Never heard of Griffin Burkholder? Not for long for this Phillies prospect.

CLEARWATER, Fla. — At the end of July, Griffin Burkholder showed up to the Phillies’ spring training complex to attend a minicamp for new draft picks. By the beginning of August, he already had a nickname.

Say hello to “Captain America.”

That was what Phillies minor league director Luke Murton began calling Burkholder, and well, it stuck. Because the 19-year-old outfielder is tall, but not too tall (6-foot-2, according to the Phillies). He’s lean but strong, with tree-trunk thighs and Popeye-thick arms. He’s clean cut, hair neatly cropped beneath his red cap.

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“I’ve been kind of called that on and off sometimes,” Burkholder said the other day, laughing at the superhero moniker. “Yeah, it was definitely a new nickname but not one that I’m going to tell them not to call me. It’s kind of funny.”

Actually, “The Natural” may be even more apropos. It could’ve been Burkholder who played catch with Robert Redford at the end of the film. As teenage baseball prospects go, he’s straight out of central casting.

He’s also the most talented Phillies minor leaguer that even the most ardent prospect-lover hasn’t seen play.

The Phillies put Burkholder on the roster Friday for “Spring Breakout,” MLB’s cleverly named annual showcase of the top minor leaguers in the sport. He went through the pregame workout and sat in the dugout at BayCare Ballpark. But the Phillies held him out of a 5-3 victory over Pirates prospects.

“As of right now, he’s good to go [for the season],” Murton said. “We just want to protect him.”

Understandable, given what happened last year. Burkholder, the Phillies’ second-round draft pick (63rd overall), made his pro debut Aug. 13 for low-A Clearwater and showed off his speed and power by driving a triple to the gap in left-center field in his first at-bat. Two innings later, he strained his hamstring while running out a grounder.

Season over.

“Hitting the triple my first at-bat, the energy was super-high,” Burkholder said. “Then the injury kind of sucks the life out of you.”

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But the Phillies signed Burkholder for first-round money ($2.5 million, identical to fellow outfielder Dante Nori, their first-round pick) to dissuade him from honoring his commitment to play in college at West Virginia.

They orchestrated a draft-night twofer — signing Nori for less than the MLB-recommended slot value and tossing the savings at Burkholder — because their scouts believe both players are first-round talents, in which case “Captain America” would be a steal.

“I definitely had a sense of it,” Burkholder said of the Phillies’ draft strategy. “Come draft night, I didn’t know 100% what was going to happen, whether it was going to be the draft or whether it was going to be college. But I knew the Phillies were a team that I had talked to a lot and that I had a good relationship with, so when they came calling and the offer that I received was an opportunity that I couldn’t turn down.”

Burkholder grew up in northern Virginia, 25 miles from Washington. He was 14 in 2019 when the Nationals won the World Series. His favorite player?

“Big Trea Turner fan,” Burkholder said. “It’s pretty surreal being a part of the same organization as a guy that I watched growing up.”

As a right-handed hitter with blazing speed — he ran the 30-yard dash in 3.6 seconds, the third-fastest time at the MLB combine in July — Burkholder said he tried in high school to model his game after Turner, Fernando Tatis Jr., and later, Ronald Acuña Jr. and Bobby Witt Jr.

Once Burkholder gets on the field more often, Phillies officials believe it won’t require squinting to see a combination of speed and projectable power. They maintain that he has the athleticism to roam center field and the arm strength to play right.

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Burkholder is expected to open the season in Clearwater, where he likely will play alongside Nori. The comparisons will be inevitable, which is fine with Burkholder, who roomed with Nori at the Phillies’ draftee minicamp and said they became fast friends.

“Being in such a similar situation, coming out of high school, both pretty high picks and having expectations and going out there and performing every day, it’s been amazing having him and feeding off each other’s energy out there,” Burkholder said. “It’s been fun playing together. We’ve built a great relationship.”

Nori, an avid sports card collector, is even trying to get Burkholder into the hobby.

“I’ll show up to the field some days, and he’ll just hand me like eight of my card,” Burkholder said. “I’m like, ‘Thank you?’ And he’s like, ‘Yeah, I just got these out of a break.’ He just gives them to me. It’s cool. He gives me some cards to send back to family and friends back home.”

Burkholder had a rooting section at “Spring Breakout,” with his parents, two older brothers, and girlfriend making the trip from Virginia. Now, all “Captain America” needs to do is stay on the field long enough to show everyone what he can do.

“He’s very, very smart. He’s very well put together physically,” Murton said. “He’s just like everything that you want in a kid. That’s just kind of who Griffin Burkholder is. We all want to see him play. We just want to protect him long-term.”

Infield prospect Carson DeMartini broke a tie with a solo homer in the seventh inning. … Center fielder Justin Crawford notched two hits (including a triple), stole a base, and scored a run; second baseman Devin Saltiban drove an RBI double to the gap in left-center. … Top prospect Aidan Miller (0-for-4, two strikeouts) played five innings at shortstop and four at third base. … On the pitching side, righty Moisés Chace started and struck out two batters in a scoreless inning; Griff McGarry gave up two runs on one hit, two walks, a hit batter, and a wild pitch.