The debut of Gage Wood was widely anticipated ever since the Phillies drafted him in the first round of the 2025 MLB Draft. It was supposed to come on Friday night with Clearwater, but bad weather pushed Wood’s outing back by a day. Saturday, the right-hander pitched against Tampa and threw two innings in his first outing on a minor league mound.
The Phillies purposely kept expectations low for Gage Wood’s debut with Clearwater. While fans were hoping to see a long, successful outing, the excursion was more just to get Wood into a game and let him dip his toe into the world of professional baseball.
Saturday night against Tampa Wood threw 40 pitches – 22 for strikes – in a two inning outing. Of the six outs he recorded, five were on strikeouts. Wood took the loss and allowed one hit and two walks, in addition to a wild pitch and a balk, to allow one run in the outing.
Wood stuck primarily with his four-seam fastball and sinker in the game as they comprised 32 of his 40 pitches and he threw them for strikes 59 percent of the time. Wood also mixed in a curve (10%), slider (8%), and cutter (3%) in the game.
| Pitch | Usage | Strike Rate | Whiff Rate | VELO(min) | VELO(avg) | VELO(max) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Curveball | 10% (4) | 75% (3/4) | 100% (2/2) | 82.3 | 83.2 | 84 |
| Sinker | 38% (15) | 60% (9/15) | 25% (1/4) | 94.7 | 96.0 | 97.2 |
| Four-Seam Fastball | 43% (17) | 59% (10/17) | 43% (3/7) | 94 | 95.7 | 97 |
| Slider | 8% (3) | 0% (0/3) | 0% (0/0) | 84.6 | 85.4 | 86.2 |
| Cutter | 3% (1) | 0% (0/1) | 0% (0/0) | 89.1 | 89.1 | 89.1 |
In his first inning Wood struck out the side, but did mix in two walks and issued the wild pitch and balk, likely because of a few nerves. Wood also struck out the leadoff hitter in the second inning to give him four straight strikeouts. Clearwater lost the game 6-2 with Wood suffering the loss. The Threshers have wrapped up a spot in the Florida State League (FSL) playoffs which begin Tuesday. It’s not clear if Wood will pitch for the team in the postseason.
Gabe Craig, the Phillies fifth round pick out of Baylor, made his third appearance with Clearwater and threw a shutout inning. Craig, 24, has started his career with three shutout innings allowing no hits and just one walk while striking out five batters.
Shortstop Logan Dawson also made his pro debut and went 1-for-3 with a single in the game. Dawson, 19, was the Phillies 16th round pick out of Eastern High School in Voorhees, NJ.
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