2025 MLB Mock Draft v1.1

The 2025 MLB Draft Lottery concluded the evening of Tuesday, December 10th. Now, the 2025 MLB Draft order is set. Although the draft is still seven months away SGPN is stepping up to the plate to deliver a 2025 MLB Mock Draft. My name is Noah Bieniek, and I host The College Baseball Experience and follow amateur baseball all year. This was a super fun exercise for me to gauge the talent for next Spring.

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Once again the MLB Draft Lottery determined the top 6 picks for this year’s MLB Draft. Washington Nationals were awarded the No. 1 overall selection for this Summer. In saying that, Seattle was the biggest Lottery winner. The Mariners had a 1.5% chance of landing a top 3 pick and shot up from No. 17 to No. 3 overall! St. Louis was also a huge beneficiary from the Lottery results. The Cardinals rose from No. 16 to No. 5 overall!

However on the other side of the coin both Miami and Colorado had a 22.5% chance of landing the No. 1 pick. Instead the Rockies slid to No. 4 and Marlins fell as far as they possibly could to Pick No. 7! This year has extra sting for Rocktober fans as this is now back-to-back seasons with the best odds to land No. 1 overall and dropping out of the pole position.

Also, due to relatively new rules to discourage tanking, the MLB did not allow the Athletics or Chicago White Sox to have a Top 9 pick in this year’s draft. Lastly because the Mets, Yankees, and Dodgers spent more than $40 million over the luxury tax their first picks fall ten spots below the end of the first round.

2025 MLB Mock Draft v1.1

The High School 2025 MLB Draft class does not have a ton of top-tier talent in the first-round range. Established college pitchers are also expected to be a limited commodity in this year’s first round. ’25 will likely be another college-hitter-heavy first round, just like in 2024.

At the top of many big boards, you will see Texas A&M’s five-tool talent, Jace LaViolette. Slightly behind him, you see a pair of college arms, LHP Jamie Arnold (Florida State) and RHP Tyler Bremner (UC Santa Barbara). Ethan Holliday, brother of Jackson, son of Matt, and nephew of Oklahoma State Baseball Coach Josh Holliday, will likely be a top 5 pick as well.

A cluster of college hitters, featuring Brendan Summerhill from Arizona, Cam Cannarella from Clemson and Aiva Arquette from Oregon State backfills the 2025 draft class’ 99th percentile of talent.

A Method To The Madness

Often, MLB organizations do not draft the best player available. Instead, they draft players that fit their organizational strengths. They do this because they typically develop those players best.

I don’t have any industry/team sources. Plus trying to drill every pick correctly on the day of the draft is hard enough. In this exercise all of the picks in my way too early 2025 MLB Mock Draft are based on each organization’s past draft history.

