2025 MLB Draft: Day One Recap

Below is a team-by-team analysis of last night’s draft activity. Remember that you can find more detailed scouting reports and tool grades for the players drafted yesterday over on The Board. The positions below are what I have them projected as on The Board, not necessarily what the player was announced as. For pitchers, I have a role designated below: starter (SP), or single-inning or multi-inning reliever (SIRP and MIRP).

Arizona selected the player who I think has the best pure feel to hit in the entire draft in Cunningham. Like a lot of D-backs draftees spanning their last two scouting directors, he’s a smaller guy who some scouts worry lacks big league physicality. He’s also older for the high school class (he’s 19 already), and you could argue that means the cement on his physicality is dryer. Arizona helped make Corbin Carroll this strong, and while it’s excessive to expect that Cunningham will develop power to that degree, he should end up strong enough for his special hit tool to play. Forbes has the floor of a nasty reliever, but he also has late-bloomer traits (former two-way guy, one year as a starter) that indicate a higher ceiling as he gains experience. Curley should be a quick-moving, bulldog power reliever, and is one of the best pound-for-pound athletes in the draft. Pittsburgh drafted him last year in the 16th round out of VCU, but he chose to transfer to Georgia instead. Good for the Pirates for identifying him early, and good for Curley for knowing the right move was to wait a year and show out at a huge program.

Two good value picks for the Athletics here. If I had told you in February that the A’s would nab these two, you probably would have guessed that they had gotten injured or something. I have real concerns about Arnold’s fastball strike-throwing regression and ended up lower on him than the consensus, but I still think he’s a fine pick where the A’s got him. Plus, their pitching dev seems to have leveled up during the last year or so, and they might be able to make him good again pretty quickly, assuming he’s healthy. Taylor isn’t a good defender and might just be a DH, but he’s one of the most well-rounded hitters in the draft and has performed everywhere (all three seasons in Bloomington, and two summers with wood). I had Taylor in the middle of the first round.

The Braves stayed up the middle of the field with all three of their Day One draft picks. Southisene is among the more electric athletes in the class, and now we’ll see if his elaborate swing can play against pro pitching. I had him in this late first round area coming out of last summer, but grew more skeptical that it could play as the process went on. To be clear, I still really like him, I just had him more in the early second round. Lodise can play shortstop and has ambush pull power; he’s a lower-variance utilityman. Miller went to Cape Cod after the college season to try to elevate his stock and it looks like it worked. He’s a “maybe” shortstop who struggled on defense during the SoCon tournament and Regionals, but he has great hand-eye coordination and quick wrists in the batter’s box. His swing style is very conservative and could stand to be more athletic, but the Braves have been good about coaxing that out of their players.

It’s hard not to have a good Day One when you have as many picks as the Orioles did, and this is indeed an exciting, deep, and fairly stable collection of talent, with just a dusting of individual upside. Irish is one of the best hitters in the class and, if you think he can develop at catcher, one of the best overall prospects. Teams that were on him near the top of the draft reportedly caught wind of a video on social media in which he says some disqualifying stuff. I haven’t seen it, but I had several folks in draft rooms mention it to me; as Irish fell, they were scrambling to find out why and learned of it. Whether or not the Orioles were aware of it when they took him, I don’t know. He wasn’t expected to fall that far, so it’s plausible they did little-to-no makeup work on him. I had Bodine and Aloy ranked in the middle third of the first round. Aloy is the latest of several Orioles toolsy collegiate draft picks who do not make good swing decisions. Quinn is a big-framed righty with a downhill mid-90s fastball and two good breaking balls. He struggled with injuries and ineffectiveness for two years at Ole Miss, then had a 2.75 ERA in 2025 at Georgia. High-level decision makers watched him on Cape Cod during the last couple of weeks, and it looks like he made himself some money pitching there.

I had Witherspoon inside my top 10 and think he’s one of the most complete pitching prospects in the entire class. He’ll move quickly, especially if the strike-throwing improvements he made in 2025 hold for him going forward. Phillips is more of a developmental project, but I think it’s worth the gamble (clearly, looked where I ranked him). He has a big league starter’s physicality and capacity for movement. He was a cold weather high schooler and JUCO prospect before arriving at Tennessee, and he might just be scratching the surface. I had Phillips, Godbout, and Eyanson ranked about 20 spots higher than where they were all drafted. The best farm system in baseball just had one of the better Day Ones.

