With the 26th pick of the 2025 draft the Phillies select RHP Gage Wood out of Arkanas.
Wood popped onto popular radars when he threw a no-hitter in the College World Series, and he has some of the best stuff in the draft. He is short, but solidly built, which allows him to release his fastball from a very low release height. When combined with the movement and velocity (up to 98) it is an elite pitch, especially up in the zone. He can then pitch off of that with a power curveball and gyro slider, both could be plus. He needs to develop a useable changeup, but that is something he can do with time. He also is able to throw strikes as evidenced by his 1.7 BB/9 this year.
The negative on Wood is that he had a shoulder injury and only made 10 starts this year and pitched 37.2 innings. He was a reliever in the past, so his career high innings between the college season and Cape Code League is 59.1 innings. A lot of sources and people are going to say he is a reliever, and the injury and workload points to a lot of reliever risk. He held his velocity well, and while short, he is not slight, so if his arm holds up, he should be able to start.
The Phillies system desperately needed high end pitching talent. While you don’t draft for need, high school bats came off the board before this pick, and Wood’s injury concerns pushed him down, and so the Phillies took their first college player since Alec Bohm in 2019.
I like the risk!