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The MLB Draft is usually for finding players to help your team a few years down the road, but the Philadelphia Phillies may have just made a move to improve their 2025 team.
Philadelphia took pitcher Gage Wood with the 26th overall pick and ESPN's Kiley McDaniel seems to think Wood can make it to the Majors this year functioning like a trade deadline acquisition.
“Gage Wood has a chance to start long term but can also go straight to the upper minors — if not the big leagues — and potentially help the bullpen later this season, like a trade deadline addition,” he wrote in a story published Monday.
Wood, a pitcher out of Arkansas, is best known for throwing the first no-hitter in the College World Series since 1960, striking out 19 along the way. Phillies assistant general manager of amateur scouting Brian Barber, however, was hesitant to put a timeline on his MLB debut.
“I don’t think it’s ever really easy to predict how fast a person is going to have the ability to move,” Barber told MLB.com's Todd Zolecki. “I do know he has the potential to move quickly, just because he does the two things: it’s already more ‘now’ stuff that you don’t have to project a ton on.”
It might not stop with Wood, either. McDaniel added that the Phillies' next pick, 63rd-overall selection Cade Obermueller, could also reach the big leagues this year.
“[Obermueller] is another possible starter who also could move quickly as a lefty turning 22 later this month with two knockout pitches in his fastball/slider combo,” he continued. “Odds are good that at least one of them can provide big league value in the next 12 months if Philly wants to utilize them that way.”
At 55-41, the Phillies are in first place in the National League East, but they're expected to pursue bullpen help at the trade deadline. As of Monday, they rank 23rd in baseball in bullpen ERA (4.38) and 24th in WHIP (1.37).
If Wood or Obermueller are not ready this year (or even if they are), the Phillies are doing their due diligence on the reliever market. USA Today's Bob Nightengale reported on Sunday that Philadelphia has been “extensively scouting” Minnesota Twins arms Jhoan Duran and Griffin Jax, hoping to acquire “at least one of them.”
