*** UPDATE *** #10 Madison Stokes and #14 Jesse Wilkening are at the Carpenter Complex. They are part of a group that is waiting for their medicals to come back before they are signed. This includes free agents Taylor Lehman and Brian Auerbach. The 2018 Draft Tracker has been updated.
I also heard that #4 Colton Eastman may go directly to Williamsport if/when he signs.
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Thursday, I watched the players we signed from the 2018 Amateur Draft take batting practice. Some of the guys displayed some power.
Friday, I made it back to the Complex to watch BP again. Today top pick Alec Bohm was “in da house!”. Later, I returned after lunch (at Legends) to watch an intrasquad game that I expected to be between the two GCL teams. I was super excited to see both squads peppered with draft picks.
Wednesday, when I wasn’t there, the coaches were teasing Logan Simmons (#6) about all the balls that died on the warning track. They chided him (playfully) that he needed to get into the weight room to get those balls over the fence. Thursday, he was one of the guys who impressed me with some bombs over the LF fence. Friday, he unloaded on a pitch and sent it over the LF fence during the intrasquad game. IMO, he’s a guy to keep an eye on.
Logan O’Hoppe (#23) also impressed with a line drive, RBI double to left. It was notable to me because it came off Grant Dyer. The RHP is still rehabbing but looks as close to his old self as I’ve seen him. O’Hoppe turned on a pitch and pulled it over the third baseman with a resounding “Thwack!”.
Let me get to the draft stuff, and I’ll include some more observations from the Complex at the bottom of this post.
The 2018 Draft Tracker is as current as I can make it. Bonus amounts aren’t being reported with all signings, so we don’t know how much of the Phillies slot money remains.
Yesterday, I reported that the Phillies #7 selection, Gabriel Cotto, signed and was at the Complex. I also saw Jack Conley (#27), and thought I saw Tyler McKay (#16). (The table on which he is signing his contract in the picture tweeted looks like a table in a conference room in the Complex building.
Today, I saw Jack Perkins (#11) at the Complex. He was shagging balls during BP.
I also saw Brandon Ramey (#30) at the Complex. He was shuttled to an off site location with two non-drafted free agents for a medical evaluation (I suppose, probably an MRI).
I now have 26 confirmed signings, the 20 the Phillies reported plus Pipkin, Cotto, Perkins, McKay, Conley, and Ramey.
Of the remaining picks, I suspect the following –
- #4, Colton Eastman – probably haven’t been able to agree on an amount
- #10, Stokes – still bargaining, SC just finished playing last weekend
Top ten selections usually have agreements in place before the picks are made. Stokes is a senior. These will likely be finalized shortly. Unless, something showed up during the physical process that was unexpected.
- #14, Wilkening – his signing is imminent and might be announced this weekend
- #15, Carpenter – now that teammate Ramey is in the fold, he may be the next to sign, commited to Central Arizona
- #17, Kilgore – junior reliever at Wichita State, likely to sign, but I’ve heard nothing
- #21, Jake Smith – haven’t seen or heard anything, commited to UNC-Wilmington
- #28, Jonathan Jones – haven’t seen or heard anything, 2-sport HS player
- #33, Kinney – declined, attending FSU
- #37, Rijo – haven’t seen or heard anything, juco player commited to Abilene Christian whose head coach just stepped down
- #38, Stephen Jones – junior pitcher, haven’t seen or heard anything
- #39, Nelson – declined, attending FSU
- #40, Richardson – juco pitcher, haven’t heard anything since he appeared to want to sign on social media, and was seen in Philadelphia
More from today.
Rixon Wingrove is a big 6’5, 230 lbs, and turned 18 last month. His size doesn’t inhibit his defense as he turned a 3-6-3 double play. After years of RH at first, this is still the first defensive indicator against which I measure any of our first basemen.
The two NDFAs who left and returned with Ramey were named Auerbach and Lehman.
*** UPDATE *** Lehman is Taylor Lehman, a senior LHP from PSU. He’s 6’8, 240 lbs.
*** UPDATE *** Auerbach is Brian Auerbach, senior RHP from Rollins College. He’s 6’4, 190 lbs.
Simon Muzziotti played right field. Jake Zoellner played first base. Greg Pickett played first base. All three look ready to join teams up north.
Dylan Cozens took BP with the new guys. Roman Quinn didn’t.