PICK	TEAM	PLAYER	POSITION	SCHOOL
1	Nationals	ETHAN HOLLIDAY	SS/3B	Stillwater, OK
		Brad Ciolek is the Nationals’ new Senior Director of Amateur Scouting. He came from the Orioles Organization and they always take tooled-out hitters early in drafts. The Nationals followed suit with Seaver King in 2024. Also Ciolek was part of the O's collection that selected Jackson Holliday 1st overall in 2022... Ethan Holliday is the best high school player in the 2025 MLB Draft class right now. At 6-4, 200 pounds, Ethan is more physical than his brother Jackson and has huge raw power in a crisp left-handed swing. Holliday is an advanced hitter who grew up around a baseball family (son of Matt, nephew of Oklahoma State Baseball coach Josh) and consistently makes hard contact.
2	Angels	JACE LaVIOLETTE	OF	TEXAS A&M
		The Angels have selected six straight college players and three straight hitters with their most recent first-round picks. Jace LaViolette is already 6-6, 230 pounds and a star in the SEC, so he doesn’t have much projection left, and that makes him a prime candidate to be LA’s first-round pick. LaViolette is super physical and possesses all five tools. It’s a beautiful uppercut left-handed swing that has 50 home runs through two seasons in College Station. During his sophomore year, LaViolette posted a .305 average and a 1.175 OPS. His above-average speed and arm strength suggest he could stick in centerfield or could handle RF.
3	Mariners	SETH HERNANDEZ	RHP	Corona, CA
		Seattle has selected a high school player with nine of their last 14 first-round picks. Seth Hernandez, an Elite Charter Academy product and Vanderbilt commit, is a very projectable 6-4, 190 pounds RHP. He lands closed and finishes with long and whippy arm action. Hernandez’s fastball sits in the low 90s with good ride. Hernandez has two plus offspeed offerings (changeup and slider).
4	Rockies	JAMIE ARNOLD	LHP	FLORIDA STATE
		The Rockies have selected five straight college players with 1st Round picks. Jamie Arnold is the next best available, and he’s a left handed pitcher with a freaky arm slot that Colorado has fancied lately. Jamie Arnold provides two plus pitches: his mid-to-high 90s fastball and sweeper from a low left-handed arm slot. Arnold attacks the top of the zone viciously with his fastball, and his sweeper/changeup offspeed duo can make hitters look foolish. In his Sophomore season, Arnold racked up 159 strikeouts (3rd most in Div. I), an 11-3 record, a 2.98 ERA, and only 26 walks in 105.2 innings pitched.
5	Cardinals	TYLER BREMNER	RHP	UC SANTA BARBARA
		St. Louis has selected 5 college pitchers in their last 10 first-round picks. At 6-2, 190 pounds, Tyler Bremner is an explosive metric darling. Bremner features a mid-to-high 90s fastball with a big iVB and a deceptive delivery that allows his fastball and changeup combo to play up. He received an invite to the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team after an 11-1, 2.54 ERA, 104 K, 21 BB, 88.2 IP campaign in 2024.
6	Pirates	XAVIER NEYENS	3B	Mount Vernon, WA
		Pittsburgh hired away Boston’s Scouting Director, Justin Horowitz, this past offseason. In recent years, the Red Sox have valued hitters much more than pitchers with their early selections. Horowitz and the Pirates followed suit in 2024, taking Konnor Griffin. Xavier Neyens is a projectable bat-first profile. He stands 6-4, 205 pounds and with raw power, and has shown a good feel for the barrel against older competition growing up. Neyens will play a corner infield or outfield position with a strong arm. He does still have a shot to be a serious pitching prospect. Neyens lives in the low 90s with a good slider. Ultimately, the Oregon State commit’s crisp left-handed swing could keep him off the mound in the pros.
7	Marlins	KRUZ SCHOOLCRAFT	LHP/1B	Sunset, OR
		Miami definitely prefers the high school route in the first round. Under this scouting department, there has been a lean toward high school pitchers in recent years. Kruz Schoolcraft is already a whopping 6-foot-8 and has a fastball in the mid-90s. Schoolcraft re-classified to jump up from the 2026 Draft class to 2025. He has a quick arm with a good pitch arsenal to support the fastball. Schoolcraft’s changeup has knuckleball characteristics that records sub-1000 rpm. Schoolcraft swings a slurve in to put away left-handers and to set up fastballs away against RHH.
8	Blue Jays	ZACH ROOT	LHP	ARKANSAS
		Six of Toronto’s last 10 Round 1 picks have been college pitchers. Zach Root wouldn’t be this high if I were strictly ranking 2025 MLB Draft prospects but he’s the next one up that fits the typical Blue Jays’ mold. Zach Root has devoured AAC competition so far in his career at East Carolina. He is transferring to Arkansas for the 2025 season. Expect Razorbacks’ Pitching Coach Matt Hobbs to sculpt Root into another dominant lefty. Root lives in the low-to-mid 90s, but the arsenal features a plus plus slider and plus change-piece. The slider racked up both chase and whiff rates above 40%. Root finished 2024 with a 6-2 record, 3.56 ERA, 76 K, 21 BB, in 68.1 IP.
9	Reds	KYSON WITHERSPOON	RHP	OKLAHOMA
