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2025 Amateur Draft

Twins Sign First-Round Pick Marek Houston

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The Twins have signed shortstop Marek Houston, reports Jim Callis of MLB.com. Houston was just selected with the 16th overall pick in last week’s draft. His $4,497,500 signing bonus is below the $4,929,600 slot value for that pick.

Houston, 21, spent the past three years playing for Wake Forest. Pre-draft rankings from MLB Pipeline, Baseball America, ESPN, FanGraphs and The Athletic’s Keith Law all put Houston in the 14-26 range of the class.

All outlets heap praise upon his defense. The larger question seems to be what he can do with the bat, where his contact is better than his power. He has shown some progress in the latter category, as his home run total went from four to eight and then 15 in his three seasons with the Demon Deacons. However, even that jump in power may need an asterisk. “The power is kind of an illusion, as Wake Forest plays in a shoebox, and 11 of Houston’s 15 homers this year came at home,” Law writes, “mostly wall-scrapers that would be doubles or outs in a typical ballpark.”

The Twins have Carlos Correa at shortstop now, with plenty of other guys capable of manning the position on the big league roster. As is the case with many clubs, there are a few notable shortstop prospects in the system who could factor into the future plans. Houston seems like a lock to stay at the position based on his defense, though he may get moved into a utility role if he doesn’t hit enough to be a regular.

Photo courtesy of Saul Young, Imagn Images

Athletics Sign First-Round Pick Jamie Arnold

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The Athletics have signed left-handed pitcher Jamie Arnold, reports Jim Callis of MLB.com. The A’s took him with the 11th overall pick in last week’s draft. His $5,985,100 signing bonus is full slote value for that pick.

Arnold, 21, spent the past three years pitching for Florida State University. He finished both his 2024 and 2025 seasons with a 2.98 earned run average. He struck out over 33% of batters faced in both of those seasons.

Pre-draft rankings from MLB Pipeline, Baseball America, ESPN and The Athletic’s Keith Law all had Arnold listed as one of the top six guys available in the class. All outlets mention his mid-90s fastball. His best secondary pitch is a slider/sweeper, though his changeup also gets some positive mentions. FanGraphs was a bit more bearish, putting Arnold at #17 and mentioning that his fastball declined this year, both in terms of velo and his feel for the pitch.

The A’s are rebuilding and have put together a strong lineup, but the pitching staff still needs work. They will have a tough time luring free agents in the next few years, as they are currently playing in a Triple-A park. The amenities there have led to various complaints from players. As a Pacific Coast League park, the playing conditions are specifically unfavorable for pitchers. Developing homegrown arms should be an important focus of the organization in the next few years and Arnold could be a key component of that. BA already lists Arnold as the second-best prospect in the system.

Photo courtesy of Abigail Dollins, Imagn Images

Draft Signings: Wood, Fauske, Moss, Hartshorn

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Tuesday featured a handful of draft signings with a $2MM+ bonus. All signings were first reported by Jim Callis of MLB Pipeline unless otherwise noted. View pre-draft scouting reports from Baseball America, FanGraphs, MLB Pipeline, Kiley McDaniel of ESPN and Keith Law of The Athletic.

  • The Phillies announced the signing of 26th overall pick Gage Wood. Callis reports that the University of Arkansas product received a $3MM signing bonus that comes in a little south of the approximate $3.49MM slot value. Wood, a 6’0″ right-handed pitcher, is most famous for throwing a 19-strikeout no-hitter against Murray State in this year’s College World Series. Wood pitched out of the bullpen for his first two seasons in Fayetteville. A shoulder injury limited him to 37 2/3 innings during his only year as a starter. He struck out 69 hitters with a 3.82 ERA. Evaluators credit Wood with a fastball that can touch 98 MPH and has huge life at the top of the strike zone, while he has an above-average to plus curveball. His injury history and the lack of a present third pitch leave some scouts to point to a bullpen future.
  • The White Sox have a $3MM deal with second-round pick Jaden Fauske, as first reported by James Fox of Future Sox. The bonus for the Illinois prep outfielder comes in a good amount above the $2.22MM slot value of the 44th selection, signing him away from an LSU commitment. Fauske is listed at 6’3″ and has a well-rounded skillset and a lefty swing that impresses evaluators. He’s viewed as a slightly above-average runner and probably projects to a corner outfield spot.
  • The Rays went above slot to sign supplemental second-rounder Dean Moss to a $2.1MM bonus, Callis reports. He’s a Florida prep outfielder who’d also been committed to LSU. The 67th overall pick comes with a slot value around $1.29MM. Moss is a left-handed batter whose carrying trait is his advanced hit tool. He’s viewed as an average runner who’d be stretched in center field but doesn’t have prototypical power for a corner outfielder.
  • The Cubs signed sixth-round pick Josiah Hartshorn to a $2MM bonus that represents the highest ever for that round, Callis reports. The slot value was around $355K. Hartshorn is a high schooler from California. He’s a 6’2″ switch-hitter who projects as a corner outfielder. Most pre-draft reports had him outside the top 100, but ESPN placed him as the #53 prospect in the class. The Cubs were able to sign him away from a Texas A&M commitment in large part because they saved roughly $1.2MM against their bonus pool with an underslot deal for first-round pick Ethan Conrad.

