Phillies: Top five MLB Draft classes since 1998

Few draft classes have stood out for the Phillies with the exception of these five

Phillies baseball hasn’t seen great days in recent years and much of that has to do with their draft classes. Dating back 20 years the franchise has only seen a handful of successful drafts with multiple major league players emerge out of 40 rounds.

5. 2002, Cole Hamels & Scott Mathieson

Cole Hamels headlines the 2002 draft class for obvious reasons for his efforts in 2008 and beyond. Drafted 17th overall Hamels has been more than the Phillies could have imagined from the lefty out of Rancho Bernadino High School.

Hamels earned his first of four All-Star appearances in his second season and capped the 2007 season by finishing sixth in the Cy Young race. The lefty went on to earn NLCS and World Series MVP honors in 2008, but received zero Cy Young votes.

In 2014 Hamels pitched six innings in a combined no-hitter against the Atlanta Braves and in his final start with the Phillies he no-hit the Cubs on the road.

He’s sixth in franchise history with 114 wins, second in strikeouts per nine innings, fourth in starts, third in strikeouts, and fourth in WAR among pitchers.

Mathieson’s career was much-less heralded as a 17th round pick out of Canada, appearing in just 15 major league games. Making eight starts in 2006 Mathieson was converted to the bullpen and made just six appearances from 2010-11 before the club released him. From 2012-17 Mathieson has pitched in Japan with tremendous success owning a 2.30 ERA in 359 relief appearances.

3. 2000, Chase Utley & Taylor Buchholtz

What really needs to be said about Chase Utley’s career other than he’s been robbed of multiple Gold Gloves and he’s a borderline Hall of Famer. One of the toughest and most complete players in the last decade Utley arrived to the big leagues in grand fashion.

Doesn’t get much better than that for Mr. Utley, who went on to hit 259 home runs with over 1,000 RBIs and nearly 1,900 hits.

Buchholtz was traded to Houston for Billy Wagner in November 2003 and had a short career of five years going 20-22 in 158 games as a starter and reliever.

2. 2014, Aaron Nola, Rhys Hoskins, Brandon Leibrandt & Damek Tomscha

Recent history has proven to be positive for the Phillies with at least two pieces of the future selected in the 2014 class. Aaron Nola has established himself as a young ace with Cy Young award potential early in his career. Winning 12 games last season Nola has already won seven in 2018 with a 2.18 ERA in 12 starts.

Hoskins looked like an MVP candidate from the end of last season to early 2018 before a month-long slump ended with a fractured jaw. If Hoskins returns to rookie form when he returns in a couple of weeks the Phillies will be both relieved and ecstatic. Even with the month-long slump, he’s averaging a home run every four games in his career.

Leibrandt and Tomscha are working their ways up through the system with Tomscha recently joining his classmate in Lehigh Valley. The lefty Leibrandt has bounced between the pen and rotation all season with a 1.09 ERA in 13 games, four being starts. He allowed zero runs in his first 27 innings of the season with 16 strikeouts for the IronPigs.

Tomscha hit .302 with nine home runs for Reading before being promoted to Lehigh Valley. The third baseman has two hits in his first three games and is a career .283 hitter since being drafted out of Auburn in the 17th round.

Pitcher Matt Imhof was the Phillies second-round pick, but a training accident resulted in the loss of his right eye.

1. 1998, Pat Burrell, Ryan Madson, Jason Michaels, Nick Punto, Geoff Geary

The 1998 draft class is hands down the greatest class in Phillies history, producing five major league players. The first two players were cornerstones of the franchise while the other three became solid journeymen major leaguers.

Burrell was the first overall pick in 1998 out of the University of Miami, and the first number one overall selection in Phillies history. Drafted as a third baseman Burrell became the everyday left fielder early in his career, joining the Phillies in 2000. A candidate for both Rookie of the Year and MVP in his career Burrell hit 251 home runs for the Phillies over nine seasons and was the veteran bat in a potent 2008 lineup.

Madson was the perfect setup man for the Phillies after bouncing between the rotation and pen early in his career. He’s one of four members of the 2008 team still in the major leagues, and is now working as a reliever for the Nationals at 37-years-old.

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Michaels, a fourth-round pick, played 5 of his 11 seasons with Philadelphia hitting .291 before being traded for Arthur Rhodes to make room for Chase Utley.

Punto was the prototypical utility player fielding seven positions in his 14-year career. A 21st round pick, Punto played just 77 games over three years for Philadelphia before being traded in a package of players for pitcher Eric Milton in 2003. He was also involved in the historic Adrian Gonzalez/Josh Beckett/Carl Crawford trade between the Red Sox and Dodgers.

Geary also spent limited time in Philadelphia before being traded to Houston for Brad Lidge. A 15th round pick out of the University of Oklahoma Geary played five years for Philadelphia as a middle reliever.

Next: Five players the Phillies could draft 3rd overall

This class is headlined by Burrell, but any class that produces five major league players will rate number one.