By: Brandon Apter, contributor 
Phillies prospects are impressing early and their respective leagues are noticing. Zach Eflin, Jorge Alfaro, Mitch Walding, Ben Lively have each taken home Pitcher of the Week or Player of the Week honors and this week, Tom Eshelman joins the list.
Eshelman was one of the lower level minor league players acquired by the Phillies as a part of the seven-player trade that sent Ken Giles to the Astros. The 21-year-old right-hander was named Florida State League Pitcher of the Week after striking out nine hitters in seven innings during his last start. Here's the official word from the Clearwater Threshers Game Notes for Tuesday.
ESH NAMED PITCHER OF THE WEEK: Tonight’s starter Thomas Eshelman has been honored by the Florida State League as the Pitcher of the Week for April 18-24.
The 21-year old, acquired as part of the Ken Giles trade in December, held Daytona to two hits across seven shutout innings, and recorded a career-high nine strikeouts on Tuesday. He retired the final 15 batters he faced in order.
In three starts, Eshelman has posted a 0.95 ERA which is good for fourth in the FSL. He has issued just three walks and struck out 17 batters in 19 innings.
Eshelman, 21, made his Phillies organizational debut on April 7th, spinning five innings of one-run ball, striking out four. He followed that up with a seven inning effort, where he scattered just two hits and struck out four to lower his ERA to 0.75. His most recent outing, as noted above in the Threshers notes, saw Eshelman tally a career-high nine strikeouts in seven innings of one-run ball on the mound.
He'll start his fourth game of the season tonight in Daytona, the team he notched nine strikeouts against in his last outing. MLB Pipeline ranks Eshelman as the 15th best prospect in the Phillies organization. Heading into tonight's game, Eshelman leads the Florida State League in WHIP (0.53) and ranks fourth in ERA (0.95).
Elniery Garcia, one of the other starters on Clearwater's roster, leads the FSL with a 0.47 ERA in 19 innings, spanning three starts. The Threshers pitching staff as a whole leads the FSL in walks (41), ERA (1.90) and WHIP (0.96) while ranking second in strikeouts (158).
