Whom did the Phillies outsmart by drafting Cornelius Randolph?

The Philadelphia Phillies pulled a mild surprise in last week’s baseball draft, selecting high school shortstop Cornelius Randolph with the #10 pick in the draft. After many years of unsuccessful high draft picks (Anthony Hewitt, Joe Savery et al), the Phils seem to have turned things around with their previous two top selections (J.P. Crawford and Aaron Nola). The Randolph selection appears to be popular in Philadelphia, with one columnist quoting the team’s area scout for Georgia as saying that Randolph has the “hitting gene.”

 

Outside of Philly, the pick was not met with universal acclaim. Randolph was listed as the 20^th-best draft prospect in Baseball America’s pre-draft review. Christopher Crawford of Baseball Prospectus wrote that he didn’t “understand this pick at all” and opined that Randolph would lack the power to be any more than a “second-division regular” at non-premium positions such as third base and left field. (The Phillies have indicated that they plan to move Randolph to left.)

 

Only time will tell, of course. It will be interesting to see how highly Randolph is regarded a few years down the road compared to other high-school bats that the Phillies passed over, such as catcher Tyler Stephenson and outfielders Garrett Whitley, Trent Clark, and Nick Plummer, all of whom were more highly rated by many analysts coming into the draft.

 

Did the Phillies outsmart the rest of baseball by picking Randolph, or did they outsmart themselves?