The Philadelphia Phillies have three players featured in MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 prospects list for 2026: shortstop Aidan Miller (No. 23), right-handed pitcher Andrew Painter (No. 28), and outfielder Justin Crawford (No. 53).
Statcast tracking, which now covers all Triple-A games and a significant portion of Single-A contests, provides new insights into the skill sets these prospects could bring to the Major Leagues.
Aidan Miller, age 21, has shown strong performance against fastballs in Minor League games with Statcast data from both Triple-A in 2025 and Single-A in 2024. According to this data, “the right-handed-hitting Miller has a .373 batting average and .591 slugging percentage against fastballs (that’s four-seamers, sinkers and cutters combined).” He also performs well against high-velocity pitches; “against fastballs thrown 95 mph or harder in those games, Miller is batting .357 and slugging .714.” The press release notes that “the way he hits heaters is a good baseline to have.”
Andrew Painter, considered the Phillies’ top pitching prospect and ranked as the No. 7 pitching prospect overall, displayed versatility during the entire 2025 season by recording double-digit strikeouts on five different pitch types: four-seam fastball, curveball, changeup, slider, and cutter. “Painter was one of seven Minor League pitchers with at least 10 tracked strikeouts on five or more different pitch types,” according to the release. His curveball, four-seamer, and changeup were particularly effective.
Justin Crawford was recently recognized as the fastest runner among MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 prospects. Over three consecutive Minor League seasons he has recorded more than forty stolen bases each year. Statcast data supports his speed credentials: “Last season, Crawford had 67 tracked runs with an elite sprint speed of 30-plus ft/sec.” In comparison to Major League baserunners last season, only seven big league players had sixty or more such runs at this speed threshold.
The release highlights specific examples of Crawford’s speed: “Crawford’s ‘bolts’ in the Minors last season included…an infield single that he beat out on April 23 with a beyond-elite 31.1 ft/sec sprint speed and a 3.90-second home-to-first time.” He also achieved four stolen bases where his sprint speed reached at least thirty feet per second—a difficult feat given the limited distance available during steals.
According to team sources, these metrics indicate that Miller’s hitting ability against fastballs, Painter’s diverse strikeout arsenal, and Crawford’s exceptional running speed may soon translate into significant contributions for the Phillies at the Major League level.
