Who’s he and the place did he come from?
He’s Marcus Phillips and he involves us from South Dakota through the College of Tennessee. The Red Sox chosen Phillips thirty third total, with a choose acquired through the Quinn Priester commerce.
Fifty p.c of my freshman yr roommates have been from The Mount Rushmore State, however solely 0.002% of all Main League Baseball gamers in historical past have been from there. Can Phillips beat the chances and change into solely the fifth participant born in South Dakota to make the All-Star crew becoming a member of Floyd Bannister, Keith Foulke (!), Justin Duchscherer, and Sean Doolittle? We’ll discover out someday over the following 15 years!
What place does he play?
In the event you paid any consideration in any respect to the draft, you most likely know the reply: he’s a pitcher. Particularly, a right-handed starter.
Will he be any good?
Phillips is one thing of a late bloomer. Popping out of highschool, he didn’t have the chance to play main college baseball and ended up at Iowa Western Group Faculty (as somebody who has been to Council Bluffs, Iowa, I provide him my sympathies). He was really nonetheless a two-way participant at that time, however he transitioned to pitching full-time when he transferred to Tennessee a yr later. He spent his first yr with the Vols within the bullpen, the place he confirmed good things however struggled together with his management, strolling 15 hitters in 20 innings.
However Phillips blossomed as a starter this season, placing up a 3.90 ERA over 83 innings of labor through which he allowed 75 hits together with 11 homers, walked 34 (a virtually 50% drop in his stroll price from the earlier season) and struck out 98 batters.
Like nearly each different pitcher Craig Breslow focused on this draft, he’s a giant dude, coming in at 6’4”, 246 lbs., with a giant fastball that may contact 100. His slider is a reliable weapon, however proper now he doesn’t provide many secondary pitches.
Given his relative lack of expertise he has a variety of outcomes. If he can develop his arsenal a bit extra and study to remain within the strike zone, he may have a profession as an MLB starter — and together with his bodily body and instruments, he may change into an excellent one. Nevertheless it’s simply as seemingly that he results in the bullpen, or by no means harnesses his stuff sufficient to have a lot of a profession in any respect. He’s what I might take into account a high-ceiling/high-risk choose.
Present me a cool spotlight?
Marcus Philips performed within the 2017 Little League World Series on the primary crew from Sioux Falls ever to make it to Williamsport. Right here he’s introducing himself and displaying off his soar shot type:
And right here he’s hammering a homer to the alternative discipline:
Seven years later, Phillips would go on to win the 2024 Faculty World Collection with the College of Tennessee. He didn’t play a starring position on that crew, but when ever makes it to the precise World Collection, he’ll change into simply the fourth participant in historical past to play within the Little League World Collection, the Faculty World Collection, and the true World Collection. You already know one of many different different three gamers who’s carried out that:
Oh, and since Phillips isn’t going to be taking part in first base and batting cleanup like he did for Sioux Falls Little League, listed below are some highlights of him pitching earlier this season:
When can we count on to see him on the Purple Sox?
We’re going to need to be affected person right here because the Purple Sox do every thing they’ll to show him into a giant league starter. As is often the case with not too long ago drafted pitchers who want some mechanical work, we could not see him on a minor league roster this season. I’ll guess he begins at Greenville subsequent yr a la Payton Tolle who, like Phillips, was a two-way participant when he entered faculty.
If he doesn’t make it as a starter, he’s obtained the profile to show into an efficient reliever down the road.
