Phillies

Phillies Sign 1st Round Pick Gage Wood

By Luke Arcaini

Published: Jul 22nd, 2025 · 4:40 PM EDT

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The Phillies did something they haven’t done in 11 years back on July 13th – select a college pitcher in the first round of the MLB Draft.

Wood, 21, dealt with a shoulder injury early in the 2025 season, but bounced back and put together a nice season in his third year at the University of Arkansas, tallying a 3.82 ERA in 10 starts with 69 strikeouts.

The Phillies officially signed Wood on Tuesday for $3 million (slot value $3,492,200). He was down at Citizens Bank Park with his family and girlfriend. It’s been a surreal few weeks for them.

Wood said he played catch on Monday on a strip of grass at his hotel. He was in the building on Saturday for Kyle Schwarber’s grand slam vs. the Angels, and said he can’t stop showing his friends the video he took.

He’s gotten to see the crowd he’ll eventually pitch in front of, and he can’t get enough of it.

“A lot of emotions,” Wood said. “It was really surreal, but just really blessed to be here… The stadium is awesome, the environment is awesome, and the fans are incredible.”

You’ve seen the clips of Gage Wood. He’s a maniac when he’s on the mound. He struck out 19 batters in a College World Series no-hitter, and all he could think about was the fact that he hit one guy:

“I think about it almost every day”

– Gage Wood on hitting one batter in his 19 strikeout CWS no-hitter 😂 pic.twitter.com/IhsbCzM6Gz

— Luke Arcaini (@ArcainiLuke) July 22, 2025

The immediate reaction to Wood’s drafting was thought of a fast-track situation. Brian Barber said they like Wood as a starter in his draft night media availability, but it’s pretty obvious that Wood’s stuff would also play really well in the bullpen.

What’s a realistic timeline that we could see him in the majors? Who knows. Barring an insane run down in the minors over the next two months, it probably wouldn’t be this year. Wood is focused on doing everything he can to get better for now.

“As of now, I’m going to go down to Florida; I don’t make that decision. I’m going to work as hard as I can to perform the best I can, but we’ll let the people in the front office make that decision”

The Phillies have not yet said where Wood will start his minor league journey. What we do know is that he’ll head down to Clearwater Wednesday to start getting some more consistent work again.