Phillies get hometown talent with Saint Joe’s pitcher Luke Gabrysh in 15th round of the MLB Draft

PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — In the 15th round of the recent MLB Draft, the Phillies dipped into the well of Philly local college baseball talent and drafted Saint Joe’s right-handed pitcher Luke Gabrysh.

He just wrapped up a junior season on the bump that saw him make 20 appearances for the Hawks — 19 out of the bullpen. In total, Gabrysh pitched 41 ⅓ innings and struck out 37 batters. Over the summer, he played for the Trenton Thunder of the MLB Draft League and compiled a 1.42 ERA in nine appearances.

Gabrysh is a native of Wilmington, Delaware and grew up a Phillies fan. In a recent conversation with KYW, he detailed a recent pre-draft workout with the team in at Citizens Bank Park in South Philly.

“[I] threw to live hitters on the game mound, which was really cool. It was the first time I got to actually be on the field,” he said. “I knew they had some interest, but there was a good amount of other teams that showed a little more interest than the Phillies at first.”

Gabrysh went on to say that he didn’t expect to go to the Phillies, “but here we are.”

On the day he got drafted, Gabrysh said he was on the phone with his agent talking about the possibility of going to two other teams when the news broke that the Phils nabbed him in the 15th round.

“Wait, you, you just became a Phillie,” Gabrysh remembers his agent’s words. “And I found out on the phone.”

He was also not the only local pitcher to get a call from the Phillies during the draft. The team also drafted fellow right-hander Eli Trop from Penn a round later, in the 16th.

In the end, Gabrysh did make history as part of the biggest MLB draft class ever for Saint Joe’s. He was one of four players to get drafted this year. The others were pitcher Matt McShane, who went to the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 13th round; outfielder Ryan Cesarini, drafted by the Cleveland Guardians in the 14th round; and outfielder Ryan Picollo, taken by the Seattle Mariners in the 20th round.