Kade Anderson 1.1? Who stays and who goes? How many high schoolers get poached?
The 2025 Major League Baseball draft is upon us.
The Draft begins this evening in Atlanta at 5:00 P.M. local time, with rounds 1-3 being broadcasted on both ESPN and the MLB Network. MLB Network will take over broadcasting after the 43rd pick, and in total 105 selections will be made including the compensatory round, competitive balance round, and prospect promotion incentive selection.
The two-day event concludes tomorrow with rounds 4-20 starting at 10:30 A.M. Those rounds may be streamed via MLB.com.
Like any program, Jay Johnson and his staff will celebrate his now former players that will hear their names called tonight, wonder which of his current players, if any, elect not to sign, and sweat out how much of this elite high school class survives the next two days. Here’s what we’re watching for tonight.
1.1
Just as LSU’s won two of the past three national championships, there’s a very real chance the Tigers will have two of the past three No. 1 overall picks. Kade Anderson is the betting favorite to go No. 1 overall to the Washington Nationals, though what the Nats are thinking nowadays is anyone’s guess. If you haven’t kept up, Washington fired both its manager and general manager six days ago so who knows what’s going on up in D.C. Maybe the Nationals take the more proven Kade, the No. 2 overall prospect per MLB.com, or maybe they go high school and take shortstop/third basemen Ethan Holliday, the No. 1 overall prospect. Either way, Anderson is going to be one of the first names off the board.
Top-100
Like any year, LSU will have plenty of players called within the first 100 picks of tonight’s draft. Per MLB.com’s board Anthony Eyanson is the next highest LSU prospect checking in at No. 40 overall. Chase Shores is No. 77, Daniel Dickinson is No. 80, and Bear Jones is just outside at No. 101. More likely than not, all four of those guys will sign but Shores is the one with a decision to make. As a redshirt sophomore, Shores could return to LSU for the 2026 season, have a great year and still maintain his leverage in next summer’s draft. It’s a bird in the hand situation for Shores. Is it worth coming back to school and try to up your stock, or do you take the sure thing?
Should I Stay or Should I Go
Things get interesting for LSU in the form of Ethan Frey. Frey landed as the No. 119 overall prospect in the final big board, which would make him an early fourth round pick. If he’s getting picked that high that means he and the club picking him have agreed to a number and he’s signing with that team. Frey had a great 2025 but he’s yet to show he can play somewhere defensively. Surely some MLB team is going to give Frey ample opportunity to find his footing in the field in the pits of Minor League Baseball, but between revenue sharing and NIL, LSU seems prepared to match almost any offer thrown Frey’s way.
We’ll also be looking out for what decisions guys like Jacob Mayers, Gavin Guidry, Zac Cowan and Chris Stanfield make over the next two days. Of that group, Mayers is the most likely to leave. Sure he’s got some command issues, but teams will always take a flier on a guy whose fastball sits about 175 MPH. I’m really curious to see what Stanfield decides. His name isn’t anywhere near the top prospect rankings list, but he loses all his leverage if he elects to come back next season. He’s in the exact same spot that Michael Braswell was in last summer: a fringe draftable prospect that LSU’s assuming they lose. Last year they assumed Braswell was leaving so they got Tanner Reaves, only for Braswell to come back; this time around Derek Curiel is the readymade successor in centerfield. Where does Stanfield fit in if he’s wearing purple and gold next spring?
High School Dropouts
As always the biggest intrigue with any MLB Draft is seeing how much of your high school class you can hold on to. Fate was kind to LSU last summer when Cade Arrambide, Derek Curiel, and William Schmidt all decided to forgo the draft and come to school. One year later and LSU’s once again gotten some good luck in that department: Omar Serna announced a few weeks ago he would forgo the draft, and on Friday incoming freshman Reagan Ricken, a right-handed pitcher from California, said he’d be taking his name out of the draft, too. Ricken was a top-200 prospect for the draft, and the 6’5” righty has a fastball that sits 97.
The blessing and curse of being a baseball program is that every year you get to sign unreal talent…only for most of that talent to never set foot on campus. That’s no different this year as LSU’s got three high school commits ranked as top-60 prospects for this year’s draft: Quentin Young, Jaden Fauske, and Brady Ebel. Young is the nephew of former Big Leaguers Delmon and Dimitri Young and should go somewhere in the first 30 picks, Ebel’s dad is literally the third base coach for the Dodgers, and Fauske is a five-tool prospect that could legitimately play anywhere on the field. He’d be the best high school catcher prospect in the country if he wanted to stick behind the plate, but he apparently wants to play in the field somewhere so his professional future is likely as a corner outfielder.
Then there’s the tossups, but LSU feels pretty good about holding onto them:
- River Hamilton is a righty from Oregon with a fastball sitting comfortably 95-96, Hamilton battled some injury problems as a senior in high school
- Miguel Sime Jr. is another righty, but unlike Hamilton he’s from Queens, and his fastball tops out at 101. The knock on him, however, is his ability to consistently throw strikes. In other words, he’s right-handed Cam Johnson.
- William Patrick is a top-90 prospect in the draft from Monroe. He’s an absurd athlete. He won the state long jump title as a freshman, and dabbled as a wide receiver and defensive back during his football playing days. Patrick set the 60-yard dash record with an eye-popping time of 6.29 seconds and his arm ranked in the 99th percentile. The swing needs work, however, and between that and being a kid from Louisiana, the expectation is he’ll remain with the Tigers. If that swing materializes and he can combine that with his elite athleticism, this could be LSU’s future centerfielder in 2027 and 2028,
Other tossups to watch: Briggs McKenzie (LHP), Dean Moss (OF), Landon Hodge (C/2B/OF), and Mason Braun (1B)