Chase Utley, Michael Vick and Phillies draft lists

Former colleague Jim Salisbury talked to scouting director Mike Arbuckle the day before the 2000 draft when the Phillies were unsure what they were going to do with the 15th pick.

“I wish I could shed more light on where we’re at,” Arbuckle said. “We’ve done all our work. We’re prepared. But we’re at the mercy of the other 14 teams ahead of us. The top of the round is still pretty muddled.”

The Phillies emerged from the uncertainty with one of the best picks in their history, according to several Baseball-Reference.com metrics, including Wins Above Replacement.

*The Phillies selected 38 players, and only three made it to the majors. In addition to Utley, only 17th-round pick Travis Chapman played for the Phillies. Chapman’s only major-league game was Sept. 9, 2003, when he pinch-hit for Tomas Perez and flied out to right field in a lopsided win over the Braves. It was Chapman’s only big-league at-bat and it came right after Utley had been hit by a pitch. Chapman was a coach last season in the Yankees farm system.

*The other Phillie drafted in 2000 to reach the bigs was Taylor Buchholz, who pitched for five seasons, most notably for Colorado.

*The Marlins selected Adrian Gonzalez with the first overall pick. Gonzalez hit 317 home runs in his career and knocked in 100 runs seven times.

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*Other notables from the 2000 draft include Cliff Lee, Yadier Molina, Jose Bautista, Adam Wainwright, Rocco Baldelli, and the legendary Boof Bonser are the most notable names to come out of the 2000 draft.

*Michael Vick was drafted by the Rockies in the 30th round even though he hadn’t played baseball since the sixth grade, according to the Newport News (Va.) Daily Press. Vick electrified college football by quarterbacking Virginia Tech to the national title game following the 1999 season as a freshman. “The guy’s a good athlete,” Colorado’s director of scouting Bill Schmidt told the paper. “I know he hasn’t played baseball, but let’s see if he’s interested. Michael Jordan tried it. If [Vick] isn’t interested, it’s not a big investment on our part.”

*Utley was one of 12 UCLA players drafted. Former Eagles wide receiver Freddie Mitchell, selected by the White Sox in the 50th round, was among the others. Auburn’s Ronnie Brown, another former Eagle, went in the 42nd round to Seattle.

On Wednesday (7 p.m., MLB Network, ESPN), the Phillies will have the 15th pick for just the second time ever. The Phillies do not have a second-round pick because they signed free agent right-hander Zack Wheeler. This year’s draft has been truncated to five rounds. Thursday’s coverage starts at 5 p.m. (MLBN, ESPN2).

(Includes links to recent Inquirer.com stories.)

2019 - Bryson Stott, SS (14th overall pick): Hit .274 in 44 games last season for Williamsport and was probably going to start this year in Lakewood. Turns 23 in October.

2018 - Alec Bohm, 3B (3rd): Jumped three levels last year and was due to start in triple A this year. Making the majors in 2020 was plausible. Was 9-for-23 (.391) in spring training before the pandemic.

2017 - Adam Haseley, OF (8th): Played in 67 games last year for the Phils and was projected to be on the opening-day roster.

2016 - Mickey Moniak, OF (1st): Hard to imagine the stoppage of play hurting anyone more than Moniak, who finally reached double A last year but is in danger of becoming just the fourth No. 1 overall pick not to make it to the majors.

2015 - Cornelius Randolph, SS (10th): Spent the last two years at Reading hitting .244.

2014 - Aaron Nola, LHP (7th): All-Star two years ago and the ace of the staff.

1. Jim Rice, OF (1971)

2. Chase Utley, 2B (2000)

3. Chris Carpenter, RHP (1993)

4. Royce Clayton, SS (1988)

5. Leon Durham, 1B (1976)

Chase Utley in 2000 was the only time the Phillies had the No. 15 pick in the draft. Here’s a look at players the other teams in town took 15th.

Eagles

1959 - J.D. Smith, T, Rice

2003 - Jerome McDougle, DT, Miami

Sixers

(Since 1963-64)

1963 - Hershell West, G, Grambling State

2012 - Maurice Harkless, F/G, St. John’s

Flyers

1992 - Jason Bowen, D, WHL

1996 - Dainius Zubrus, RW, CCHL

Ed Howard, a scholastic shortstop from Chicago, is rated as the 15th overall prospect by MLB.com. Though the players on those lists never go in sequential order, it is worth noting that Howard attended the same high school as Donovan McNabb.