The Philadelphia Phillies may have found a draft pick worth watching closely, and Caden Bogenpohl is wasting no time making noise.
Taken in the second round with the 64th overall pick last month, the 6-foot-6, 245-pound left-handed slugger has opened his pro career with the Low-A Clearwater Threshers in loud fashion. Through his first 11 minor league games, Bogenpohl has hit .366/.413/.561, and one of his home runs left the bat at 117.1 miles per hour. That came just short of the 119 mph blast he uncorked at the pre-draft combine in June.
That kind of pop is exactly why Philadelphia bet on him. Bogenpohl hit 39 homers in 165 college games at Missouri State, the same school that produced Phillies legend Ryan Howard. But the power came with a price: 185 strikeouts over that span, a swing-and-miss issue that pushed him out of first-round range and left him on the board for the Phillies to grab.
So far, the professional version has looked a lot like the amateur scouting report. The power is real.
The contact questions are, too. In 41 at-bats, Bogenpohl has struck out 13 times while walking four.
That’s enough to keep the excitement in check, even with the hot start.
The prospect rankings reflect that tension. MLB Pipeline has him seventh among Phillies farmhands, while FanGraphs slots him 17th. Both outlets are buying the power, but they’re cautious about the contact problems and unsure whether he’ll hold up in center field.
Still, there’s plenty here for the Phillies to dream on. His combination of raw power and athleticism gives him a higher ceiling than a lot of people seem willing to grant.
If everything clicks, he could grow into a dangerous middle-of-the-order bat. Even if he settles somewhere below that, there’s still a path to value as a home run threat off the bench.
For Bogenpohl, it all comes back to one thing: can he tame the strikeouts? If he does, the rise up prospect lists should follow. If not, he risks becoming just another Phillies what-if.
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