Phillies: 3 players they could take in the 2020 MLB Draft

Are the Phillies really going to take a catcher in the first round?

There was a ton of debate swirling around where the Phillies could go in the first round. It wasn’t until recently that multiple mock drafts set their sights on high school catcher Tyler Soderstrom out of California.

Philadelphia has drafted six catchers in the first round, tied with shortstop for the most at an infield position. Two notable picks were Mike Lieberthal with the third overall pick in 1990 and Travis d’Arnaud in the supplemental round of the 2011 draft.

Lieberthal is arguably the greatest catcher in team history and d’Arnaud was subsequently traded to Toronto for Roy Halladay and played several years across a couple of teams.

Soderstrom’s father Steve was a 1993 first round pick out but played only three major league games for the San Francisco Giants.

Tyler Soderstrom hit .450 with 12 doubles and four home runs in 28 games his junior season. In 2020, his high school senior season, he got to play only five games hitting 5-14 (.357) with a double and home run.

The Phillies have certainly don’t have a dearth of catchers in the organization. Of course, they have the best catcher in the game with J.T. Realmuto, who is in the last year of his current contract with the team. Philadelphia has six legitimate catching prospects who are currently or have previously been ranked on national prospect lists, including Rodolfo Duran and Rafael Marchan.

Any of those prospects would be expendable if the Phillies sign Realmuto to a long-term deal or draft Soderstrom.