Phillies' Gage Wood is Trusting the Process, Unphased by Trade Chatter

Gage Wood has been unphased by his role and the trade chatter.

Steven Branscombe-Imagn Images

READING, Pa. -- Gage Wood stood at the mound, frustrated over what transpired.

Wood threw a strike to Hartford Yard Goats outfielder Connor Capel, a good hitter in the Eastern League. The umpire ruled a ball on a 0-1 count, on a pitch that was right in the middle of the zone.

Instead of 0-2, the count was 1-1. To say Wood was not pleased would be an understatement.

The next pitch was golfed by Capel onto the Redner's Event Center in right-center field. Wood just shook his head over the end result, giving up a 2-run home run in a first inning where nothing was going his way.

Those were the only two runs Wood gave up in his fifth start for Reading. He settled in after that home run, retiring 7 of the last 8 hitters before his night ended. Wood pitched 3 innings, allowing 2 earned runs on 2 hits, with 6 strikeouts (tied a career-high in Double-A) and 2 walks.

This is all part of the learning curve as Wood jumped two levels from Low-A Clearwater to Double-A Reading. Every pitch counts, which is why Wood was so frustrated with the missed call.

"Anything can change from pitch to pitch, and that's why counts are so important. I just want to get ahead of hitters and attack them," Wood said to Phillies On SI this week. "Even stat percentages will show you that. Just compete pitch by pitch and stay in it.

"Being in leverage counts just makes it that much better off in your favor."

How Wood has been faring -- and is he a starter for the long run?

Arkansas Razorbacks starting pitcher Gage Wood | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

Wood has done what the Phillies has asked of him in his five starts. He hasn't gone more than 4 innings in any of his starts and hasn't thrown more than 65 pitches. There's a reason for that.

The Phillies have Wood on a pitch count of 60-65 pitches and haven't pitched him more than 4 innings in any of his minor league starts this year. Wood has admitted it can be frustrating at times he doesn't go deeper in games.

He believes in what the Phillies are doing.

"I'm not sure what they're thinking with the pitch count. It's not something I need to worry about right now," Wood said. "I just need to go out there and throw the ball until they take it out of my hand. I'll let everything else take care of itself. 

"From my side of it, it sucks sometimes. But I gotta look at the bigger picture. I threw 37 innings last year. How smart would it be to come out and throw 150 innings this year as a starter? Not very smart." 

"I'm trusting them with that. They've been doing a really great job. I just gotta keep doing what I've been doing."

Wood has thrown 17 innings with Reading, allowing 7 runs on 17 hits with 25 K to 5 BB. He has an ERA of 3.71 as opponents are hitting .258 against him. The fastball has been in the 95-97 range consistently and has touched 98 at times. Wood even hit a personal high of 99 in his first start with Reading.

The Phillies have been pleased with Wood's progress. There are currently no plans to make Wood a reliever this season -- which would start a fast track to the big leagues.

"I'm a starter right now," Wood said. "I'm going to be where my feet are, but I feel very capable of going out there and getting out in any moment in any part of any ball game.

"Obviously a long-term goal is to make it to the show and, you know, pitch in the show for a very long time," Wood said. "But right now it's being where I'm at, not looking too far ahead, and just controlling everything that I can control and dominating my routines."

Potential Trade Candidate

The Phillies don't have a lot of assets near the top of the farm system to make a big splash. Aidan Miller is rehabbing from a back procedure and Andrew Painter was just sent down to Triple-A Lehigh Valley, and the Phillies wouldn't consider trading him anyway at this stage.

Wood is the hottest potential trade candidate at the upper levels. If the Phillies want to pursue a right-handed bat to bolster their lineup, Wood may be the player teams are asking for. Scouts have already been at Reading on multiple occasions to look at Wood.

Whatever happens, happens. Wood has ignored the chatter surrounding him.

"I don't look into social media and all that drama," Wood said. "It really has no interest to me."