Twins Sign First-Round Pick Marek Houston
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
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.