Mike Scandura
Minor League News

Pawtucket, R.I. – The Philadelphia Phillies find themselves in a Shakespearean dilemma: To play Ryan Howard or not to play Ryan Howard?  Can he dethrone Thome? These are the questions.

They are questions without an easy answer. A 6-5, 240-pound man child, Howard was Philadelphia's fifth-round pick in the 2001 draft. While wreaking havoc on pitchers all the way from the New York-Penn League through the International League, Howard has earned rave notices for his raw power.

Last season he led all of minor league baseball with 46 home runs, while driving in 131, as he split time between Reading and the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons. In a 19-game cameo with the Phillies, Howard hit two homers for a grand total of 48 in 524 at-bats. That averages out to one homer every 10.9 at-bats.

On April 18, he became the first left-handed hitter to homer over the 40-foot high scoreboard at Reading's GPU Stadium in left-center. The ball sailed an estimated 480 feet.

In a poll of Eastern League managers, this St. Louis native was voted the league's best power prospect. USA Today Sports Weekly voted him the Minor League Player of the Year. He emerged as the Eastern League's MVP plus Rookie of the Year.  He’s been an MLN FAB50 Baseball pick for two years, and would have made the 2005 list in the top ten had he not been called up at press time.

Now here's the catch: The Phillies don't know where the 25-year-old Howard can catch the ball because he's a first baseman/designated hitter. Period. They have Jim Thome signed through the 2008 season with an option for 2009.

"They explored playing him in the outfield in spring training and I don't think they were satisfied," said an American League scout whose territory includes the International League during a Red Barons' series at Pawtucket. "What they'd like to do is find a place for him to go with Thome but there are only so many inter-league games played in American League parks where they use the DH.

"That's the bad thing about long-term contracts. You can't move the contract, not that they want to move the contract. But what do you do now?"

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