		Cincinnati has selected three straight college right-handed pitchers in the first round. Kyson Witherspoon is an intriguing power pitcher who can pepper the high 90s. He supports the heater with a hard slider and can throw a changeup and curveball- consistent command is a work in progress, but he mowed down Big 12 competition in his Sophomore year. Witherspoon posted an 8-3 record with a 3.71 ERA, 90 K, 40 BB, and 80 innings pitched.
10	White Sox	BRENDAN SUMMERHILL	OF	ARIZONA
		The White Sox have selected a college hitter with 9 of their last 12 first-round picks. Brendan Summerhill is a pro prospect with a high floor. He has a super low whiff rate and impacts the baseball with high exit velocity. At a lean 6-3, 195 pounds, there is still a projection for power in Summerhill’s game. He posted a .324 batting average and a .950 OPS season in 2024. The potential for five tools should get Summerhill into 2025’s first round.
11	Athletics	CAM CANNARELLA	OF	CLEMSON
		The Athletics have had nine Round 1 picks in the last eight years. They’ve selected six college hitters. Cannarella has elite bat-to-ball skills with an outstanding eye at the plate. He has plus speed, great arm strength, and good power. There is a path for Cannarella to be a true 5-tool player. Cannarella basically played the entire 2024 season, needing labrum surgery after the third weekend. He tallied a .337 batting average and a .978 OPS, with 11 home runs with one fully functional arm. Cannarella is a bulldog and earns the label of my favorite player in the 2025 MLB Draft class.
12	Rangers	DEVIN TAYLOR	OF	INDIANA
		General Manager Chris Young has had a hand in selecting four straight college players in the 1st Round. Devin Taylor has lightning bat speed supported by an athletic frame. Scouts suggest Taylor has raw power but I’m not sure how much projection is left for Taylor as he is already 6-0, 215 pounds. In over 500 plate appearances Taylor has a .338 average with a 1.096 OPS and 36 home runs. Taylor is a great runner and average defender in the outfield.
13	Giants	AIVA ARQUETTE	SS/2B/3B	OREGON STATE
		San Francisco has selected college players with six of their last seven first-round picks, four of which have been position players. Aiva Arquette is a perfect pacific-based prospect that Giants brass have probably had their eyes on for a while. The 6-4, 220 pound infielder grew up in Hawaii and has played his college ball with Washington and Oregon State.Arquette does everything well. He has above average power and hit tools, he is a versatile fielder, with a good arm, and has a projectable build.
14	Rays	KAYSON CUNNINGHAM	SS	Johnson, TX
		In their last 13 first-round picks, Tampa Bay has selected nine hitters (five high school). Kayson Cunningham is a 5-9, 175-pound shortstop from Johnson, Texas. He has a quiet and quick left-handed swing. Cunningham was the MVP for the U18 Team USA batting .417 in the World Cup qualifier. He is a stolen base sleuth and has good arm strength that should allow him to stay at short. It’s a pure-hit player projection with the ability to put the ball in play to all fields. Cunningham is committed to Texas Tech.
15	Red Sox	ELI WILLITS	SS	Fort Cobb-Broxton, OK
		Boston has taken four middle infielders (three high school) with their last five first-round picks. Eli Willits is a 6-1, 165 pound reclassified switch-hitting shortstop that could be the youngest player taken in the 2025 MLB Draft (17 years, 7 months). Willits comes with an MLB bloodline as his father Reggie played for the Yankees back in the day. Eli is disciplined at the plate and makes consistent line drive contact with great bat-to-ball skills.
16	Twins	NOLAN SCHUBART	OF	OKLAHOMA STATE
		Minnesota has selected a hitter with 11 of their 13 first-round picks. Seven of those selections were out of college. Albeit, I wouldn’t say that Nolan Schubart is “tooled out” his bat-to-ball skills and metrics stand out from the rest. Schubart’s bat absolutely carries the profile. It is plus plus power and plus plus hit for the Oklahoma State product. At a real physical 6-5, 230 pounds, Schubart has some defensive questions and an average arm. Schubart’s high-end exit velocities and silky smooth left-handed swing. During his Sophomore season, Schubart batted .370 with a 1.351 OPS, 23 home runs, and a 194 wRC+.
17	Cubs	CAM LEITER	RHP	FLORIDA STATE
		Five of the last eight Round 1 selections made by the Cubs have been college pitchers. Cousin of Jack, nephew of Al, and son of Mark, Cam Leiter lives, breathes, eats, and sleeps baseball. He is tall, 6-6, 218 pounds, possessing a mid-to-high 90s fastball. The pitch repertoire is actually carried by two plus breaking balls (curve and slider). Leiter made 7 starts in the 2024 season before a minor undisclosed injury basically wiped out his season. He tallied 56 K in 35 innings with 22 BB and a 4.63 ERA.
18	Diamondbacks	SEAN GAMBLE	SS/OF	IMG Academy, FL
		Arizona has selected high school hitters with seven of their last 12 Round 1 picks. Sean Gamble has an all-around game. The Vanderbilt commit has a smooth left handed swing, controls the zone, and can do damage to all fields. Gamble is an above average runner which allows him to project well at shortstop or in centerfield.
19	Astros	ETHAN CONRAD	OF	WAKE FOREST