White Sox Sign First-Round Pick Billy Carlson

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The White Sox have signed shortstop Billy Carlson, reports Jim Callis of MLB.com. The Sox selected Carlson with their first-round pick, 10th overall, in last week’s draft. The signing bonus is $6,235,900, effectively slot value for the 10th overall pick. Jesse Rogers of ESPN reported the signing first, noting the bonus would be “about” $6.2MM.

Pre-draft rankings from MLB Pipeline, Baseball America, ESPN, FanGraphs and The Athletic’s Keith Law all had Carlson ranked from #7 to #12 in the class. All evaluators heap praise on his glovework, with many considering him the best defender in the class. BA mentions his “silky smooth actions in the field with clean hands.” His arm is strong enough that he was considered a potential two-way player for a while, hitting 97 miles per hour with his fastball when on the mound.

Offensively, there’s a bit more hesitation. His hit tool gets more praise than his power, as he generally has a contact-oriented line-drive swing. Whether he will develop into more power as he matures seems to be the key question here.

The White Sox don’t have an answer at shortstop at the moment. Chase Meidroth is currently getting most of the playing time and is performing well enough this year, but he’s expected to be a multi-positional guy in the long run. Colson Montgomery has had a challenging year and is currently playing more third base.

As a high school pick, Carlson won’t be a short-term solution. He doesn’t even turn 19 years old until next week. He’s years away from helping at the big league level, but based on the reports, he seems like a lock to stay at shortstop in the long run. The only question is what he will be able to provide at the plate.

Photo courtesy of Patrick Gorski, Imagn Images

Pirates Sign First-Round Pick Seth Hernandez

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The Pirates announced today that they have signed right-handed pitcher Seth Hernandez. They selected him with their first-round pick, sixth overall, at last week’s draft. Jim Callis of MLB.com reports that the signing bonus is $7.25MM, which is about $300K shy of the $7,558,600 slot value for the sixth overall pick. Callis notes it’s the highest bonus ever for a high school pitcher.

Heading into the draft, Hernandez was considered one of the top 25 guys available, though there was a wide range of opinions on exactly where to rank him among those top guys. Baseball America had him second overall, MLB Pipeline had him at #3, ESPN at #4, FanGraphs at #9, while Keith Law of The Athletic had him way down at #21.

All evaluators generally agree that there is ace potential here. Hernandez sits in the mid-90s with his fastball and can push triple digits. His changeup and curveball are considered great weapons. He has a slider which is inconsistent but could develop into another useful pitch in time. He also could have been a viable hitter/shortstop prospect, though his pitching potential is so strong that it’s agreed that he should be on the mound. The Bucs announced him as a right-handed pitcher, so that seems to be their thinking as well.

Law’s bearishness seems to be more about high school pitchers in general, as opposed to any specific criticism of Hernandez. “The history of high school pitchers taken in the first round is dismal, however, given their high attrition rates,” Law writes, “and as talented as Hernandez is, he’s still in that same category. There’s at least No. 2 starter upside here, but the risk of any high school arm is that they get hurt or don’t have the command and control to get to the majors.” Kiley McDaniel of ESPN mentions in his Hernandez blurb that some clubs will never take a prep righty with a top-ten pick.

On the more optimistic side of things, BA’s writeup says that Hernandez has the talent be ranked alongside recent prep picks like Hunter Greene, MacKenzie Gore and Jackson Jobe. In the 2017 draft, Greene and Gore went second and third overall, respectively. Both have now become strong major leaguers and arguable aces. Jobe went third overall in 2021 and still has a limited track record. He won’t be able to build on it anytime soon either, as he recently required Tommy John surgery. However, he had become one of the top pitching prospects in the sport prior to this year.

