The Philadelphia Phillies own the No. 1 pick in June's MLB Draft, and there appear to be two still relatively early favorites to be taken with the selection.
The Phillies had a group that included amateur scouting director Johnny Almaraz and former general manager/president Pat Gillick scout Florida's A.J. Puk in his season-opener, per Jim Salisbury of Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia. Salisbury noted at that time that the Phillies planned to scout every single one of Puk's start this season, which would make sense if he's considered one of the potential targets for the most important draft pick that the organization has had this millennium.
Local product Jayson Groome of Barneget High School (N.J.) will apparently get the same treatment, as Matt Gelb of Philly.com says that Phillies also plan to have a representative at every one of his starts this season.
Phillies will have someone at every Jason Groome start. Matt Klentak, Johnny Almaraz and Joe Jordan were there Tues. for lefty’s 1st start.
— Matt Gelb (@MattGelb) April 6, 2016
According to NJ Advance Media, Groome was dominant in a short first appearance. In four innings, Groome struck out 10 while allowing just one hit.
Puk is much further into his college season for the Florida Gators. In 29.1 innings, Puk has a 1-2 record with a 3.38 ERA. It should be noted that there is an outlier in his season, with him giving up six runs in a late-March start against Kentucky inflating his ERA.
Groome, at least at this point, appears to be the favorite to be selected, though it's hard to compare the two because they are playing at different levels and are at different points in their respective seasons.
It should also be noted that Puk, who is a junior, will be 21 in April. Groome, on the other hand, won't even be 18 until August. So if the Phillies would draft Groome, they would be doing so under the belief that it would probably be at least three years before he reached the major leagues. That's not to say they shouldn't draft someone with a longer timeline — it seems to have worked with J.P. Crawford, but Puk would be much closer to potentially joining the team than Groome.
Tim Kelly (@TimKellySports) is the Managing Editor of Philliedelphia.com, focusing on news and features.
