If you wrote this as a script, nobody would believe it. Even after the back issues with uber prospect Aidan Miller hurting his status and causing him to miss the entire season so far, the Phillies selected a high school shortstop with back issues with their first pick.
The first pick for the Phillies was delayed by 10 spots because they went over the Competitive Balance Tax by more than $40-million. That dropped them to picking with the 36th pick where they selected 18-year old shortstop Tyler Spangler, who missed his entire senior season because of a bad back.
Here is a look at the players chosen by the Phillies in the first four rounds of the 2026 MLB Draft:
Round 1, Pick No. 36 — Tyler Spangler, SS, Age 18, De La Salle High School (Concord, CA)
Spangler, a 6-foot-3, 195-pound left-handed hitter committed to Stanford, was the Phillies’ top selection despite missing his entire senior season with a back injury. Ranked as MLB Pipeline’s 53rd-best prospect in the class, he drew comparisons to Corey Seager for his size, left-handed stroke, and shortstop actions. Over three varsity seasons he slashed .376/.512/.708 with 16 home runs and 53 walks in 86 games, and scouts describe him as more “polish than flash” — a hit-first player with excellent zone awareness who projects to grow into more power as he fills out his frame.
Pick Analysis: Spangler was not a player who “fell” to the Phillies in the pure sense — MLB Pipeline had him ranked 53rd overall and Baseball America had him around 32nd, so pick 36 was roughly in line with, or a modest reach beyond, his going rate given the missed senior season. What makes this pick defensible to most evaluators is the track record: assistant GM Brian Barber said the organization had identified Spangler as a target dating back two years, well before his back injury became a concern. Ranaudo graded the pick an A-, writing that the industry had floated comparisons to a young Cal Ripken Jr. given Spangler’s size, instincts, and old-school approach to the game, and called it exactly the kind of premium-position, prep-bat gamble Philadelphia has leaned on for years. This reads less like a reach or a lucky fall and more like the Phillies simply running back their long-standing draft philosophy — bet on the highest-ceiling athlete at a premium position and let player development sort out the rest, the same approach that brought them Aidan Miller and Dante Nori in recent cycles.
Round 2, Pick No. 64 — Caden Bogenpohl, OF, Age 21, Missouri State
A 6-foot-6, 245-pound outfielder from Jackson, Missouri, Bogenpohl set Missouri State’s career walk record (160) and broke Ryan Howard’s freshman home run mark at the school with 20 homers in 2024. Scouts grade him among the best raw-power prospects in the entire draft class, with exit velocities north of 117 mph, though his in-game power production dipped to just six homers in 55 games as a junior. His profile carries real swing-and-miss risk (a 31% whiff rate in 2025) and a tendency to hit the ball on the ground, but the Phillies were impressed enough by his showing at the Draft Combine to make him their second-round pick.
Pick Analysis: This is where the class gets genuinely contentious. Bogenpohl’s raw power is not in question — he set a school home run record as a freshman and posted some of the loudest exit velocities in the entire draft class — but his production had trended the wrong direction every year since, and that worried outside evaluators. Ranaudo gave the pick a C+, writing that a right-handed power-speed bat named Aiden Robbins was still on the board and that he personally would have preferred that selection. He also noted the decision wasn’t made in a vacuum, since reports indicated Bogenpohl had an excellent private workout with the Phillies and was nearly taken with the earlier first-round pick instead. In that sense, Bogenpohl feels like a pick the Phillies talked themselves into rather than one that simply fell to them at good value — a bet on a private workout and physical tools over an increasingly troubling statistical trend.
Round 3, Pick No. 100 — Ruger Riojas, RHP, Age 22 (turning 23), Texas
Riojas brings a fastball that sits 94-96 mph and touches 98, complementing it with a splitter, cutter, slider, and curveball thrown from two different arm slots. The Phillies view him as an advanced, close-to-the-majors starter — someone who already “creates whiff” and commands the strike zone rather than a projection-based prospect. Assistant GM Brian Barber noted the team isn’t concerned about his age relative to typical college draftees, emphasizing that his present-day stuff, strikes, and pitchability make him ready to move quickly.