The Pirates haven’t done a great job developing hitters but their work with pitchers is stronger. Their rotation currently features homegrown pitchers Paul Skenes, Mitch Keller and Mike Burrows. If he weren’t currently recovering from surgery, Jared Jones would be in there as well. Bubba Chandler is one of the best pitching prospects right now and he’s pitching in the Triple-A rotation. Tom Harrington and Hunter Barco are also notable Pittsburgh draftees who are there in Indianapolis alongside Chandler.

Hernandez is still quite young, having just turned 19 less than a month ago. It will likely take him a few years but he naturally wants to follow that path. “He shoved yesterday,” Hernandez said of Skenes, per Colin Beazley of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “and he’s probably going to shove for the rest of his life. If I could kind of follow his footsteps, that’d be great.”

Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images

Rockies Sign No. 4 Overall Pick Ethan Holliday

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The Rockies have signed No. 4 overall draft pick Ethan Holliday, reports Jim Callis of MLB.com. He’ll receive a $9MM signing bonus that clocks in about $229K over slot value. It’s the largest bonus ever received by a high school player.

Holliday, 18, was in the mix for the top overall selection, though that distinction went to another second-generation high school shortstop: Eli Willits. Instead of heading to D.C., Holliday will don the jersey worn by his father for the first five years of his career. Matt Holliday, of course, starred for the Rockies from 2004-08, making three All-Star teams and winning three Silver Slugger Awards along the way. He also returned to the Rockies for a 25-game stretch to close out his career and has now had two sons — Ethan and Orioles second baseman Jackson Holliday — come off the board as top-four picks in a major league draft.

Ethan Holliday ranked as the No. 1 prospect in the draft at Baseball America, MLB.com and at The Athletic. He landed second at FanGraphs and ESPN. He draws praise for his athleticism and plus raw power, with scouting reports also crediting him for the defensive tools and actions needed to stay at shortstop for at least the early portion of his career. Holliday may eventually move to third base or an outfield corner. He’s thought to possess some of the best raw power in the draft — and the ability to get to that power in games — but there are some swing-and-miss concerns and he’s only an average runner (or slightly below).

Holliday should immediately become Colorado’s top prospect, supplanting last year’s No. 3 overall pick Charlie Condon for that title — though Condon is far closer to MLB readiness, having been selected out of college. He’s already reached Double-A.

Royals Agree To Deals With First-Round Picks Sean Gamble, Josh Hammond

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The Royals agreed to deals with first-round selections Sean Gamble and Josh Hammond, reports Jim Callis of MLB Pipeline. Kansas City also has deals with second-rounders Michael Lombardi and Justin Lamkin, Callis adds.

Gamble was selected with the 23rd overall pick, K.C.’s standard first-round selection. Hammond went 28th with a supplemental selection that the Royals received under the Prospect Promotion Incentive thanks to Bobby Witt Jr. finishing runner-up in last year’s AL MVP voting. Gamble’s bonus is reported as $3.9975MM, though that presumably excludes a $2500 contingency bonus that’ll get him to an even $4MM on signing. That comes in a little above the $3.85MM slot value. Hammond signed for $3.1975MM, slightly below the $3.28MM slot.

A left-handed hitter, Gamble is a Florida prep product who had been committed to Vanderbilt. Most pre-draft scouting reports pegged him as a second-round talent. MLB Pipeline did have Gamble 27th, but each of FanGraphs (60), The Athletic’s Keith Law (48), Baseball America (45) and ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel (35) were a little lower. Evaluators praise his athleticism and bat speed, but there’s some concern about his pure hitting ability and questions about his defensive fit. While Gamble has mostly played second base in his prep career, most reports acknowledge that he may end up in the outfield.

Hammond, who was a two-way player in high school, drew varying opinions on public scouting reports. McDaniel slotted him as high as 17th, projecting him as a third baseman with potential plus-plus power. While FanGraphs felt he’s a better pitching prospect, Hammond enters pro ball as an infielder. Most other evaluators indeed are higher on him as a position player. His bat speed and defensive ability give him significant upside, but some reports question his pitch recognition and selectivity. Hammond bypasses a commitment to Wake Forest to enter the professional ranks.

Rangers Sign First-Round Pick Gavin Fien

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The Rangers announced the signing of four draftees, including first-round pick Gavin Fien. Jim Callis of MLB Pipeline reports that the 18-year-old infielder received a $4.8MM bonus. That’s a decent amount below the $5.75MM slot value associated with the 12th overall selection.

Fien was a divisive prospect. Before the draft, Kiley McDaniel of ESPN and The Athletic’s Keith Law each slotted the right-handed hitter as the #12 player in the class. MLB Pipeline had him 22nd, while both Baseball America (31) and FanGraphs (34) viewed him as more of a fringe first-round talent. Evaluators all agree that the 6’3″ Fien will not stick at shortstop. Most reports project him as a long-term third baseman, though FanGraphs feels there’s a chance he’ll be pushed to the corner outfield.

