Skip to main content

Phillies take two on night 1 of draft

On the opening day of the 2012 MLB amateur draft, the Phillies had two picks and used them in a familiar manner.  With their selections, the team stuck to their usual style and chose a pair of high school players.  With the 40th overall pick in the draft, the Phillies chose Shane Watson out of Lakewood High School in California.  Additionally, the Phils took Mitch Gueller with the 54th overall selection out of William F. West High School in Washington state.

Watson and Gueller, both right-handed hurlers, are committed to play college ball...Watson at the University of Southern California and Gueller at Washington State University.

Watson's pitch repertoire features a fastball that is steadily clocked at 93 MPH and climbs into the mid-90's at times, a great curveball as well as a cutter and a change up.  Watson stands 6'4" and weighs around 200 pounds.

As a pitcher this season, Gueller posted a 6-0 record with 2 saves and a 0.80 ERA.  Reports also state that Gueller surrendered just 12 hits all season while striking 70 batters. The 6-foot-3-inch 215-pounder is armed with a fastball that generally gets clocked in the low-90's, with a good curveball and change up that offers a variance of 10 MPH or more.

At the plate, Gueller, who also played outfield in high school, drew some attention as well.  He sported a .323 batting average with five home runs and 19 RBI while racking up 29 walks.

In recent years, the Phillies have been notoriously partial to high school players with their earliest picks, taking Larry Greene Jr., Jesse Biddle, Kelly Dugan, Zach Collier and Anthony Hewitt with the organization's initial draft pick in the past four seasons.

Watson isn't the first Lakewood High School product taken by the Phillies in the first round (supplementary).  Catcher Travis d'Arnaud, 37th overall pick in 2007, is a product of the same school.  d'Arnaud was traded to Toronto in the December, 2009 Roy Halladay deal.

____________________________________________________

You can follow PhoulBallz on Twitter by clicking HERE.

Also connect with PhoulBallz on Facebook by clicking HERE.

Comments

Anonymous said…
where's larry greene?
Jay Floyd said…
Extended spring training.

Popular posts from this blog

Rappers in Phillies Caps

Weekend greetings to you phine pholks out there. Today's post features pictures of rappers wearing Phillies caps. Why rappers in Phillies caps, you ask? Because... Any other questions? We will start things off properly by going with a highly recognizable hip hop star. 50 Cent stays constantly relavant by consistantly creating radio friendly material to help sell (G) units, while he "keeps it real" by still rapping about the thug life he lived before becoming the 2nd highest earning black entertainer in America. 50 is seen here in a recent interview rocking a throw-back Phillies cap. Next up we'll use a throw-back screen cap from what may be the very first major appearance by a rapper wearing Phillies gear. Chuck D, of legendary rap group Public Enemy, wore a Phillies cap in the music video for rap anthem Fight The Power in 1989. The song was the lead single from the soundtrack for Spike Lee's film Do The Right Thing . Next up we'll go with some home grown tal...

Patreon Exclusive: Logan O'Hoppe answers Nine Silly-ass Questions

Logan O'Hoppe, image- Jay Floyd Phillies catching prospect Logan O'Hoppe was the subject of a recent player feature I posted here three days early.  When I talked with Logan, he was kind enough to not only chat about some serious baseball related topics, he also had some fun with me and answered Nine Silly-Ass Questions! In this interview, the 20-year-old, who was an All-Star with Class A short-season Williamsport last year, offered his thoughts on his experiences playing in Australia last off-season, super powers, some surprising movies he's never seen, teammate Albertus Barber and plenty more.  Read ahead for some excerpts from this Silly-ass interview... -You can 4-for-4 and your team loses, or you can get hit in the groin and your team wins...which do you choose? I mean, if we win, then the whole team has a good night, so I have to go with that one.  That really benefits everybody. -Tell me, if you can, four words to describe Albertus Barber . One,...

Calling All (Sal's) Pals...

Phillies phans should remember Sal Fasano fondly. In 2006, Fasano was the Phillies' back up catcher who hit .243 and slugged 4 homers in 50 games played. Sal's unique mustache and tough guy vibe won over the Philadelphia crowds and a fan group called Sal's Pals was born. Prior to playing with the Phillies, Fasano debuted with the Royals, and made stops in Oakland, Colorado, Anahiem and Baltimore. Fasano was a true journeyman who had no qualms about his reserve role where ever he went. Today, Twitter user and Phillies phan Sara Scott passed along an article that I feel deserves mention here. SI.com's Jeff Pearlman detailed the Fasano family's struggles with health coverage for their 2 year old child, Santo, who suffers from a serious heart condition. The article can be found here . Santo's condition, hypoplastic heart syndrome, requires medical attention to help his underdeveloped heart to mature properly. To this point, Santo's surgeries have cost over $1 mi...