These 2025 MLB Draft eligible prospects shined during Opening Weekend
So many electric performances to start the 2025 season
Written by: Nick Stevens
I just spent the vast majority of this past weekend watching baseball. Life is good right now.
There are still a few games to be played on Monday from four-game opening weekend sets, but the first weekend of college baseball is in the books, so let’s recap what I watched and who stood out as potential targets for the Baltimore Orioles in the 2025 MLB Draft.
ICYMI: Every Friday morning, I will have my watch guide for the week which will be a rundown of the 3-4 series I will be watching that weekend, and some initial notes/data on the specific draft-eligible players I’ll be watching. The full document with more names and data can be found in the #MLBDraft channel of our Discord, exclusively within the private Patreon section of the discord.
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The week 1 watch list consisted of: Texas Tech vs UNC, Dallas Baptist vs North Dakota State, Florida State vs James Madison, TCU vs San Diego, and Vanderbilt/Nebraska/Grand Canyon/Seton Hall in the Desert Invitational.
You can read the full preview piece with notes here.
Texas Tech vs UNC
UNC is going to have quite the pitching staff when everyone gets to full strength. RHP Aidan Haugh could be a fun senior sign. The 6’8” righty sat 92-94 mph, but labored through his third inning of work and routinely missed up with the fastball. It was also hard on the broadcast to differentiate between his two breaking balls, but I think in the right organization, there’s a decent amount to unlock and make him an intriguing prospect.
LHP Folger Boaz is working back in slowly after an elbow injury ended his 2024 season early. He was 91-92 mph with a putaway slider that produced two swinging strikeouts. Fun arm.
The highlight of the weekend was OF Kane Kepley. With a plus hit and run tool, Kepley stands at just 5’8” but establishes dominance over the plate and ambushes pitchers with a quality, line-drive approach. He put together a few quality left-on-left at-bats as well, showcased the speed on the basepaths, and flashed the leather with a home run robbery on his birthday. Check out the ups in the video below.
On the Texas Tech side of things, IF Damien Bravo is just a solid, professional hitter. One of the top hitters in the Big 12, Bravo covers the entire plate well and connected for his first home run of the season (video below) off a 93 mph fastball from Aidan Haugh.
RHP Mac Heuer is an interesting later round arm. He topped out at 95 mph in his first start with a firm changeup. I loved his fastball work at the top of the zone all afternoon. I think there’s enough to clean up to make him a possible fun relief prospect. Former Cleveland Guardians draft pick.
Florida State vs James Madison
This Florida State team is a machine. LHP Jamie Arnold breezed through six shutout innings. He should be one of the top players taken in this year’s draft. But this team showcased good defense and a few explosive bats.
LHH outfielder Max Williams has some of the biggest raw power in the class, but there’s swing and miss/chase/too many groundballs in his game. Overall he struggled to connect for hits in this series but he did unload a 107 mph, 416 foot blast off a lefty with a Paul Bunyan-esque hack.
With the federal employees responsible for overseeing the nation’s nuclear stockpile no longer employed, it was bombs away in Tallahassee, Florida this weekend. On top of Williams’ nuclear blast, IF Alex Lodise hit this 107 mph/417 foot blast.
IF Drew Faurot hit one bomb from the right side and then one from the left side. And OF Gage Harrelson hit a 409 foot nuke to lead off Saturday’s contest.
It wasn’t just the home runs that impressed. Alex Lodise is a smooth defender at shortstop and it appears he’s unlocking another level to his game. Drew Faurot showcased good range at second base and a strong, accurate arm, even when forced to throw cross-body on the run. And Gage Harrelson, who is looking to rebound after a rough 2024 with Texas Tech, put together a handful of impressive left-on-left at-bats. Some of the question marks about each of these hitters are starting to be answered already. It’s a very long season ahead, but they all jumped out of the gates hot and I’ll be looking very closely at this group throughout the season as potential targets for the Orioles.
For James Madison, it wasn’t a pretty opening weekend, but the Dukes are coming off an NCAA Regionals appearance and once again have MLB Draft talent in their rotation. LHP Jaden Kinsler made his collegiate debut against Florida State two years ago and it went much better than this past weekend’s appearance did. But Kinsler can run it up to 95 mph from the left side and both his changeup and slider had elite whiff rates in 2024. You can see the changeup below.
