Phillies Pick Rumson Alum Reece Moroney in 2026 MLB Draft

Reece Moroney was a starter on three straight 22-win teams as a versatile defender and hitter for the Rumson-Fair Haven Baseball team. After three years playing shortstop at the University of Rhode Island, he will join a new organization that has done a lot of winning over the last five seasons.

The Philadelphia Phillies selected Moroney in the 10th round of the 2026 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft Sunday, making him the second player from the Shore Conference selected in this year’s draft.

Moroney was the 26th pick of the 10th round and 309th overall. He is the first Rumson-Fair Haven graduate selected in the draft since Shane McCarthy was selected out of Seton Hall University in the 18th round of the 2017 MLB Draft.

“Like pretty much everybody who plays baseball, I have wanted to hear my name called in the draft since I was a little kid,” Moroney said. “Once the draft started, it got to be pretty stressful waiting around, but I got the call and it was really cool. I found out about ten picks before I got taken. I was inside my house and everyone was outside watching and I went out and told them to start paying attention.”

Moroney was a steady presence at the plate and in the field during one of Rumson’s best three-year stretches in program history. He played third base, second base and centerfield during his sophomore and junior seasons before taking over as the starting shortstop as a senior in 2023, when he was a Third Team All-Shore selection by Shore Sports Network while leading the Bulldogs to their second straight NJSIAA Central Jersey Group II championship.

“Defense has always been my best tool,” Moroney said. “I played a handful of games at a few positions at RFH but I always saw myself as a shortstop. Ever since I was a little kid, I would play in the back yard with my dad and tell him, ‘Make me dive.’ It’s just part of the game I have always loved.”

Moroney hit .351 with five doubles, three home runs and 10 stolen bases as a senior for a Rumson team that went 22-6 and reached the Group II championship game for the first time in program history. One year prior, he hit .475 with four doubles and 20 runs scored despite missing a brief stretch of games due to injury. During that junior season in 2022, Moroney played mostly centerfield for the Bulldogs, who went 22-5 on the way to capturing their first sectional championship in 18 years. In 2021, Moroney debuted as Rumson’s third baseman and hit .311 with a home run and five doubles on another 22-win Rumson team — the first Bulldogs team to win the Monmouth County Tournament since 1984.

“I’m not a really a toolsy, showcase guy,” said Moroney, who participated in the MLB Draft Combine in Phoenix in June. “I don’t have big power at the plate or a big arm. I’m just a routine guy who plays to win. That’s what I want my coaches and teammates to see when I’m out on the field.”

Day 2 of the MLB Draft is getting started and the local name to watch today is Rumson alum Reece Moroney (Rhode Island). Here is Moroney slamming a home run as a senior at RFH off fellow Division 1 player Cullen Condon (Manasquan) in 2023. pic.twitter.com/FvfnBNdjMm

— Matt Manley (@Matt_Manley) July 12, 2026

At Rhode Island, Moroney did not have to play his way to shortstop. He started at the position and led off in the Rams’ season-opener in 2024 and went on to author an accomplished résumé during his college career. After breaking in with a .256 batting average and one home run as a freshman, Moroney broke out as a sophomore in 2025, when he hit .356 with 12 doubles, three triples, two home runs 55 runs scored, 42 RBI and 24 stolen bases. Those numbers were backed by a .464 on-base percentage and .462 slugging percentage.

Coming off the sophomore breakout in the spring of 2025, Moroney secured a spot in the Cape Cod Baseball League with the Falmouth Commodores and went 6-for-15 with six RBI while appearing in seven games.

“The biggest thing for me was just improving my physical and mental maturity,” Moroney said. “I always felt like I had a good foundation but any time you face a challenge, you have to be confident in who you are. I learned how to tell myself that I’m the best player on the field, which is how you have to think when you’re competing at a high level.”

In his third and, presumably, final year at Rhode Island, Moroney proved 2025 was not a flash in the pan. He upped his batting average to .370, slugged four home runs to go with 19 doubles, drove in 50 runs while scoring 47 and ran a slugging percentage of .494.

“I never even thought about playing in college until I started getting calls my junior year,” Moroney said. “Realistically, I never thought I was going to get drafted. It’s something that’s in the back of your mind just as a something you dream of, but it wasn’t something I was expecting. I just knew I loved playing, I wanted to keep getting better and at some point, I realized this could really happen. I think once I got invited to the combine and got out there with all those guys, that’s when it really hit me.”

Moroney’s selection marks the second straight year in which the Phillies used a pick in the middle of the draft on a Shore Conference alumnus. Toms River East shortstop Matt Ferrara went to the Phillies in the ninth round in 2025 directly out of high school and signed with the club. The Phillies also drafted former Jackson Memorial pitcher Matt Potok out of Coastal Carolina in the 18th round last year.

As a member of the 2023 Jersey Shore Carpenter Cup team, Moroney played on the field at Citizens Bank Ballpark, where the Phillies play their home games. The Class-A advanced affiliate of the Phillies is the Jersey Shore BlueClaws, which play their home games at ShoreTown Ballpark in Lakewood — the closest minor league park to Moroney’s home town.

“I had a flashback being out on the field in the Carpenter Cup,” Moroney said. “That was such an amazing experience, but I can’t say being out there that I thought I would be getting drafted by the Phillies three years later. It’s pretty cool though, because a lot of their minor league teams are pretty close to home. I have always had family at my games, even when I was at Rhode Island, so it’s great that I get to keep getting that support.”