Toronto Blue Jays Prospect Profile: Catcher Phil Clarke
3 days ago
The Toronto Blue Jays don’t have a ton of good catching prospects in the organization.
A few years ago, that wasn’t the case when they had Alejandro Kirk and Gabriel Moreno coming up. But a few seasons later, they only have one catching prospect in their top 30 on MLB Pipeline, Franklin Rojas, who has an ETA of 2029.
Over the last two seasons, there has been a catching prospect who has been making waves in the upper-minors, and he’ll be the subject of today’s article.
Getting to know Phil Clarke
The Blue Jays selected Phil Clarke from Vanderbilt University in the ninth-round in the 2019 draft. Ranking as the team’s 39th prospect according to Fangraphs at the time, Clarke slashed .257/.359/.333 with two homers in 167 plate appearances while walking 12.6% of the time to a 13.2 K%.
In 2021, Clarke started the season in High-A Vancouver, where he slashed .248/.345/.364 with six homers in 378 plate appearances, along with a 9.3 BB% and a 15.9 K% for a 96 wRC+. His 2022 season with the Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats was even worse, slashing .234/.343/.319 with four homers in 297 plate appearances, along with a 12.8 BB% and 14.8 K% for a 90 wRC+.
At this point, it wouldn’t be unfair to see the mid-20s Clarke as a non-prospect, but the 2023 season was the best of his career. Repeating the level with the Fisher Cats, Clarke slashed .260/.381/.391 with six homers in 259 plate appearances. He maintained his good eye at the plate with a 12.7 BB%, while posting a low K% of 14.3%. Overall, he had a 121 wRC+, a career-best.
Clarke started the 2024 season at Double-A for the third consecutive season, but the improvement continued. In 121 plate appearances, he slashed .307/.421/.366 with six doubles and no home runs. However, he only struck out 4.1% of the time with a 13.2 BB%, for a career-best 134 wRC+.
The 26-year-old earned a promotion to Triple-A Buffalo, where he has continued to hit well, posting a .302/.404/.419 slash line with his first home run of the season and two doubles in 52 plate appearances. Moreover, he still has a higher BB% (15.4%) than K% (11.5%) for a 119 wRC+.
For position players with a minimum of 150 plate appearances, his 129 wRC+ ranks fifth in the organization, behind Riley Tirotta, Spencer Horwitz, Nathan Lukes, and Victor Arias. Pretty good for a player who you could consider a non-prospect before last season.
There are some concerns though. For starters, his six home runs in 2021 and 2023 are a career-high, which is alright for a catcher. What’s a little more concerning though is behind the dish. So far this season, Clarke has only thrown out 10.5% of batters attempting to steal while giving up four passed balls.
The Jays have noticed this as well, as he’s played six games (52 innings) at first base compared to six games (45 innings) at catcher since being called up to Buffalo.
All in all, the hit tool looks rather impressive on Clarke, and if he can hit for more power or become a solid defensive catcher, the Blue Jays may have something here.
As always, you can follow me on Twitter @Ryley_L_D.
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