The Phillies took right-hander Gage Wood, he of the record-setting 19 strikeouts in his College World Series start last June, in the first round of last year’s draft. They recently promoted him from Low A straight to Double A in what I interpreted as move to get him to the majors before the year is out. On Thursday, I caught his second Double-A start, which was attended by Dave Dombrowski and a passel of other Phillies front-office folks. Wood only threw 56 pitches in four impressive innings, dominating the Double-A Harrisburg lineup with his fastball.Wood’s four-seamer was one of the best in last year’s draft class because it has tremendous riding life up top and he throws everything from a release height around 5.4 feet, generating a ton of whiffs everywhere he’s pitched so far, including his two outings for Double-A Reading. The fastball was his only plus pitch on the night; he also threw a handful of sliders that were short and maybe average just given how hard they were, but those were his only two pitches aside from a single changeup that sailed to his arm side.His four-seamer would play in the majors now; he was 94-97 most of the night and topped out at 99.6 mph, and he can get away with throwing it in the upper third of the zone because of those secondary characteristics. He did throw the curveball and change-up more in his time in Low A, and perhaps he’ll use them more if he’s stretched out beyond four innings — he hasn’t pitched into the fifth inning this year or thrown more than 68 pitches in any outing. For him to help the Phillies this year in any capacity, though, I think he’ll need at least one consistent second weapon, whether it’s the slider or the curveball.On Friday, I took in a Low-A game between Fredericksburg and Delmarva featuring two 2025 first-round picks, Eli Willits and Gavin Fien.2025 No. 1 pick Eli Willits is reaching base at a better than 40 percent clip in his first full pro season. (Nick Cammett / Diamond Images via Getty Images)Willits was the No. 1 pick in the 2025 draft, when he was still 17 and the youngest player in the draft class. He’s hitting .290/.413/.456 so far for Fredericksburg, although Willits’ most impressive play on Friday came in the field. He made multiple plays at short that were at least somewhat more difficult than “routine,” including one groundball where he was screened out by his own third baseman and a pop fly down the left field line that I don’t think the average major-league shortstop catches.