Top prospects don't always pan out in Major League Baseball; that's always going to be the case. But sometimes, there's a second chance for some of those prospects to find their footing. The Philadelphia Phillies have generally done well developing their own prospects over the last half-decade.
All-Star third baseman Alec Bohm, second baseman Bryson Stott, and center fielder Johan Rojas are all former Phillies farmhands who have carved out solid roles for themselves. There was once another former top prospect who was supposed to be a well-established big leaguer at this point. But things never quite panned out for him in Philadelphia, and now, that player's time with the Phillies has come to an end in surprising fashion.
On Friday, the Phillies announced they had traded 30-year-old minor league utility player Scott Kingery, once a second-round pick and one of the top prospects in the Philadelphia organization, to the Los Angeles Angels for cash considerations. Kingery was a 2.5-WAR player in 2019, putting up a .
788 OPS with 19 home runs in 126 games. The Phillies thought at that point that they had their young shortstop of the future, as Kingery had done nothing but impress in the minor leagues in the years before his call-up. Unfortunately, things went south from there, as Kingery played in just 52 big-league games the next three years combined and hasn't seen the majors since 2022.
Blocked at the MLB level, it was hard to see him ever getting another shot. However, Kingery .
