The Best (My Favorite) Athletes in Philly Right Now

Photo by Richard Wilkins Jr.

The other day, I heard a WIP debate in which they were debating "the best or most exciting young athlete in the city." Philadelphia teams are really bad, but there are some young talents arriving. They tried to argue that "Ghost" is the guy right now, which while I love Ghost, is not something I agree with. So, I have my own top ten list of the best, most exciting young athletes in Philadelphia.

1. Fletcher Cox- I hate nearly everything about this underachieving Eagles team, but not Fletcher Cox. In my view, he's the best athlete in the city. He needs to get paid now, to anchor this defensive line for years to come.
2. Claude Giroux- The captain annoys me at times, but he is one of the best hockey players in the world right now, the stats don't lie. He has some seriously magical moments on the ice, and is leading a pleasantly surprising Flyers' squad.
3. Maikel Franco- Just behind Cox and Giroux is the best current Phillies player. Franco has the ability to hit for average, hit home runs, and make some highlight reel plays at third base. His overall game isn't polished up to the level it will be, yet, but it is already the most exciting thing at CBP.
4. Shayne Gostisbehere- The Flyer's young defenseman is exciting fans all over the city. "Ghost Bear" is awesome, and will probably get more awesome. I also love that he seems to come up big in the right spots.
5. Odubel Herrera- He was in contention for a batting title for a while on last year's terrible Phillies team. He also was a rookie. He excites me for the future of this team.
6. Jahlil Okafor- While I'm worried about the off-court stuff, Okafor has been pretty solid in his rookie season on the court. I still have very high hopes that he's going to turn into an NBA star.
7. Aaron Nola- The Phillies young right-hander had some down moments in 2015, but he looked every bit the high end pitching talent the Phillies sold him as after picking him in round one of the 2014 draft. 
8. Connor Barwin- I don't have a lot of great things to say about the current Eagles squad, but Barwin is a champ. He's good on the field, and he's cool off it. He's probably their second best pass rusher and actually can tackle. Thank God he's not Kiko.
9. Jerad Eickhoff- I know we didn't see enough for me to actually put him here, but the four teams are so bad that I'm going to choose to believe in what I saw over a lot of decent talent on the other teams.
10. Robert Covington- I know that he's getting stats because he's on a bad team, but I appreciate the effort he's putting in out there. This team is putrid, but he's trying to make it worth your money.

Honorable-ish Mention- Jakub Voracek, Wayne Simmonds, Mychal Kendricks, Zach Ertz, Cesar Hernandez, Freddy Galvis, Nerlens Noel, Dario Saric (yes, it's at that point).