2025 MLB Draft Review: Minnesota Twins

Full list of draftees

While many teams played games with their bonus pool, the Twins went a little more straight up and stuck around slot value for nearly every pick. Minnesota targeted a wide variety of skill sets, from glove-first to big power to power arms, but size was a common thread. Their first six picks were 6'6" on average. Yes, 6'6" on average, including the tallest player in the entire draft in the 6'11" Jason Reitz. I like what they did here overall and I think this will be a strong class.
Full index of team reviews here. Full rankings here.
Note that the number before a player's name indicates their draft position. For example, "2-50" would indicate that a player was taken in the second round with the fiftieth overall pick.

1-16: SS Marek Houston, Wake Forest
Slot value: $4.93 million. Signing bonus: $4.5 million ($432,100 below slot value).
My rank: #16. MLB Pipeline: #15. Baseball America: #14.
Previously known for drafting power bats early, Minnesota has moved off of that strategy a bit in recent years (besides Walker Jenkins in 2023) and certainly went a different route with Marek Houston. He's one of the more interesting prospects that got drafted in the first round this year. Recruited as a light hitting shortstop, he took the reins at the premium position for Wake Forest as a true freshman in 2023 despite hitting just .220/.328/.307 in 65 games (the most ever appearances for a Wake Forest freshman). When his bat took a step forward to the tune of a .326/.433/.516 line as a sophomore, scouts took notice. Then when he homered in his first three games of the 2025 season (while picking up ten hits in his first four games), igniting a red hot start to the season in which he carried a .400 batting average through 28 games into late March, his name rocketed towards the top of the draft. At one point he reached as high as #4 on my board, making him the top college bat in the class, but a mid-season slump in which he hit .154/.302/.192 over a 14 game stretch gave his stock a little market correction, bringing him back to the middle of the first round where he probably belonged. Houston stands out first for his glove. He is as slick as they come on the dirt, with all of the actions, body control, and twitch you look for in a plus major league shortstop. With an above average arm, he'll certainly stick there and provide value. The Tampa-area product has always been a competent hitter, with a great combination of patience and pure bat to ball to give him an above average hit tool. The approach played up in the Cape Cod League, too, where he hit .306/.465/.329 with an impressive 22.8% walk rate. In 2025, Houston traded some of his contact for power and managed to send fifteen baseballs over the fence, nearly doubling his previous career high of eight, and now looks like he could hit 10-15 home runs annually in the big leagues at peak. His power shows up almost exclusively to the pull side and plays much better with metal than with wood bats, so that piece of his game does remain a question mark. Overall, Minnesota will look to strike a balance between his previous line drive-oriented approach and his newer one in which he gets a little more coil in his load and a little more uppercut in his bat path, though he still posted very healthy contact rates with the new power-oriented approach. Houston's glove buys his bat significant slack and if he can continue to show impact with wood bats in pro ball, he should be Minnesota's every day shortstop in short order.

CBA-36: RHP Riley Quick, Alabama
Slot value: $2.69 million. Signing bonus: $2.69 million.
My rank: #33. MLB Pipeline: #38. Baseball America: #35.
Minnesota went big righty in the competitive balance round. We regularly hear about draftees starring in other sports – as quarterbacks, wide receivers, shooting guards, and sprinters – but we don't often get offensive linemen making the transition to the diamond. That's exactly what the 6'6", 255 pound Riley Quick did with such success that he earned four star recruiting grades in high school, but he's a pitcher now. The big guy missed most of the 2024 season with Tommy John surgery but was a reliable starter for Alabama in 2025 while showing big stuff to match. His fastball parks in the mid 90's with ease, touching 99 in short stints with sink though he can manipulate the shape into a more traditional four seamer or a cutter. His slider has taken a step forward this year and projects as comfortably above average, often. flashing plus with power snap. The changeup is a bit behind, but again he's working hard to gain consistency there and it should be a reliable third pitch at the big league level if a bit firm. Quick combines his size and athleticism to generate nice extension down the mound and make his already power stuff jump on hitters quicker. His command has come and gone, but it has improved with more consistent time on the mound and with a little fine tuning he could get to average in that regard. Ultimately, the ceiling here is that of a big, durable, hard throwing starting pitcher with two plus pitches and enough command to pitch deep into starts. If the changeup comes along and he holds his command, he has #2 starter upside.

