After
selecting hard-throwing Oklahoma right-hander Kyson Witherspoon with their first-round pick at No. 15 overall
, the Red Sox doubled down on SEC arms with their second selection of the 2025 draft.
Boston selected University of Tennessee right-hander Marcus Phillips with the 33rd overall pick Sunday night. The Red Sox acquired that selection from the Brewers in the April deal that sent righty Quinn Priester to Milwaukee.
Phillips, 21, was ranked by MLB Pipeline as the
No. 61 overall prospect
in this year’s draft. For the Vols, he logged a 3.90 ERA while striking out 98 hitters in 17 starts (83 innings) this season. The Sioux Falls, South Dakota native started his collegiate career at Iowa Western Community College before transferring to Tennessee in 2024. He mostly pitched as a reliever in his first year in Knoxville, winning a College World Series. He has a fastball that tops out at 100 mph.
Phillips’ father, Steve, was a college football and baseball player at Kentucky before playing five years in the Yankees’ minor-league system as an outfielder. He topped out at Double-A Norwich in 1995.
The Red Sox acquired the No. 33 selection (a competitive balance round pick, making it eligible to be traded) when they shipped Priester to the Brewers on April 7 for outfield prospect Yophery Rodriguez, pitcher John Holobetz (who was a player to be named later) and the pick
. Priester has been good for the Brewers, posting a 3.55 ERA and striking out 70 batters in 88 ⅔ innings over 17 games (12 starts).
Since Craig Breslow took over as Boston’s chief baseball officer, 16 of the club’s 22 draft picks (including Witherspoon and Phillips) have been pitchers.
Here’s MLB Pipeline’s scouting report on Phillips
:
“Scouts first identified Marcus Phillips when he was a South Dakota high schooler, but injuries and inconsistent strikes limited his opportunities to pitch as a senior as well as during his freshman season at Iowa Western CC. He showcased a live, if erratic, arm as a reliever on Tennessee’s 2024 Men’s College World Series championship club, then seized the Volunteers’ No. 2 starter role this spring. Few college pitchers in this class can match his velocity and physicality.
“Phillips can blow hitters away with a fastball that sits at 96-98 mph and touches 100, compensating for lackluster shape with deceptively low release height and plenty of carry and extension. His slider parks in the mid-80s and reaches 90 mph with more depth than sweep. He doesn’t use his low-90s changeup very often, but it features so much fade that it creates more chases and empty swings than his heater and slide piece.
“At 6-foot-4 and 246 pounds, Phillips has a build reminiscent of Kumar Rocker’s and is more athletic than the No. 3 overall pick in the 2022 Draft. He’s a former two-way player who flashed solid power and speed as an outfielder at Iowa Western. He gets down the mound well and has improved his control as a junior, though he doesn’t have the smoothest arm action and may never have more than fringy command.”