Conrad probably would have gone higher had he not gotten hurt during the season. The Cubs seem to care a lot about Cape Cod performance, and Conrad certainly hit well there. Kepley is a lower-variance extra outfield prospect. Reid is a cross-bodied starter who transferred from Oklahoma State to Abilene for his draft year. He has a great changeup and came out throwing 94-95 mph in the WAC tournament before settling into his usual 91-93.

Carlson can really play defense and has an incredible arm, and his bat-to-ball performance on the showcase circuit was strong. His swing gives some scouts pause because of its length. Though not especially toolsy, Fauske was seen as one of the more polished high school hitters in the class. Both were picked right around where I ranked them. Lodise I see as more of a low-ceiling utility guy. I don’t know if Fauske will sign for an over-slot amount or not. If that’s the deal, then perhaps they reached a bit for Lodise to fit Fauske’s bonus into their pool.

Hall’s speed and contact ability are both really exciting, I just think there’s a gap between where his swing is at right now and where it will have to get for him to make a real big league impact. I had him more in the late first through early second round area. Watson has an innings-eating, 6-foot-5 frame and a really great slider; now the Reds’ pitching dev group will need to help polish his fastball, which plays down due to its shape and plane. I love the Morris pick and think he has a great chance to transition from college reliever to pro starter.

There’s a lot of hit tool risk in the class, which features two very prominent buy-low prospects in LaViolette and Curley, who both looked like potential top 10 picks a year ago. Cleveland’s approach often focuses less on the trajectory of the players and more on their body of work as a whole (this was true of Chase DeLauter and Ethan Hankins, off the top of my head), and that likely played into how they viewed these two guys. Walton has a shot to play a big league center field, and his contact and power data was well-rounded and plus across the board compared to the NCAA averages. His swing is weird; his stride closes him off so much that he sometimes is stepping out of the batter’s box, and I’m not convinced that it will play in pro ball. Hynes is a Canadian pitcher who went from sitting 90 mph last summer to sitting 94 this spring. He can really spin it, and his delivery is free and easy. He’s a nice dev project.

Holliday has freaky raw power but didn’t really perform from a power-hitting standpoint during showcase play. His upside is enormous, but the Rockies need to be proactive about finding a swing for him that actually accesses all of that thump. They’ve had prospects in the recent past with similar issues (but not quite as much talent) who couldn’t quite make those adjustments. Fingers crossed. Middleton’s lack of size has me worried he’s a reliever, while Belyeu’s junior year regression concern me, so while I think both are fair prospects, I thought those two picks were reaches to an extent. I like Hedges’ glove and think his bat might take off as he focuses solely on hitting.

You know things are going well in Detroit when the group feels like it has the cachet and time to draft and try to develop guys like Yost and Oliveto, who I think will both take a long time to reach the bigs. Oliveto has a ton of work to do on defense, while Yost needs to hit the weight room. Both are talented up-the-middle guys, and Oliveto might have the sexiest swing in the draft. Witherspoon is likely a quick-moving reliever, while Jacobs has underperformed relative to his stuff; I think he has higher ceiling as a starter.

The Astros’ approach under Dana Brown has been to take hitters with power-driven profiles, and they got two more guys with serious juice last night. Neyens might have plus-plus raw at maturity (though he has hit tool risk), while Frey already does. Frey generates huge power even though his footwork in the box is super conservative; everything is generated by his hands. It’s incredible, but he also has just a one-year track record and no position, which is why he went in the third round instead of the first.

This is a well-balanced group with a mix of ceiling and floor. Both Gamble and Hammond have some hit tool risk (Gamble due to chase, Hammond due to length), but they’re both exciting athletes with big bat speed. Hammond has a fallback on the mound if he doesn’t hit. Lombardi also has a two-way background and could be stretched out to start in pro ball, with a stable relief floor if that doesn’t work out. Lamkin is a pitchability college lefty and high-probability no. 5-8 starter type. Millar is a big-framed arm strength project with major league size and a late-moving changeup.

