MLB Draft 2019: Bryson Stott Is Phillies' 14th Overall Pick

PHILADLEPHIA, PA — The Phillies selected college shortstop Bryson Stott with the 14th overall pick in the 2019 MLB Draft on Monday night.

Stott, 21, represents the third straight college hitter the Phillies have picked in the first round. Like Alec Bohm (3rd overall in 2018) and Adam Haseley (8th overall in 2017), Stott is a lower risk selection who has the potential to contribute to the big league squad sooner rather than later.

General scouting reports indicate that Stott has the defensive ability to stay at shortstop for the long haul. If that proves to be true, Stott could prove to be a tremendously valuable player, as bat is really is what scouts admire the most. The Las Vegas native hit .356 across 58 games in 2019 with UNLV, stealing 16 bases and smacking 10 home runs for an .OPS of 1.085.

And his on base percentage — a metric which the Phillies front office loves, which led them to Carlos Santana in the 2017 offseason and Andrew McCutchen in the 2018 offseason — was an absurd .486.

Some projections had Stott going even higher in the draft after his mammoth 2019 season shot him up draft boards, and having him fall to the Phillies at the 14th pick might turn out to be a steal.

The Phillies reportedly hope that Stott can join Bohm and Haseley in the majors in short order.

Haseley, of course, was promoted to Triple-A Lehigh Valley, just a step from the big leagues, last week. And Bohm is thriving after a promotion to High-A Clearwater. After a decade and a half of disappointing first round picks outside of Aaron Nola, there are strong indications that the team could soon receive some help from its next wave of young core players.