Philadelphia Phillies Day Two MLB Draft Recap

A full recap of the Philadelphia Phillies' picks from Day Two of the MLB Draft!

Alex Carr | Jul 19, 2022

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Philadelphia Phillies

Day two of Major League Baseball's Amateur Draft has come and gone. After selecting Justin Crawford in the first round on Sunday, the Philadelphia Phillies selected eight players yesterday.

First up was Gabriel Rincones Junior, a big-bodied outfielder out of Florida Atlantic University. He boasted some of the best exit velocity data in the draft, but is seen as a first base/left field glove only.

Next came Alex McFarlane out of Miami and Orion Kerkering out of South Florida, two college pitchers with solid secondary arsenals. McFarlane has the beginnings of a strong arsenal, but was viewed as a reliever heading into the draft. The Phillies will probably stretch him out as a starter to begin his career. Kerkering has a plus slider, but could use work on both his fastball and changeup.

In the sixth round, the Phillies selected Mavis Graves, an 18 year-old lefty out of East Side High School in Greer, South Carolina. Graves is projectable, standing at six-foot-six with a decent arsenal. He was up to the low-90's with his fastball, and he certainly has room to grow, with a good start to his breaking pitches.

After Graves came catcher Caleb Ricketts, a college senior out of the University of San Diego. He has a well-touted hit tool that will seemingly designate his playing position, as he played both catcher and some corner outfield in his college career. In all, he boasted strong data this year, which led to the Phillies valuing him at the 212th overall pick.

There's only ONE draft-eligible hitter this year with a contact% over 85 percent, average exit velos over 90 mph and contact rates over 80% on both FB and breaking balls.

San Diego C/OF Caleb Ricketts.

... and he impressed scouts in the Regionals v. OSU and Vandy.

📈📈📈
— Joe Doyle (@JoeDoyleMiLB) June 7, 2022

Another college senior followed in the eighth round, as the Phillies would select Alex Rao out of Notre Dame. Rao is a reliever with a decent fastball, but both his slider and split-change have been significantly praised depending on who you talk to. He could be an interesting candidate to move briskly through Philadelphia's system.

Round nine brought the Phillies Chad Castillo, an outfielder out of California Baptist University. He had a strong showing in the Cape Cod League, hitting .333 and posting a .469 on-base percentage. Castillo is often praised for his athleticism, but has big discrepancies between his strikeout and walk rates. Still, he seems to be well liked in some circles.

Rounding things out was catcher Gustavo Sosa from South Mountain Community College in Phoenix. He spent 2021 with Rutgers and had a strong draft league showing with Trenton this summer, but not much is known about him past that.

Overall, it's been a very wonky draft for the Phillies. Day three will be the deciding factor, but as of right now, this is not a strong class.

Granted, their pool was limited, but the Phillies really needed to chase depth in this class to bridge the gap between the top and bottom ends of their system, and they did not do that. Instead, they pursued projects and riskier, low floor players, and so they have their work cut out for them.

It does feel as though the Phillies have saved a heap of money in these first ten rounds, and therefore could be aiming for a big over-slot in day three. Or perhaps they've prepared an undrafted free agent spree, similar to what they accomplished in 2020.

Yet, it's hard to say if a big over-slot will make up for the sheer lack of stable-ceiling picks, but there are some strong prep talents left, including LHP Tristan Smith, OF Gavin Turley, LHP Cade Obermueller, and RHP Jaden Noot.

It will be interesting to see what direction the Phillies head in after a relatively week day two.

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Published Jul 19, 2022

ALEX CARR

Alex Carr is a writer, editor, and podcast host for Sports Illustrated and FanNation's 'Inside The Phillies'. Previously, his work has been featured on SBNation's 'TheGoodPhight'. He/him.