Thursday, October 1, 2026
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73 ° Clear
On Tuesday morning, there was a slew of promotions down on the farm for the Philadelphia Phillies.
Right-handed pitchers Ramon Marquez (No. 9 prospect in system per MLB Pipeline), Matthew Fisher (No. 10), Cody Bowker (No. 14), Gabe Craig (No. 23) and Tanner Gresham have all been promoted a level.
From one beach town to another, the quartet of Marquez, Bowker, Craig and Gresham will be heading to the Jersey Shore BlueClaws, joining the High-A affiliate of the Phillies.
The four were part of the First Half Championship team in Clearwater, who finished 39-23 in the first half of the season to clinch a playoff berth in the Florida State League.
Marquez has been turning heads this year across the baseball world, finding his name on multiple Top 10 prospect lists for the Phillies. The 20-year-old went 3-0 with an impressive 1.86 ERA in six appearances, with five being starts for the Threshers.
In 29 innings, he allowed just six earned runs with 47 strikeouts to just 10 walks with a 0.966 WHIP and a .173 batting average against. In each of his six trips to the mound, he struck out six batters or more, including a trio of nine-strikeout efforts.
He dominated against right-handed hitters in Low-A, holding fellow righties to a .141 AVG and .266 OPS in 67 plate appearances. He did not have much trouble with lefties either, holding them to a .225 contact clip and a .692 OPS in 49 plate appearances.
Internally, the Phillies are quite excited about Marquez and the possibility of him climbing the organizational ladder as a starter.
Bowker, a third-round pick last year, played his collegiate ball at Georgetown before transferring to Vanderbilt to play in the SEC. He was part of the Commodores’ weekend rotation with his fastball, which plays up despite the lower velocity, being his calling card out of college.
The 22-year-old spent most of the first half of the season in the Threshers’ starting rotation, with 10 of his 12 appearances on the mound being starts.
He posted a 2-4 record with a 5.90 ERA in 39 ⅔ innings but struck out an impressive 64 batters while holding hitters to a .175 batting average.
Craig, also a 2025 selection by the Phillies out of Baylor, posted a 3.68 ERA over 20 appearances with 33 strikeouts and 12 walks in 22 innings of work. At 24, the righty is on the older side for High-A, but perhaps with his strikeout potential, he could rise quickly in the system.
The right-hander had a circuitous path in college, starting out at Tyler Junior College in Texas in 2020, and made a stop at Texas A&M before wrapping up his college career in Baylor’s bullpen. He was nearly unhittable there in his senior season, posting a 0.56 ERA with a .124 batting average against with a ridiculous 51/3 K/BB ratio.
Gresham is not a top 30 prospect, but the Army West Point product is making noise on the mound. He earned the Florida State League Pitcher of the Week honor on June 8 after tossing five hitless and scoreless innings with a walk and eight strikeouts to set the tone for a combined, seven-inning no-hitter the Threshers threw with Craig closing it out.
The righty, who is on active duty, signed with the team in 2024 after being named the Patriot League Pitcher of the Year in 2023. In 11 appearances for Clearwater, he posted a 3.10 ERA with 49 strikeouts in 40 ⅔ innings.
Fisher, who was anticipated to be an early draft pick last year, will now compete in full-season ball after starting the year off in the rookie Florida Complex League.
The 20-year-old has looked sharp as of late after working on some things.
In two June starts, he has tossed six innings, allowing just one earned run on two hits, walked four and struck out 10. Opponents are hitting just .100 against him.
Over his last four outings, Fisher has allowed just one earned run across 10 ⅓ innings, good for a 0.87 ERA with 16 strikeouts to six walks.
It’s a promising sign for last year’s 7th round pick out of Evansville High School in Indiana (Same HS that Don Mattingly attended). An expected first or second round pick, the Phillies gave the righty $1.25 million to sign with the team, which is pretty close to second-round money.
The Phillies farm system does not grade out as top-tier across MLB, but if some of these younger pitchers continue to develop and progress, that could change in the next year or two.
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