Marlins Sign First-Round Pick Aiva Arquette
The Marlins officially announced that first-round pick Aiva Arquette has signed a pro contract. Craig Mish reported yesterday that an agreement had been reached between the club and the seventh overall pick. Arquette signed for a $7,149,900 bonus, as per MLB Pipeline’s Jim Callis, which exactly matches the slot price attached to the seventh overall pick.
The Oregon State shortstop was a consensus top-10 prospect, with Fangraphs and The Athletic’s Keith Law each highest on Arquette as the fourth-highest player on their boards. Baseball America ranked Arquette fifth in the 2025 draft class, MLB Pipeline had him sixth, and ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel was the relative lowest in putting Arquette ninth.
Despite this high profile and ceiling, evaluators acknowledge some risk in Arquette. While he is seen as a solid fielder, his size (6’5″, 220 pounds) lead some scouts to believe he’ll inevitably have to move over to third base in the future. Law also raised some issue about the quality of competition Arquette faced in college ball this season, and wondered if his hitting approach can hold up as he rises the ranks in pro ball. Despite these questions, Arquette is seen as a very solid bat with plus power and very good contact skills. A move to third base might not be a problem since Arquette could very well profile as a plus fielder at the hot corner, and he has a strong throwing arm. Overall, Arquette was generally viewed as the best position player available from the college ranks.
This ties into a somewhat unique draft for Miami, as the team took college players with all 21 of its picks. When talking with the Miami Herald’s Steve Gorten and other reporters, Marlins scouting director Frankie Piliere described this collegiate trend as “the coincidences of a draft board” rather than a specific tactic from the organization. Still, it does perhaps set the Marlins up to get some help from the 2025 draft class sooner rather than later at the big league level.
2025 MLB Draft, First Round Results
This year’s amateur draft is officially underway, and we’ll be updating this post throughout the night with every first-round selection. More details and scouting reports on all these young players are available in pre-draft rankings from Baseball America, Fangraphs, MLB Pipeline, The Athletic’s Keith Law, and ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel. As well, Pipeline has the breakdown of the slot values assigned to each pick in the first 10 rounds, as well as the bonus pool money available to all 30 teams.
Here are the first-round selections….
- Washington Nationals: Eli Willits, SS, Fort Cobb-Broxton (OK)
- Los Angeles Angels: Tyler Bremner, RHP, UC Santa Barbara
- Seattle Mariners: Kade Anderson, LHP, LSU
- Colorado Rockies: Ethan Holliday, SS, Stillwater High School (OK)
- St. Louis Cardinals: Liam Doyle, LHP, Tennessee
- Pittsburgh Pirates: Seth Hernandez, RHP, Corona High School (CA)
- Miami Marlins: Aiva Arquette, SS, Oregon State
- Toronto Blue Jays: JoJo Parker, SS, Purvis High School (MS)
- Cincinnati Reds: Steele Hall, SS, Hewitt-Trussville High School (AL)
- Chicago White Sox: Billy Carlson, SS, Corona High School (CA)
- Athletics: Jamie Arnold, LHP, Florida State
- Texas Rangers: Gavin Fien, SS/3B, Great Oak High School (CA)
- San Francisco Giants: Gavin Kilen, SS/2B, Tennessee
- Tampa Bay Rays: Daniel Pierce, SS, Mill Creek High School (GA)
- Boston Red Sox: Kyson Witherspoon, RHP, Oklahoma
- Minnesota Twins: Marek Houston, SS, Wake Forest
- Chicago Cubs: Ethan Conrad, OF, Wake Forest
- Arizona Diamondbacks: Kayson Cunningham, SS, Johnson High School (TX)
- Baltimore Orioles: Ike Irish, C, Auburn
- Milwaukee Brewers: Andrew Fischer, 1B/3B, Tennessee
- Houston Astros: Xavier Neyens, SS/3B, Mount Vernon High School (WA)
- Atlanta Braves: Tate Southisene, SS, Basic High School (NV)
- Kansas City Royals: Sean Gamble, OF/2B, IMG Academy (FL)
- Detroit Tigers: Jordan Yost, SS, Sickles High School (FL)
- San Diego Padres: Kruz Schoolcraft, LHP, Sunset High School (OR)
- Philadelphia Phillies: Gage Wood, RHP, Arkansas
- Cleveland Guardians: Jace LaViolette, OF, Texas A&M
The first round officially consists of only 27 picks since the Mets, Yankees, and Dodgers all had their first-round selections dropped back by 10 slots. The three teams surpassed the third luxury tax tier in 2024, and thus their punishment included a 10-slot drop in their opening draft choice.
The 2025 draft is split up over two nights. Rounds 4-20 will take place tomorrow, while the draft’s first 105 picks will come off the board tonight. Those 105 picks consist of the first three proper rounds, the two Competitive Balance Rounds, and two sets of compensatory rounds (giving picks to teams who lost qualifying offer-rejecting free agents), and the Royals getting the 28th overall pick due to the Prospect Promotion Incentive. The evening’s 105th and final selection will be a compensatory pick to the Angels for not agreeing to a deal with 81st overall pick Ryan Prager.