Will the 2025 MLB Draft bring back the Oklahoma State/Baltimore connection?

A trio of Big 12 series were on tap this past weekend.

Apr 22, 2025

Written by: Nick Stevens

The Oklahoma State-Baltimore connection has been pretty strong going back to just 2019. From Jackson Holliday (his uncle is the head coach at OK State) to Nolan McLean, Jensen Elliot, Kollin Ritchie, and even Noah Denoyer, there are a lot of connections between a number of Orioles draft picks/signings and the Oklahoma State program. Could we see another name added to this list in the 2025 MLB Draft?

For this week’s draft notebook, I tuned into three different series to largely finish up my looks at the rest of the Big 12: Oklahoma State vs Houston, Utah vs Baylor, and Kansas vs Kansas State.

Utah vs Baylor

This may have been a battle between two programs near the bottom of the standings in the Big 12, but it featured two incredibly fun shortstops and some truly elite stuff on the mound.

The entire Utah offense struggled to get things going on Friday and Saturday, but Thursday night belonged to SS Core Jackson. The 6’2”, slick-fielding, left-handed hitting shortstop ranks among the Big 12 leaders in Wins Above Replacement this season and started this series with a double off the right-center wall in his first at-bat on Thursday, an opposite-field 2-R single in his next at-bat, and then a home run in his third at-bat.

You can see his home run in the first clip below, with a look at his highlight reel defensive abilities in the second clip.

Jackson was teammates with RHP Braxton Bragg at Nebraska before he transferred to Utah where his 8 home runs this season are double his 2024 total in 70+ fewer at-bats. On the year, Jackson is hitting .392 with 23 total XBH, a 17% strikeout rate, 7% walk rate, and a 150 wRC+.

His SS counterpart at Baylor, Tyriq Kemp, was equally as impressive. Born in the Netherlands, Kemp stands just 5’7” and hit a lowly .238 in 53 games last season, but he’s hitting .362 this year, he’s doubled his HR total to 4, is up to 13 doubles after hitting just 8 last season, and he’s slashed his strikeout rate from 19% down to 11%, while maintaining his 12.5% walk rate.

His defensive skills are on display below, gunning down Core Jackson on a fantastic play. He’s become a strong defender for Baylor after an error-riddled campaign in 2024.

Kemp is now riding a 14-game hit streak after a huge weekend, including a four-hit day on Friday that went: 101 mph home run, triple, 107 mph single, home run. Kemp’s bat and glove will be on display in the upcoming World Baseball Classic when he suits up for the Netherlands. His second home run on Friday is below.

Utah OF Kaden Carpenter is a 6’4”/255 pound left-handed hitting corner outfielder who was named one of the top draft prospects in the PAC-12 last year, who then went on to hit 9 home runs with 48 walks/46 strikeouts and a .964 OPS in the Northwoods League, but it’s been a struggle this season. He has the look of a power-hitting threat, but Carpenter has just two home runs this season with a 95 wRC+.

Lastly from this series, a shoutout to Baylor RHP Gabe Craig. Craig is a 6’4” senior who is currently sporting a 1.00 ERA and 0.64 FIP with 29 strikeouts to 2 walks this season. He has a few innings at a ballpark with Statcast this year. In that outing, Craig’s fastball sat in the mid-90s, touched 96 mph and had a 100 Stuff+, while his mid-80s slider had a 117 Stuff+. Could be an interesting senior sign arm.

Houston vs Oklahoma State

This series was very representative of Oklahoma State’s season. OK State entered 2025 loaded with talent, but RHP Gabe Davis, who many saw as a potential first-round talent, has completely disappeared after a handful of rough outings, they’ve had numerous conference games canceled (including one in this series), and a number of injuries have left this team searching for someone to step up.

As far as the draft talent is concerned, LHH OF Nolan Schubart could be pretty enticing to the Orioles. The 6’5” corner outfielder has 70 grade power with a 115 max exit velo this season. There is a healthy amount of swing and miss, but the chase rate has been solid. He drilled 40 home runs in his first two seasons and is up to 9 this season.

He connected for a 435 foot/113 mph EV home run this past weekend and then came up in his next plate appearance with bases loaded, only to be walked.

LHP Harrison Bodendorf has emerged as the team’s ace this season and was coming off a 10 IP/10 K performance against Arizona before going 4.2 IP with 6 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 7 K against Houston this past weekend.

The 6’5” lefty is now rocking a 30% strikeout rate with an 8.5% walk rate, .201 average against, and a 3.20 ERA across 56 innings. The delivery is different with some deception and a cross-fire delivery. He was in the low-90s for much of this outing against Houston, with a slider and a quality changeup that can get 18+ inches of movement.

I was excited to watch RHP Sean Youngerman on the mound, but with one game being canceled and Sunday’s game being called after 4.5 innings, there wasn’t a ton to watch. Youngerman came on for one inning after about an hour rain delay. It was still pouring when they resumed the game and Houston’s coach spent the next 45 minutes delaying the game so the umpire would go ahead and call curfew.

He was still up to 95 mph in a downpour.

Despite working out of the bullpen most of the season, Youngerman went 8 IP with 0 runs or walks allowed and 11 strikeouts against Kansas State two weeks ago. His fastball has been up to 96 mph with a slider and changeup. In 27 IP, he has 32 strikeouts and 1 walk. He’s the type of arm you draft with the intention of stretching him out as a starter.

For Houston, I loved what I saw from LHP Antoine Jean. Jean reportedly has a bunch of teams interested in him as a senior sign as he’s posted a 41% whiff rate with his slider, 58% whiff rate on the curve, and 57% whiff on the changeup, per Baseball America. He was up to 95 mph this past weekend and you can see the curveball in action below.

Through 44 IP, Jean has a 2.84 ERA with a 1.46 FIP, 45.5% strikeout rate, and a .140 average against.

Kansas vs Kansas State

This was a fun rivalry series that saw Kansas get the sweep and improve to 31-10 on the year. Friday night’s game was a prime example of why college baseball is the best.

I went into this series with no idea who LHP Jackson Frost for Kansas State was. He ended up striking out 10 across 6.2 IP with 1 ER allowed. The 6’3”/240 pound arm featured a fastball that sat 92-93 mph and touched 94 mph regularly early on. It dominated in the top of the zone, producing a healthy amount of swing and miss with 17+ inches of IVB. His fastball has 60 grades on it, with a 55 grade curveball and a changeup that gets 16+ inches of movement, all with 6.6 feet of extension, on average.

The batter getting mowed down by Frost in the clip above is Kansas OF Jackson Hauge. Hauge got his revenge as soon as Frost left the game, hitting a three-run go-ahead home run that proved to be the winning shot.

Inject this energy directly into my veins:

Hauge is third in the nation in home runs with 17 and has a fascinating backstory. He suffered a concussion in 2023 that took him out for the entire 2024 season due to extended symptoms, including memory loss. He’s now healthy and has quickly established himself as one of the top power hitters in the country and he’s now riding a 27-game on-base streak after a dominant weekend.

Next week, I get to two of the top-ranked programs I’ve yet to watch this season, LSU and Louisville. LSU will be taking on Tennessee in Baton Rouge, while Louisville takes on Florida State at home.

Previous draft notebooks:

Orioles On the Verge Substack

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