I remember when Drabek was drafted, lots of people weren’t happy, thinking the Phillies had wasted a draft pick on a kid with a lot of baggage who was never going to pan out. After his rough debut in the GCL, those people started to trumpet their message even louder. But now it appears that they might have been wrong, as Drabek is 1.5 years removed from being drafted, is 7 months into the post-Tommy John surgery part of his baseball career, and he seems to be saying all the right things.
As the Phillies were going through an early spring workout, Kyle Drabek cut between two practice fields on his way to a minor-league clubhouse.
“I’d like to be out there with everyone, but spring training is a lot of hard work,” the 20-year-old pitching prospect joked.
Seven months into his recovery from Tommy John surgery, the Phils’ 2006 No. 1 draft pick knows he has plenty of rehab work ahead of him.
This time a year ago, Drabek was in spring training with the Phillies less a year out of high school. This year, he received no big-league spring invitation, just a locker at the minor-league complex.
The Texas native has been in Clearwater since October working with Phillies trainers and now is throwing at 90 feet.
He has no idea when he’ll get back on the mound and predicts he’ll miss the entire 2008 season and not pitch again until next fall in the Florida Instructional League.
“My arm feels good,” said Drabek, who has lost five pounds and some of his baby fat while rehabbing.
This coming after the report from Kevin Goldstein in his Phillies Top 11 that Drabek has had zero problems in the last year in terms of attitude or off the field trouble. The arm is special, we’ve all known that, it was just a matter of him wanting to mature and become a pitcher, not just a kid with an attitude that throws hard. Sure, this is just a minor detail with two throwaway quotes, but to me, based on everything that’s been written about Drabek over the last year, it’s just one more step closer to him realizing his talent and making the Phillies gamble on him look pretty smart.
Phuture Phillies 
He was a good draft pick. Some risk, but great value for that slot and not an expensive sign. He is certainly among our top 5 prospects and probably our highest ceiling prospect. He needs to get healthy. Folks talk about TJ as not that serious, but Segovia and Mathieson have yet to come back from it.
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It would be ironic if the injury matured Drabek as a person while dropping his ceiling from “skyscraper” to “walk-up.” But if he really was the immature jerk he’s been presented as, it’s doubtful he would be working as hard and taking this as seriously as seems to be the case.
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I’d like to see how hard he’s throwing this time next year. He was 95 mph before the injury I believe?
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I’ve always thought the knock on Kyle was really over blown. Think about it. He was the hot athlete from a rich family in a wealthy area. Little dose of reality (injury) and you get away from all the high school kids and partys and you start to grow up. I’m not worried. I’ve been collecting his cards and will continue to as I see nothing but a bright future for him and for the Phils.
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At spring training last year, my buddy and I had a chance to meet Kyle, who seemed very nice and very into baseball, and then spend about 30 minutes just shooting the breeze with his parents. Doug is about as down to earth as they come. They found the whole debate about Kyle’s attitude humorous because they didn’t see him that way at all. They described their son as being passionate about baseball and said he was working out harder than at any time in his life. There’s no question that he was the star athlete at a big school in a nice area and the son of a famous ballplayer. Its not hard to see an athlete coming from that environment with some baggage. However, I think Drabek has attacked baseball in a good way and really wants to be a star and will do what it takes to get there. If his surgery is successful, I don’t think he’ll lose many years because he’ll fly through the system next year. By the way, a ball with father and son Cy Young winners would be worth quite a bit, don’t you think…
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Remember when Cole Hamels, a kid with great stuff but a questionable attitude, bad history, and injury problems, fell and the Phillies took a chance on him thinking they could fix all his problems? Drabek seemed like the same kind of risk. We can only hope for the same type of reward. I’d hafta think Drabek could see the bigs as early as a Sept. callup in 2009.
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I was OK with the Drabek pick when it was made. I think I was 50/50 on him or Hank Conger. Conger is more highly rated now but that’s almost entirely the result of Drabek’s injury.
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Speaking of TJ surgery . . . . it looks like my son (who is a catcher and pitcher) may very well need it (he is finishing 8th grade and lives for baseball). I realize that this is not a medical referral site, but if anyone knows of any top docs or practices in the Delaware Valley region for this type of surgery (or even rehab), I would sure appreciate it. I am reaching out to my contacts at the college coaching level to see who they recommend, but getting some good names would be helpful.
