Draft picks Gage Wood and Cade Obermueller should be in the Phillies bullpen by September
They’re both 21, so they can both buy beer, and they can both buy weed, so they damn sure can pitch an inning a week in October.
Eighteen days before the trade deadline, the Phillies might have resolved their bullpen crisis.
They took right-handed fireballer Gage Wood, the kid who threw a no-hitter for Arkansas in the College World Series, in the first round of the MLB draft.
They then took left-handed sling-shooter Cade Obermueller, Wes Obermueller’s kid, in the second.
You need two effective pitches to get three outs twice a week in the majors.
Wood: Fastball-curve. Obermueller: Fastball-slider.
Let’s get it.
Both can hit 98 mph on the gun. They’re both college products, so not high-schoolers, so not callow. They’re both 21, so they can both buy beer, and they can both buy weed, so they damn sure can pitch an inning a week in October.
» READ MORE: Reaction to the Phillies picking Gage Wood in the first round
Give them a month in the minors. Make sure they can throw strikes to grown men. Then get their butts in red-and-white pinstripes, because, God bless ’em, but Max Lazar and Daniel Robert aren’t going to help you beat the Dodgers in October.
Don’t scoff.
Reigning National League Cy Young winner Chris Sale was 21 when the White Sox drafted him 13th overall in 2010. He pitched just over 10 innings of relief in the minors before he hit the majors as a 21-year-old in early August, and he didn’t give up a run in his first five outings.
Phillies president Dave Dombrowski certainly isn’t scared of fast-tracking real talent, either. Orion Kerkering, a fifth-round pick in June 2022, was 22 and had just over 60 innings of minor-league experience when Dombrowski promoted him in September 2023. Johan Rojas, for better or worse, skipped triple-A ball entirely in 2023 when the Phillies needed a late-season center fielder.
» READ MORE: Q&A with former Phillies GM Ed Wade
What Dombrowski seems scared of these days is offering real talent in trade. Once nicknamed “Dealin’ Dave,” he left bare cupboards in previous jobs, trading top prospects for veterans as he chased titles. There’s no chance he’s giving up starter Andrew Painter, infielder Aidan Miller, or center fielder Justin Crawford, and abandoning Mick Abel to rent Kyle Finnegan or Hoby Milner would be madness.
The Phillies say now they want to groom Wood as a starter for the near future. Maybe that frees them up to trade Abel for a productive outfielder, if they have any takers.
Let’s see how they feel if Jordan Romano and Matt Strahm blow a few more saves after the All-Star break.
Maybe these draftees save the Phillies from sacrificing a prospect in a July 31 trade for the bullpen help they direly need.
Hypothetically, the help won’t be as direly needed after Aug. 19, when closer José Alvarado is eligible to return from his 80-game PED suspension, although he is ineligible for the postseason.
Hypothetically, the help won’t be as direly needed once the playoffs start, because two of the Phillies’ five starters will be sent to the ’pen, since teams usually need only three starters.
» READ MORE: Who will be the fifth starter?
Hypothetically, the Phillies could actually have six viable starters come October, since phenom Andrew Painter and currently injured No. 2 starter Aaron Nola are expected to pitch for the big club within the next month.
In pitching the third no-hitter in CWS history, Wood struck out 19, walked none, threw 119 pitches, and he would have pitched the first perfect game in CWS history if he hadn’t hit Dom Decker in the eighth. (Decker led Murray State with 15 HBPs. Hmm.)
Those nine innings gave Wood just 37⅔ for the season, since he made just 10 starts for the Razorbacks due to an early-season wonky shoulder. He’s got plenty of 98-mph bullets left. His whiff rate the past two seasons is about 45%, which is about the whiff rate of the Phillies hitters when they’re going bad.
Obermueller pitched 83⅓ innings, but he hasn’t pitched since May. He’s fresh.
Both know bullpen ball. Both were relievers as freshmen.
“Woody,” as he is known by his familiars, might be a tick less appealing than Obermueller, who’s got a funky delivery, a slider that travels, and pedigree: His dad, who was one of his coaches at Iowa, pitched five seasons in the majors and a couple in Asia.
At worst, Wood and Obermueller should be able to fill a bullpen spot when the rosters expand from 26 to 28 players in September. At best, both should be part of the Phillies’ autumn aspirations.
Why wait?