Day 3 of the draft is organized chaos. It isn’t all over the place it is one very quick beat of names and draft Ids and mad scramble for all of the rest of us to figure out who that kid is. The Phillies under Almaraz have typically gone pitcher heavy on day 3, and they repeated that today. I don’t know it was a change in strategy or the pick amounts going from $100,000 to $125,000 that caused more juniors to go today. It didn’t feel like the Phillies had many pure misses today or any reaches for the unattainable. They did have 30 picks over about 6 hours or a pick about every 12 minutes. I have to say, for me it was more relaxing than yesterday.
The Phillies kicked off day 3 with high school shortstop Jake Holmes. I love the pick. Holmes is probably a 3rd or 4th round talent, and based on the fact that the Phillies took him here, they know what it will take to sign him. He is a plus runner now and he has the arm to stay on the left side of the infield. He is 6’4″ and if he fills out he probably moves over to third base. I don’t like him as much as much as Cole Stobbe last year, but I might like him more than Josh Stephen who they took in the 11th last year (I think that is a positionally driven opinion). I know he might stay at SS, but I think it might be worth it for the Phillies to just move him to 3B immediately in the GCL to play next to SS Brayan Gonzalez.
I think their 12th and 13th round picks were totally fine. Both were mid Day 2 level talents and the Phillies might get them both done without having to go over $125,000. If they are a LOOGY and a backup catcher you are good with it. I think Parkinson has the upside to be a #4 if everything goes perfectly.
Then the Phillies did their normal run from their 14th round pick until their 21st round pick of getting a bunch of college arms with some velocity and a breaking ball to move to the bullpen. They should all sign and we can bug Mitch Rupert about them in about two weeks to see how hard any of them throw. The Phillies will try and fix as many control issues as they can. Most of these guys will be out of the organization within a year, but maybe they fix one of them and get something nice out of it.
Then there is 17th round pick Austin Listi. He is a 5th year senior in a not great conference. But he hit the crap out of the baseball (.336/.454/.735) and he should be able to play right field. He probably doesn’t get much beyond Clearwater, but given the numbers, he is totally worth putting in pro ball to see if he can do anything. And oh by the way he was only a 5th year senior because he lost 2015 trying to be a Navy SEAL.
I don’t know what to think about Mims other than he is a middle infielder with power who probably won’t hit pro pitching.
I don’t get some of the senior picks like Kevin Markham and Quincy Nieporte, but the team has a better feel for what they want on the rosters in the low minors than I do.
They definitely started turning to HS arms late, which is a good sign. I think Sullivan and Brown should be easily signable. Drohan is totally unsignable. Hurt is probably signable, but I don’t think they will have the money to do it. I am interested to see whether they can get Brian Morrell done. None of them are big time arms, but bringing in some raw material to sculpt is a good thing.
The most interesting story of the day for me was 29th round pick Bailey Cummings out San Jacinto College North. It was passed on to me that he converted from the outfield to the mound this season and didn’t pitch in any games. He has an arm that could be up into the mid 90s, but he has no idea what he is doing and is super raw. It is a bet on a body and pure upside. He was the 863rd player taken, so the risk does not exist.
I found 37th round pick Edouard Julien to be interesting because his scouting report reads like half the middle infielders you see signed on July 2; slight frame, plus plus runner, and feel to hit. I don’t know if they can sign him away from Auburn.
The thing that stood out to me today was how many junior college players they took in this draft. They ended up with 7 of them, which is way more than I can ever remember the Phillies drafting. Most of the players they got were fairly raw with upside, but a bit more mature bodies and maybe skill sets. I suspect they will cost less than high schoolers too. The Phillies didn’t take a bunch of college seniors either. There are only two guys they took that felt immediately like they were unsignable, so that is at worst 2 wasted picks. They aren’t going to sign everyone, but I think they have a shot at everyone. Overall I thought it was their best day of the draft, they just have to finish it off with some signings.
Also they took Joe “Bro” Breaux which is just awesome.
Thanks for the great coverage throughout the draft. I’m sure there are more great posts to come.
Drafting an injured player named Hurt just seems like the most Phillies move imaginable. Well, I guess it would be more Phillies if he was Chad Hurt.
Matt – go work on the draft coverage. i really like the effort to include quick highlights of each prospect drafted by the Phils.
I think the Phils have $$ to sign Drohan though a tough sign but at 23.683 pick, it’s worth the opportunity to sign a 3rd talent. Otherwise, they can use any extra $$ to sign Hurt and other HS prospects they drafted.
@Matt – any scouting reports on Benjamin Brown?! Just like the towering pitcher from NY area from last year’s draft (Kyle Young), Brown’s age and size can be of something interesting. Brian Morrell is another prospect almost from the same area. Hope both sign.