Inside the Phillies: For Phillies, top pick has 'that hitting gene'
A late March baseball game at Griffin High School, about 40 miles south of Atlanta, attracted a gaggle of scouts. Pike County's Tristin English, a righthanded pitcher bound for Georgia Tech in the fall, was on the mound against Griffin's star, the smooth-swinging Cornelius Randolph.

A late March baseball game at Griffin High School, about 40 miles south of Atlanta, attracted a gaggle of scouts. Pike County's Tristin English, a righthanded pitcher bound for Georgia Tech in the fall, was on the mound against Griffin's star, the smooth-swinging Cornelius Randolph.
Griffin coach Alex Wyche batted Randolph leadoff, so English, whose fastball reaches the mid-90s, couldn't pitch around him. In each of his first two at-bats, the lefthanded-hitting Randolph scorched heaters to left-center field, the second resulting in a double that plated a run with two outs.
For at least one of the 30 or so talent evaluators behind home plate, that night was a clincher. The notes in the Phillies' file on Randolph date to last June. Two-and-a-half months before Randolph became the team's first draft pick - 10th overall - an impressive performance against a quality pitcher served as further validation of the hitter's ability.
"He performed for me every time I saw him," said Aaron Jersild, the Phillies' area scout for Georgia. "It's the most comfortable I've been in a high school hitter, actually, in a long time."
The Phillies scouted Randolph for nearly a year during the extensive buildup to the first round of the draft Monday night. When it came time for their pick, months of evaluations from dozens up and down the organization created a consensus in the Citizens Bank Park draft room.
Johnny Almaraz, the team's first-year director of amateur scouting, watched Randolph several times in a fall tournament in Jupiter, Fla., and a couple of more times during the high school season. General manager Ruben Amaro Jr. saw him homer early last month, when the Phillies were in Atlanta. Former manager Charlie Manuel and international scouting director Sal Agostinelli were among those present in Georgia for the team's recent private workout of Randolph.
In what many in baseball considered a weak draft, the Phillies regarded Randolph as the best high school hitter and one of the top three bats in the class, Almaraz said. On draft night, he said the Phillies project Randolph, a shortstop who will shift to left field at the professional level, to hit for average and power. He turned 18 on June 2.
"He's got excellent hand-eye coordination. He's got good bat control, and he's always on time," said Jersild, who also scouts South Carolina and the northern part of Florida.
"A lot of good hitters, you just rarely see them off-balance or way out in front of a pitch. Cornelius is one of those guys. He's on time. He's got a quick trigger. His hands work really well. He's got good extension. He's a confident hitter. He's a confident kid in the batter's box."
High school hitters can be difficult to evaluate because it's rare they face comparable pitching. The heavily scouted East Coast Pro Showcase in Syracuse, N.Y., last summer offered teams a four-day sample pitting Randolph against top prep pitchers.
That March evening in rural Georgia provided another telling look.
"He doesn't try to do too much. He can pull the ball, but he's best when he works middle away," said Wyche, Randolph's high school coach. "He's got great hands. He had seven home runs this year. Five of them went to center field or left-center, so that just shows you that he doesn't try to do too much. He hits the ball where it's pitched."
The Phillies were sold on Randolph's bat. The pre-draft workout in Atlanta was the final step in their evaluation. They stuck the 6-foot-1, 190-pound Randolph in left field and hit him fly balls to test his reactions, his angles, and how he threw to the bases. Randolph, who doubled as a pitcher in high school, is said to have a strong arm.
Randolph checked all the boxes as far as the Phillies brass was concerned. He played shortstop in high school only because he was the best athlete on his team, said Wyche, who believes the outfield is the ideal fit at the pro level. A less pressure-filled position will allow him to "concentrate on swinging the stick," the Griffin High coach reasoned.
Randolph, who upon signing is expected to begin his career at short-season, single-A Williamsport, said he has never had a private hitting lesson.
"He's got that hitting gene," Jersild said. "A lot of things come naturally to him where he just can get up there and hit and do it without having to alter his mechanics or think about it."
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