Pick Analysis – If any player genuinely fell to the Phillies, it was Riojas. Nearly every outlet flagged the third-round slot as a bargain for a pitcher many viewed as an early-round talent. Ranaudo gave Riojas the day’s only “A” grade, calling him outright the pick of the day and a player he had been closely tracking all spring as a potential mid-rotation big leaguer. Barber himself made clear the front office wasn’t worried about Riojas’s age relative to other draftees, saying the appeal was that it’s now stuff, now strikes, now pitchability rather than a projection play. A pitcher with a mid-90s fastball, four viable secondary pitches, and two distinct arm slots landing at pick 100 is close to unanimously viewed as this class’s best value.
Round 4, Pick No. 128 — Deven Sheerin, RHP, Age 20, LSU
A native of Exeter Township, Pennsylvania (Berks County), the 6-foot-5, 255-pound Sheerin transferred to LSU after a standout freshman year at Mount St. Mary’s, then missed the 2025 season with a torn ACL before bouncing back in 2026 with a 3-2 record, 4.78 ERA, and five saves out of the bullpen. His fastball sits 95-97 mph and touches 100, delivered from a low-slot, crossfire arm action that generates significant deception. The Phillies project him as a high-upside relief arm as he continues to refine his command.
Pick Analysis – Sheerin didn’t generate the buzz of the first three picks, but he was broadly praised as a savvy, need-based selection late on Day One. Ranaudo gave him a B+, describing him as exactly the kind of value pick teams look for in the fourth round, someone who profiles as a potential high-leverage reliever who could move quickly. With a fastball up to 100 mph and a funky low arm slot that creates natural deception, Sheerin was widely seen as good value at 128 given his stuff, even with his own injury history (a missed 2025 season following a torn ACL) factored in.
Round 4, Pick No. 135 — Jaxon Jelkin, RHP, Age 23, Kentucky
Jelkin is a well-traveled college arm, having pitched at Nebraska, junior college, Houston, and finally Kentucky, and this marks the third time he’s been drafted (previously by the Dodgers in 2023 and the Mets in 2024). At 6-foot-5, he emerged as Kentucky’s staff ace in 2026, going 8-3 with a 4.08 ERA and 106 strikeouts in 97 innings, working primarily off a mid-90s fastball/sinker mix and a sharp curveball. Barber cited his size, strike-throwing, and strikeout stuff as the draw, though some evaluators remain cautious about makeup questions stemming from his 2022 dismissal from Nebraska.
Pick Analysis – Jelkin was widely viewed as one of the biggest wild cards in the entire class, and this pick reads as a straightforward bet on unresolved makeup questions rather than a talent evaluation. Ranaudo gave him a B+ but admitted he had Jelkin rated as a top-two-round talent all year, comparing his profile to a young Rick Porcello given his mid-90s fastball, low-90s cutter, and sweeper-slider mix. The reason he lasted until pick 135 despite that stuff is simple: he was dismissed from Nebraska as a freshman in 2022, and MLB Pipeline noted some teams remain wary of his makeup, which is why he’d already been drafted twice before and gone unsigned both times. Barber’s justification centered on the same things every scout already knew — size, strikes, strikeouts, and swing-and-miss stuff — suggesting the Phillies simply trusted the makeup concerns are behind him more than other clubs did, making this less a value fall and more a calculated risk with real upside if it pays off.
The Bottom Line on Day One picks
Taken as a group, the Phillies picks present a study in contrasts: a calculated, on-brand bet at the top (Spangler), a debatable, tools-over-production swing in the second round (Bogenpohl), a widely praised value grab in the third (Riojas), and a sensible need-fill in the fourth (Sheerin). The overall verdict from most outlets landed in the B to B+ range — solid, if not spectacular, with the Bogenpohl pick serving as the lone real point of industry disagreement inside an otherwise well-received four picks.
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