2013 Phillies Draft Preview - Reese McGuire

McGuire is an 18 .5 year old 6'1" 190 lb very atletic Catcher from Kent, Washington. He's a right handed thrower and left handed hitter with reported plus power potential for the position. The Phillies have shown in recent years that they clearly have a lot of faith in their Northwest amateur scouts by drafting several players from the region. There's no secret here though, everyone knows about McGuire and ranks him pretty highly. Reports have linked both the Marlins (who pick 6th) and the Pirates (9 and 14) as being strongly interested in the young Catcher. So, the chances here may be slim, but if someone else drops that they like better, it's not out of the realm of possibility that McGuire could end up in Philly.

There is, oddly for a high schooler in the relative boondocks of Washington, a ton of video on McGuire to look at, so we should get a half decent sense for how he might profile. First the good news per scouting reports, his pop times (for Throws to second) all have timed above average thanks to a strong arm and quick release. Reports also seem to indicate his defense is good enough to warrant a First Round pick alone, even if he couldn't hit a lick. Fortunately, reports also note he can hit quite a lick, frankly.

First video up is from the Perfect Game All America, courtesy of Bullpen Banter. You can see him catching warmup the first few seconds. He looks really smooth and natural behind the plate. Otherwise, just a lot of nice looking swings in this video. It's not the most bat speed in the class, it's not the quietest swing in the class, but it's a classic looking swing that if paused when he makes contact looks quite textbook.

Here's some high school fil of him from MLBdirt.Tough to make much of it, but game film is nicer to see than BP or HR Derby's where everyone looks good hitting meatballs. It's only a few at bats, but he does well in laying off some close stuff that suggests he has some eye.

Game film with Slo-Mo, courtesy of Diamond Scape Baseball.

Reese McGuire is a UC San Diego commit and here's a video of the kid talking a bit about that at USA Baseball practices in 2012. For the record, reports are that if he's drafted in Round 1, he's signable.

Now for my favorite video, which sems to have been uploaded by someone named Reese McGuire. It's low tech and appears to be a redundant video within a video featuring much index finger pressing of sideways white triangles. Honestly, not much to take from this, but it's entertainingly low tech.

Here's Reese's Perfect Game profile for more video. Overall, he'd be a total steal were to fall to the Phillies and would likely be the #1 prospect in the Org by the end of the season. So, while he may be unlikely to fall, it would be great if he did. Becasue of his defense I doubt there's any threat of him moving to Right or Third, but Catcher's a tough position and can wear guys down and ruin healthy knees. All that said, one advantage going for Reese is that he's from Washington state and, unlike guys in Florida, souther Cal, etc. doesn't play due to weather for large chunks of the year, so his knees have less mileage.