Baseball America, one of the industry’s leading experts in prospect evaluation, has updated their top thirty prospects for each team in the game, including those in the Phillies’ system. Here is their new list:

BA Top 30 Prospects

Rank

Player

Rank

Player

1

Andrew Painter

2

Aidan Miller

3

Eduardo Tait

4

Justin Crawford

5

Aroon Escobar

6

Mick Abel

7

Griffin Burkholder

8

Gabriel Rincones

9

Moises Chace

10

Seth Johnson

11

Dante Nori

12

Devin Saltiban

13

Jean Cabrera

14

Bryan Rincon

15

Otto Kemp

16

Carson DeMartini

17

John Spikerman

18

Eiberson Castellano

19

Alex McFarlane

20

Alirio Ferrebus

21

Wen Hui Pan

22

Casey Steward

23

Daniel Harper

24

Dylan Campbell

25

TayShaun Walton

26

Raylin Heredia

27

Hendry Mendez

28

Mavis Graves

29

Griff McGarry

30

Michael Mercado

Obviously Andrew Painter is still at the top. He’ll remain there until he is in the major leagues and has accumulated enough innings to no longer be called a prospect.

One of the bigger risers has been Aroon Escobar. Read any site that does some kind of scouting on minor leaguers and Escobar’s name will likely show up. He’s had something of a breakout season this year, something we saw flashes of in spring training. He looks like he’s going to make an impact at the major league level whenever the team deems his development sufficient enough to test out major league pitching.

BA has also shown us some of the risers and fallers from their last list. Here are those players:

Aroon Escobar

Finally healthy, Escobar is racking up hits in bushels so far in the Low-A Florida State League. A bigger, stronger Escobar has learned to elevate the ball better this year, rarely chases and misses in the zone even less frequently. His under-the-radar data is compelling and he has surged onto the Top 100 as a result. Now, he needs to become a more consistent defender.

Otto Kemp

Kemp is one of the best performers not only in the Phillies’ system but throughout the entire minor leagues. He has hit the ball hard and often at Triple-A and is one of just five players in the minors to reach double-digits in home runs and stolen bases. His debut should come this summer.

As far as the fallers, they have Guillermo Rosario, a single A catcher that has not played well, Michael Mercado, who we all know about, and Leandro Pineda all falling down their list. Rosario and Pineda are now off of the top 30 list while Mercado hangs by a thread.

The list is still a little lean, but looks much better than it has in the past. Once Painter graduates, the list may drop a bit further down overall rankings unless some players take a step forward. Some are doing so (DeMartini, Kemp) while others seem to be stagnating. Stop me if you’ve heard that one before.