After several months of uncertainty and amid a flurry of rumors about where he would spend his future, Hanover senior Mark Phillips answered the phone at home with hope of an answer.

On the other side was major league scout Rene Mons, making it official. Phillips had been selected by the San Diego Padres in the first round of the 2000 baseball draft.

Taking Phillips with the ninth pick overall, the Padres made the left-handed pitcher York’s County’s highest baseball draft pick in history. If he negotiates to play for the Padres, he’ll join the franchise’s farm system with hopes of reaching the big club.

Draft day began for Phillips with a final exam in math at the high school. The end of the day brought the conclusion of his high school career.

Phillips, who was 8-2 with a 0.74 ERA and averaged 17.9 strikeouts per nine innings, didn’t pitch Monday in Hanover’s 12-0 loss in the first round of the PIAA tournament. Nighthawks coach Terry Conover said Phillips’ arm was tender after the District 3 Class A championship win over Upper Dauphin on Thursday.

Instead of demonstrating his mid-90 mph fastball and shuddering curveball, Phillips played center field in Monday’s loss. After the game, television cameras swarmed around him as he tried to leave the field. A crowd of fans remained for photos with Phillips and for autographed baseballs and shirts.

“This is wild. ... Just to be drafted is an honor, let alone drafted in the first round,” Phillips said. “It’s an honor, and that’s how I’m treating it.”

Phillips had committed to attend and pitch at Louisiana State University, which he said he still hasn’t ruled out.

“Either way,” he said, “it’s a can’t-lose situation.”

Baseball America ranked Phillips as the nation’s seventh-best amateur prospect, but the pitcher knew days before the draft of the Padres’ interest in him. Phillips also heard from the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Minnesota Twins and Baltimore Orioles. Phillips’ father, Steve, had heard that his son might fall to 14th or 15th.

It was just before the draft when Phillips’ adviser called to tell him that he was “90 percent sure” that the Padres would take him at No. 9. Hard-throwing, left-handed pitchers are in demand throughout the majors. Phillips’ ability to control two major league-caliber pitches only served to raise his stock.

Five of the draft’s first eight picks were pitchers. Several early projected picks fell to lower spots. Nine of the first 11 picks and more than half of all first-round selections were high school students.

“Some of the names that were supposed to go higher didn’t,” Steve Phillips said. “I’m happy that it all worked out.”

The pitcher admitted he hadn’t had a chance to let the news sink in. Shortly after getting his invitation to play with the pros, he was on a school bus with his Hanover teammates en route to the state playoff game in Red Lion.

His father showed up at Horn Field with a brand-new Padres cap. A friend had seen him while driving to the game and flung him the cap.

Mark Phillips said he wasn’t sure what the next step in the process would be. He just wanted to get a Padres cap of his own.

“If we get home in time, I’ll go to the mall and get one,” he said, still wearing his black-and-orange Hanover hat.

Padres general manager Kevin Towers expressed high hopes for Phillips, comparing him to 20-year-old St. Louis rookie Rick Ankiel.

“We think he should move quickly (through the organization),” Towers told The Associated Press.

Towers also said that once Phillips is signed, he likely will be sent to either Peoria, Ill., to play in the Arizona Rookie League or to Idaho Falls, Idaho, of the Pioneer League.

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