The Phillies came away from the 2026 draft with a bullpen arm that reads more like a lottery ticket than a fourth-round pick. Deven Sheerin, the LSU closer who missed all of 2025 with a torn ACL and still came back throwing gas, is officially a Phillie after signing for $600,000, just about dead-on slot value for pick 128.
Jim Callis broke down exactly what Philadelphia is getting for its money.
Numbers alone don't do the stuff justice. Sheerin's fastball sits in the mid-90s and touches triple digits, paired with a slider that scouts have flagged as tight and hard to square up, all delivered from a crossfire, low sidearm slot that makes him a nightmare matchup for right-handed hitters. One scout summed it up bluntly: you can see the deception, the stuff, the size, it's all there. That kind of raw firepower out of the bullpen is exactly why some evaluators had him rated as the top relief arm in the entire class, a wild proposition for a guy who went in the fourth round.
Context matters here. Sheerin missed the entire 2025 season rehabbing a torn ACL, and by his own numbers this year, a 3-2 record with a 4.78 ERA over 20 appearances, 37.2 innings, 58 strikeouts and five saves, he wasn't exactly dominant on paper. Scouts have suggested the injury lingered into his conditioning down the stretch. That gap between the underlying stuff and the surface-level results is precisely why he fell to Round 4 instead of going in the first two, and precisely why Philadelphia felt comfortable buying low at slot price.
For a Phillies org that's leaned heavily on a veteran-laden bullpen the last few seasons, adding a power arm this cheap into the pipeline is low-risk, high-ceiling roster building. If the command catches up to the velocity, this is the kind of pick that turns into a middle-of-the-order relief piece a few years down the line for next to nothing financially. If it doesn't, it's a fourth-rounder who barely dented the bonus pool. Either way, the industry buzz on Sheerin's raw arm strength means his development track in the minors will be worth watching a lot closer than your typical Day 2 signee.