A Critical Look at the Phillies Organization and Minor League Baseball
On to the end of the draft. 16th round – Josh Bortka, RHP, University of Central Missouri It is the point in the draft where teams start taking flier on college relievers with interesting stuff, or at the least the Phillies do with the same sort of guy. Bortka only pitched one year at University … Read more
Lumping some Day 3 picks together. 12th round – Jordan Dissin, C, Saddleback College (CA) A close to home kid who went to Malvern Prep, but then to University of Richmond and now Saddleback College (a California JuCo) before heading to UCSD next year. He hitting .393/.505/.577 last year with 33 walks to 35 strikeouts … Read more
Coming into Day 3 of the draft it looked like the Phillies had some money to spend on some overslot players. They jumped right into that with Mississippi HS outfielder Emaarion Boyd in the 11th round. Boyd is committed to Northwest Mississippi JC, but looks like he might have been angling for going to the … Read more
The Phillies end their day by going catcher Gustavo Sosa in the 10th round of the draft. Sosa is a former Rutgers Scarlet Knight via Staten Island, and is a 21 year old (as of yesterday) third year JuCo player. He hit .337/.415/.561 this season with 9 home runs in 54 games with 24 walks … Read more
The Phillies take another senior in the 9th round in OF Chad Castillo from California Baptist University (currently transferring to Oklahoma St). Like a bunch of the Phillies picks so far he has a big breakout stat line this year, hitting .386/.442/.635 with 35 extra base hits in 56 games. Looks to have mostly player … Read more
The Phillies continue the college seniors with RHP Alex Rao out of Notre Dame in the 8th round. Rao is a big (6’4″) reliever, with good life on a mid 90s fastball up to 98. He has a split change in the 80s, a pitch that has started to show up more in some of … Read more
The Phillies take their first college senior in the 7th round, drafting Caleb Ricketts a catcher (and part time outfielder) from University of San Diego. Ricketts had 3 underwhelming years, before a massive power explosion this year hitting .373/.423/.658 with 16 home runs. He is a big dude (6’4″ 225lbs) and there are questions about … Read more
The Phillies have often taken a high school arm in the middle of Day 2. This year they took LHP Mavis Graves in the 6th round. Graves is all projection. MLB lists him at 6’6″ 205lbs and Baseball America lists him at 6’4″. His fastball is reportedly a high 80s, touch low 90s. He has … Read more
In the 5th round, the Phillies take their second college pitcher in a row in South Florida’s Orion Kerkering. Kerkering is a 6’2″ righty who moved from two years in the bullpen into the starting rotation and then back to the bullpen for the Bulls. His overall numbers weren’t great with a 5.72 ERA, but … Read more
In the 4th round the Phillies took a very Phillies type pitcher in 6’4″ RHP Alex McFarlane out of Miami (Fl). McFarlane has… Athleticism High end velocity (95-96 T99) High spin fastball (though it seems it isn’t the ride shape they have prioritized, according to Fangraphs) Plus slider Poor control It isn’t quite the Griff … Read more