By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor 
As we noted earlier this week, Philadelphia Phillies prospect Dylan Cozens went hitless in his one at-bat at the MLB Futures Game. Despite not making much of an impact on the game, Cozens got an endorsement from future Hall of Famer Jim Thome, who Jim Salisbury of Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia says was a guest hitting coach for the event:
“Wow,” said Thome, his eyes widening in that Jim Thome kind of way. “The guy is a monster. Very impressive.”
Cozens, currently with the Double A Reading Fightin Phils, has hit 24 home runs in 2016. In addition to that, he's batting .286 with 75 RBIs, 16 stolen bases and a .590 slugging percentage.
The 22-year-old was a second-round pick in the 2012 MLB Draft, and after an impressive start to his minor league career, hit just 11 home runs between multiple levels of the minor leagues in 2015. 2016, however, has firmly put him in the discussion as one of the Phillies better prospects, even with how much outfield talent is in the organization.
Thome, 45, played for the Phillies from 2003 to 2005, and then briefly again in 2012. Thome hit 101 of his 612 career home runs with the Phillies, with 89 of those home runs coming between 2003 and 2004. Thome, who is one of just eight players in MLB history to hit over 600 home runs, seems like a lock to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Some, myself included, have debated whether he deserves to be inducted into the Phillies Wall of Fame, though a compliment like this about Cozens shows Thome's "nice guy" personality, which is part of the reason the fans selected him to be inducted.
