Brandon Apter, Sports Talk Philly editor 
The Philadelphia Phillies currently have the worst record in baseball at 17-33. They went 6-22 in May and regressed in nearly all aspects of the game. While tonight is the start of a new month against a struggling Giants team, the Phillies product will likely take a while to improve. The main thing that fans want to see is a winning team. If they don't see that, they at least want to see a team that plays well and does what they can to win, because seeing the effort and witnessing gradual improvement makes losing a little more tolerable.
But now, the issue with the product on the field for the Phillies is that it's atrocious and is showing no signs of getting better, so the "call everyone up from Triple-A" hot takes have begun and boy, are folks going to be disappointed. On paper, looking at it from a record standpoint…it makes sense to just call up the standout Ironpigs players, who have contributed to their 24-5 record in May. Fans are sick of seeing the same lackluster effort from guys like Maikel Franco, Odubel Herrera and Michael Saunders at the plate, but just because we're all tired of seeing them struggle doesn't mean that prospects should be rushed up from Triple-A.
"They can't be any worse than what we're putting out there now."
That may be true, but as it stands, the only player with Lehigh Valley that actually deserves a big league promotion is first baseman Rhys Hoskins and he's currently being blocked by the Phillies' hottest hitter, Tommy Joseph. Hoskins is slashing .315/.408/.635 with 13 doubles, three triples and 13 home runs. He's hit at every level in the Phillies organization, but has to stay in Triple-A, because Tommy Joseph is really the only Phillies hitter doing well. He hit .300 in May with seven home runs and 17 RBIs. While Hoskins may not turn into a Ryan Howard like slugger in the bigs, his being blocked is similar to the issue that Howard had with Jim Thome early in his career.
Moving on…if the Phillies do indeed decide to demote Maikel Franco, well…the organization doesn't have much depth at third base so we won't see any drastic promotions because of that. Scott Kingery isn't miraculously going to learn third base and get called up, despite leading all of professional baseball in home runs with 17.
Odubel Herrera is struggling, but it seems very unlikely the Phillies send him down for a guy like Roman Quinn, who is hitting just .274 in Triple-A. Dylan Cozens and Nick Williams are starting to get hot, but Michael Saunders and Howie Kendrick will keep their playing time for now. The Phillies probably hope that they get hot prior to the trade deadline and can be flipped for some assets. If that's what they want to do, a few more months in Triple-A for any of those guys (Cozens, Quinn, Williams) won't destroy their development, I promise.
One of the prospects that fans have been calling for with Cameron Rupp struggling is Jorge Alfaro. Sure, he's hitting .282, but he's struck out 56 times and taken a base on balls on just three occasions in 41 games. He still has a good bit to work on at Triple-A and he's just 23 years old, one of the younger players in the International League. The Phillies also have to think about Alfaro's service time, so if he spends more games in Lehigh Valley, he'll be under team control for longer.
Phillies.com beat writer Todd Zolecki made a good point in his recent mailbag. Fans are saying that the Phillies never promote prospects and that they just rot in the minor leagues, but since the beginning of the 2015 season, the team has called up 14 prospects and that will become 15 once Ben Lively makes his debut over the weekend.
But here is something fans might not realize: the Phillies have been playing their kids. From 2000-16, according to baseball-reference.com, two Phils teams hold spots in the top 20 in games played by players 25 or younger: the 2015 Phillies (13th, at 871 games) and the '16 Phils (17th, at 855 games). The '17 club ranks fifth this season, at 240 games.
We're all sick of seeing the same mistakes and the same mediocrity at the big league level, but that's no reason to just call players up before they are ready. For now, we'll have to be somewhat patient and hope some of the guys turn it around, and if they don't, Matt Klentak and company will have some big decisions on their hands as the season progresses.
