Day three in Clearwater was a full day. The minor leaguers mainly spent most of their day running baserunning/pickoff drills and batting practice before they would play two seven inning intrasquad games while the big club played at Spectrum Field. I ended up watching about the first five innings of the Phillies and Blue Jays before catching the last 30 minutes of intrasquad play. Probably the most noteworthy thing that I watched in that period of time was Jhailyn Ortiz’s loud single. So while there wasn’t a lot to talk about the current Phillies prospects Friday afternoon, there was certainly plenty to talk about later that night about a potential draft prospect for June
Once done at Phillies camp, I ended up traveling to the University of South Florida, where Shane McClanahan took the bump vs Army in the team’s final games before heading into AAC play. The Friday night southpaw ace of the Bulls is currently considered to be potential top five pick in this year’s draft. Right now it’s between him, Auburn’s Casey Mize and Florida’s Brady Singer in a battle for the top college pitching prospect heading into June. The Phillies sit in prime position to grab a pitcher with the third overall pick, as they currently lack potential #1-3 arms outside of Sixto Sanchez and Adonis Medina. And while I do like high school pitchers Ethan Hankins and Matthew Liberatore in that spot as well, the Phillies recent history suggests that they would probably like a more polished pitcher with such a high pick (like Aaron Nola in 2014). The only high school pitcher they have taken in the first three rounds since 2014 is Kevin Gowdy (2016, second round).
McClanahan’s start was a fairly dominant one as he Army didn’t really stand a chance from the first pitch. McClanahan essentially used all fastballs in this start throwing it 83.7% of the time. He really manipulates the speed well. He would sit 90-93 mph early in counts before he ramped it up to 95-96 to put away a number of batters. He’s got good running life on his fastball and it explodes out of his 3/4 arm action with is pretty compact and quick. While he rarely used his secondary pitches, both flashed their plus potential. His slider was the most effective as left-handers had a tough time picking it up, sweeping away from hitters with it’s 11 to 5 tilt in the 80-82 mph range. His change-up, sitting comfortably in the mid-80s, falls off the table with armside run. MClanahan was able to control the game well with a quick tempo. Control was a bit of an issue as he only had ten first pitch strikes and ended up walking three. But he located better as the game went on and Army just kept hacking away at air. McClanahan’s final line: 6 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 15 K on 92 pitches (62 strikes). The 15 strikeouts ended up being a school franchise record. He ended up striking out at least two batters in each of his six innings and only allowed three balls to be put in play.
There are certainly concerns with McClanahan from his control, his future durability (6’2″, 188 lb, Tommy John surgery in high school) and his mechanics look like they can get funky at times, even though he’s cleaned it up from previous years. But the potential to be a southpaw with three plus pitches and rack up strikeouts certainly has him in consideration for the #3 pick. Once conference play starts, it’ll be easier to try and determine what kind of draft prospect McClanahan and all the other college pitching prospects will be.
Stats and Video from McClanahan’s Start
- 10/21 first pitch strikes (all fastballs)
- First Pitch: 0/1 (Flyout); Ahead 0-1: 0/9, 7 K; Behind 1-0: 0/8, 8 K, 3 BB
- Two groundouts, one flyout
- LH hitters: 0/5, BB, 4 K (two looking fastball, two looking slider); RH hitters: 0/13. 2 BB, 11 K (six fastball swinging, two fastball looking, one slider swinging, one slider swinging, one change-up swinging)
- 77 fastballs (83.7%), nine sliders (9.8%), six change-ups (6.5%); 0/12, 3 BB, 9 K (six swinging, three looking) on fastballs; 0/5, 5 K (four looking, one swinging); 0/1, BB, one swinging strikeout on change-up
- 18 swinging strikes (10%); 14 on fastballs, two on sliders, two on change-ups; 11 of 15 strikeouts were swung on and missed
- Eight plate appearances lasted five or more pitches (0/6, 2 BB, 6 K); one plate appearance lasted two pitches or less (0/1, flyout)