		In eight straight MLB Drafts, Baltimore has selected tooled-out hitters. Ethan Conrad has bursted onto the draft scene. During his sophomore season at Marist, Conrad hit .389 with a 1.171 OPS, 9 bombs, and led the country with 13 triples. All Conrad did was follow that up with the Cape Cod League’s second highest average and OPS at .385 and .919 respectively. Now Conrad enters his Junior year with Wake Forest and the Demon Deacons’ ballpark could inflate his power numbers.
20	Brewers	HENRY FORD	1B/OF	VIRGINIA
		Matt Arnold is the new General Manager of the Brewers, and the 2024 Draft was uncharacteristic of the Brewers' normal hauls. I don’t know what to expect from Milwaukee in 2025, so I’ll use the best available data here. Henry Ford consistently batted 3rd on Virginia’s College World Series team. A draft-eligible Sophomore, Ford is 6-5, 220 pounds with good athleticism. Ford possesses elite exit velocities with great bat speed. It’s big-time power from the right-handed batter’s box. Ford had a .336 batting average, 1.006 OPS, and 17 HR during his Freshman season in the ACC.
21	Astros	IKE IRISH	C	AUBURN
		Houston has selected a college hitter with 6 of their last 8 picks in the 1st round. Ike Irish is another power/hit first, defense second profile. Irish has a strong arm but has faced receiving questions throughout his college career at Auburn. Either way, it is plus power with great bat-to-ball skills. In two seasons, Irish has compiled a .343 batting average, a .999 OPS, and 20 home runs.
22	Braves	CHASE SHORES	RHP	LSU
		Nine of Atlanta’s last 11 first-round picks have been pitchers (five high school). More specifically the Braves have loved to find arms with an elite pitch. Chase Shores at 6-8, 240 pounds is one of the best power pitchers in this draft class. During his Freshman season in 2023 Shores had Tommy John surgery but was up to 100 with armside run on his heater. For his size Shores is athletic with a 3-quarters release and gets many whiffs. He uses a low-80s slider and upper-80s changeup to back up the moneymaking fastball.
23	Royals	BILLY CARLSON	SS/RHP	Corona, CA
		Through two drafts with Kansas City, Scouting Director Brian Bridges hasn’t really established a trend in the first round. 4 of their first 7 Top 100 selections have been prep players. Last year the Royals selected the multi-talented Jac Caglianone. Let’s mock another 2-way player to Kansas City. Billy Carlson is a legit shortstop and RHP. At the plate Carlson has a line-drive approach and good bat speed that could translate to raw power with development. Defensively is where he shines with good agility and a strong arm. On the bump Carlson possesses a mid-90s fastball followed by a good mix of curveballs and changeups.
24	Tigers	BROCK SELL	OF/RHP	Tokay, CA
		Scott Harris, president of baseball operations, has made three first-round selections with the Detroit Tigers. All three of them have been high school hitters, and he hails from the Giants organization, which values prep players highly. Brock Sell doesn’t have a set-in-stone future as either a pitcher or hitter. He is a strike thrower by nature. Sell sits in the low 90s with a low slot RHP arm angle. A slider and changeup directly support the fastball. Sell stands 6-1, 185 pounds and is projectable both on the mound and at the plate. He has a short swing with elite bat-to-ball skills. The Stanford commit is also a plus runner with above average defense in centerfield.
25	Padres	LUCAS FRANCO	SS	Cinco Ranch, TX
		San Diego has drafted 12 prepsters with their last 14 first-round picks. Lucas Franco, out of Cinco Ranch, Texas, is a projectable hitter at 6-3, 170 pounds. Franco is smooth defensively at shortstop. He has a long left handed swing that could smoothen out with growth over time. He makes good contact with great bat-to-ball skills. Franco could develop power with strength.
26	Phillies	GAVIN FIEN	3B	Great Oak, CA
		Philadelphia has picked a prep player with six straight first-round selections. After the summer showcase circuit there were murmurs that Gavin Fien may have been the best prep hitter in the class. Fien even won MVP at the MLB High School All American Game. There are a couple of nitpicks with Fien. He’s not an excellent runner or defender and has an unusual stance in the batter’s box. Fien holds his hands high but still creates elite bat speed and consistently drives the ball.
27	Guardians	COY JAMES	SS	Davie County, NC
		Cleveland has drafted 8 hitters with their last 14 first-round picks. Their front office has a notable affinity for middle infielders. Coy James is a solid all around player out of Davie County, North Carolina. The Ole Miss commit doesn’t rely much on power-hitting. Rather, James has an advanced approach at the plate, with good walk rates and the ability to go to all fields. James has great hands and projects as a big league shortstop.

2025 MLB Mock Draft v1.1

Tune into The College Baseball Experience podcast and show to hear about any more 2025 MLB Draft developments. Stick with Noah Bieniek and TCE throughout the NCAA Baseball offseason for periodical transfer portal and coaching carousel updates as well as any other news along the way.