His small stature should not evoke fear from opposing pitcher, but Roman Quinn has put the pitchers in the International League on notice.

The Phillies #15 prospect owns the base paths as a leadoff hitter who appears to do it all.

This past Friday night, the IronPigs had just returned home from a 2-4 road trip and were facing their division rival in Scranton Wilkes-Barre. They had just taken a 1-0 lead when leadoff speedster extraordinaire approached the plate with the bases loaded. The switch-hitter batted right against the lefty RailRider Nestor Cortez and lifted the first pitch just over the right field wall for a grand slam home run that would only be one of six hits by the IronPigs, but it proved the be the biggest hit in the 6-1 win.

“I was just trying to get a good pitch to hit. I put a good swing on it and it just happened to go over,” Quinn said.

If you factor in he is batting .306 with a current eight-game hitting streak, and leads the IL with 10 stolen bases in his first 19 games, a pace that would give him nearly 70 swipes by the end of the season, Quinn is emerging as a big-impact player.

“To be honest, he’s an impact player and it’s just going to be a matter of time for him,” Jones said.

Another attractive quality is his desire make things happen regardless of the score. In the 9th inning of a 7-4 loss to Norfolk on April 18, the Quinn grounded one sharply to second base with two outs. Tides second baseman Sharlan Schoop cleanly fielded and threw to first base for what should have been the game-ending out. Quinn hustled off contact and beat the throw.

“He’s a baseball player. He’s a tools guy and there is one thing you can’t teach is speed. There’s no substitute for speed, and he has that,” IronPig manager Gary Jones said.

His defense, glove and speed make him a force in the in the vast-greenery of the Coca-Cola Park outfield. He routinely runs down fly balls that appear to be dropping in the gaps.

“He makes them look easy, but in the end they are a lot tougher than what it looks,” Jones added. “The guy can play all three outfielders, he can play infield if he has to.”

Quinn is quite pleased with the start to the season.

“I’m feeling pretty good. I am trying to stay consistent, continue to try and play hard, control what I can control and let baseball be baseball,” he said.

STARTING WELL

Starters Enyel De Los Santos (#13) and Lefty Cole Irvin (#24) are working their way up the prospect chart. Both players have started four games at the Triple-A level and both posted shutout performances against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders over the weekend.

De Los Santos, native to the Dominican Republic, is 2-0 with a 1.40 ERA. He has given up just three earned runs in his first four starts (19.1 IP).

Irvin was 5-3 with a 4.06 in 13 starts at Reading last season before being promoted to Triple-A Lehigh Valley this season. The fifth round draft pick (2016) is 1-1, with a 3.86 start over four starts has shown signs of brilliance. In his last start, Irvin shout out the Yankees top-farm club over six-innings to get his first win of the season.

“It was one of those games where the defense and hitting came together,” Irvin said of the 6-0 win. “I was just putting the ball over the plate and getting a lot of swings and misses.”

LIKE A PRO

April was not the most cooperative month when it came to baseball weather. While many local high school games were postponed, the IronPigs played through the coldest spells and played well. Manager Gary Jones was pleased with how the team responded to it.

“I’ve been so pleased with how these guys have carried themselves and played good baseball in this weather,” Jones said. “These guys have been pros and went out every day and played the game the right way. My hat goes off to them.”