Unlike previous years, the Phillies and the 2018 MLB Draft has been rather quiet.  The Phillies have the third overall pick in this year's amateur draft, which is set to begin at 7:00 p.m. tonight.  The Phillies will be sending special assistant Larry Bowa and team ambassador Mickey Morandini to represent the Phillies at the draft.

So who might the Phillies pick in the draft?  Picking third, of course, means that two names will go ahead of them.

Casey Mize seems to be the consensus first overall pick tonight.  The Detroit Tigers pick first and are believed to be leaning towards drafting Mize, a right-handed pitcher out of Auburn.

Joey Bart appears to be a consensus pick to go second to the San Francisco Giants.  Bart is a catcher from Georgia Tech.  The Giants will need to replace Buster Posey someday, and maybe Bart will be it.

The Phillies are connected to two names frequently among the analysts: second baseman and shortstop Nick Madrigal out of Oregon State and third baseman Alec Bohm out of Wichita State.

Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com writes that if either Mize or Bart slip to third they would be interested, but they have other plans, expecting them to go that way:

The Phillies would have interest in either of the top two, and all the talk has been about college bats if Mize is gone, with Madrigal and Wichita State third baseman Alec Bohm the prime candidates.

One thing that is pretty clear is that the Phillies will draft a college player.

In fact, most mock drafts see the top of the first round very focused on college players.  As we have seen with recent drafts, college players are more polished and have a quicker path to the major leagues.  They also give a better indication as to what they will be when they reach their potential.

That is why after drafting high schooler Mickey Moniak in 2016, the Phillies drafted college player Adam Haseley the following year.  The Phillies drafted shortstop J.P. Crawford out of high school in 2013, and then Aaron Nola out of Louisiana the following year.  Nola made it to the Phillies much, much quicker.

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