About a decade ago, it was a solid field for the 2015 MLB Draft class. Having missed the postseason for three straight years at the time, the Philadelphia Phillies had the opportunity to land a promising top prospect in the first round with the 10th selection in the draft.
In the end, the Phillies decided on shortstop Cornelius Randolph out of Griffin High School, Georgia. Randolph would go on to spend six uninspiring seasons in the Phillies minor league system, and was eventually out of MLB by 2022.
MLB.com recently came out with a redraft of that same 2015 Draft class. The results served as a sad reminder of what Philadelphia really missed out on that year during the first round that could have helped the organization to a faster turnaround and become legitimate contenders once again as a result.
Phillies whiffed in 2015 Draft and missed out on Jake Cronenworth among others in first round
The Phillies weren’t going to get future star players Alex Bregman or Kyle Tucker, who also happened to be targets Philadelphia could have pursued this past offseason. Nor were they going to land prominent players such as Dansby Swanson and Ian Happ, who all went earlier in the first round.
But they really bombed out in selecting a prep player in Randolph who didn’t even move the needle when all was said and done. Looking back with the redraft, Philadelphia missed out on potential game changers such as Walker Buehler and Austin Riley, and to some extent, solid producers such as Cedric Mullins, Brandon Lowe and Ryan Mountcastle.
In fact, based on the MLB.com redraft, the Phillies should have landed slugging utility infielder Jake Cronenworth with their 10th overall pick. As a two-way player at the time of the draft, Cronenworth eventually developed as a full-time infielder within the Tampa Bay Rays organization before he was dealt to the San Diego Padres along with Tommy Pham during the 2019-20 offseason. Cronenworth ultimately made his MLB debut with the Padres during the 2020 season and steadily established himself as a bonafide player in the majors.
From there, the star infielder finished runner-up in the National League Rookie of the Year voting, along with becoming an All-Star twice in his six seasons in the major leagues. With the ability to average double digits in home runs and over 70 RBIs per season while hitting close to .250, along with the added flexibiiity to play multiple positions in the infield, Cronenworth would have definitely been a useful piece in their current contending puzzle.
Phillies missed on some other big-name players by taking Randolph
As for some of the other notable pieces that the Phillies missed out on, Buehler would have instantly added a future front-end starter to their rotation to pair with Aaron Nola in the latter parts of the 2010s. The right-handed pitcher went on to start for the Los Angeles Dodgers, where he finished as a finalist for the NL Rookie of the Year Award in 2018, along with two top-10 NL Cy Young voting finishes in 2019 and 2021. The two-time All-Star fulfilled his destiny by helping the Dodgers to two World Series championships in 2020 and 2024.
As for Riley, he has evolved into a cornerstone for the Atlanta Braves at the hot corner, becoming a perennial 30+ home run, 90+ RBI man. The two-time All-Star and Silver Slugger winner finished three times in the top 10 in NL MVP voting while leading the Braves to their first World Series title in 26 years in 2021. With Riley, the Phillies certainly wouldn’t need to worry about whether they should keep Alec Bohm or not at third base.
Regarding Mullins, he could have been the Phillies' permanent answer for their ongoing outfield situation, providing the elite combination of speed and power with his ability to average 20+ home runs, 60+ RBIs and close to 30 stolen bases per season over a 162-game schedule. As for Lowe and Mountcastle, they would no doubt be key offensive contributors on a potent contending team like Philadelphia.
Looking at the rest of the draft for the Phillies that year, their notable selections also included Scott Kingery, Bailey Falter and Tyler Gilbert, who have all happened to go on to have less-than-stellar careers within the Philadelphia system. As a result, let’s just say 2015 is a draft year that the Phillies and their faithful would rather forget.