Gage Wood throws strikes with an overpowering fastball and a curve that can have some devastating break.
And Brian Barber knows what that combination looks like to most people, especially when it’s held up to what the Phillies need most right now.
But the club has its plans for the right-handed pitcher out of Arkansas, who the Phillies made the 26th overall pick in the MLB Draft on Sunday night…
“We see him as a starter,” Barber, the Phillies’ assistant general manager and amateur scouting lead, said of Wood in a Zoom call with the local media following Rounds 1-3 of the draft. “Obviously, you see those dominating two pitches and people are gonna automatically think ‘move to the bullpen,’ but this is a guy that’s shown the ability to do it.”
And in a monumental way.
Last month, in the College World Series against Murray State, the 21-year-old threw the third-ever no-hitter in tournament history, and the first in 65 years.
His fastball reached into the high 90s, Murray State’s bats couldn’t keep up with it, and upon punching out the 27th out to spark a celebration for the Razorbacks, a college record 19 of them were recorded as strikeouts.
He was dominant, and through 119 pitches. He can last.
“The stuff just stayed throughout,” Barber said. “And it was quality, quality stuff from pitch 1 to pitch 119 at the very end. So, especially with the ability to throw strikes at such a high level that he’s done, with the dominating pitches, we don’t have any – we’re not planning to move him to the bullpen long-term anytime soon.”
So what could Wood’s timeline be?
The last time the Phillies went for a college pitcher in the first round of the draft, it was for Aaron Nola out of LSU in 2014. The now veteran right-hander made his major league debut just over a year later in July 2015 and has remained up ever since.
Barber didn’t want to make any promises. “I don’t think it’s ever really easy to predict how fast a person’s gonna have the ability to move,” he said, but he also acknowledged that Wood has a couple of factors already working in his favor that can bring him along quickly.
Aspects of Wood’s pitching arsenal, like his slider, could use some more development, Barber explained. But the strike-throwing ability is already there, and so is a low walk rate, as Wood walked only seven batters throughout all of this past collegiate season as a junior.
“It’s already more, now, stuff you don’t have to project a ton on,” Barber said.
But there were some other concerns from the outside, too.
Wood didn’t convert into a starter until his sophomore season at Arkansas, and in the past two years, he has just a combined 13 starts, which includes time missed with a shoulder injury this past season, and added concern about his ability to handle a full-time starter’s greater share of innings.
Barber said the Phillies have been aware of the shoulder injury, and while he wouldn’t go into any specifics about it, he said that it wasn’t anything they were worried about long term. The executive also pointed to Wood’s overall progression and gradually increasing pitch counts throughout the year, all leading up to his no-hitter, as added evidence that he can adjust and adapt to a starter’s workload.
Still…
“I would think we’re gonna play it smart throughout the rest of the year with those guys,” Barber said of Wood and the two other pitching prospects the Phillies selected after him in Iowa’s Cade Obermueller and Vanderbilt’s Cody Bowker. “You never know what ends up happening and how quickly things happen, but with all these guys, any pitcher that you take, there’s always risk associated with throwing and potential things.
“So we try to play it smart with everybody, and obviously, we’re gonna try to play it smart with these three guys.”
The Fire
Wood mowed down the order in his College World Series no-hitter, and was heavily, visibly, feeding off the energy throughout.
As the outs piled up, along with the Ks, he would take a few steps off the mound with authority, he would yell, he would flex, he would pound his chest. And when the gem was complete, he looked over to his dugout and then up into the crowd, sliding his hand across the Arkansas crest on his jersey as the adrenaline took over – not all too differently from how a current Phillies star did it in one of his finest hours.
So Wood’s appeal doesn’t just lie in his talent, but his makeup, too.
He’s made for the moment, which in turn, has him made for a place like Philly.
“There’s no doubt, every player that we consider on the board, we talk about their makeup as well.
“I think he’s a guy that Philadelphia fans are gonna learn to love,” Barber said.
Steven Branscombe/Imagn Images
Arkansas teammates hurry to swarm Gage Wood in celebration after the pitcher threw the third-ever no-hitter in College World Series history on June 16, 2025.
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