Phils' recent Draft reputation? Just a coincidence
This browser does not support the video element.
This story was excerpted from Todd Zolecki’s Phillies Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
Draft three high school players in the first round in your first three Drafts and suddenly you’re a high school guy.
Phillies director of amateur scouting Brian Barber chuckles at the perception because he reads the mock drafts, too. Barber will run his fourth MLB Draft with the Phillies beginning on Sunday. In his first three, the Phillies selected right-hander Mick Abel (15th overall in 2020), right-hander Andrew Painter (13th overall in 2021) and outfielder Justin Crawford (17th overall in 2022).
Abel, Painter and Crawford were all high school players.
“When we picked, Mick was the top player, Andy was the top player, Justin was the top player,” Barber said this week. “If we were three picks later, it could have been completely different demographics than that because those guys would’ve been gone. Some of those things are funny. To look at mock drafts and be perceived as the 'high-school-right-handed-pitching guy' -- that just happened to be when we picked.”
The Phillies have the 27th overall pick this year. They forfeited their second- and fifth-round picks after signing Trea Turner in December.
“You want to be in a position where you have the ability to take the player that you think is best when it’s your time to pick,” Barber said this week. “I think we’ve proven we will do that. Whether that was Mick, whether that was Andy, whether that was Justin last year, those were the guys that were the No. 1 player on the board when it was our turn to pick. And that’s the only thing I don’t want to shy away from at 27. I want to take what we perceive the player is when it’s our time to pick.”
One thing is certain: more people will be involved in the decision. The Phillies have made a concerted effort to get the player development staff more involved in what players they bring into the organization, starting with input from player development director Preston Mattingly. And why wouldn’t they? It only makes sense.
“It’s an important thing to do,” Barber said. “The Draft might be an amateur scout thing, but it’s an organizational decision in bringing in the right player.
“I turn to [Mattingly] on an hourly basis, at least, to talk about the players that we’re talking about and the way that we would develop them and [compare] the ideas that our scouting staff would have with the ideas of player development. Being able to turn to him in the Draft room, it’s like, ‘This is our scouting evaluation; now, what would we do on a player-development basis?’ Those two ideas merging, I think it gives us, as an organization, great comfort.”
First pick and bonus slot: No. 27 overall, $2,968,800
Additional first-day picks: None.
Total bonus pool: $5,185,500
The Phillies at No. 27: They have picked three times in this spot. They selected left-hander Jesse Biddle (-0.6 WAR) in 2010, left-hander Kevin Saucier (2.3 WAR) in 1974 and left-hander Tom Underwood (9.9 WAR) in 1972.
Simply the best: The top three picks in MLB history at No. 27 are Vida Blue (45.1 WAR) in 1967, Rick Porcello (18.8 WAR) in 2007 and Pete Harnisch (17.9) in 1987. Underwood is the fifth-best pick in that slot.