter, Justin Crawford, and eventually Aiden Miller are a different breed. The Phillies don’t just have them ready for the Majors, the team is counting on them to perform.
Rookie History
Ok, I couldn’t just write that sentence above and not do a little research. Pop Quiz: Who was the last Phillie to receive at least a single ROY vote? Alec Bohm in 2020 and that was the 60 game Covid season. Over the last 15 years, only Bohm, Rhys Hoskins in 2017, and Ken Giles in 2014 have received votes. Bohm is the only one of the three to receive at least a single first place vote, but again, only 60 games.
Needless to say, that sucks. Others like Bryson Stott and Johan Rojas have come up in that time, but the drafting has been simply horrendous. The call ups have been sporadic and lacking in high end talent and pedigree. That ends now.
Andrew Painter
Painter took our imaginations by storm back in 2023 when the 19-year-old was slated to make the rotation out of Spring Training. Then he hurt his elbow, tried to rehab, needed Tommy John, missed all of 2024, then rebounded to throw 118 innings in 2025. He is expected to be the 4th starter this season.
Painter has lost his luster from 2023 after bad results last year in AAA. It’s really not the worry that you think it is. What did come back was his velocity. Now 22, Painter was back to throwing upper 90s last year. The elbow is fine. The control was the problem. He gave up 18 HRs and 47 walks in those 118 innings, but did still manage to strike out 123 batters.1 Essentially, he was there last year, but was not consistent. That’s very normal for the first year back from Tommy John surgery.
The important thing is the 118 innings. Remember, Painter was out of high school when he signed so building up his innings is important, especially after missing basically all of 2023 and 2024. Just getting out there was important. The rule of thumb is to only increase the work load by 30 innings per season. This sets Painter up for close to 150 innings this season. If we get 150 out of Painter, that’s awesome.
Justin Crawford
By refusing to submit an offer to Harrison Bader, the Phillies fully committed themselves to Justin Crawford in CF this season. While thrusting a 22-year-old right into the spotlight on a contender is an ambitious plan, it is not without its flaws. By now, anyone who knows the Phillies knows the kid’s pros and cons. While he is the son of 15-year MLB veteran Carl Crawford who is fast as anything and knows how to work a count, he is also lacking in power and hits the ball on the ground to an astounding degree. His speed regularly turned those grounders into hits as evidenced by his career .322 average in nearly 1500 minor league at bats, but the worry is that those hits will disappear with better defense in the majors.
At worst, he is a much more disciplined Johan Rojas. While Rojas has a better arm and is probably a more natural centerfielder, Crawford is lightyears ahead of Rojas at the plate, grounders and all. One of the Phillies perennial lineup worries is the tendency to free swing. That is simply not a hallmark of Crawford’s game. Sure, when he comes up, he may strike out more than you’d want, but the finished product should by closer to a 1.5:1 strikeout to walk ratio.
Then there are the stolen bases. Crawford finished 4th in AAA last year in steals with 46 in 112 games. The Phillies as a team were middle of the pack with 124 with only 17 coming from CF.2 Crawford, and even the addition of surprisingly nimble Adolis Garcia, should help vault the team to the top 10. Even if he doesn’t have power, he is a pretty good bet to start on 2nd base. Considering he will likely be hitting 9th before Trea Turner, with his speed he could end up scoring more runs than you’d think.
Aiden Miller
The Wildcard. Miller has been leading a steady charge up prospect rankings to the point that he’s a consensus top-25 talent in the sport. What helps this perception is that he usually gets off to a slow start at each level before figuring it out and then breaking out. He had a sluggish start to AA last year that went on a little longer than most would have thought, but that turned around coinciding with the trade deadline. After that he hit .356 with more walks than strikeouts and 22 extra base bits.
Miller won’t turn 22 until June and is not expected to crack the big club out of spring training. However, that’s not to say it’s impossible. A strong Spring could have serious effects on the 26-man roster. Why? Because Miller can play all over the infield and would essentially be fighting with Alec Bohm and Edmundo Sosa for a job. Both are free agents next season and slow starts could mean that the team finds them expendable. It’s doubtful either gets moved, but it’s not impossible either.
Some fun facts about Miller.
- 22 and in the majors might seem young, and it most certainly is, but don’t forget that he was drafted out of high school at 19 years old too. He moved fast.
- Despite being right-handed, he hits both sides equally well. The walks are slightly up and Ks slightly down against lefties, but there is slightly more power against righties so far in the minors.
- He struck out a decent amount at 123, but still had 82 walks.
- His 52 (!!!) stolen bases ranked 2nd in AA before he added 7 more in AAA. Our current 3rd baseman has 18 in his career.3
The Rest
Not only does the team have high level talent ready to contribute to the big club, but the mid-level is near MLB ready as well. Here is a look at a few names:
- Gage Wood – Dave Dombrowski recently said that last year’s top draft pick could be someone who moves quickly through the minors, mostly because his fastball is already here. The big problem with Wood is innings. Through various injuries, he topped out at only 60 innings back in 2024 with only 40 last year (but presumably a lot of reps in Clearwater after getting drafted). That means 100 is probably a reach for Wood this season. To me, that seems like the best-case scenario is to begin the year at either A+ or AA as a starter getting about 15 starts at around 4-6 innings each go around then hitting the majors as a high velocity reliever by the end.
- Gabe Craig – I have been beating this drum since the draft, but Craig might be the most impactful possible call-up all season. He is already 24 but has one of the nastiest sliders in baseball. That pitch got him to a .56 ERA as a senior at Baylor last year. Yeah, that’s good and all, but he did it by striking out 51 and walking just 3 (!!!) in 32 innings with ZERO HRs allowed. That will absolutely play.
- Keaton Anthony – Like Craig, Anthony is another sleeper name to know. After triple slashing .372/.472/.686 in his college career, Anthony went undrafted due to a betting scandal that rocked his entire Iowa team. He was cleared of any wrongdoing, but the damage was done. Now 24, Anthony is back to ripping up pitching with a .323/.378/.484 line between AA and AAA last year. If there are any injuries to a corner outfielder, expect the right handed Anthony to get the call.
- Granted one was in the majors while the other was in the minors, but Painter’s numbers 1 year removed from surgery are nearly identical to those of Spencer Strider in the same situation (although he had internal brace surgery, TJ’s cousin): 125 innings, 20 HRs, 51 walks, 131 Ks. ↩︎
- KYLE SCHWARBER HAD 10 FOR CHRIST’S SAKE!!! ↩︎
- Miller combining with Turner and Crawford would completely change the dynamic of the team. These 3 are extra bases waiting to happen with Stott right with them. ↩︎
Philly Front Office 
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