Why Cade Obermueller Could Be the Next Big Star You’ve Never Heard Of

What a nail-biter this voting round turned out to be! The race was tighter than a slider down the pipe, with Cade Obermueller sneaking ahead with 25 votes, just edging out Jean Cabrera and Yoniel Curet, who each snagged 23. It’s a clear testament to the buzz swirling around these young guns in the Phillies’ farm system. After locking in Gage Wood in the first round of the 2025 draft, the Phillies didn’t stray far from what truly matters—they doubled down on replenishing their depleted pitching arsenal, a move that has fans buzzing with anticipation. Obermueller, in particular, stands out as a tantalizing prospect who could wear a Phillies uniform sooner rather than later. The team’s patience with him—for now at least—could pay dividends as they explore whether he shines brighter as a starter or a reliever. His arsenal is lean, throwing just two pitches, but with the kind of athleticism and delivery that scouts drool over, there’s enough promise here to ignite dreams of homegrown pitching stars rather than costly trades. Stay tuned as the countdown continues; we’ll unveil each successive vote-getter and let you shape the list of the top 20 Phillies prospects. Don’t just stand there—jump in and vote! Your minutes spent clicking could steer the conversation and maybe even spotlight the next big name in baseball. LEARN MORE

Finally, a close vote!

Cade Obermueller – 25
Jean Cabrera – 23
Yoniel Curet – 23
Keaton Anthony – 11
Griffin Burkholder – 10
Carson DeMartini – 9
Alex McFarlane – 3
Mavis Graves – 3
Romeli Espinosa – 2
Cody Bowker – 1

It was quite interesting watching the Phillies’ 2025 draft unfold. Once Gage Wood was secured in the first round, the team could have gone any different direction since their player development system was somewhat devoid of top notch prospects. What we saw instead was a refilling of the pitching stockpile the team desperately needed to refill.

Obermueller is one of them. He might reach the majors quickly if the team focused on his becoming a reliever, but there is some time still. They can see what he can do as a starter first, then go from there. His only really throwing two pitches will probably dictate a lot of his path, but this is something the Phillies need to develop: starters and/or relievers that they can promote from within as opposed to having to trade for them all the time.

2025 stats

Did not make professional debut

Fangraphs scouting report

Obermueller has relief risk because he’s smaller, he throws just two pitches, and he doesn’t have great command of either of them. But he’s a special athlete with a beautiful delivery, which arguably allows for mold-breaking command and changeup projection. Obermueller is an incredibly loose, explosive athlete with bendy, whippy limbs and a powerful lower body. His delivery adds deception to his stuff in basically every way. He’s able to hide the ball for a long time because of how far back his arm lays before release. He takes a cross-bodied stride and has a lower arm slot, but he still manages to power down the mound and generate plus extension despite an indirect line to the plate. Plus, Obermueller gets to a more vertical hand position on release than is typical of someone with his arm slot. All of this creates huge uphill angle on his fastball, which averages 91-95 mph. That’s up a tick from his sophomore year, and he’ll peak in the 97-98 mph range.

With each new post, we’ll reveal who won the voting for that particular slot, then post new players for you to vote on, adding another one to the list each time until we get to our final tally of 20. Once we get to 20 top prospects, we’ll do an honorable mention post at the end. If a player gets traded to another team, we’ll just chuck him right on outta here and all the players will move up a spot. If a prospect gets acquired, we’ll ask where he should go on the list.

Probably the most important thing about this whole process – please vote. Give us a few minutes of your time, just click a button and then we can discuss other players and things in the comment section, but don’t forget – VOTE!

View Link