The Phillies have wrapped up the 2020 MLB Draft and the draft grades are coming in
We’re now a couple of days removed from the Phillies selecting four players in the 2020 MLB Draft. They picked up a highly-touted high school pitcher in Mick Abel and three college guys with who are all highly projectable.
Now that the dust has settled on the 2020 MLB Draft, we’re hearing from the experts about what they thought of the Phillies 2020 MLB Draft class.
On the Baseball America podcast with J.J. Cooper and Ben Badler, Abel came up as one of the best picks in the first round.
"I think this was one of the better picks in the first round… at 15 here the upside is pretty massive"
A lot of teams went with college players early in the draft so the Phillies were likely very surprised that Abel fell to them at 15.
Keith Law of The Athletic (subscription required) said of Abel that the Phillies “got the best in the group” of high school pitchers.
CBS Sports also liked the Phillies draft, giving them a B grade for their four picks.
"The Phillies hit a home run by landing prep right-hander Mick Abel in the middle of the first round. He has all the makings of at least a mid-rotation starter, albeit one who will require developmental time. Their other notable pick was third-round shortstop Casey Martin. He has first-round tools, but slipped because of poor pitch recognition and a glove that’s likely to land him in center field when it’s all said and done. This class is high on risk, and high on reward."
The Casey Martin pick has been fairly well-received around baseball considering Philadelphia drafted him 57 spots after where many expected him to go in the late first round. The idea of a toolsy college middle infielder with some pop and speed sounds like Scott Kingery 2.0 to me.
Bleacher Report honed in on the fact that the Phillies are now only looking to win now, but are looking towards the future.
"Time is no matter right now. The club has a chance to open a large championship window, and all eyes are on the future."
Fourth rounder Carson Ragsdale from the University of South Florida is another big pitcher who is, wait for it, projectable and could be a swing man between the bullpen and rotation. Of course, the Phillies would be happy if he turns into a fourth or fifth starter in the. big league rotation, but there’s still work to do there.
Fifth round pick Baron Radcliff hit some real dingers in college but his strikeout rate is very high. Philadelphia has some time to work with him and maybe develop him into a future NL DH or a power bat off the bench. He has the raw power to play against big leaguers, but his batting average must be better to stick. We’ve already seen Tommy Joseph and Darin Ruf play for a year and then move to Asia to hit .240 with 25 home runs.
The Phillies weren’t mentioned by MLB Pipeline or Baseball America as one of the top draft classes this year, but they did have only four picks to work with. They took some high upside guys hoping to strike gold, but for some of them, it might be a couple of years before we ever hear much of them again.