2-54: SS Quentin Young, Oaks Christian HS [CA]
Slot value: $1.76 million. Signing bonus: $1.76 million.
My rank: #65. MLB Pipeline: #37. Baseball America: #56.
Here is the big power bat that we were waiting for. Quentin Young can tout Dmitri and Delmon Young as uncles, and he can swing it with both of them. Already listed at 6'6", 225 pounds, he possesses some of the loudest power in the prep class and he's shown it off everywhere he's gone. Using a big, pull-oriented swing aimed at sending the ball over the left field foul pole, he has launched pitches from high level pitchers on the showcase circuit and at home in Southern California into the stratosphere on more than a few occasions. His operation consists of a high handset, a subtle but tight coil in his hips, a slow leg kick, then a violent unwinding in which he gets his foot down about as late as any hitter I've seen. The moving parts in his swing combined with the violence in his operation does lead to fringy bat to ball, and his approach at the plate could use significant polish as well. Right now, he has the look of a 30+ home run bat with plus-plus power that could be derailed by strikeouts if he doesn't clean things up. Minnesota will work to get him more disciplined around the zone while perhaps streamlining his operation a bit to help him keep his prodigious power without selling out. Drafted as a shortstop, he almost certainly winds up at third base at some point given his size and his average speed that figures to regress a bit as he ages. Young has somewhat heavy feet that limit his range and his actions overall are somewhat raw, and his throws can get inaccurate when he's on the move. At the hot corner, he could more easily channel his massive arm strength (he has been up to 98 on the mound) and potentially become an average defender. The power and bloodlines are the real treat here and Young brings one of the more boom-or-bust profiles in this draft class. Pulling him away from an LSU commitment for slot value in the second round is nice value as well, even if I had him ranked a bit lower than most other boards.

3-88: RHP James Ellwanger, Dallas Baptist
Slot value: $893,000. Signing bonus: $1 million ($107,000 above slot value).
My rank: #91. MLB Pipeline: #76. Baseball America: #94.
James Ellwanger has been one of the better young arms in Texas for a while now, and he has done just enough to maintain that status while not fully putting things together. Elbow issues limited his freshman season at Dallas Baptist in 2024 but he put up a 2.77 ERA and an excellent 40% strikeout rate in the Cape Cod League over the summer, making up any prospect ground he lost in the spring and more. Dallas Baptist handled him very carefully this spring, and he didn't throw more than 75 pitches in a start until mid-April nor more than four innings until May. While he started strong, he hit a rough patch in the middle of the season to temper expectations until some excellent starts against Kennesaw State (6 IP, 2 ER, 1 H, 8 K) and Jacksonville State (6 IP, 1 ER, 12 K) in May gave teams something to work with. His mid 90's fastball touches 99 at peak, coming in with big riding life to blow past hitters. His hard slider has looked like his best out pitch at times in his college career, though his truer curveball seemed to eclipse that in 2025 and gives him another swing and miss offering. While he'll need to iron out the consistency, there is no question that he can spin the baseball well. His firm changeup is a fourth pitch. Ellwanger moves extremely well on the mound, showing a clean delivery that produces electric stuff when he's on with strong extension down the mound. The 6'4" righty still comes with additional projection even as a college arm, and overall if you see him on his best days you'd think he could be a #2 starter. However, his command has been very inconsistent throughout his career and his 13.8% walk rate in 2025 was well above what most teams look for. Given that he has also dealt with some nagging injuries that may have impacted his operation in ways we can't see, he'll need more consistent time on the mound to find his command. He certainly has the delivery and athleticism to get there. If Minnesota can keep him on the mound and get him throwing more strikes, the stuff is electric. It could play up even further in the bullpen.

4-119: RHP Jason Reitz, Oregon
Slot value: $635,700. Signing bonus: $633,200 ($2,500 below slot value).
My rank: unranked. MLB Pipeline: #191. Baseball America: #232.
The 6'11" Sean Hjelle grew up in the Twin Cities and has carved out a career for the San Francisco Giants. The 6'11" Jason Reitz grew up in the Bay Area, and now he'll look to follow the reverse path to the big leagues back in Minnesota. Reitz began his career at Saint Mary's and while he managed just a 6.85 ERA over two seasons, Oregon loved the size and brought him up north. He was blown up by Rhode Island in his second appearance and struggled with inconsistent command throughout much of the season, but seemed to hit his stride over the second half and was trending up in the lead up to the draft. Reitz doesn't look real on the mound. His towering frame struggles to stay in the camera frame if it's too zoomed in, while his rail-thin build accentuates some of the longest limbs you've ever seen. Should he reach the majors, he would tie Hjelle and Jon Rauch as the tallest pitchers of all time. Reitz' fastball sits in the low to mid 90's and touches the upper 90's, while he frequently cuts it into the upper 80's to avoid barrels. He can turn it over into a truer slider, though neither pitch stands out as a true swing and miss weapon. Reitz relies heavily on a solid changeup that can really slide off the table when he gets it right, though it can be inconsistent. Despite the long legs, he mostly just steps and throws from an upright delivery, so instead of extending way down the mound and releasing in front of the hitter's face, he instead comes straight down from the clouds. The ultra steep angle creates a unique look hitters that they don't often see or practice and gives all of his pitches downward plane. If Minnesota can help him continue to improve his command while perhaps pushing a secondary pitch forward, he could be a back-end starting pitcher. Given the higher bonus than many expected, they clearly believe they can get there with some of the most unique clay in the draft.