There’s more of a split camp on Fien’s offensive acumen. While there’s not much doubt about his above-average to plus raw power projection, some scouts have expressed concern about atypical hitting mechanics and a stiffness in his swing. Fien raked on the showcase circuit last summer but disappointed some evaluators with his performance in the high school season this spring. There seems to be a wide range of outcomes on his pure hitting ability, but the more optimistic evaluators feel he could be a power-hitting infielder with a plus or better arm at third base.

The Rangers are clearly on the high end of those evaluations. They signed Fien away from a commitment to the University of Texas. He’s one of three high schoolers whom the Rangers selected in the top 10 rounds. They took infielders Josh Owens (third round) and Jack Wheeler (sixth) and could reallocate some of their cost savings on Fien to one or both of those players.

Giants Sign First-Round Pick Gavin Kilen

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The Giants have signed infielder Gavin Kilen, their first-round pick from last week’s draft. Jim Callis of MLB.com reports that he signed for a bonus of $5,247,500, a bit below the $5,524,300 slot value for the 13th overall pick.

Kilen is considered one of the best pure hitters in the class. He slashed .323/.381/.554 during his three college seasons, including a .357/.441/.671 showing with Tennessee in 2025. Defensively, he spent a lot of time at both middle infield spots but spent more time at second base than at shortstop this year.

Pre-draft scouting reports from Baseball America, Kiley McDaniel of ESPN, Keith Law of The Athletic and MLB Pipeline all had Kilen as one of the top 21 players available in the draft. Law was the most bullish on the bat, putting Kilen in the #7 spot. All evaluators generally expect him to make his long-term home at second base, where he can be a capable defender.

Per Callis, the Giants went about half a million above slot to sign ninth-rounder Reid Worley. That was possible thanks to the roughly $300K saved here, as well as some other below-slot deals. According to the MLB.com Draft Tracker, the Giants also went about $100K below slot in signing second-rounder Trevor Cohen and almost $200K below slot with fourth-rounder Jordan Gottesman.

Photo courtesy of Saul Young, Imagn Images

D-backs Agree To Terms With Top Picks Kayson Cunningham, Patrick Forbes

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The D-backs have agreed to terms on a deal with No. 18 overall pick Kayson Cunningham, reports Jim Callis of MLB.com. Cunningham, a high school shortstop out of Texas, will receive a $4,581,900 bonus — full slot value for his selection. Arizona also agreed to a $3MM bonus with No. 29 overall pick Patrick Forbes, a right-hander out of Louisville (also via Callis). That’s $191K under slot value.

Cunningham, 19, was regarded as a clear first-round talent and considered the best pure hitter among this year’s high school ranks — if not the best pure hit tool in the pool overall. He’ll forgo his commitment to Texas and begin his professional career. Cunningham landed as highly as No. 8 on FanGraphs’ rankings of the top prospects in this year’s draft. Baseball America ranked him 12th, while MLB.com had him 14th and Keith Law ranked him 15th over at The Athletic. ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel ranked him 25th heading into the draft.

Scouting reports on Cunningham laud his feel for hitting and above-average speed, but there are questions about whether he’ll stick at shortstop or have to move over to second base, where the bar for offense is higher. He’s also perhaps generously listed at 5’10”, leading to some questions about his size, but Cunningham has the makings of a hit-over-power middle infielder with good speed.

Forbes ranked 29th at FanGraphs, 31st at MLB.com, 32nd at The Athletic, 33rd at ESPN and 47th at Baseball America. He’s a 6’3″, 220-pound righty who’d previously been a two-way player but is now focused on the mound, where he boasts an upper-90s heater and an above-average slider. Forbes has missed time due to injuries and pitched just 29 innings in 2024. He bounced back with 71 1/3 frames this year, and while his 4.42 ERA was lacking, he fanned nearly 37% of his opponents.

The Diamondbacks also agreed to an under-slot deal with third-round pick Brian Curley and over-slot deals with fourth-rounder Dean Livingston and 11th-rounder Luke Dotson (all per Callis). Curley’s $700K bonus checks in about $139K under slot value. Livingston’s $1MM bonus is nearly $400K over his slot value of $611K. Dotson secures a $500K bonus — $350K of which will count against Arizona’s draft pool. (All picks in rounds 11-20 come with a standard $150K slot value, and only money that exceeds that figure counts toward the team’s pool.)

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