It seems every Spring Training there’s that one Phillies prospect who drums up some unexpected buzz.

Well, this year, it’s a hulking fellow named Felix Reyes, who owns one of baseball’s greatest gifts: raw power.

Advertisement

Reyes, at 6-foot-3, arrived at Phils camp as a nonroster invitee and has made the most of it, hitting .333 with three home runs in 17 games. And maybe more impressive than Reyes’ power display is his elite bat-to-ball skills, striking out just two times in 31 plate appearances.

But back to the power, Reyes launched a 433-foot missile off Tigers pitcher Jack Flaherty on Monday, and couple days before that, the kid blasted this nuke off the Yankees:

Reyes is loving the opportunity. “I embraced it,” the 24-year-old Dominican said via a team interpreter from inquirer.com. “So I just remain optimistic from that point onward. Watching that, I just tried to change my attitude, and I’ve just embraced that. And from that moment, always, everything I do, everywhere I go and everything I work in, I just go with that optimistic mindset. Just say that it will be done, and I will be ready for it, and we’ll get the results.”

Reyes isn’t one of the Phillies top prospects – at least according to the MLB Pipeline rankings – but maybe he should be. Last season, he won the Eastern League batting title at double-A Reading with a .335 average, and was also first in OPS (.937). Reyes earned late-season promotion to triple-A Lehigh Valley and played six games there. Overall, he combined for 16 home runs and struck out only 66 times.

Advertisement

At the moment, there’s no room for Reyes on the big-league roster. He got reassigned to minor league camp on Wednesday but not without leaving an impression on Phillies manager Rob Thomson.

“Every time he swings the bat, it’s on the barrel,” Thomson said via inquirer.com.

Defensively, Reyes needs to find his groove. Last season, he rotated between first base, third base and the corner outfield spots for Reading and Lehigh Valley. He has mostly played first base during spring training but also played two games in left.

Thomson believes Reyes can elevate his defense. “He’s a lot more athletic and he’s faster than people give him credit for, and he handles himself very well in left field,” Thomson said. “His first base play has improved greatly. He’s really under control, and he never gets sped up, it seems to me. So he’s a pretty impressive kid.”

Reyes will start the 2026 season at Lehigh Valley, and, if a Phillies outfielder goes to the IL, he may get the call to the big leagues after showcasing his skills this spring.