READING, PA – Gage Wood skipped over the first base foul line and jogged to the mound at FirstEnergy Stadium on Thursday night in front of 7,208 fans eager to watch the second-ranked prospect in the Phillies’ system melt the strike zone with his fastball.
He did just that with Dave Dombrowski sitting front and center behind home plate looking on.
The righty sat 95-96 mph unofficially with his heater according to the in-house radar gun and topped out at 99 in his fourth and final inning of his outing.
Wood allowed an earned run on three hits, did not walk a batter, and struck out four on 50 pitches with 33 going for strikes in a 5-1 Reading win.
Seeing those two nines on the scoreboard out in left field set a new personal best with his fastball velocity.
“I looked back and saw that, so I tried to throw the next one even harder, but it was a lot slower,” Wood said, smiling.
That ensuing fastball clocked in at 94 mph.
“Tonight was a whole mile-per-hour PR from previous years. I’m going to take that and enjoy it. I’ve been stuck at 98 for a while.”
Many pitchers would love to be “stuck” at 98 mph with their fastball.
A pitch that is Wood’s calling card. A pitch catcher, Kehden Hettiger, has been impressed with in the two starts he’s been behind the plate catching the 26th overall pick in 2025.
“He’s elite. He’s got one of the best heaters in all of minor leagues with plus off-speed. Just plus stuff in general,” the catcher said after the game. “In his two starts here, the energy has been high. His presence on the mound says it all. That and with his stuff, it’s pretty elite.”
The 22-year-old got off to a good start picking up a pair of strikeouts with a slider and fastball in a 1-2-3 first inning. The offense gave Wood plenty of run support, plating four runs in the opening inning, highlighted by a Raylin Heredia RBI single and a two-run double from Austin Murr.
In the second, Wood worked around a leadoff single, inducing a groundball double play before fielding a light comebacker to face the minimum. He turned it around in a breezy third inning, starting the frame off with a strikeout looking on a 97 mph fastball.
The fourth inning was where Wood’s lone blemish happened. After falling behind 3-0 to Jake Rogers, the Harrisburg Senator first baseman hit a fly ball to left field that was misread by Dylan Campbell, soaring over his head for a double. Wood bounced back, striking out Cayden Wallace, touching 99 during the at-bat. A bloop single down the right field line plated Rogers before Wood induced his second double play of his night to end the inning with just the one run allowed.
The four innings matched a season and career-high for Wood. The fierce competitor says he feels comfortable going deeper into games.
“I feel better as I go. I really like it. I feel the blood just pumping more, and I get more into it. Just competing. The body starts feeling better, things start speeding up and it just takes another tick. I love it,” Wood said.
Through two starts in Double-A, Wood has posted a 2.57 ERA in seven innings of work, allowing two earned runs on seven hits and one walk with 10 strikeouts.
Overall between Low-A Clearwater and Reading, Wood has a 3.24 ERA in 10 starts. In 33⅓ innings he has racked up 50 strikeouts to 13 walks, and opponents are hitting .205 against him.
The fastball has been playing well so far in Wood’s young career, but there’s another pitch that he is focused on developing and improving as he continues his climb up the organizational ladder.
“Getting the splitter more consistent would be the biggest thing, but just keep polishing up everything, working each side of the plate with all my pitches, and just continue to execute.”
There are a lot of expectations surrounding Wood. Similar to former top pitching prospect Andrew Painter, who has since graduated from prospect status and is working on finding his way at the big league level. Wood hopes to join Painter in the rotation one day, but for now, he’s focused on the task at hand.
“I have to keep doing the things I have done my whole life. I can’t look that far ahead. I just have to be where my feet are.”
