For the first time since 2017, the Phillies used their first three draft picks on college pitchers. And if there was a theme on Sunday night, it was clear: Find arms that can throw strikes, spin it, and compete.
Start with the headliner.
The Phillies opened their 2025 draft by selecting Arkansas right-hander Gage Wood with the 26th overall pick. The 6-foot, 205-pound junior owns one of the most electric two-pitch combos in the class: a power fastball that touches 96 and a high-level curveball that gives hitters fits. He missed time this spring with a shoulder issue, but that didn’t stop him from making history.
Wood threw a no-hitter at the College World Series — only the third in the tournament’s history — and struck out 19 in the process. It was the kind of performance that made Phillies amateur scouting director Brian Barber stop and rethink what was possible.
"I don’t know if anybody actually got to see that start in the College World Series, where the stuff just stayed throughout," Barber said. "It was 119 pitches, and it was quality from pitch one to pitch 119."
Wood finished his season with a 3.82 ERA over 10 starts, and while the injury flagged some teams, the Phillies are confident he profiles as a rotation piece.
"We see him as a starter," Barber said. "Obviously, you see those dominating two pitches and people are going to automatically think: move to the bullpen. But this is a guy who’s shown the ability to do it. Especially with how well he throws strikes, we’re not planning to move him to the bullpen long-term anytime soon."
In the second round, the Phillies grabbed left-hander Cade Obermueller out of Iowa at No. 63. He posted a 3.02 ERA across 15 starts and had previously been selected in the 19th round by the Rangers. Rather than sign, he returned to school, improved his stock, and became a Day 1 priority for Philadelphia.
Right-hander Cody Bowker, selected with the 100th overall pick in the third round, took a winding road to the SEC. He began his college career at Georgetown before transferring to Vanderbilt, where he started 16 games in 2025 and posted a 4.38 ERA.
Barber, who has led the Phillies' amateur scouting department since 2019, called the college pitching crop one of the draft’s true strengths this year.
And for a team that hadn’t taken a college pitcher in the top three rounds since Spencer Howard and Connor Seabold in 2017, the pivot was notable.
"We always want to take the best available player," Barber said. "But in this case, the best available happened to come from the college mound."
Then came Monday. And one of those "How is he still on the board?" moments.
In the seventh round, with the 221st pick, the Phillies selected Matthew Fisher, a three-sport athlete and the 46th-ranked prospect on MLB Pipeline's board. A quarterback at Memorial High School in Indiana, Fisher brings a live arm, physicality, and raw athleticism rarely seen in a teenage pitcher.
"He takes that athletic ability onto the baseball field and onto the mound, which you very rarely see from a 19-year-old kid," Barber said. "We’ve seen the fastball up to 96. It’s got cut and ride. He pounds the zone. He spins it easily."
There’s no guarantee Fisher signs, but the Phillies viewed him as a value too good to pass up.
"That one was probably a little bit of a shock to us, that he got down to that level," Barber said. "We were ecstatic to have the opportunity to select him where we did."
1st Round (26): RHP Gage Wood, Arkansas
2nd Round (63): LHP Cade Obermueller, Iowa
3rd Round (100): RHP Cody Bowker, Vanderbilt
4th Round (131): RHP Sean Youngerman, Oklahoma State
5th Round (161): RHP Gabe Craig, Baylor
6th Round (191): LHP James Tallon, Duke
7th Round (221): RHP Matthew Fisher, Memorial HS (IN)
8th Round (251): RHP Brian Walters, Miami (Fla.)
9th Round (281): INF Matthew Ferrara, Toms River East HS (NJ)
10th Round (311): RHP Cole Gilley, Indiana
11th Round (341): C Will Vierling, Murray State
12th Round (371): RHP Tyler Bowen, Lander
13th Round (401): OF Jack Barker, Southern Idaho
14th Round (431): LHP Jonathan Gonzalez, Stetson
15th Round (461): RHP Jacob Pruitt, Mississippi State
16th Round (491): SS Logan Dawson, Eastern HS (NJ)
17th Round (521): RHP Richie Cortese, Lander
18th Round (551): RHP Matthew Potok, Coastal Carolina
19th Round (581): SS Robert Phelps, Reinhardt
20th Round (611): SS Landon Schaefer, Fayetteville Senior HS (AR)
