Tennessee baseball pitcher Marcus Phillips became the fourth Vol to hear his name called on Sunday night when the Boston Red Sox drafted him with the No. 33 overall pick.
The selection is a part of the MLB's competitive balance round, which gives extra picks to struggling teams. The Red Sox are hoping to bolster their pitching staff with the extra pick, going to the well that has benefited them this season — Tony Vitello developed pitchers.
Boston already has one Vitello-developed pitcher in Garrett Crochet. He has quickly become the best pitcher on the roster and earned a second-straight All-Star appearance this season.
As for Phillips, he offers a power pitcher dynamic on the mound with a fastball consistently hitting high-90s with a mid-90s slider and a decent changeup to complement the fastball.
Phillips is coming off a solid campaign this past season, where he finished the year with a 3.90 ERA and 98 strikeouts over 83 innings pitched in the toughest conference in college baseball.
Ahead of the draft, Talk Sox selected Phillips as an underrated draft prospect that Boston could go after with the No. 33 pick, and they did exactly that.
"Phillips is a very physical athlete with a big league starter's frame," Billy Mock wrote. "With his size, he generates a lot of velocity with the ability to hold on to it deeper into outings. His fastball routinely touched triple digits this spring while it sat between 97 and 98 mph.
"The shape on the offering is fringy, but it, of course, plays up due to its velocity as well as his lower release height. It's no secret that the Red Sox have strayed away from four-seam fastball usage, so they could make a tweak to it considering it's weaker shape and turn it into either a cut-ride fastball or a power sinker."
The Red Sox took a chance on Payton Tolle out of TCU in last year's draft, and that is paying off so far as he continues to develop in the minor leagues. It looks like they are targeting another power arm in Phillips this year.
Phillips seems to be a great fit for the Red Sox based on recent draft trends and what they are looking for in young pitchers, which could bold well for the former Tennessee pitcher.