The Philadelphia Phillies will select No. 27 in the first round of the 2024 MLB Draft and Baseball America believes the Phillies will go after some polished college pitching.
The site dropped its first mock draft after the MLB Draft Lottery, where the full order was finalized. The Phillies were not involved in the lottery so they were set to select No. 27 regardless of the outcome.
For an organization that already has some top shelf pitching prospects in Andrew Painter, Mick Abel and Griff McGarry, the site believes that another LSU product — Thatcher Hurd — makes sense for the Phillies:
Hurd had massive collegiate expectations after being one of the most highly-ranked players to make it to campus from the 2021 draft class. He lived up to the hype with UCLA in 2022, when he posted a 1.06 ERA over 34 innings. He took a bit of a step backward in 2023 after transferring to Louisiana State where he struggled with command for most of the first half of the season. Hurd finished strong and still has loud pure stuff with a mid-90s heater and great feel to spin a pair of breaking balls, so with a bounceback season could easily find himself in the first round.
Thatcher certainly came on late, as he was the winning pitcher in the 2023 College World Series Championship Game, as he posted the victory over Florida to clinch LSU’s seventh NCAA title He limited the Gators to two runs on two hits in six innings with two walks and seven strikeouts.
In the entire NCAA Tournament he had three wins in four appearances with a 3.71 ERA and 25 strikeouts in 17 innings. For the season he went 8-3 with three saves and 84 strikeouts in 63.1 innings.
LSU produced some of the best college pitching in last year’s draft, as Paul Skenes went No. 1 overall to the Pittsburgh Pirates. In fact, LSU had the No. 2 overall pick in outfielder Dylan Crews, who was selected by Washington.
Philadelphia selected No. 28 overall last year and picked shortstop Aidan Miller out of J.W. Mitchell High School in Florida.
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