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Philadelphia Phillies Select Alec McFarlane, Orion Kerkering in MLB Draft 4th and 5th Rounds

The Philadelphia Phillies selected Alex McFarlane and Orion Kerkering with their 4th and 5th picks in the 2022 MLB Amateur Draft.

Author:
Ben Silver
Jul 18, 2022 3:08 PM EDT

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Philadelphia Phillies

The Philadelphia Phillies selected Alex McFarlane out of University of Miami with the 122nd overall pick in the draft. McFarlane is a 21 year-old right-handed relief pitcher born on the Caribbean island of St. Thomas.

He stands tall upon the mound, an imposing 6-foot 4-inches tall on a 205-pound frame. At Miami in 2022, the righty pitched 45 innings for a 4.00 ERA with 68 strikeouts and 20 walks.

In summer-ball with the Chatham Anglers in 2022, he pitched to a much more impressive 0.71 ERA in 12.2 innings with 16 strikeouts and five walks.

According to scouting reports, McFarlane has two above-average pitches. One is a gyro slider which he throws mid-80s gets the most swings and misses, its a 60-grade pitch. He also throws a change-up ripe for development, with the right increase in command it could potentially be a 70-grade pitch with a 10mph decrease in velocity from his fastball.

McFarlane's fastball, which averages at 95mph, but tops out at 99mph, gets whiffs due to its low release and high velocity. Nevertheless it's the weakest of his three-pitch mix.

He's a work in progress, but with the right developmental staff McFarlane could be a high-end late-inning reliever.

McFarlane was drafted in 2019 by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 25th round but opted instead to honor his commitment to the University of Miami.

The Phillies took Orion Kerkering out of the University of South Florida with the 152nd overall pick in the draft. Kerkering is also a 21 year-old right-handed pitcher. He's from Huntington Beach, California.

Upon the mound he stands at 6-foot 2-inches and 204 lbs. In his 2022 junior year at South Florida, he pitched to a lackluster 5.72 ERA. But quite impressively, he struck out 91 batters in those innings and walked only 19. It seems much of his ERA can be attributed to bad defense and poor batted ball luck.

According to scouting reports Kerkering touches 97mph, but averages 93mph, on the radar gun with his fastball. He only throw the pitch about 45% of the time due to its rather unremarkable shape.

Instead Kerkering relies heavily on his sweeping slider which he throws just as frequently as his fastball. That slider has about 11 inches of sweep at 82-86mph and looks like a 60-grade pitch.

Kerkering's arsenal also includes a 50-grade changeup which could be thrown a little more frequently.

Kerkering shouldn't be ruled out as a starter, but it's more likely he profiles as a reliever.

Both McFarlane and Kerkering could be fast-tracked to the big leagues as reliever if the Phillies want to increase their bullpen depth within the next several years.