Every week we're going to profile one player from the Phillies' system. You all know about D-Brown, now let's find out about the rest...
Position: SP
Ht: 6-3 Wt: 180
Drafted: 38th round by Phillies (2008)
Hometown: League City, TX
Opening Day Age: 19
Skills: Plus fastball (93-96mph). Developing slider and changeup.
John Sickels' Grade: C+
Organizational Ranking: 9th
Sorry I was out last week, but Phillies Prospector is back. Please forgive me, it was my best friend's wedding. Haha, no, he's not a chick... anymore. Huh?
Cosart is a special arm that I wanted to save to see how he started out the season. The results? So far, so good. Drafted in 2008, at first glance one might think this guy was a diamond in the rough by looking at his low draft round. Originally looked at as a 2-way player, he was viewed as unsignable. Of course, the Phils took the plunge and signed him for around 2nd round slot [$550,000!!].
The book on Cosart is that he is extremely athletic. Again, another typical Phillies target as he was unpolished with a ton of upside. His mechanics were questionable out of high school, but it seems the Phils have helped to take some of the kinks out of his delivery. Phuture Phillies got ahold of some recent videos of Cosart, with a link to his 2008 scouting video.
In 2009, Cosart had some shoulder soreness and saw limited action in the Gulf Coast League, throwing only 24.1 IPs but K-ing a batter an inning while limiting the walks to 7. He only gave up 12 hits as well, but it was tough to read too much into this being such a small sample-size. It was a good start though, leading many scouting gurus to label him as a breakout candidate.
This year, that label seems to have stuck. Cosart has experienced some nice success as fresh meat in Lakewood. He's giving up less than 7 H/9, while carrying an absolutely gross K/BB rate of 6.50. He's missing bats and when he hits them, the balls aren't being hit that hard themselves. Even if the hit totals are a bit fluky, the dominance and command aren't. Cosart's early performance has even prompted Keith Law to recently give him an honorable mention, as a prospect right outside of his top 25. Law quotes an anonymous scout who said Cosart had the second best arm in the minors behind Strasburg.
Now scouts say stuff all the time - especially when quoted anonymously. Of course, a great arm doesn't automatically translate into great pitching - but it certainly helps. I think because of upside, I'm inclined to put him as a top 2-5 prospect in the Phillies system, in a group far behind Domonic Brown, with the likes of Phillippe Aumont and Trevor May struggling a bit this year.
All this means is Cosart has some great potential, but is still pitching in the low minors and fans must proceed with caution. There are plenty of examples of pitchers having seasons of dominance at the low minors and never panning out. However, if the scouts really project his arm to be top-of-the-rotation, and his arm deserves to be in the same conversation as Strasburg, then you can't ask for much more than that.
For now, just enjoy him while he's motoring on. I don't think we'll see him anytime before 2013, as the Phils' M.O. is to bring pitchers up slowly.
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