Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Kade Anderson

2025 MLB Draft, First Round Results

By | at

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….

  1. Washington Nationals: Eli Willits, SS, Fort Cobb-Broxton (OK)
  2. Los Angeles Angels: Tyler Bremner, RHP, UC Santa Barbara
  3. Seattle Mariners: Kade Anderson, LHP, LSU
  4. Colorado Rockies: Ethan Holliday, SS, Stillwater High School (OK)
  5. St. Louis Cardinals: Liam Doyle, LHP, Tennessee
  6. Pittsburgh Pirates: Seth Hernandez, RHP, Corona High School (CA)
  7. Miami Marlins: Aiva Arquette, SS, Oregon State
  8. Toronto Blue Jays: JoJo Parker, SS, Purvis High School (MS)
  9. Cincinnati Reds: Steele Hall, SS, Hewitt-Trussville High School (AL)
  10. Chicago White Sox: Billy Carlson, SS, Corona High School (CA)
  11. Athletics: Jamie Arnold, LHP, Florida State
  12. Texas Rangers: Gavin Fien, SS/3B, Great Oak High School (CA)
  13. San Francisco Giants: Gavin Kilen, SS/2B, Tennessee
  14. Tampa Bay Rays: Daniel Pierce, SS, Mill Creek High School (GA)
  15. Boston Red Sox: Kyson Witherspoon, RHP, Oklahoma
  16. Minnesota Twins: Marek Houston, SS, Wake Forest
  17. Chicago Cubs: Ethan Conrad, OF, Wake Forest
  18. Arizona Diamondbacks: Kayson Cunningham, SS, Johnson High School (TX)
  19. Baltimore Orioles: Ike Irish, C, Auburn
  20. Milwaukee Brewers: Andrew Fischer, 1B/3B, Tennessee
  21. Houston Astros: Xavier Neyens, SS/3B, Mount Vernon High School (WA)
  22. Atlanta Braves: Tate Southisene, SS, Basic High School (NV)
  23. Kansas City Royals: Sean Gamble, OF/2B, IMG Academy (FL)
  24. Detroit Tigers: Jordan Yost, SS, Sickles High School (FL)
  25. San Diego Padres: Kruz Schoolcraft, LHP, Sunset High School (OR)
  26. Philadelphia Phillies: Gage Wood, RHP, Arkansas
  27. 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.

Mariners Agree To Sign First-Round Pick Kade Anderson

By | at

The Mariners and third overall pick Kade Anderson have already reached an agreement, as Just Baseball Media’s Aram Leighton reports that the two sides have agreed to a deal with a bonus of roughly $8.8MM.  That would represent a significantly below-slot signing, as the third pick comes with a slot price of $9,504,400.

Anderson rose to prominence over his two seasons at LSU, particularly in the 2025 season when he emerged as a full-time starter and arguably the best pitcher in college ball.  Anderson posted a 3.18 ERA over 119 innings (with a 37.4% strikeout rate and 7.28% walk rate) and was named the most outstanding player of the College World Series as LSU captured their eighth NCAA title.

This breakout made the southpaw one of the top prospects of the 2025 draft class, and the top pitching prospect in the eyes of some evaluators.  Kiley McDaniel had Anderson as the best prospect overall on ESPN’s board, while MLB Pipeline had Anderson second, Fangraphs and Keith Law each had the left-hander third, and Baseball America had Anderson fourth in their rankings.

Anderson’s fastball, slider, and curveball each received at least a 55 from Pipeline and Baseball America on the 20-80 scouting scale, and Pipeline’s scouting report also put a 60 grade on Anderson’s changeup.  He throws a lot of strikes with all of his pitches, and Anderson’s fastball is usually in the 92-94 range with the occasional top-out up to 97mph, and this relatively modest velocity is enhanced by plenty of movement.  Health is a bit of a question, as Anderson underwent a Tommy John surgery in high school and is of around average size at 6’2″ and 179 pounds.

While Anderson doesn’t have a lot of college innings under his belt, it might not take him too long to start knocking on the door for a promotion to the majors.  The Mariners are already deep in pitching, and their draft-lottery luck in landing the third pick has now brought a high-level young arm into the organization.

Poll: Who Should The Nationals Pick First Overall?

