Phillies’ Gage Wood Leaning On Pitch Mix in Year of Growth

There’s a distinction between throwing a baseball and actually pitching, relying on raw athleticism versus using location and craftiness in order to beat opposing hitters. Phillies 2025 first round pick Gage Wood’s description of his early Double-A experience sounded more like throwing.

“Early on I was just fastball/slider here in Double-A, and just basically saying ‘here it is, my stuff’s better than you are. Hit it,’” Wood said. “I’ve grown more this year as a pitcher than I ever have in my life.”

Focusing on the fastball gave Wood problems with home runs: when he wasn’t able to beat batters with the heater, they had a good chance at beating him. The six foot tall, 205 pound right-hander now deploys his full arsenal, landing pitches where he wants them to go instead of relying on his pedigree.

“I ran into a couple homers, pretty much each outing. But other than that, that was the only damage I was giving up. Really just trying to limit homers, and those runs will kind of disappear,” Wood said. “Really just the full mix now. Moving the fastball around to different locations rather than just saying ‘here it is, hit it.’ The full mix is coming along, landing a curveball when I need it, landing a splitter when I need it. It’s really beneficial.”

In terms of growth, Wood has also skyrocketed past his previous career high for innings pitched, 40.1 frames for Arkansas as a sophomore in 2024.

Monitored Workload

Wood made ten starts for the Razorbacks in 2025, his first as a member of the rotation, but threw just 37.2 innings as he recovered from a shoulder injury. This season, he’s at 95 innings and has at least one start left… and managed to stay on the mound in spite of the increased workload.  Wood described how the Phillies’ plan to slowly build him up over the course of his first full professional season played out.

“It’s a great plan that I’ve been on. I trust these guys, they’re doing an unbelievable job with me, with everyone. They’re in these positions for a reason and they make these calls for a reason,” Wood said. “So just trusting them and doing what I can when I’m out there, and doing that to the best of my ability as well, is all that really matters. I feel like I’m in a great spot right now, so I’ve just gotta keep going forward.”

Facing the Erie Sea Wolves in a game with playoff implications on Wednesday, Sept. 9, Wood struck out five batters in five innings. He allowed two runs, giving up a ground ball single and a subsequent home run in the second inning. Playing on a windy day in Reading, Wood managed to keep the ball out of the air, inducing nine groundball outs to just one flyout — a performance he attributed to his pitch mix. He also managed to rely on his stuff with the bases loaded in the fourth, working a three-pitch strikeout to slam the door on a potential rally.

“Three groundball singles, sometimes it just doesn’t go your way. So you’ve just gotta keep battling,” Wood said. “Made three good pitches with the bases loaded and got out of it.”