Phillies address pitching, infield on day two of MLB Draft

Finally, the Phillies took the collegiate left-handed pitcher many were looking for early in the draft.

The Stanford Cardinals lefty is a big presence on the mound at 6’5, 240 pounds and he brings the heat behind his big body. Scouts have clocked Miller throwing at hard as 97 MPH with an above-average slider to go with it despite an easy throwing motion.

Scouting reports say that while Miller has the velocity he struggles with command. That’s to be expected with a young pitcher, and hopefully the Phillies minor league staff can rein him in.

MLB.com projects Miller as a reliever who can dominate lefties, and Baseball America says they could see him start his career in the rotation.

Philadelphia’s first junior college pick of the draft came in the fifth round with Gunner Mayer.

Mayer is another big presence on the mound at 6’6 with room to fill his frame. The lanky righty has a violent throwing motion with wicked fast arm speed.

MLB.com didn’t rank Mayer, while Baseball America had him as their 222nd overall prospect. BA has his fastball at 94 MPH mixed with a power curve that makes him a “high-profile” JUCO prospect.

Mayer is committed to Texas Tech, so we’ll see if the Phillies can offer enough to sign him.

Another big collegiate pitcher, Andrew Schultz went just about where MLB.com projected him to go in the middle of day two.

At 6’4 195 pounds the righty fits the profile of Philadelphia’s draft picks this year, at least for the pitchers. Baseball America calls Schultz one of the “hardest throwing pitchers in college baseball.” They project him to be a reliever with strange throwing mechanics but a fastball that can hit triple digits.

Schultz looks like he’s throwing a dart or a dodgeball by bringing his arm all the way behind him.

Publications say Schultz needs to dial things back and focus on throwing strikes, not hard. If he can develop into a late-inning reliever or potentially a closer, the Phillies could have a steal on their hands.

Yet another college pitcher goes to the Phillies with 6’2 righty Brett Schulze from Minnesota.

MLB.com profiles Schulze as a reliever with a hard fastball mixed with a cutter and slider. They say his command needs work, but he’s a very fierce competitor. Baseball America said he needs to work on developing his below-average curveball, which they said was more of a slurve.

The Phillies clearly showed in the middle of day two what their focus was: adding big college pitchers who could profile as middle of the rotation starters to back of the bullpen relievers. They took a couple swipes here and if they’re lucky they’ll hit on one.

The Lancaster County-native grew up at Citizens Bank Park (as highlighted by Matt Breen) and provides more infield depth for the Phillies organization.

Neither MLB.com nor Baseball America had Fassnacht ranked, but it’s hard to pick up every draft-eligible college, JUCO, and high school player out there. He won the Atlantic 10 Player of the Year and hit .372 with 11 home runs, 60 RBI and a 1.108 OPS last year.

A senior at the University of Ohio, Rott was also not ranked by MLB.com or Baseball America. A four year starter for the Bobcats, Rott collected 293 career hits and earned two MAC Player of the Years honors.

Rott finished his college career with a .339 batting average, 39 home runs, and only one more strikeout than walk.

Another unranked player, Tatum hit .356 with 13 home runs for Fresno State last season. The redshirt junior missed all of 2017 with an injury and had a breakout season after hitting .232 or less in his first two seasons.

Coming out of high school he was the 41st overall third baseman in the country, according to Perfect Game.

Seven of the Phillies nine draft picks were at least six feet tall and four of them were at least 6’4. They clearly had a profile this year, taking infielders and college pitchers early and often.

TBOH will have more on the final rounds of the MLB Draft as the picks come in.