By | at

The 2025 draft is just a few days away, and the Nationals hit the jackpot over the winter when they won the draft lottery and were selected to pick first overall despite entering the lottery with just a 10.2% chance of nabbing the top pick. Since then, a disappointing season has led to the dismissal of longtime GM Mike Rizzo, meaning that interim GM Mike DeBartolo will be piloting the organization when it makes this weekend’s crucial pick. With hundreds of players set to be drafted to begin their pro careers in the coming days, who should the Nats stake their future on? A look at some of the top options:

Ethan Holliday

Holliday is an 18-year-old shortstop out of Stillwater HS in Oklahoma. Holliday has long garnered plenty of attention thanks to his family; he’s the son of seven-time All-Star Matt Holliday and the brother of 2022 first overall pick Jackson Holliday. Will the younger Holliday brother follow in the footsteps of his sibling and be selected first overall? There’s certainly a strong argument for it. Holliday is considered the top prospect in the draft by both MLB Pipeline and Baseball America.

A slugger who stands at a projectable 6’4”, Holliday receives rave reviews for both his batting eye and ability to generate easy power to all fields but does suffer from some swing-and-miss concerns at the plate. While he’s listed as a shortstop, few expect him to remain there long-term given his size and room to grow physically. More optimistic scouts see him as a player who could remain a plus defender at shortstop, while others see a future in the outfield or at first base. Holliday is generally viewed as the consensus top offensive talent in the draft, but his timeline to the majors might not be the best fit for a Nationals team that already has a big-league ready core of James Wood, CJ Abrams, and MacKenzie Gore earning service time in the majors.

Seth Hernandez

A 19-year-old right-hander from Corona HS in California, Hernandez is in many ways a pitching mirror of Holliday. The hurler lacks Holliday’s familial connections to the majors, but has drawn rave reviews from scouts for years and is viewed as a player with all the tools to be a prototypical ace. Hernandez has a four-pitch mix led by a mid-90s fastball that can touch triple-digits and a changeup that’s already universally viewed as a plus offering, alongside a curveball and slider that are both viewed as potentially above average pitches. Aside from Hernandez’s strong stuff, he also sports impressive control for his age and is viewed as having a strong makeup. Ranked as the #2 prospect in the draft by Baseball America and #3 by MLB Pipeline, Hernandez’s ace upside is more than enough to justify the Nationals considering him for the top pick even though he could have a long road to the majors as a prep pitcher.

Kade Anderson

The consensus top college player available in this draft, Anderson is a 21-year-old left-hander pitching for LSU. Anderson’s fastball typically sits in the low-to-mid 90s and maxes out at 97 mph, but the main draw of his arsenal is his trio of secondary offerings. Both his curveball and slider are viewed as above-average pitches, and while his changeup garners more mixed reviews, some scouts view it as the most impressive secondary in his arsenal and all agree it at least has the potential to be an average offering that helps keep right-handed hitters honest. Anderson also features above-average control and is viewed as a high-floor arm likely to be a starter in the big leagues long-term.

The fact that he’s already had Tommy John surgery is a potential red flag, although some teams may not be especially bothered by that in a sport where elbow surgery is increasingly becoming the expectation for pitchers. The #2 prospect in the draft according to MLB Pipeline and #4 according to Baseball America, Anderson is viewed as having the same ace-level upside as Hernandez but could be much quicker to the majors. That could be attractive to the Nationals, especially if they end up opting to go under-slot with their first pick to take bigger swings later in the draft.

Other Options

While the aforementioned trio of prospects figure to get the most attention this weekend, they aren’t the only players the Nationals could feasibly consider selecting first overall. Eli Willits is a prep shortstop who would be the youngest first-overall pick in history if selected, but Baseball America views him as the #3 talent in the entire draft and his well-rounded profile could make him an attractive under-slot option for the Nats. Jamie Arnold is a lefty hurler at Florida State who offers a more impressive fastball than Anderson, though he has just three pitches and hasn’t needed to use his changeup much as an amateur. Aiva Arquette is a shortstop at Oregon State and is viewed as the consensus top college bat in the draft, but is seen as having far less upside than someone like Holliday or even Willits despite confidence in his ability to stick at shortstop.

Who do MLBTR readers think the Nationals should take with the top pick in this year’s draft? Have your say in the poll below:

Show all

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top