Bremner wasn’t a shocker from a talent standpoint (I had him in tier 2, ranked seventh), but there was basically no signal that he’d go this high. A source told me last night that Shores had over-slot buzz later in the evening and that the Angels popped him without making a call beforehand. He and Snead are yet more examples of the Angels taking a guy with huge arm strength but “round down” fastball shape. That’s not true of Slawinski, however. The slot value at Slawinski’s pick was an even $1 million; I’d imagine Bremner saved them at least some money and that Slawinski will be over slot, but I don’t know for sure.

I know Davalan is ranked 70th, but I had a second round grade on him due to the quality of the draft class and so didn’t think he was a reach. Root is one of the higher-floored pitchers in the class because of his command and secondary pitch quality. He isn’t the sort of athlete who I’d expect to throw harder out of nowhere, but the Dodgers’ dev group has coaxed more out of similar guys before. Had Leiter had a totally healthy college career, he might have gone in the late first. Vidourek has an unbelievable physique, big lefty power, and a 70 arm, but his swing is uncoordinated right now and he struggles badly to cover the outer third.

For a group made up entirely of college players, this class sure has a lot of hit tool risk. Arquette was a great pickup at pick no. 7; it’s not common for the college hitter with the best tools/performance combo to last that long. Cannarella might strikeout a ton, but his floor is high because of his defense. Gloves like his play in the big leagues regardless of what’s going on with the bat, and as he gets further away from injury, he might become a better hitter. He needs to get stronger. Compton and Williams are both already very, very strong dudes who have hit tool question marks.

Fischer mostly played first base at Tennessee but looked okay enough at third in the past to develop there in pro ball. I think Ebel’s tools are modest, but he has a long performance track record, and the Brewers are heavily involved with scout team organization in SoCal; they’ve spent a ton of time around Ebel and love the kid. Thompson was outstanding value where the Brewers got him. He and Morrison are high-probability big leaguers and likely to move fast. Cairone is in the Brewers’ wheelhouse, a high schooler with feel for spin from a region that typically produces underdeveloped talent.

Houston is in Minnesota’s wheelhouse as an up-the-middle defender with good contact performance. His ceiling will be dictated by how much stronger he can get. Quick will be a nasty mid-rotation starter if the Twins can get him to throw more strikes. He and Ellwanger are deviations from the Twins’ norm, which has often prized softer-tossing pitchers with more vertically oriented fastballs and polished command. To have the opportunity to snag a prospect with the power/hit upside of Young in the 50s is a fine gamble even if he has maybe as much hit tool risk as anyone in the class.

Voit was announced as a two-way player but is a better position player prospect. He has the bat speed and raw power to be an everyday second baseman, but maybe not the feel for contact. He’s athletic enough to try (and probably excel) at several other positions. Jimenez was a smaller high school prospect who has become much bigger and stronger in college, transferring from Miami to UCF for his draft year. He can ambush middle-in fastballs with power, but has some stuff on defense to clean up.

Kilby’s swing is a little funky, but it’s always worked for him, and he has uncommon long-term power projection for a left-handed hitter. I don’t think he can play the infield, but I still had him in the back of the first round because of the bat. Kent has low-ball lefty power and is on the fringe of being able to play shortstop.

Wood became a legend with his 19-strikeout College World Series no-no, and it’s not crazy to think he might contribute to the Phillies bullpen very soon. He only threw 37.2 innings this season due to injury. Philly was willing to push Orion Kerkering aggressively. Let’s check in once Wood has been onboarded and starts getting hot again after what I assume has been a period of rest following the College World Series. Obermueller has a lefty backend starter look if you think his strike-throwing progress in 2025 can be sustained. Bowker has an extreme cross-bodied, low-release delivery. All three of these guys could be quick-moving relievers

Pittsburgh leaned hard into risk and upside here. Hernandez is one of the more athletic, exciting high school pitchers I’ve ever seen and has one of the best high school changeups. He also has clear issues with fastball movement and command. He could be Hunter Greene; he could be Dylan Lesko. Cervantes has command risk as well, but he also has three future plus pitches and seemed to dedicate himself to better conditioning during the winter before his senior year. Gray has overt big league physicality and made adjustments to his swing to better access pull power. I don’t love how vulnerable it leaves him to sliders away from him, but the fact that he made huge adjustments and kept performing is a great sign. There’s risk he was just beating up on small conference pitching. How he hits the rest of this summer is going to be a big deal for his prospect stock.

