It's a quiet night across baseball as most of the industry focuses on tonight's MLB draft. The Phillies are involved in one of only four games Monday night as they open a series in San Diego.
The draft begins at 7 p.m. on MLB Network and streaming on MLB.com. The first two rounds take place Monday, with Rounds 3-10 beginning Tuesday at 1 p.m.
The Phillies pick 14th overall in the first round. Over the last 20 years, that pick has produced only four players who made an impact in the majors: Jose Fernandez, Aaron Hicks, Jason Heyward and Billy Butler - all high schoolers.
The Phillies have selected a college player in the first round two years in a row: Adam Haseley eighth overall out of the University of Virginia in 2017 and Alec Bohm third overall from Wichita State last June.
Prior to that, the Phils took a high school player in the first round in seven of eight years, with the only exception being Aaron Nola in 2014.
At 14th overall, the Phillies have their lowest selection since 2013, when they took J.P. Crawford 16th.
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The first round is always emphasized but lots of good players are found outside of the first 30-40 picks.
Recent Phillies second-rounders include Scott Kingery, Andrew Knapp, Roman Quinn, Dylan Cozens, Randy Wolf, Jimmy Rollins and Scott Rolen. The team does not have a second-round pick of this draft, forfeiting it to sign Bryce Harper.
The third round produced Adam Morgan, Cameron Rupp, Vance Worley and J.A. Happ.
The fifth round led the Phillies to Rhys Hoskins and Ryan Howard, along with Cole Irvin in 2016.
Phillies scouting director Johnny Almaraz did not divulge much last week but again referenced his strategy to only take a pitcher over a hitter in the early rounds if he believes the pitcher can be a No. 2 starter or better. When it comes to pitchers with a mid-rotation projection, he'd prefer the everyday player.
For a mid-first-round projection and an idea of who could go in the Phillies' range, check out MLB.com's latest mock draft.
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