I will continue posting a 2018 First Year Player Draft thread so we can keep all our draft talk in one place. This is where I will look for any information on signings you uncover and post in the Comments Section. If you hear one of our new prospects has signed, please share the link here.
Of course, all draft talk is encouraged here. I will start new threads if/when the number of comments becomes too unwieldy.
Phuture Phillies 
Thanks for the news on Greg Pickett. It seemed like he disappeared. I just found out tonight at the Williamsport game that he was rehabbing an injury.
Brett Auerbach was drafted by the Rockies in the 40th round.
Yes, he was one of three Auerbachs who were draft eligible. Today I verified that it is Brian Auerbach who is at the Complex. I corrected the post. Thank you.
Phillies, Eagles and Sixers all like their Aussie’s tall and large sized.
Hopefully Wingrove will develop into a legitimate premier prospect and become a very productive player.
Not sure how he will progress through the system … but … that Rixon Wingrove (as I mentioned when he first signed) has got a 5 star name.
I might slot it right behind Ser Antn’y Dominguez and just in front of Adonis Medina.
Thank you Jim. Excellent work as always.Much appreciated.
Seth Lancaster and Matt Vierling assigned to Williamsport. 3B Luis Rojas and OF Julio Francisco (who homered in game 1) sent down. Julio to GCL East. Have not seen where Luis was assigned,
Williamsport looking like the big club. Good pitching, no hitting and a bullpen that gives it up. A 0-0 pitchers duel through nine. Starter Manny Silva went six innings of 2-hit ball with 5 Ks. Orestes Melendez followed with 3 shutout innings – 2 hits and 4 Ks. State College won in the 10th. Weird rule in the NYPEN this year. Extra innings start with a man on second. Sort of like the college football OT where you start from 20 yards out. State College bunted their baserunner over to third, then Luis Ramirez gave up a homer. Williamsport left runners on base in the bottom of the 10th, just like they did through the first nine. In draft news, centerfielder Matt Vierling played RF tonight and shortstop Seth Lancaster played 3B. The Cutters have three more at home before a 7-day road trip. Word from a reliable source is that when they come home Alec Bohm will be added.
The new rule that puts a man on 2nd in extra innings is across all minor leagues.
Stupid rule. So the pitcher gives up a run without him putting the guy on and gets a loss. Just end the game in a tie.
Still waiting on two HS pitchers to decide if they will sign with the Phillies or go to school. Neither kid has given any indication on their twitter accounts.
21st round pick Jake Smith (6’5″, 168 lbs RHP) is committed to UNC Wilmington.
28th rounder Jonathan Jones (6’1″, 195 lbs RHP) has a commitment to a JUCO (San Jacinto CC).
Just a guess here. Even though Jones would be eligible to be drafted again next year, while Smith would have to wait until 2021 … I get the feeling Jones is the more likely of the two to sign with the Phillies.
On another note … I wish we had more info on bonuses handed out to the kids already signed. This could be a case of the Phillies needing to have to wait for 10th rounder (and senior sign) Madison Stokes to ink his (way below slot) contract to allow the Phillies to go a little over on Smith and Jones.
Here’s a report on Smith from earlier this season:
You can view some video of Jones on his Max Preps page http://www.maxpreps.com/athlete/jonathan-jones/Gk8T6dKYEeW-8KA2nzwbTA/default.htm
Just 2 HS pitchers, Hinkie? Did i miss a Carpenter signing? If so, great.
No, Carpenter hasn’t signed.
That’s my bad. I assumed he was in Clearwater when I read “per a very solid non-social media source”. I see now that Carpenter is not assigned to either GCL team. I would imagine when/if Carpenter signs, he would be placed on the GCL West club with his former HS teammate Brandon Ramey.
I think a lot of people assumed they would “matriculate” together into professional baseball. But, they weren’t even committed to the same college, so I think we were all a little too hopeful.
Anyone know the holdup on Eastman?
$$$ v. $$ ?
Stokes and WIlkening entering the 5th day of their physical examination apparently. just kidding.
At least they’re still down here. It looks like one other kid didn’t pass though and may have gone home. So, the Phillies do take this stuff seriously.
not be confused with James MacArthur who played Dano on Hawaii 5-0.
That bonus amount seems surprising- his k/bb ratio doesnt seem like what Phils usually like, and the third college starting pitcher they took- what do you think they are liking so much there?
Phillies throwing money everywhere!
