Phillies first-round picks a mixed bag of results in 2017
By John Town
2012: Shane Watson
The Phillies had two picks in 2012 in the first supplemental round of the draft because they lost Ryan Madson and Raul Ibanez in free agency. They used those picks on two high school pitchers, Shane Watson and Mitch Gueller. Gueller is now out of the system after being released last year, but Watson is still with the team.
Watson started off the year in Double-A Reading’s rotation but didn’t do very well. In 10 starts, he had a 5.52 ERA, walking more batters than he struck out while posting a 1.89 WHIP. Opposing hitters were batting .312 against Watson in that span. It was safe to say Watson couldn’t cut it in the rotation.
In June, Watson was moved to the bullpen and has seen better results. He still isn’t striking out very many batters, but he cut his walk rate down to 5.9 percent and his WHIP to 1.34. Through 15 bullpen appearances, Watson has a 2.92 ERA, but his fielding-independent pitching of 4.78 is rather poor.
It seems like Watson is destined for a career in the bullpen, which isn’t what you hope for from a first-round pick. We have to hope he can improve his performance, because otherwise he may bottom out as well.