Brief Summary of the Phillies' Draft

Most of us knew that Gillick preferred the high ceiling talent that high school players have to offer, but he took it to the next level today.

Some fans were upset when the Phillies took HS player Anthony Hewitt with their first pick because he won't be ready for a while. However, you have to consider a few things. They're not a bad team anymore. They don't get any easy picks like Pat Burrell first overall. When you're that late in the draft, you're not going to get a good player that can help out very soon. Yes, it's probably going to take Hewitt a few years to reach the majors if he develops, but if he was closer to being ready than that, the Rays would be picking him, and not us.

Then he took another in Zach Collier. And another. In fact, when the first day was done, the Phillies only took two four-year college players. The Phillies haven't spent that much on bonuses in the past couple seasons, and if they intend on signing a lot of their picks, it's probably going to have to change this year. People wanted the owners to open up the wallets and bring in some real talent. Here's their chance.

I trust Pat Gillick to make the right decisions and take care of business for this team. He has an eye for talent, and it would be great if he found some today. He recognizes that this farm system already has some bench players, bottom of the order hitters and back end starters. They have a weak system, but they have the Happs, Naylors and Donalds teams need to fill out their roster and make solid contributions. Today, he tried to find the Rollins', Hamels' and Myers' to put this roster over the top. Now they just need to sign the dotted line and get on the diamond.