Alright, we’re done the top four.

Gage Wood – 87
Dante Nori – 36
Aroon Escobar – 34
Francisco Renteria – 23
Gabriel Rincones – 21
Matthew Fisher – 1

Now comes a mad scramble.

Not that I’ll say drafting Gage Wood in the first round of the 2025 MLB Draft was a surprise, but it sure wasn’t what I was expecting them to do. We’ve seen the team take a tooled up prep infielder or a prep pitcher in the first rounds of late, gambling that there was more to the profile than what had been shown on the field. But a somewhat polished college pitcher that showed the country what he’s capable of by throwing a no-hitter in the College World Series? It just felt like something the Phillies wouldn’t do.

And now Wood is your #4 prospect.

2025 stats (w/ Clearwater)

1 G, 2 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K

From a stuff perspective, few pitchers out of last year’s draft had a three-pitch mix that rivals Wood’s. His fastball sits in the mid-90s and touches 98 with slight carry, and he got more swing-and-miss in college with it than you’d have expected from the pitch’s shape alone, due to oddball vertical angle and release height. Both of his breaking balls also project plus for us: a power curveball in the low-to-mid-80s with significant depth and a high-80s gyro slider with slight lift and sweep at 89. It’s a very whiffy three-pitch mix that didn’t falter against some of the nation’s best hitters. His changeup is sparsely used, and a number of years ago we’d have flagged that, but more starting pitching prospects have either developed a useful changeup or splitter as pros or just thrown three pitch mixes that don’t include one.

With each new post, we’ll reveal who won the voting for that particular slot, then post new players for you to vote on, adding another one to the list each time until we get to our final tally of 20. Once we get to 20 top prospects, we’ll do an honorable mention post at the end. If a player gets traded to another team, we’ll just chuck him right on outta here and all the players will move up a spot. If a prospect gets acquired, we’ll ask where he should go on the list.

Probably the most important thing about this whole process – please vote. Give us a few minutes of your time, just click a button and then we can discuss other players and things in the comment section, but don’t forget – VOTE!