Phillies center fielder Dante Nori has completed his first full professional season, capping it with a stint in the Arizona Fall League (AFL) with the Surprise Saguaros. Nori, who was selected by the Phillies in the first round of the 2024 MLB Draft, made an early impact in the AFL opener on October 7. Despite experiencing a minor injury while attempting to steal a base during his second at-bat, Nori was determined to continue playing.
“I had no interest in going home whatsoever,” Nori said during an interview on the MLB Pipeline Podcast. “Even the Phillies, they know how I am. There was no chance I was going home out here. I wanted to play ball. I love this group, and I just wanted to keep getting better out here. So no, going home was not an option for me.”
Nori returned to action two weeks later and posted a .308 batting average with an .822 OPS over 12 games in the AFL. The league features prospects from various organizations, giving players like Nori exposure to different playing styles and approaches.
“While you’re playing here, you get to learn a lot about different organizations,” Nori said. “We got the Rangers, Guardians, Brewers, everybody on this team. So just getting a feel of how they do things and then you know you get to see every other org — it’s five per team, so paying attention to that — and you just get to watch the game a little bit more, dig deeper. And then to see pitchers out here, they can pitch, they know where they’re gonna put it, where they want to put it, so it’s just picking up on those things.”
During his first full professional season, Nori spent most of his time with Single-A Clearwater before earning promotions late in the year—first to High-A Jersey Shore and then unexpectedly to Double-A Reading for the final week of play. Over 125 games across all levels in 2025, he compiled a .261/.361/.372 line with nearly as many walks (75) as strikeouts (85), which ranked him third-best in BB/K rate within the organization. He also stole 52 bases—second only among Phillies prospects behind Aidan Miller—and finished with a wRC+ of 109.
“It all happened so fast,” Nori said regarding his rapid ascension through the minors. “You got sent up to Jersey the last two weeks there, and then you’re sitting there after a rainout on Saturday, your last game Sunday, you get called in the office like, ‘Hey, you’re gonna go to Reading the last week,’ and you’re like, ‘Wow.’ It’s very exciting, it’s kind of a surprise, but also it’s like, ‘Hey, I’m up for it.'”
Nori set goals for himself entering his first pro season—including earning a promotion and stealing at least 40 bases—and feels satisfied with his progress toward adding more power at the plate.
“Definitely one of [my goals] was the power game, slug more,” he said. “I had 12 triples on the season, a couple bombs here and there, so definitely that’s a goal I checked off.”
He recognizes that developing more power will require adjustments without losing his strong plate discipline.
“We’re trying to almost make me not as picky and let it rip half the time because you know you come up here; I was a big ‘just spray the ball to left field’ guy; take your singles and get on base,” he explained. “Now with the Phillies you go through a couple of adjustments: ‘Hey we want to get more slug; we want to get more power; go up there basically take some hacks; see what can happen.'”
Baseball runs deep in Nori’s family background: His father Micah is an NBA assistant coach who played baseball at Indiana University—where he captained their team—and Dante’s grandfather played professionally with the Mets before helping recruit Kyle Schwarber for Indiana.
“It’s very surreal,” Nori said about joining Schwarber on Philadelphia’s roster. “You almost can’t write a better book in a sense…and all of sudden you get that call on Draft night: ‘Hey you’re going join Kyle Schwarber with Phillies organization.’
“I’ve worked out with this guy in winter; he’s been with me this whole time so it’s really surreal—you could not write better story.”
