Phillies Take Griffin Burkholder With the 63rd Pick of the 2024 MLB Draft

The Phillies decided to double up on high school outfielders taking Griffin Burkholder from Freedom HS in Virginia. Burkholder was rated higher on many boards than Nori and brings a similar, but not identical profile to the Phillies 1st round pick.

Burkholder is big and projectable, and most sites have him rated with at least future plus raw power. His swing timing is apparently a problem with some hitch and length. That is at least a thing the Phillies have worked on with guys like Aidan Miller, so there is some path to growth there. He isn’t as fast as Nori, but is reportedly a plus plus runner that should be a good defensive center fielder as long as the strength growth doesn’t limit his speed.

He is on the older side for the class, but this is more in the Aidan Miller level of old (he is younger than Miller was last year) than the Nori level of old. My best guess is that he may be slightly overslot, but not hugely so, and is a fine pick in isolation for where things are in the draft.