Phillies draft Gage Wood with 26th pick

For the first time in their history, the Phillies have the 26th pick overall pick. It’s because of all the winning.

With that pick, the Phillies have chosen Gage Wood, a college pitcher from Arkansas.

Here is the scouting report from MLB Pipeline:

After Wood became Arkansas’ closer as a freshman in 2023 and then continued to log high-leverage relief innings as a sophomore, scouts looked forward to him joining the rotation this spring. He came down with a shoulder impingement after his second start and missed two months before coming back for the stretch run. Though his command was sporadic, his combination of stuff and strikes could still land him in the top two rounds. Wood has one of the best fastballs in the Draft, sitting at 94-96 mph and reaching 98. Its combination of velocity and carry, along with his low release height and flat approach angle, produce elite rates of chases, as well as overall and in-zone swing and misses. He relies heavily on his heater and a power 82-85 mph curveball that shows flashes of becoming a plus pitch. Wood’s upper-80s slider isn’t nearly as effective as his curve and he barely uses a changeup with similar velocity and decent fade. After battling the strike zone as a freshman, he has carried a five percent walk rate the last two seasons. He has the ingredients to succeed as a starter, though he has also had shoulder issues in high school and will have to prove he can handle the workload.

You might remember Wood from having some acclaim that he found in Omaha this summer, throwing a no-hitter for the Razorbacks in the College World Series.

The somewhat shock of this is the team took a college player in the first round, something that hasn’t been their recent M.O.

We’ll see how they do in the second round.