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This edition of the Phillies Beat newsletter was written by Paul Casella.
It's hard to put together a more dominant first half than Phillies prospect George Klassen.
Klassen, the club's No. 28 prospect, began the year with Single-A Clearwater, where he posted a 0.71 ERA in nine starts. He had 57 strikeouts over 38 innings.
With little left to prove at that level, the Phillies promoted Klassen to High-A Jersey Shore on June 11 -- and he hasn't slowed down.
The 22-year-old righty has 20 strikeouts to six walks over 13 innings while holding opponents to a .184 average. Put it all together and Klassen has a 1.41 ERA and 77 K's over 51 frames in 12 starts between Clearwater and Jersey Shore this season.
That's enough to earn Klassen the nod as the Phillies' top Minor Leaguer of the first half as we check in on the top performers at each of the club's affiliates at the midway point.
"He's just been outstanding," president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said recently.
Klassen's stuff was never a question. He always threw hard at the University of Minnesota, but there were significant concerns about his control. He walked 61 batters -- and struck out 57 -- in 64 1/3 collegiate innings. After undergoing Tommy John surgery that cost him the entire 2021 season and most of '22, Klassen had a 5.72 ERA as a senior in 2023.
Still, the Phillies took a flier on him in the sixth round of last summer's Draft -- and they had a specific plan in place.
Klassen immediately got to work adding muscle and fine-tuning his delivery. He worked tirelessly on his mechanics. The one thing he didn't do was pitch in a Minor League game.
The Phillies held off on Klassen making his professional debut until this season, and it seems to have been the right move. Though there was a brief scare in early May when he missed two weeks with a sore right shoulder, the club never believed it was serious.
Through 51 professional innings, Klassen has walked just 18 batters. He's struck out 77. His 4.3 strikeout-to-walk ratio ranks among the best in the Phillies' farm system -- and it’s drastically better than his 0.9 K/BB ratio at Minnesota.
"Honestly, just the talent he has -- the stuff is top of the charts," said assistant general manager of player development Preston Mattingly. "He's refined his delivery and his arsenal, so we're just looking to build off what he's done so far."
Though Klassen is with Jersey Shore now, we'll consider him Clearwater's top first-half player for our purposes. With that in mind, let's take a look at the midway MVP for each of the other three top affiliates:
Triple-A Lehigh Valley: Michael Mercado
Mercado (the Phillies' No. 30 prospect) made his first career MLB start on Tuesday night against the Cubs at Wrigley Field.
Promoted June 23 after the Phillies placed Taijuan Walker on the injured list, Mercado now finds himself in the rotation for the time being after the club then put Spencer Turnbull on the IL just a few days later.
But Mercado had been on the big league radar for quite some time. He began the year in the bullpen, but director of pitching development Brian Kaplan raised the idea of moving Mercado to the rotation to provide some much-needed depth.
Regardless of role, Mercado thrived with the IronPigs. He put up a 1.71 ERA over 14 outings (10 starts) while striking out 44 and holding opponents to a .189 average across 47 1/3 innings.
"He's got a great arm," Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. "Power stuff. He spins the ball really well and he throws strikes. He's had a really good year at Triple-A."
Double-A Reading: Robinson Pina
Pina came into the year a bit off the radar after signing a Minor League deal in December, but he's put together some remarkable numbers for the Fightin' Phils.
A top-20 prospect in the Angels' organization in 2020 and '21, Pina fell off a bit over the past couple seasons. He finished last year at Triple-A Salt Lake, where he had a 7.83 ERA over seven outings (four starts) and had more walks (21) than strikeouts (14).
But through 13 starts this season, Pina has struck out 76 and walked only nine batters in 67 2/3 innings. He ranks among the top 10 across all Minor Leaguers in walk rate and strikeout-to-walk ratio.
High-A Jersey Shore: Samuel Aldegheri
The left-handed Aldegheri has been the model of consistency this season for Jersey Shore. The club's No. 23 prospect has racked up 88 strikeouts over 63 innings while posting a 3.00 ERA and holding opponents to a ridiculous .167 average in 12 starts.
Aldegheri's average of 12.6 strikeouts per nine innings leads the South Atlantic League. He's had three double-digit-strikeout games this season and he has 43 K's in 25 innings over his past five outings -- a jaw-dropping average of 15.5 per nine.
"He's a guy who's continued to get better and better," Mattingly said earlier this season. "He really worked on his craft this offseason and got his body in a really good spot. ... We're very happy with where he's at."