Thanks all
P.S. I also like what I am hearing about Drabek. Sometimes early setbacks are the best thing that can happen to a person. It changes one’s whole perspective. Personally, I think Hamels’ early troubles have been a blessing in disguise – I cannot imagine a 23 year-old with greater focus.
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Maybe it is just me, but i would be thrilled to see Drabek in a Phillies uniform in ’11. Maybe I am undercutting him a little bit, but I think ’09 is terribly optimistic. I have never considered Drabek to be “polished” or that far along in his development when we drafted him. He absolutely has a terrific arm , however, should take several years in the minors to come to fruition.
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2011 seems realistic. He’ll probably spend all of 2009 in Low A, maybe get bumped to Clearwater in the 2nd half. Then A+/AA in 2010. AAA/MLB in 2011 seems about right
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I think we might see Drabek a little bit in 2010. Like Hamels, I’m not sure he will need a ton of minor league IP. Floyd was hurt by having too many training wheels on for too long. He might have had a more successful intro to majors if he came up to majors to stay in 2004 instead of all the nonsense about taking away his curve.
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That’s good news to read about Drabek.
The Hamels analogy, while a bit optimistic, is nonetheless very worthwhile. And perhaps the best part of the analogy is that Cole’s injury problems in his early minor league career kept his innings down, and subsequently lessened the odds for him to fray his labrum or otherwise shatter his pitching arm during his formative years.
Having pitched a ton of innings in high school, Drabek will certainly benefit from totaling less than 100 innings in the three seasons before he turns 21 (and seeing that he’s at just 77 innings now, that’ll likely be the case). While it slows his development down now, it could certainly wind up benefiting him and the Phillies in the long run.
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Agree Drabek might take until 2011, maybe a callup and sniff the atmosphere in Sept 2010. Hamels was a smart pitcher with great command in HS. He could probabaly have pitched in majors once or twice without too much embarrassment right after signing.
Drabek, I don’t know as much about, but I have not heard anything about him being able to hit a gnat’s nuts at 100 yards or being able to set up and outhink hitters. If he has some of those qualities, then bring him on in 2010.
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Catch 22— The Rothman Institute is one of the best in the country for TJ surgery and they have offices all over the Philly area and NJ. They have a really nice place in King of Prussia. Dr. Ciccotti works with the Phils, but you may have trouble getting an appointment with him….try Dr. Lazarus or Dr. Cohen.
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Dave b – thanks for the note. I very much appreciate it.
I’ve heard a lot about Rothman, but was unaware of their expertise in the TJ surgery.
Regards
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Should he completely regain his arm strength, he coulod represent a reasonable fit into a #1 or #2 spot in the rotation…2011-2012?
Damn shame he’s had to lose two season of pro ball.
Because of his delayed trip to the rotation, I believe that at least one of our top draft choices (#1 0r #1 supp) should be for pitching. And one pitcher to be chosen in both the 2nd and 3rd rounds…despite our glaring need for position players. Thew other 3 choices within the first 3 rounds could be used for them.
With the lineup looking good for the near future and with possibly Brown and Golson, etc. coming on, our needs for position players is NOT drastic. Third base remains a problem beyond two years. But most of the other positions SEEM to be good for several years. Meantime, potentially very good pitchers can lead the team with that excellent lineup to a longer-term success of the franchise…and many more long-term smiles for fans.
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i don’t think losing him for 2 seasons of pro ball will really effect him. he’s always had a golden arm. pitchers need that time to refine pitchers/learn stuff. he already had plus stuff. all he needed was to get his head straightened, which is whats happening now.
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Art D:
I completely agree that Phillies drafts should continue to focus on pitching. As we’ve seen over recent seasons, it is far more difficult to obtain pitchers than position players. Besides, starting pitchers by far play the most important position in the game. A great starter can hide almost all your other deficiencies.
Look at the ’72 Phillies and Steve Carlton for evidence. No way does a single batter have that kind of impact on winning and losing, anywhere, ever. Its not because Carlton was a better pitcher than, say, Bonds is a hitter, its because of the impact of the role of the starting pitcher, who controls the game in a way no position player can.
