Intriguing Phillies 2025 draft pick poised for MLB debut before Gage Wood

In 2025, the Philadelphia Phillies' most relevant pitching prospects, Mick Abel and Andrew Painter, were on the MLB horizon, with Abel making his debut earlier this year. To combat those losses to the team's farm system, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski and the rest of the front office tried to restock the team's pipeline with more pitching depth this summer.

During the first round of the 2025 MLB Draft, the Phillies selected right-hander Gage Wood with the 26th overall pick. He signed a $3 million contract and made his professional debut in Single-A Clearwater. He struck out five of six batters over two innings. Between his strong debut and his College World Series no-hitter, when he struck out 19, Wood stands as the catalyst for the future of Phillies pitching.

According to Carlos Collazo of Baseball America, however, it seems Wood might not be the first 2025 draft pick to debut for the Phillies. Collazo identifies fifth-round pick Gabe Craig as the prospect closest to making his MLB debut (subscription required).

Phillies' fifth-rounder Gabe Craig picked to debut before first-rounder Gage Wood

Both Wood and Craig are projected to make their debuts sometime during the 2026 season. However, Collazo suggests that the 24-year-old Craig might get his call-up to The Show first, with how he has been throwing the ball.

While the hype around Wood after the draft was certainly deserved, Craig might prove to have been the best move of the team's 2025 draft.

While comparing the two future stars would be moot, with Wood projected to be an elite-level starter and Craig known to come out of the bullpen, the two were among the biggest names in pitching in the College World Series last year. Collazo thinks Craig has the most intriguing background of all the Phillies 2025 draft picks.

Craig began his career at Tyler Junior College in Tyler, Texas. He started his collegiate career at Texas A&M but transferred to Baylor, where he spent the final three years. He bookended his six-year collegiate career with a breakout senior season. In 32 innings he posted a 0.59 ERA with 51 strikeouts and three walks.

The former All-American closer has some of the best breaking stuff coming through the pipeline. Drawing comparisons to Orion Kerkering's stuff, his "wipeout" slider and wicked fastball serve as a nice one-two punch in his arsenal, potentially being a key to how the future Phillies will attack late innings during close games.

In his tenure with Baylor, Craig posted a 42.5 percent strikeout minus walk rate, which was the best in the country among Division I pitchers with at least 30 innings, per Collazo. No. 2 on that list was none other than Wood, who had a 41.2 percent rate.

While he may not make his debut at the beginning of the 2026 season, it feels like having Craig in the bullpen to set up for Jhoan Duran can't come soon enough.