Two Phillies Pitching Prospects Make Citizens Bank Park Debuts in All-Star Futures Game

The Phillies, as part of the luxury of hosting All-Star week, welcomed the top prospects in baseball into Citizens Bank Park for the All-Star Futures Game. The Phillies sent two pitchers into the game on Sunday afternoon: 2025 first-round selection and No. 2-ranked prospect, Gage Wood, and No. 12 prospect, reliever Wen-Hui Pan.

Gage was awarded the starting opportunity for the National League, who were managed by Phillies World Series champion center fielder Shane Victorino, after pitching to a 3.44 ERA in 16 starts and 55 innings across High-A and Double-A, already throwing 79 strikeouts on the year.

The start began with a four-pitch leadoff single given up to the No. 2 prospect in all of baseball, Leo De Vries. De Vries then took advantage of his 31 steals this season by stealing both second and third scoring off a weak grounder Wood forced to second base prospect for the Red Sox, Franklin Arias.

Wood worked quickly through the rest of the inning by causing first base prospect Ralphy Velasquez to pop out to third on two pitches before getting outfield prospect Walker Jenkins to ground out to first on the first pitch.

While an earned run is on Woods’ line for the game, that run was hardly his fault, overall pitching very well against some of the best-hitting prospects in the league while being only three months into his rookie season. Wood mainly used his fastball, averaging high 96-97 mph. He worked in both his changeup and slider, while both pitches weren’t as successful in hitting the zone as consistently as the fastball today, it did not stop Wood from being efficient as a whole in getting outs. Wood did not allow a single hit over 90 mph, showing solid work in allowing soft contact.

Pan came into the ballgame in the top half of the sixth inning with the American League holding a 2-1 lead and two outs in the inning.

Pan is a lesser-known prospect in the baseball world, signed three years ago as a 20-year-old out of Taiwan. He is not a member of the MLB top 100 prospect list and missed all of the 2025 season recovering from Tommy John surgery. However, he hasn’t let them affect him this season, as through three levels he’s accumulated a 2.81 ERA in 25.2 innings pitched.

The Futures Game, specifically for lesser-known prospects like Pan, is an opportunity to get a quick boost of national recognition. Struggle in the game? You remain where you are, working to get noticed by the higher-ups in your organization. Unfortunately for Pan, he struggled on Sunday.

With two outs in the eighth, Pan faced Walker Jenkins, and after getting two quick strikes on a 97 and 98 mph fastball. Pan’s struggles began afterwards, losing the early advantage on Jenkins, walking him on seven pitches, and then giving up a first-pitch two-run blast to Rays catching prospect Nathan Flewelling on Pan’s slowest fastball of the day, 96 mph down the heart of the plate.

Pan was able to bounce back afterwards, striking out Astros third base prospect Xavier Neyens on a wonderful low-inside slider. Pan had solid work with his fastball, minus one pitch, averaging 97 but hitting 98 consistently. His main issue was his splitter; it just did not work in the slightest, being well out of the strike zone each time he threw it.

The American League, managed by legendary Phillies shortstop and manager Larry Bowa, came away with the win, 6-1.

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