Guest Feature from Matthew Osborne

Phils hope their prospect garden will sprout once again.

The Phillies are on a good run in the first round of the MLB draft in recent years, and they’re betting that the next big thing in their system will be prep shortstop Aidan Miller, who they tapped with the 27th pick Sunday night.

Plenty of teams went with upside high school players in the middle of round one after the first few college stars went in the top five. Miller missed most of this season with an injury, but he was MVP of the High School All-American Game the prior year. He also won the Home Run Derby for that event.

Miller hit .478 for Team USA in the 2022 U-18 Baseball World Cup

The Phillies, who won their second world championship in 2008 thanks largely to a strong homegrown core of players, have been slowly reviving a farm system that sunk near the bottom of the league 10 years ago.