Will Gasparino already has the kind of profile that gets a scouting department leaning forward. He’s 6-foot-6, 21 years old, built like a power bat, and the kind of player who can leave an impression just by the way he plays. At UCLA, he was part of a Bruins team that went 52-8 in 2026, and he even showed the edge in his game during the BIG10 Championship against Oregon, when he got caught in a rundown between third and home and chose to run over the fielder blocking him from the third-base bag.
The Phillies saw enough to make him their sixth-round pick, and Brian Barber made it clear why. Upon selecting him in last year's draft, Barber told MLB.com, “Will is a guy that we've been watching since high school. He's a very, very well-known guy on the scouting circuit, and his dad works in baseball with the Dodgers.”
He added, “I mean, it's a tremendous body. It's large.
It's athletic. It's huge tools.
He's always had the huge tools. He can really play center field.
He can run. He can throw, and he can hit the ball a long way, and his game has come a long way in the last, I'll say, 12-18 months.”
There’s also a familiar name in Gasparino’s baseball bloodline. His father, Billy, is the VP of baseball operations for the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the UCLA connection gives him a little bit of Chase Utley flavor, too. Like the former Phillie, Gasparino and Utley both grew up in Los Angeles and went to UCLA.
The power is the trait that jumps out first. Gasparino is ranked by MLB as a 60-grade power threat, and he flashed that pop in a hurry as a pro when his first career hit in the Phillies system was a grand slam. Still, the numbers in his first taste of pro ball were modest overall: two home runs in 93 plate appearances last season in Single-A.
That’s where the adjustment from college to pro ball comes into focus. Gasparino crushed 20 homers in only 58 games at UCLA and hit .314/.412/.659, but the leap from the BIG10 to professional pitching is a serious one.
So far, the power hasn’t fully arrived in the minors. What did show up was better plate discipline.
In 20 minor league games, he walked 13 times, good for a 14.0% walk rate and a 2.6% increase over his NCAA rate. At Clearwater, he posted a .387 OBP.
The swing-and-miss is going to be part of the package because of his size and the violence he brings to the swing. But if the discipline he showed at Clearwater holds, that gives the Phillies something to work with.
He also brings value beyond the bat. Gasparino is an above-average center fielder with a strong arm and good speed, even if he doesn’t often turn that speed into stolen bases. Those tools matter, especially for a player still working his way toward the big leagues.
By the time the 2027 minor league season opens, Gasparino will be 22. It wouldn’t be a surprise if the Phillies bring him to Major League spring training before sending him back to minor league camp as April nears. He’s still a few steps away from Philadelphia, but if the power starts showing up next year and the Phillies need a bench bat, he has enough helium and enough experience against quality competition to become an unconventional option down the stretch.
If he keeps playing with that same edge and starts driving the ball the way his tools suggest he can, the Major Leagues may not feel quite so distant.
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His current setup helps explain why. Utley is working as a special assistant to Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, a role that gives him a flexible schedule, and he said he is focused on spending time with his family and starting a business. For a fan base that still loves the idea of familiar faces returning to steer the club, it is another chapter in the long wait for a homecoming that may have to remain a hope for later. [Read more 🡒]