Narducci: Draft buzz doesn't faze Eustace's Phillips

It can be an overwhelming situation, seeing all those radar guns measuring his velocity, and those handling the instruments also assessing intangibles such as character, heart, and the will to compete.

Bishop Eustace senior righthander Tyler Phillips is used to the drill and focuses only on the next batter, not the group of older men behind home plate who are taking notes on one pitch after another.

Phillips has had plenty of company during his pitching appearances this season, as several major-league scouts eye him.

It could be intimidating and overwhelming, or it could be motivating. Either way, the pressure to perform when future paydays are at stake can't be easy for a high school senior. Just don't suggest to Phillips that the pressure he faces is overly difficult.

"It's really not that tough," he said after pitching six innings and earning the win Wednesday in a 7-2 victory over Washington Township. "I kind of block it out and get on the mound and do my thing."

His thing this year has been to handcuff hitters.

The 6-foot-5, 190-pound Phillips is 5-0 with a 1.40 ERA. He has 29 strikeouts and 10 walks in 30 innings. Batters are hitting .221 against him.

Even Phillips, at times, has to take a deep breath when thinking about the attention his pitching has created.

"Before the game I look out and say, 'Wow,' " he said laughing. "But during the game, it doesn't faze me."

It's very possible that Phillips will hear his name called this June during Major League Baseball's first-year player draft.

Scouts have indicated to him that he could be selected, and it's something for which he has worked many years.

"That is really what the goal has been ever since I was a kid," he said. "I have been working hard for this."

Eustace coach Sam Tropiano has a good relationship with the scouts, and he too has gotten the indication that his righthander could be drafted.

"He is 190 pounds, and when he thickens out, scouts feel he can throw 97 [m.p.h.]," Tropiano said. "He has already touched 92."

What is most impressive is that Phillips doesn't lose his velocity as the game goes on.

"He pitched a game against Seneca when every pitch in the seventh inning was 90 or above," Tropiano said.

Another thing that has to be intriguing to scouts is that Phillips won't turn 18 until October.

He has made a commitment to attend the State College of Florida, a junior college in Bradenton. Even that decision was made with one eye on a professional career.

If a high school player attends a four-year college, he isn't eligible for the draft until after his junior season. If he attends a junior college, however, he could be drafted after one season.

"It is a great program with a great coach, but I also made that decision knowing after a year I could still get drafted if it doesn't work out for me this year," Phillips said.

All indications are that it could very well work out this year. The interest from the scouts certainly hasn't waned.

"Coach Tropiano lets me know there are a lot of guys following me, and it keeps getting heavier," Phillips said. "I just try to go out there and get better every day."

That has certainly happened so far. Even though every pitch, every moment, is being heavily scrutinized by the talent evaluators, Phillips keeps telling himself it's just a game.

It might be a high-stakes game, but a game nevertheless, and the senior righthander is enjoying the moment while justifying all the attention he has earned this spring.

@sjnard