Dallas Baptist vs North Dakota State
The two takeaways from this series were RHP James Ellwanger and RHP Micah Bucknam. Ellwanger is a 6’5” projectable arm with a clean delivery, two distinct breaking balls and a high-spin fastball that touches 100 mph. His freshman season was cut short due to injury but he’s coming off a solid summer in the Cape Cod League. On Saturday, he was sitting 95-96 mph early and touching 98 mph. He struggled to command the fastball in the first inning, but quickly settled in and showed off his 96 mph with run heater. The slider worked well, especially to lefties, and his curveball started getting better shape and more depth as the outing progressed. He was limited to 50 pitches but it was a very impressive 2025 debut to build on. He’s going to be a very fun follow.
Bucknam took the ball on opening night and impressed in his first collegiate start. Formerly at LSU, Bucknam sat 94 mph early, topped out at 97 mph. The changeup has a ton of depth and fade. His new slider is short and hard, but effective. Bucknam has all the pieces, he just needs to land in the right organization with quality pitching development and he could take off. I will be watching him closely all season.
TCU vs San Diego
The biggest news out of this series was that LHP Ben Abeldt would not be pitching in 2025 due to a partially torn UCL. RHP Caedmon Parker got the Friday night start in his place. Unfortunately, the centerfield camera was too shaky and in a terrible position to get any sort of good view of his stuff. He was an 11th round pick of the Brewers last year and could rise this year if he can work deep into games as a starter and clean up the walks with his four-pitch mix and two potential plus offerings. He walked 3 in 4.1 IP, needing 78 pitches. Will have to wait and get a better second look.
SS Anthony Silva did not come out of the gates strong after regressing last season, but having a hot fall and preseason. A good bit of weak contact and infield pop-ups with a few strikeouts. It was cold in San Diego this weekend and it’s a long season, but it was not a promising start for the once promising prospect. Overall a disappointing weekend to catch TCU. I’ll revisit the Horned Frogs in a few weeks.
Desert Invitational
Vanderbilt OF RJ Austin is explosive and seems to have an infectious personality. On Friday night against Grand Canyon, Austin showed off quick hands to get to inside pitches and drive them out to center field, but that was just the warm up for Saturday. Against Nebraska on Saturday night, Austin blasted a 112 mph home run to center field as the broadcast was talking about how tapping into more power this year would help shoot him up draft boards. He’s just scratching the surface on his potential.
Picture it. It’s early May, 2027. Enrique Bradfield Jr hits a leadoff single. He steals second. RJ Austin drives him home with a two-run home run. Patrick Reilly tosses six shutout innings with 8 punchouts. Life is good.
LHP J.D. Thompson is an attack dog on the mound with an effortless/repeatable delivery. He was 90-92 with more than 20 inches of IVB, a low release point and plus extension. It’s a true beauty of a pitch. Thompson also dropped in a good looking mid-70s curveball and showed 10+ miles of separation between his fastball and changeup. He’s a very athletic arm and a lot of teams will surely be aggressive in their pursuit of him.
Seton Hall RHP Ryan Reich couldn’t get his delivery right to save his life in the 2nd inning and his hat falling off after each pitch had MLB Network’s Dan O’Dowd ready to have an aneurysm, but Reich settled in and put up 4 decent innings against Austin Peay. He’s a fun project pick in the round 5-10 range this summer, most likely. According to Statcast, Reich’s four-seamer averaged 89 mph with 21 inches of induced vertical break. The cutter, his most used pitch, was closer to 90 mph with 20 in. IVB and his curveball was 76-77 mph. He was getting 6.7 feet of extension from his 6’2 frame. In the right organization and with a lot of work, Reich could be a high-value pick.
Nebraska OF Case Sanderson is going to be a must-follow this season, but one game against Vandy wasn’t enough to get a good look. However, LHP Jalen Worthley caught my eye. Worthley is up to 95 mph with a slider and changeup. He was Nebraska’s closer last year and struck out 33 while walking 8. He’s reportedly added strength this offseason, he’s dripping with confidence on the mound, and he started his 2025 season with a strikeout of RJ Austin.
Stay tuned later in the week for the week two preview. I’ll have three new series and six new teams I’ll be watching next weekend.