PHILADELPHIA - If you're looking for a road map as to how the Philadelphia Phillies decayed into such a dreadful state following five straight National League East titles, the team's annual January seminar for some of its most valued minor-leaguers is a pretty good one.

The exercise itself, which started the same year Ruben Amaro Jr. replaced Pat Gillick as general manager, was a good idea then and remains one today. Young aspiring big-leaguers are schooled on a variety of subjects: What they should expect inside a big-league clubhouse, how to deal with the media, how to handle social media and what it's like to play in Philadelphia are among them.Over the years, the Phillies have brought in Roy Halladay, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Darren Daulton, Ron Jaworski and even Brian Dawkins to address the players, many of whom are just a month away from their first big-league spring training in Clearwater, Fla.The only problem in the early years of the program was the quality of the players going through it. You had the guys Amaro got from Seattle for Cliff Lee: Phillippe Aumont, J.C. Ramirez, and the infamous Tyson Gillies. You had the minor-league relievers with the big arms who never quite panned out: Michael Stutes, Michael Schwimer, B.J. Rosenberg, and Justin De Fratus. And you had four of the five mislabeled Baby Aces: Trevor May, Julio Rodriguez, Brody Colvin, and Jonathan Pettibone.The entire list from those early years is mostly a who's who of who did not help the Phillies sustain the success they had enjoyed from 2007 through 2011.If you're looking for a road map as to why the Phillies should soon reverse their recent fortunes, the seminar, which was created by director of professional scouting Mike Ondo, is also a useful tool.Of the 52 players who went through the program before this year, a total of 29 have made it to the big leagues. Fourteen of those 29 are currently on the Phillies' 40-man roster. That list does not include highly regarded catching prospect Jorge Alfaro, who got into six big-league games last season but was still one of the nine players invited to this year's seminar.As a rebuilding team, there are more opportunities for young pitchers and position players to get to the big leagues than there were when the Phillies were winning division titles, but it's just as obvious that the quality of the current minor-leaguers is superior to what the organization had when these seminars started in 2009.Four of the program's recent participants - third baseman Maikel Franco, second baseman Cesar Hernandez, catcher Cameron Rupp, and first baseman Tommy Joseph - are good bets to be in the opening-day lineup. Outfielders Roman Quinn and Aaron Altherr will likely open the season on the 25-man roster, too.Five other recent participants - Aaron Nola, Jake Thompson, Zach Eflin, Alec Asher, and Ben Lively - will show up in spring training as either members or candidates for the starting rotation.None of the above names have become superstars, but the Phillies are hoping that changes with the long-term arrivals of Alfaro, shortstop J.P. Crawford, first baseman Rhys Hoskins and outfielders Dylan Cozens and Nick Williams. They also hope that Franco takes a huge step forward in that regard in 2017.All indications are that this group of seminar participants is hell-bent on making the Phillies good again. That fact could be seen on the fields across the team's minor-league system last season."One of the most fun seasons I've ever had," said Cozens, whose 40 home runs at double-A Reading led minor-league baseball. "Off the field we had fun as a team, we were close."Second baseman Scott Kingery, the Phillies' second-round pick in 2015, started the year at single-A Clearwater and finished at Reading."On both teams I played on, not only was the talent unbelievable, but there was also a work ethic," Kingery said. "Guys show up ready to work. I think this is an organization filled with guys who want to win and they're going to do anything they can to win. If it's taking extra bases, sliding in to break up a double play … guys in this organization are going to play hard and find a way to win."The message at the Phillies' annual seminars has always been good. Now it appears as if the team finally has the minor-leaguers with the talent and urgency to match it.