Kiwi signs with Philadelphia Phillies
One of the nation’s brightest young baseball players has signed a contract to play professional baseball with the Philadelphia Phillies organisation and will head to Florida for spring training with the club.
Auckland-born pitcher Kyle Glogoski had been sought after by a number of MLB clubs and universities in the United States, but committed to the Phillies just prior to Christmas.
After formally signing his contract on Thursday, he will return this week to pitch for the Sydney Blue Sox in the Australian Baseball League (ABL).
‘‘I couldn’t be happier right now to finally get that pen to paper,’’ Glogoski said. ‘‘It’s been a bumpy road to get to this point and I couldn’t be happier to come to terms with the Phillies.’’
Glogoski said he understands the magnitude of signing with such a storied franchise that last one a World Series in 2008.
‘‘One thing that excites me is that they’re one of the oldest organisations in the game and they have a lot of history behind them, so I can’t wait to put that jersey on for the first time and meet a lot of young talented kids the same age as me all trying to chase that same dream of making it to the big leagues,’’ Glogoski added.
The 18-year old has pitched well for the Sydney team in his first season of the ABL, appearing in five games with one start, but as yet doesn’t know if he’ll be able to complete the current season with the Blacktown-based professional team.
‘‘I will have to see if the Phillies have a throwing program for me to go over these next couple of months, so I am unsure at this stage if I will be able to complete my season with the Blue Sox as their (Phillies) throwing program may clash with their (Sydney) playing schedule,’’ he said, adding that he hopes to be allowed to finish out the year with his Sydney teammates.
Glogoski pitched for New Zealand in the 2014 World Baseball Softball Confederation World Championship in Mexico and then became the youngest player on the New Zealand Diamondblacks men’s national team in Sydney in 2016 at the World Baseball Classic Qualifiers.
But Glogoski first came to the attention of a number of Major League scouts when he spent two weeks in Florida in early 2017, playing for an MLB Select team against Major League Baseball Rookie teams at various Spring Training facilities around the St Petersburg area.
‘‘One of the biggest things I learnt on that tour was how to pitch against the more advanced hitters and to have a game plan on how to approach them, and this contributed a lot to my success over there as I was able to figure out what each batter was expecting and ultimately throw a different pitch,’’ said the young right-handed hurler, who was the hardest thrower on the World Team roster.