Cole Phillips has been signed, sealed and delivered to the Atlanta Braves after they selected him with the 57th pick in the second round of this year’s Major League Baseball draft on July 17.
After signing with Atlanta last week, Phillips headed to Florida last weekend where he will train, work out and rehabilitate at the Braves’ spring training facility.
“That’s where I’ll start my Minor League career, he said. “I’ll be there until Thanksgiving when I’ll get a little break for the holidays. The fact that it happened and to a team I wanted to go to, I was thankful.
“I’m super excited, more than ready to start this next chapter. The day of and the day after (the draft) was exciting, it was kind of a blur. My phone was blowing up, it was very busy but very exciting.”
Phillips revealed that he signed with the Braves for $1.5 million but added he doesn’t plan on buying anything special at this point.
“I’ll save it and invest a little bit, but I’ll try not to spend anything,” he said about the paycheck that will be paid in two installments one year apart. “I’m fortunate to have a nice car so I’m not going to buy anything exciting.”
Phillips had Tommy John surgery to repair his pitching elbow last April and said he won’t be able to toss a ball – nor pitch – until at least October.
Phillips will start throwing with a little more velocity sometime at the beginning of 2023 and said he hopes to be at 100 percent sometime next summer.
“The new ligament has to be built up,” he said. “The Braves are going off my doctor’s timeline, and they’ll work with my physical therapy group before I can get released. Typically after surgery, it’s 12 to 14 months when you’re 100 percent.”
Phillips said his rehabilitation is going well, and he noted that all the MLB teams he talked to weren’t scared off by his injury.
“With my injury I just have to be patient, but I’m recovering at a good pace,” he said. “The teams understand Tommy John (surgery) and how many guys have it. It seems like 50 percent of pitchers are getting it.”
Phillips had signed to play college baseball at the University of Arkansas and said he will miss not being a Razorback, but added that this opportunity was just too good to pass up.
“It was hard in that we loved Arkansas; that would have been a great route,” he said. “Arkansas is a special place, but on the other hand, going to the Braves was a pretty easy choice.”
Phillips said 15 teams were interested in him, even with the injury, and six or seven teams were in contact the day before the draft. Three teams, including the Braves, were seriously talking to him on draft day.
The elbow injury cut short his senior year, where he was having a solid season and at times topped 101 miles per hour on his fastball.
The 6-foot-3, 200-pounder was 4-0 when his senior season ended and had an ERA of 0.00. He had 42 strikeouts and only surrendered three runs, none of them earned.
During his junior year, Phillips posted an ERA of 0.88, fanned 97 batters and finished with a 9-1 record. The loss he suffered last year was only the second of his high school career after he posted a mark of 15-2 as a Greyhound.
The injury hasn’t hurt Phillips’ confidence either and he said he hopes to be playing in Class AA or AAA in the minors toward the tail end of next season.
“I know it’s not going to be easy, but I feel like if anyone can do it, then I’m the one who can,” he said. “I’m ready to take it on, head on. I’m super excited at this point.”
“I’m super excited, more than ready to start this next chapter. The day of and the day after (the draft) was exciting, it was kind of a blur. My phone was blowing up, it was very busy but very exciting.” –Cole Phillips
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