Phillies select Arkansas pitcher Gage Wood with first-round pick in MLB draft

ATLANTA — Eleven years ago, the Phillies drafted a college pitcher in the first round because they believed he could reach the majors quickly.

Aaron Nola made it in 13 months.

Start the clock on Gage Wood.

For the first time since 2019, before Brian Barber took over as amateur scouting director, the Phillies used their first-round draft pick on a college player, taking Wood from the University of Arkansas with the 26th overall selection Sunday night.

» READ MORE: The evolution of Zack Wheeler: How he’s become the ace of aces during a run that rivals any Phillie in history

Wood was projected in most mock drafts to get snatched up in the middle of the first round, especially after he threw the third no-hitter in College World Series history last month.

Instead, the 21-year-old righty landed in the Phillies’ lap. And now, given his age and experience — as a starter and a reliever — at Arkansas, the conversation will begin about how quickly he might move through the farm system once the Phillies sign him.

“I don’t think it’s ever really easy to predict how fast a person’s going to have the ability to move,” Barber said on a conference call. “I do know he has the potential to move quickly. It’s already more now-stuff that you don’t have to project a ton on.

“You don’t normally have an opportunity, especially at [No.] 26, to select a college pitcher with stuff and such a dominating performance when he was on the mound.”

It’s exceedingly rare in baseball for even first-round picks to make an immediate impact at the major-league level, but it isn’t unprecedented. Chris Sale notably made his debut as a reliever with the White Sox two months after getting drafted in 2010.

Other, more recent examples of hard-throwing pitchers who were fast-tracked to the majors: Brandon Finnegan pitched in the College World Series for Texas Christian and the World Series for the Royals after being drafted in the first round in 2014; the White Sox pushed lefty Garrett Crochet to the majors in September 2020, three months after drafting him.

“If you’re taking a college pitcher up high, they should have a few of the qualities that allow a guy to advance at a faster-than-normal rate,” Barber said. “They should be doing more than just one thing. They should have more than one pitch, and they should be able to throw strikes.”

The Phillies continued the college pitching theme, taking lefty Cade Obermueller from Iowa and right-hander Cody Bowker from Vanderbilt in the second and third rounds, respectively. Both pitchers throw from a low arm slot and feature a fastball-slider combination. Obermueller’s father, Wes, played parts of five seasons in the majors.

MLB compressed the draft into two days, with rounds four through 20 set for Monday.

» READ MORE: The Phillies need bullpen help, and there’s appealing options. But are they willing to take a big swing?

Wood is clearly the Phillies’ headliner. Listed at 6-foot and 205 pounds, he’s a power pitcher, with a swing-and-miss heater that sits at 94-96 mph and reaches 98, according to MLB Pipeline. Wood struck out 69 batters in 37⅔ innings and held opponents to a .194 average as a junior this year.

In his signature no-hitter against Murray State, Wood lost a perfect game after hitting a batter in the eighth inning. Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn left him in the game to finish the no-hitter on his 119th pitch, even though he missed time earlier in the season with a shoulder injury.

Barber wouldn’t get into details about the injury other than to say it “wasn’t anything that we were concerned about for the long term.”

How much did the no-hitter boost Wood’s draft stock?

“I think Gage Wood made himself some money today,” Murray State coach Dan Skirka told reporters after the game. “Holy cow.”

The MLB-recommended slot value for the 26th overall pick is $3,492,200, slightly less than half of the Phillies’ overall bonus pool of $7,849,400.

Barber said the Phillies followed Wood since last summer in the Cape Cod League. Even though he was a closer as a freshman at Arkansas, the Phillies view him as a long-term starter, at least initially.

“You see those dominating two pitches [fastball, curveball] and people are going to automatically think, move to the bullpen,” Barber said. “But this is a guy that’s shown the ability to do it. The start in the College World Series, it was quality stuff from pitch one to pitch 119. We’re not planning to move him to the bullpen long-term anytime soon.”

» READ MORE: Trade deadline preview: Dave Dombrowski on the Phillies’ biggest roster needs and their X-factor

Through Barber’s first five seasons running the draft room, the Phillies selected right-handers Mick Abel (2020) and Andrew Painter (2021), center fielder Justin Crawford (2022), shortstop Aidan Miller (2023), and outfielder Dante Nori (2024) — all out of high school — in the first round.

This year’s draft was packed with high school infielders, specifically shortstops. Twelve of the first 25 picks were high school infielders, including No. 1 overall Eli Willits to the Nationals and No. 4 overall Ethan Holliday to the Rockies. Willits and Holliday are the sons of former major leaguers.

But Barber hinted last week that the Phillies could go the college route this time from among the 28 or 30 players that they thought could be available to them at No. 26, noting that the number of talented college pitchers “sort of jumps out to me.”

“I’ve told you guys — I’m not sure if you ever believed me — in past years, that we like college guys, as well,“ Barber said. ”Sometimes it’s just the way it lines up when it’s your turn to pick. Gage was the best guy on our board, and when we took Cade, it was the same way and Cody in the third round.

“All three guys we liked, we identified early in the process. Very, very excited to come away with these three arms.”