Schoolcraft is a souped-up version of the Boston Bateman pick from last year. He’s a giant kid and terrific athlete for his size, with a great arm and sketchy breaking ball. You might consider Wideman to be among the group of college outfielders that includes Korbyn Dickerson and James Quinn-Irons, toolsy center fielders with scary crude feel to hit. Wideman’s proponents think his small school background means there’s potential for growth in this area.

Someone in last night’s chat made a Joe Panik/Gavin Kilen comp, and I don’t think that’s crazy. Kilen has a little better shot of staying at shortstop, though. Cohen was the first player unranked by MLB to be picked, a medium-sized center fielder whose batted ball spray is so oppo-oriented that it’s a red flag risk as to whether he’ll be able to catch pro fastballs. The industry was wondering what Buster Posey’s first draft class would be like, and the answer through Day One was “safe-feeling college players.”

Anderson does a little bit of everything well. I don’t think he has especially precise feel for location, but the way his fastball plays should render that moot. He’ll move quickly. Stevenson doesn’t have a great arm, but is otherwise a great defender with uncommon power for a catcher. His hit tool risk is big enough that he’s an FV grade below what is typical for this sort of college performer. Becker’s swing is really steep (imagine if Andy Pages were 6-foot-4), but he’s a special defender for his size and could have huge power at physical maturity. Hugus feels like a low-hanging fruit dev project. He’s well built, his delivery is pretty, and his arm slot creates natural fastball backspin and breaking ball depth, but he’s never performed in a superlative way. Miami doesn’t develop pitching well, and Hugus’ fastball approach might be in line for an overhaul.

For the second straight year, the Cardinals have drafted the top player on my board. St. Louis has tended to gravitate toward higher-floored college pitchers in the draft, and Doyle provides a massive injection of upside to their farm system. They’re prospects who are lower on the defensive spectrum, but I think Mitchell and Gurevitch have some of the best-looking swings in this entire draft. Right as the second round was beginning, word began circulating that St. Louis was targeting Mitchell and they got their guy. Franklin is an arm strength-only project.

This collection of high schoolers is enormously fun. I’m slightly lower on Pierce than this pick because my looks last summer weren’t great, and I have reservations about his hit tool. I had him more in the second round, and I think his deal will be for under slot to help facilitate the rest of this class. Even though this group is heavy on high schoolers, it’s balanced and diverse from a player type/style standpoint. Flemming has a pretty stable hit tool for a high school prospect and might develop power as his 6-foot-3 frame fills out. Moss and Gray have power, but come in totally different packages. Moss is a little guy with incredible rotational athleticism, and Gray is a physically monstrous switch-hitter. Summerhill fell relative to some expectations because he had multiple off-field issues in college.

Fien’s performance data and my eyes were telling me two different things all of last summer, and then he had a rough spring. I had pre-draft dope that Chris Young went to see him personally, which is how I correctly mocked him here. At the end of last summer, there were folks who thought he’d go inside the top 10. Russell is also a bit of a “buy-low” because he returned too quickly (in my opinion) from surgery this spring and didn’t look 100%. His fastball really plays. This is the second year in a row Texas has taken a higher-upside college pitcher coming off surgery. Owens I had ranked in the 40s because I think he’ll develop good power for a shortstop.

Since last year’s PG National, Parker has really gone wire-to-wire as the most even-keeled, well-rounded high school prospect. He’s a potential everyday shortstop or third baseman. Cook is a lot of fun, a blazingly fast center fielder who only recently converted from pitching. His offense (currently a slash-and-dash type) might evolve as he accrues experience.

I mocked Willits correctly at 1.1 because of late dope that the Nationals were trying to cut the best deal they could with one of Kade Anderson, Ethan Holliday, and Willits, which seemed to point to Willits. Anderson and Holliday are Scott Boras clients. Intel throughout the actual mock draft sourcing window (after team meetings start) indicated the Cardinals were the landing spot for Willits at pick five. Holliday and Anderson had potential homes at two, three, and four, which meant Willits’ deal would be the deepest cut. Willits is a shortstop fit and precocious contact hitter who might have bigger long-term power ceiling than we can collectively appreciate right now, because he’s so young. Petry I imagine will be under slot in order to facilitate the bonus for Harmon, a high-upside high school pitcher with a nasty rise/run fastball.