Philadelphia Phillies Reportedly Release Top Prospect in Surprise Move

The Philadelphia Phillies have a made a surprising move by releasing one of their top prospects.

Mar 6, 2023; Sarasota, Florida, USA; Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Simon Muzziotti (40) singles during the second inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Ed Smith Stadium / Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Current Philadelphia Phillies president of baseball operations, Dave Dombrowski, has operated with a borderline reckless approach when it comes to his team's prospects in the past.

He's willing to trade away the farm when it comes to giving his Major League group a chance to win a championship.

Many expected that to be the case at this year's deadline, and while he certainly spent aggressively to land star closer Carlos Estevez, the future Hall of Famer was much more reserved regarding his prospect pool than he has been before.

Maybe that has something to do with the organization's shift in philosophy to have a strong farm system, or maybe he just felt like he only needed to make that one pricey move.

Either way, there has been a clear shift into maintaining a pipeline full of young talent.

That's why the report from Scott Lauber of The Philadelphia Inquirer that revealed the Phillies released their No. 20 ranked prospect Simon Muzziotti is so surprising.

Signed by Philadelphia in 2016, he climbed up the ranks and burst onto the scene in 2019 when he was regarded as their 12th-best prospect. He peaked at No. 10 the following two years despite not being able to play in 2020 because the minor league season was cancelled due to COVID-19.

The outfielder was called up for his MLB debut in 2022, going 1-for-7 across his nine games.

He was never called back up again despite slashing .296/.358/.404 with seven homers and 61 RBI in 124 Triple-A contests last season.

Why he was released has not yet been revealed, but the 25-year-old has regressed with a slash line of .235/.297/.373 in 61 games this season after dealing with injuries that landed him on the injured list twice.