As everyone knows, the Phillies took a late round flier on Kyle Gibson 3 years ago before he went to Missouri, where his career blossomed, including a dynamite showing in the Cape Cod league. Prior to his junior year, he was being viewed as a surefire Top 10 pick, but his velocity reportedly dipped into the mid 80’s in his last start, and its now being reported by BA that he has a stress fracture in his arm and won’t throw for 6 weeks. Last year, if you remember, Tanner Scheppers suffered a similar fate with a stress fracture in his shoulder that eventually saw him slip from a Top 10 pick out of the first round, eventually being taken by the Pirates and going unsigned. Scheppers has come back healthy and is now again being talked about as a top 10 pick, with many teams still waiting to get clearance from their doctors on him.
I’ll have more on Gibson when I finish my mock draft, but at this point I’ll probably drop him out of the top 32. Ideally, I’d love the Phillies to take him at 75 if he gets there, follow him this summer, and if he’s able to throw before the deadline, hopefully sign him for first round money.
