The Phillies' scouting department did a fantastic job identifying Graves as a projectable left-hander out of the South Carolina ranks, not only seeing there was more in the tank stuff-wise from his upper-80s fastball but that he also was ready to play pro ball, rather than head to Clemson. Selected in the sixth round of the 2022 Draft, Graves signed for slightly under slot to get going. His pro debut in the Rookie-level Florida Complex League the following summer was rough, especially in the control department, but a step forward in harnessing his rapidly improving stuff with Single-A Clearwater this year has put him on the map.
A 6-foot-6 southpaw, Graves has a five-pitch arsenal, and he’ll use all of them. He has both a four- and two-seam fastball, throwing the former up to 95 mph, mostly sitting in the 91-93 range, and the latter sinker around 90-93 mph, leading to good ground-ball rates. His cutter is his best out pitch, featuring hard, short break and high spin rates, thrown in the 78-81 mph range. His curve is more of a show-me pitch, as is his changeup, the pitch he throws the least.
After struggling with command during his debut, Graves filled up the zone with much greater consistency in 2024, cutting his walk rate considerably while continuing to miss a ton of bats. He pitched at age 20 for all of this season and it’s easy to dream on more upticks of stuff and further development in using his complete repertoire.
