Phillies draft Germantown Friends' Biddle

The Phillies kept it local.

With the 27th overall pick Monday night, the team had a chance to pick Brandon Workman from the University of Texas again or take a local talent they've grown to love over the last two years.

Jesse Biddle, an 18-year-old lefthander from Mount Airy and Germantown Friends High School, got the nod.

He is the first local player ever to be drafted in the first round by the Phillies. Scouting director Marti Wolever said a private workout at Citizens Bank Park on Wednesday probably sealed the deal.

"He was outstanding," Wolever said. "He was even better than we had seen him during the course of the year. We draw a lot of comparisons to [Los Angeles Dodgers lefthander] Clayton Kershaw when he was in high school. I think ceiling-wise and stuff-wise, Jesse has a chance to be that kind of guy. We just felt at this time that he was the best high school lefthander on the board."

Phillies scouts Eric Valent and Del Mintz intensely tracked Biddle during his final two high school seasons and always walked away impressed. The 6-foot-5, 235-pound lefthander went 9-2 with a 1.06 ERA as a senior, leading Germantown Friends to its seventh straight Friends League title. He struck out 140 batters in 591/3 innings. As a junior, he was 5-0 with a 0.64 ERA and 61 strikeouts in 33 innings while allowing only seven hits.

Biddle was not available for comment Monday night, but Wolever said the young lefthander, who has a scholarship to the University of Oregon, was thrilled to be taken by his hometown team.

"I just talked to Eric Valent and he said [Biddle] broke down and was pretty emotional," Wolever said. "He was really taken aback by the whole thing. Even though he had been here and he knew we had an immense amount of interest, he was really taken aback."

Bob Bergholtz, Biddle's coach for four seasons at Germantown Friends, was also excited.

"I'm ecstatic for him," Bergholtz said. "To be drafted into the major leagues is a great accomplishment by itself, but then to be drafted by the team that you've been following since you were a little kid, if you wrote that script, you really couldn't believe it."

Wolever said he was impressed by Biddle's composure during his workout at the ballpark, not to mention the way he threw the baseball. The Phillies' scouting director said he hit 94 m.p.h. with his fastball after throwing 89 to 90 earlier in the spring.