In fact, the Phillies should become obsessed with developing pitching even if it means somewhat neglecting the other positions. If they produce a glut of quality pitchers, which isn’t likely no matter how hard they try, at least they will make a mint as arms dealers and can send their surplus to the AL where trades are less likely to haunt them. As arms dealers, they’ll also be able to fill the void of position players without much trouble.
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“Look at the ‘72 Phillies and Steve Carlton for evidence. No way does a single batter have that kind of impact on winning and losing, anywhere, ever.”
But that also kind of highlites the value of a really good regular player- cause the 1972 phillies only won 59 games with a lousy lineup too.
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Fish:
Sure, but those same hapless position players still beat most teams when Lefty was on the mound, which underscores the relative value of a starting pitcher.
I’m not saying Lefty could have won with 8 other guys from A-ball playing behind him, but if you have a limited budget and you’re looking to concentrate your spending where it matters most, look no further than starting pitchers. Typically, after securing an ace and a #2, front offices tend to lose focus and concentrate on lesser priorities.
I strongly believe that 3 of the top 5 of most important roles on the team are your #1, #2 and #3 starting pitchers (best power hitter and best hitter for avg. are the others).
For one thing, a top #3 starter will usually over-match the league average #3, which is a huge advantage, especially in a playoff series. For another, he backs up the #1 and #2 in case of injury. A #3 starter is a tremendous investment and yet most teams tolerate a huge drop-off after their 1-2 punch.
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I have read over the past few years about this baggage and attitude regarding Kyle Drabek. I live in The Woodlands, where he is from, and saw him play football his junior and senior years. Yes, he had an attitude….a pretty darn good one. Yes he was intense and pretty hard on himself but he was an incredible athlete and very much a team player. I also worked very hard. My hats off to his dad (and mom) for allowing him to play football knowing he had major league potential and a serious injury could cost him a baseball career. I am confident he will do well.
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Sorry, I meant “Kyle” not I ” worked very hard”
in the above comment.
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I went to High School with Kyle. People forget, this guy had D1 football talent as receiver as well. Incredible athlete and as one person said above, comes from an awesome family. The Phils are lucky to have him. Our baseball team at The Woodlands produced a lot of D1 baseball players, Jordon Dotson, Danny Lehman, Taylor Davis, etc. I know them all well and they have played College Ball for three or four years now. To this day, they say Kyle Drabek is the best pitcher they have ever faced and they are all 1-2 yrs older. If he works hard, which I know he is, you have nothing to worry about.
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My son’s school played against Drabek’s Woodlands team in the state playoffs and the boys all characterized them as a classless bunch of spoiled rich kids who kept up a steady stream of trash talk and unprintable insults all game long. Drabek was obviously the ringleader and went so far as to taunt and shout profanities at the young assistant coaching first base when the final out was made. Maybe a big league daddy and a golden arm will win over the fans in Philly but we’ll remember him in Texas as a snot-nosed brat who doesn’t deserve the privilege of playing in the major leagues.
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what was he 16-17? kids will be kids, give him a chance at maturation
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I wouldn’t condone that sort of behavior at all, nor would I try to make excuses for Kyle and his teammates — I wasn’t there after all, texaslongball — but it’s a bit harsh to label someone a “snot-nosed brat” based on something they did as a stupid kid. We’ve certainly heard the maturity questions, but whether or not he deserves the privilege of playing in the major leagues will come down to whether he actually does mature as a person and work hard — which is the same for any prospect, obviously.
If he ultimately fails, then feel free to enjoy the schadenfreude, but that seems like a pretty tough grudge to hold against a kid… again, not condoning his actions, but just saying.
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ohhh the mistakes i have made and the words i wish i could pull back. i once told a kid i was going to kick his ass because he knocked my hat off earlier in the day and he had me on speaker phone and his mom was there…i am embarrassed just typing that.
texaslongball – you never regretted anything you did in high school?
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any news on when drabek is suppose to return
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tomorrow
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For the GCL correct ?
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Whoa whoa… can anyone confirm this?
I figured that when Drabek were ready to start pitching, he’d spend a bit of time in extended spring training until he’s absolutely ready to participate in a game situation again. I honestly wasn’t sure if we’d see him until a fall or winter league.
Although I guess it’s been a bit over a year since the surgery, and maybe he’s been in extended spring training the whole time. Teams do seem to keep these sort of things under wraps for the most part.
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