Phillies top pitching prospect urged to make 1 major adjustment

The minor league baseball season is winding down. 

The Philadelphia Phillies do not have a highly rated farm system. 

But there are a few highly rated players who could make the jump to the Majors in the next few seasons. 

One of them is Philadelphia's top prospect on MLB Pipeline, right-hander Gage Wood. He was a first-round draft pick out of Arkansas in 2025. 

Wood's MLB ETA is 2027, but there are concerns about his pitch arsenal, specifically his curveball. 

"He's still overusing his breaking stuff against lefties, and got punished for it, particularly because he left several curveballs up to left-handed batters that might as well have been put on a tee," The Athletic's Keith Law wrote about Wood's breaking ball. 

If Wood wants to have success against lefties in the Majors, Law suggests scratching out the curveball. 

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"Shelving the curveball entirely against lefties would probably solve his platoon split issues immediately; he's allowed a .455 slugging percentage to them this year, with both extra-base hits he gave up on Wednesday coming from lefties, including a homer on a bad curveball." 

Based on the poor results from his curveball against lefties, it appears Wood should focus more on continuing to develop a splitter. 

Wood will turn 23 in December and has a 4.72 ERA with 99 strikeouts and just 18 walks in 17 starts (68.2 IP) at Double-A Reading. 

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