The Philadelphia Phillies selected a Yorktown High School graduate in the sixth round of the Major League Baseball (MLB) Draft this week.
James Tallon, a 2022 Yorktown graduate, was an ace starting pitcher for the Patriots in high school. He then spent three years at Duke University, where he continued his pitching career as a reliever — coming into games in the late innings instead of starting them.
The 21-year-old is a 6-foot-5 lefty with fastballs in the mid-90-mph range.
At Duke last season, he pitched to a 3.96 earned run average, which is the average number of earned runs scored against a pitcher every nine innings. He also struck out 50 batters in 36.1 innings pitched, according to Baseball Reference.
The next step for Tallon will be to officially sign a contract with the Phillies, which drafted him using the No. 191 overall pick. The “slot value” for that pick is $422,700, but Tallon could make more or less depending on how much money the Phillies are spending on other players in their draft class.
Alternatively, Tallon has one season of college eligibility left and could decide to return to school and re-enter the draft next year. His coach at Duke, Chris Pollard, left after the season for a new job at UVA, so that’s one reason to believe he might sign with Philadelphia.
After signing a contract, Tallon would begin his professional career in the minor leagues, a multi-tiered system of leagues in which players slowly advance to the majors. Tallon will likely start in single-A, hoping to advance to high-A, then double-A and finally triple-A.
It’s a long, arduous process in which players have to prove themselves at every level, but should the Arlington native continue to do that, he could make MLB in a couple of seasons.
Photo via Duke Baseball/X