Thanks Hinkie!! With the 4 signings, the current allocated pool is $8.285M and leave about $1M. Eastman, Cotto, Lancaster and Stoke have about $1.074M pool assignment so the Lancaster and Stoke needs to be significantly discount signings (like $10k) to have enough $$ to spread around. I hope Cotto is an underslot signing too.
$$ available may be enough to sign the other HS and non-senior draftees.
Well … that’s a lot of bonus info from Jim Callis this morning.
That’s 425 thousand dollars above slot on those five day 3 picks. That almost amounts to their 5% overage (~442 thousand). Bohm’s ~1.1 million under slot signing took care of Simmons and Pipkin.
They should save about 300 thousand dollars on their two senior signs (Lancaster and Stokes). 90 thousand of that goes to O’Hoppe.
So … (assumin Cotto gets slot) that leaves 210 thousand dollars. I’m guessing that gets spread around to the HS and JUCO players they drafted on day 3.
MLB.com now has signing bonus info for every pick the Phillies have signed. They actually went about 42K over on Cotto
ty squire. Interesting on the amount some got.
Just saw that MLB.com draft tracker here https://www.mlb.com/draft/tracker/phillies
Squire is right. Cotto went 42 thousand above slot.
According to the draft tracker, the Phillies are at $8,585,000 against the cap. They can spend $9,301,425 (including the 5% overage). That means the team has $716,425 left in cap space. They still have to sign 4th rounder Colton Eastman. His slot is $522,900. If Eastman agrees to slot, that leaves $193,525 to use to lure Daniel Carpenter (15th round), Jake Smith (21st round), and Jonathan Jones (28th round).
I think they should be able to sign at least two of those three HS arms. Might even be able to sign all three. I could see the Phillies giving Carpenter and Smith 215 thousand dollars each, and offering Jones 135 thousand.
Just checked. Jake Smith is committed to UNC Wilmington (4 year college). Daniel Carpenter is set to attend Central Arizon JC. Jonathan Jones is committed to San Jacinto JC.
Hinkie…Phillies still have 16 days before they need to sign the picks.
So some of those HS pitchers may decide to de-commit and sign with the Phillies..
Here’s another theory. Maybe the Phillies are trying to shave a little bit off of Eastman’s bonus to use with the 193 thousand dollars they have left to make one last run at 33rd rounder Jake Kinney. Kinney is a second year JUCO pitcher who is scheduled to throw for FSU next season. I understand he reportedly has stated he won’t sign, but maybe a 325 thousand dollar offer makes him rethink his decision. If he says no again, then the Phillies go over on the three (Carpenter, Smith, Jones) HS arms.
Kinney is huge….what is his velo?
Not sure what he throws, but he is a big dude. Looks to have a young Ryan Madsen build: on the thinner side with wide shoulders, so he’s projectable. And his numbers at Tallahassee CC were very impressive this season out of the bullpen (39.2 IP, 27 H, 19 BB, 65 K, 14.75 K/9).
The picture of Kinney in this story shows him almost throwing 3/4 or even side arm slot http://tcceagles.com/sports/bsb/2017-18/releases/20180607nixgbi
Here’s a video of him being interviewed (he’s second kid questioned) during a summer league in 2017.
Here are his tweets thanking the Phillies, but announcing he would go to school.
I hope he reconsiders and signs with the Phillies.
Sounds like he wants to get to the Tallahassee campus.
I am thinking he wants to prove to himself at FSU, he wants get drafted higher next year.
He looks like a tough sign. But it they can sign either or both of Carpenter and Jake Smith, that’s good.
I really love big projectible arms.
He looks like a no sign 🙂 but that’s probably why he lasted until the 33rd round. If they can get Carpenter and Smith that would be a good overall result
Agree that Carpenter and Smith would be a good outcome to close out this draft class.
However …
Let me preface this by saying … I have no idea what the Phillies are actually offering Kinney and what FSU has told him about his future role with them is … but … If the Phillies offer Kinney 300 thousand dollars (they gave McKay [another JUCO arm] 325 thousand), he should think long and hard before turning that down. That is end of the fifth round slot money. Kinney has pitched as a reliever in his two seasons at a JUCO. If FSU plans to also use him out of their BP, he’s probably looking (at best) at a late day two or more likely a day three pick again next year. As a college junior, he’ll have less leverage than he has this year as a JUCO player. So … he is realistically looking at making less money in next year’s draft.