The Philadelphia Phillies were excited when they selected starting pitcher Gage Wood 26th overall in the 2025 MLB Draft. He's an exciting young but experienced college arm that has the potential of helping the major league team in the not-too-distant future.
The Phillies signed Wood to a $3 million deal, under the slot value of $3,492,200, per MLB.com's Todd Zolecki, and fans had been waiting for an update after he got settled into the organization. The move took place but has turned out a bit underwhelming to say the least.
It was announced last week that Wood, who was recently ranked as the Phillies' No. 4 MLB Pipeline prospect, had been assigned to the Florida Complex League (FCL). Wood's career had to start somewhere, but his college pedigree made fans think he was beyond Rookie-level ball at this point. Wood was a college standout, so to see him starting out on the bottom is a bit surprising.
Gage Wood's first step in his journey to MLB smaller than hoped for
In his last year at Arkansas, Wood pitched to a 4-1 record and a 3.82 ERA, with a whopping 69 strikeouts in 37 2/3 innings pitched. Who could also forget the highlight of the century after throwing a no-hitter during the College World Series last season, per MLB.com's David Adler. Still, the Phillies are sending him to Rookie ball for his first taste of professional action.
What is also surprising about the move is that the FCL's season concluded in late July, but they are still playing versions of sim games. Perhaps pitching outside actual regular season games will let Wood get accustomed and allow more personalized work for him. It may be more to get Wood in the pitching lab than anything else.
Not all players get shoved through the minor leagues as soon as they're drafted, but Wood at the time seemed like one of the lucky few. Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski is notorious for not drafting college pitchers, so Phillies fans' immediate thought was that Dombrowski was looking for a possible late-season bullpen arm or even starting rotation reinforcements.
The Phillies' bullpen was scuffling at the time, so the idea of seeing Wood come out of the bullpen seemed like a very realistic scenario. The recent stretch of bullpen dominance has squashed that need.
Wood could seemingly still play this year if the team thought he was going to be ready in time. The team, along with the fan base, is excited to see what he has to offer no matter where he is. He has an edge to him that Phillies fans already seem to gravitate towards, and it wouldn't be surprising to see him fitting in perfectly.
It's close to halfway through August, so there isn't much time left to get him up for his debut, but never say never. If anything, Dombrowski is just trying to push all the right buttons to bring a championship back to Philadelphia and create lasting success.