Phillies strike a balance between college, high school picks

LEADING INTO the 2015 Major League Baseball draft, and even on its first night, Phillies director of amateur scouting Johnny Almaraz said age wasn't really something he looked at when drafting players.

But if the first 10 draft picks the Phillies made are any indication, Almaraz and his staff were looking for a balanced draft filled with both college players and high school seniors. Or maybe their draft board just worked out that way.

After taking high school prospect Cornelius Randolph with the 10th overall pick in the first round Monday, the Phillies chose Scott Kingery, a junior from the University of Arizona, in the second round.

The Phillies made eight more selections yesterday. All together, they're heading into Day 3 today with six college players and four high-schoolers taken thus far.

"I wanted to create some type of balance, but I didn't forfeit any type of high school ability that I felt that would be beyond the college players that were still available," Almaraz said during a media conference call last night. "At certain points that we picked, I felt that those were the best players for our organization. So that's how I made the decision to select them.

"I think we got a nice balance of some college pitchers, added some college hitters, some really nice high school arms and some guys have a chance to hit and pitch at the major league level."

The Phillies started off by selecting Luke Williams in the third round, 83rd overall. Williams, at 6-2, 175 pounds, played shortstop at Dana Hills High School in California. He batted .315 in 32 games with four home runs, 19 RBI, 35 runs scored and 26 stolen bases.

But like Monday night's selection, Randolph - who will move to leftfield, according to the team - Williams likely will play a different position at the professional level.

"He caught before he moved to the shortstop position," Almaraz said of Williams. "This is somebody we feel is a really good athlete, with the ability to hit. He can run, he can throw, he possesses really good tools. We see him more as a third baseman that's going to have some type of power. We were really pleased to get him . . . Those bats were coming off the board pretty quick."

The Phillies made it four straight positional players in the fourth round when they took South Carolina first baseman Kyle Martin 114th overall. Martin was an All-SEC selection after leading the Gamecocks in batting average (.350), home runs (14) and RBI (56).

The first pitcher the Phillies drafted came in the fifth round, when they selected a 6-4 high school lefty, Bailey Falter, from Chino Hills (Calif.) High School, 144th overall. Falter is a long, lanky pitcher who went 6-2 with a 1.20 ERA and 97 strikeouts in 75 2/3 innings this year.

Two college pitchers were picked next. In Round 6 (174th), the Phillies drafted Tyler Gilbert, a 6-3 righty from the University of Southern California, who pitched mostly out of the bullpen. In Round 7 (204th), it was Luke Leftwich, a powerful righthander from Wofford whose father (Phil) and grandfather (Tom Timmermann) both pitched in the majors.

Leftwich struck out 114 batters in 89 innings and boasted a K/9IP ratio (11.53) that was ninth in the nation.

Almaraz sees all three pitchers drafted as potential rotation pieces.

Almaraz went back to the positional players for the final three picks, starting with 6-4, 220-pound high school outfielder Greg Pickett from Legend High School in Colorado (eight round, 234th). He smashed six homers and drove in 22 runs while batting .420 this year.

Mark Laird was taken in the ninth round (264th) out of LSU. Known for his speed, the centerfielder batted .323 with 23 steals and 53 runs scored in 61 games.

Josh Tobias, a third baseman from the University of Florida, was the Phillies' final pick of the day. Tobias is hitting .373 with 41 RBI and will play in the the College World Series.

Almaraz said he didn't anticipate any signability issues for any of the high school players, who could decide to go to college and improve their draft rounds. Some observers have said Pickett, a Mississippi State commit, might be difficult to sign.

The draft winds up today with Rounds 11-40.

Almaraz, who's been scouting players for a quarter-century, said after Monday's rounds that he loves this time of year, and that the grueling nature of the days was part of the job.

"They are exhausting. They are long days," Almaraz said. "But I'm passionate about signing players, and it's a competition right now. We have to pay attention to the board and make sure we get the best player for Philadelphia."