DETROIT — The Major League Baseball Draft begins Friday at the Pennsylvania Convention Center Grand Hall. The top 135 picks will be made on Day 1. Don’t get too excited. The Phillies don’t have a true first-round selection. They will pick 36th, a 10-pick penalty for passing the second lu xury tax threshold. Although, come to think of it, Hall of Famers Randy Johnson and Johnny Bench were both the 36th pick. And then Philadelphia again at 64, 100, 128 and 135. Last year, the club, led by director of amateur scouting Brian Barber, went in a different direction compared to years past. The Phillies used their first-round pick on a pitcher for the first time since Andrew Painter in 2021, selecting Arkansas’ Gage Wood with the 26th pick. They then selected 14 pitchers (13 collegiate) in 20 rounds, including nine in the first 10. In the three previous drafts, only 37 percent of their top-10 selections had been pitchers. In those drafts, they used their first three picks on position players. Fortunately, Barber likes how last year’s pitching-heavy class has started. “Happy where a lot of them are,” Barber said Wednesday. “Obviously, Gage has been off to a good start and started in Clearwater and is up in Double A, and I think he’s showing what he can do. You guys will see him in the Futures Game this weekend.” Barber also pointed to southpaw Cade Obermuller, who had a slower start after dealing with mono but has looked strong in his first pro season, and Cody Bowker, who has already moved from Clearwater to Jersey Shore. “You try to look at some of the combinations of early predictors of stuff, strikeout percentage and walk percentage,” Barber said. “Those guys are kind of doing exactly what we thought they might. Obviously, there’s a lot of development for all of them still needed to get to their projection, but off to a good start with a lot of them.” The Phillies have made a clear commitment to pitching over the last calendar year, extending Cristopher Sánchez and Jesús Luzardo, after using their first pick last year on Wood. Barber described this year’s draft as one with more uncertainty than usual near the Phillies’ range. Picking 26th is already difficult. Moving back 10 spots only adds to it. “It does get challenging trying to predict what’s going to happen in front of you,” Barber said. “It might be this year a little bit more than any. There’s a very good grouping of players that maybe haven’t separated themselves.” That has forced the Phillies to keep a wider board than usual. “The pool is large this year, and that’s fine,” Barber said. “I have no problem making sure we go out and scout good players. Those are fun to go see anyway. So we’ve scouted just about everybody.” The class itself has shape, and there are some specifics that stand out. “I think the top of the draft is going to be dominated by position players, probably more on the college end,” Barber said. “The high school left-handed pitching jumps out, and then just the depth of the right-handed pitching throughout the draft.” For the Phillies, the question at 36 is not only who gets there. It is what type of risk they want to take once they are on the clock. Do they take the safer floor? Do they chase the bigger upside? “I’ve never been afraid to shoot for the upside and the potential there,” Barber said. WHO DO THE PROGNOSTICATORS THINK THE PHILLIES WILL GET AT NO. 36? Here are a few names national draft analysts have connected to Philadelphia in recent mock drafts. Jonathan Mayo, MLB.com: Tyler Spangler, SS, De La Salle High School Mayo described Spangler as “more polish than flash” with “excellent zone awareness,” two traits that would fit the Phillies’ recent interest in high school position players with real offensive foundation. Spangler would not be a wild departure from recent Barber drafts. Justin Crawford, Aidan Miller and Dante Nori were all prep bats taken near the top, though each had a different profile. Spangler would give the system another left-handed-hitting infielder with size and a chance to stay on the dirt. Jim Callis, MLB.com: Mason Edwards, LHP, Southern Cal Callis wrote that Edwards has a “solid three-pitch mix” and “all the ingredients needed to be a solid starting pitcher.” That would make sense if the Phillies want a college arm with a chance to move quicker than a high school pitcher. Barber pointed to the strength of the left-handed pitching in this class, and Edwards would give them a more experienced version of that profile near the top of the draft. Kiley McDaniel, ESPN: Archer Horn, SS, St. Ignatius Prep McDaniel wrote that some teams value Horn “among the top-25 players in the draft,” while others view his signability differently. He also noted that rivals believe the Phillies are among the interested teams. Horn would be another swing on a high school athlete with upside. That has been familiar territory under Barber. The Phillies have not been afraid to take prep position players early, especially ones with defensive versatility and impact traits. Mark Chiarelli, Baseball America: Logan Schmidt, LHP, Ganesha High School Chiarelli wrote that he was “a little surprised Schmidt is still here” in BA’s mock, noting that the left-hander was up to 98 mph and “throws tons of strikes.” Schmidt lines up with Barber’s point about this being a strong class for high school left-handed pitching. He would be a longer-term play than a college arm, but the Phillies have shown they are willing to wait on upside when they believe the ingredients are worth it. Carlos Collazo, Baseball America: Caden Sorrell, OF, Texas AM Collazo wrote that the Phillies have been “connected to a ton of athletes” in this draft, which made Sorrell a reasonable fit in his mock. Sorrell would give the Phillies a college bat with power, and strong physical tools, from a major conference. That would be a different path than the prep-heavy position-player picks they have made early in recent years, but the athletic component fits the type of player evaluators have connected to them. Cole’s pick: Taylor Rabe, RHP, Mississippi That feels like the direction the Phillies could go again. They have leaned harder into pitching over the last year, and Rabe would bring a more experienced arm closer to the top of the system. He could be developed as a starter, but the fastball also gives him a potential future as a leverage reliever, which remains a clear organizational need The 6-foot-5 frame stands out. He can light up the radar gun and pound the strike zone, while adding a Phillies’ sweeper could take his arsenal to a whole other level. He was one of the best pitchers in College Baseball by the end of the season, for a reason. ...read more read less