Drafted last month, this Phillies prospect's first career hit was GRAND
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If you could choose what you would like your first career hit in professional baseball to look like, you can't do much better than what Phillies prospect Will Gasparino did Friday at Single-A.
The outfielder, playing in his first pro game with the Clearwater Threshers, launched a grand slam in the sixth inning of a 10-5 win over Jupiter at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium.
Gasparino struck out in his first three at-bats before he came to the plate with the bases loaded in the sixth and promptly smashed a 95.1 mph sinker a Statcast-projected 397 feet to left-center. The pitch came off his bat at 107.4 mph.
It was an early glimpse of the 60-grade power that the 6-foot-6 Gasparino possesses from the right side of the plate. Although he was MLB Pipeline's No. 72 Draft prospect this year, he slid to the fifth round, where the Phillies selected him at No. 161 overall.
The son of a baseball scout, Gasparino put up big numbers this past spring at UCLA, hitting 20 homers in 58 games and batting .314 for the Bruins while sharing the field with the 2026 No. 1 overall Draft pick, shortstop Roch Cholowsky.
Gasparino said before the Draft that he likes to model his game after Yankees superstar Aaron Judge. His career-opening clout was a pretty good impression of the three-time American League MVP.