Phillies

Young Phillies Prospect Impresses Early in Spring Training

By Luke Arcaini

Published: Feb 27th, 2025 · 11:23 AM EST

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Gabriel Rincones Jr. has turned heads throughout the first four games of the Phillies spring season.

Rincones Jr, 23, made it up to Double-A Reading last season and slashed .263/.357/.487 with an .843 OPS in 59 games. He continued to crush the baseball in the Arizona Fall League this past November, hitting .273 with 2 HRs and 21 hits in 22 games.

The stopper for Rincones over the last two years has been injuries. He dealt with a shoulder injury back in 2023 and had a torn ligament in his right thumb and missed 2 months of 2024.

The big 3 of Andrew Painter, Aidan Miller, and Justin Crawford have taken headlines for the Phillies over the last 24 months, and rightfully so. But Gabriel Rincones Jr is already starting to ease his way into that conversation of big Phillies prospects. He hit his second home run of the spring yesterday to the opposite part of the field. It looked like a major league swing.

Yup, I’m all in on Gabriel Rincones Jr. pic.twitter.com/SIzvbr6uIJ

— Luke Arcaini (@ArcainiLuke) February 26, 2025

 “He’s really impressive. Very strong, great body. Can hit the ball all over the place, can hit the ball out of any part of the ballpark. Plays solid defense…he’s a gamer. He plays every pitch. He can hit, he’s got some pop” – Rob Thomson on Gabriel Rincones Jr via MLB.com

The 23-year-old played 38 games in right field and 15 games in left field for Reading. The Phillies came into this offseason with a goal to upgrade their outfield…they did that with Max Kepler, but the team didn’t acquire a big name like some fans hoped for.

Rincones is taking every chance he can get right now to make that Opening Day roster decision a little tougher for Rob Thomson and the Phillies organization. Will he make it? Probably not, he’s still young. But Weston Wilson going down gives him a slightly better chance to at least have a shot.

Nobody has been locked into that last bench role as of now. Buddy Kennedy seems to be the favorite, but he’s never played an inning of outfield in the majors. Edmundo Sosa is playing left field today for the first time all spring.

Rob Thomson has led us to believe that the Phillies prefer a right-handed hitter for that spot, which would put Kennedy (or an outside guy) as the favorite for that job. But if Rincones Jr. continues to pop the ball like this, maybe the Phillies will give him a shot in 2025.