Former first-round Phillies draft pick Cornelius Randolph is showing signs of power in Australia.
Several Philadelphia Phillies prospects are making up for a lost 2020 minor-league season by playing in Australia at the Australian Baseball League. Among those include their first-round pick from six years ago, left-handed hitting outfielder Cornelius Randolph.
Playing for his Adelaide Giants team opposite the Perth Heat on Monday, Randolph gave his team an early, 3-0 lead with an opposite field home run.
The home run marked the second for Randolph across 11 games so far in Australian Baseball League action. Spanning his 34 at-bats, he has slashed .257/.471/.235 with three runs scored, four singles, two doubles, two home runs, four RBI, one walk, and 14 strikeouts. Playing left field, Randolph has fielded a perfect 80 innings so far, committing no errors across 20 chances.
https://twitter.com/ABL/status/1351031794838216704
The Phillies drafted the Georgia native 10th overall in the 2015 draft out of Griffin High School. The 23-year-old has slashed only .255/.343/.376 with 78 doubles, 13 triples, 31 home runs, and 190 RBI through 463 games and 1,867 plate appearances in the Phils’ system. In 2019 at Double-A Reading, he hit .247/.324/.399 with 15 doubles, four triples, 10 home runs, and 44 RBI.
Other Phillies prospects receiving 2020-21 ABL action include catchers Chris Burke and Mitchell Edwards; infielders Kendall Simmons, Luke Williams, and Rixon Wingrove; outfielder Jordan McCardle; and pitchers Jonathan Hennigan, Luke Leftwich, Taylor Lehman, Jason Lott, Austin Ross, and Josh Tols.
Adelaide Giants manager Chris Adamson, a native to Australia, is also the manager of the Jersey Shore BlueClaws. Randolph played 63 games for the recently renamed Phillies affiliate in 2016.
The Phillies are hoping Randolph playing in Australia can help turn around the rather disappointing start to his professional career. So far, he has shown some signs of power, however his 14-1 strikeouts-to-walks ratio across 34 at-bats is less than ideal. It is not known whether Randolph will be invited to big-league spring training, which is set to begin in a few weeks.