The season is young, but Gage Wood has yet to allow more than two hits in any of his starts.
The Phillies' No. 4 prospect continued that trend in his latest outing Wednesday for Single-A Clearwater. Wood struck out four while allowing a hit, three walks and plunking a batter over four scoreless innings in the Threshers' eventual 5-4 loss to Dunedin at TD Ballpark.
In 11 1/3 professional innings, the 26th selection in the 2025 Draft has struck out 19 while giving up just one run on four hits (only one extra-base hit) and five walks, good for an 0.79 ERA.
In his third start of the season, Wood generated eight whiffs at a 27.6 percent rate. MLB's No. 98 overall prospect leaned heavily into his 70-grade four-seamer, throwing it at a 63.8 percent clip. And the offering was effective, sitting at 95.6 mph with 17.3 inches of induced vertical break and topping out at 96.7 mph.
While seldom thrown, Wood's two biggest works in progress -- his 45-grade slider and 45-grade changeup -- were effective. The slider generated a 50 percent chase rate, while his changeup averaged 14.3 inches of horizontal break and netted a strikeout of Peyton Williams (Blue Jays) to start the fourth.
Though the 22-year-old's three walks were a professional high, he was able to navigate out of trouble in his final frame by inducing a 4-6 double-play ball.
COMPLETE PHILLIES PROSPECT COVERAGE
Wood made history for Arkansas last year by racking up 19 strikeouts en route to the first Men's College World Series no-hitter in 65 years. That boosted his stock in the Draft, when Philadelphia used its first-round selection on the flame-throwing righty. He was the first college pitcher the Phillies selected in the first round since Aaron Nola in 2014.