5-149: RHP Matt Barr, SUNY Niagara JC [NY]
Slot value: $475,000. Signing bonus: $762,500 ($287,500 signing bonus).
My rank: unranked. MLB Pipeline: #136. Baseball America: #223.
The highest drafted JuCo prospect in this year's draft, Matt Barr signed for late third round money rather than attend Tennessee. Scouts don't usually go out of their way to watch Upstate New York JuCo ball, but every time Barr took the ball at SUNY Niagara, it became more and more apparent that they needed to make it happen. The NJCAA Division III Pitcher of the Year, he absolutely carved through the opposition up there with a 1.74 ERA and 94 strikeouts in just 57 innings. The fastball sits in the low to mid 90's and touches 97 with running action from a low slot, overpowering velocity for the competition he faced and enough to fit right into pro ball. He can really rip through a breaking ball, showing both a curve and a slider that have a chance to be above average with more consistency. For now, they stand out more for their high spin rates than their finish, and he also can drop his arm to get around the slider. At this point, Barr throws with significant effort in his low three quarters delivery and needs to tune up his command, but he is only 19 years old and has plenty of time to get thing streamlined. Meanwhile, the Buffalo-area native is extremely projectable at 6'6" and could easily hold the same velocity while easing up on his delivery as he fills out and gets stronger. It's a reliever-y profile at present, but given his age and projection, there is a ton of upside for Minnesota to tap into. Riley Quick is a stud, but Barr has a chance to be the best pitcher in this Twins class if things break the right way.

6-179: SS Bruin Agbayani, Saint Louis HS [HI]
Slot value: $361,600. Signing bonus: $380,600 ($19,000 above slot value).
My rank: unranked. MLB Pipeline: #234. Baseball America: #405.
The second of two high school bats taken by Minnesota, Bruin Agbayani is a very different player from Quentin Young. The son of former Met Benny Agbayani, a valuable outfielder around the turn of the century, Bruin brings a track record of performance and simply impressing scouts. His simple, direct left handed swing (albeit with some slight bat wrap) produces hard line drives around the field with consistency, playing up against strong showcase pitching even if he doesn't face the strongest competition back home in Hawaii. While the power is fringy for now, the ball is starting to jump off his bat a bit more and he could grow into average power as he fills out his 6'2" frame. It's a well-rounded offensive profile that projects to produce consistent if unremarkable numbers for the major league club. Defensively, he played shortstop in high school and figures to see time there at the outset of his pro career, but he figures to move to second base or left field in the long run. The arm strength is fringy and likely won't play on the left side of the infield, while his thicker lower half may cause him to slow down a hair as he ages. If he can stick at second base, he projects nicely as a bat-first starter there who can get on base and provide perhaps 10-15 home runs per season, though he'll be fighting an uphill battle if he is forced to the outfield where there would be more pressure on his bat. Agbayani had previously been committed to Michigan.

12-359: RHP Kolten Smith, Georgia
Slot value: up to $150,000. Signing bonus: $200,000 ($50,000 against bonus pool).
My rank: #172. MLB Pipeline: unranked. Baseball America: #330.
This is a buy low selection. Kolten Smith flashed a nice combination of stuff and pitchability over his first two years at Georgia even if his ERA began with a five in both, and coming into his junior season he was considered a top two to three round prospect. Unfortunately, the command stagnated in 2025 and he battled inconsistency on his way to his third straight 5+ ERA season, though he did run a nice 31.4% strikeout rate while again seeing time both in the rotation and bullpen. The fastball sits in the low 90's and peaks around 96, and he can work in different variations of running or riding life but overall it's an average pitch. More often than not, he'll cut the fastball a bit around 90 to keep it off barrels, and indeed he gets better results doing so. Beyond the cutter, Smith works in a full spectrum of breaking balls with a tighter slider and a truer curveball, giving him plenty of weapons with which to attack hitters. There's a changeup too, though it's fringy. There was hope that if he could maintain average command, his deep arsenal and strong 6'3" frame would make him a solid #3 or #4 starter. Instead, with his command remaining shaky and his fastball looking a bit generic, he projects more as a long reliever. There are a lot of building blocks here that could still bring the Central Florida native towards that ceiling as a back-end starting pitcher.

The top 12 unsigned high school pitching prospects from the 2023 draft

The is the first time since I began making draft boards in 2015 that no high school pitcher in my top 50 prospects will be reaching campus. Guess NIL isn't as big of a draw as we thought it was. However, that doesn't mean we don't have a ton of talent reaching campus. Half of the names on this list have been clocked at 97 or higher already and five ranked in my top one hundred prospects. They're spread all around the country, with the top eleven names all going to different schools and only LSU pulling in a second pitcher right at the end. In the NIL era, it's also nice to see two mid major programs put names on this list in Dallas Baptist and Coastal Carolina, further establishing themselves as two of the preeminent mid major programs in the country. The SEC does still dominate this list with half of the names, while the ACC and the lame duck Pac-12 picked up two apiece.
Note, the ranking in parentheses denotes their ranking on my 2023 draft board.

1. (#52) LHP Cam Johnson, Louisiana State.
LSU gets everything they want, don't they? After producing the top two picks in this past MLB Draft and, they'll get the top high school pitcher in the country to go unsigned. Similar to Dylan Crews three years ago, Cam Johnson will come to Baton Rouge from the Florida prep ranks, though he's originally a Maryland native. Johnson has massive stuff, sitting in the low to mid 90's with his fastball and touching 98 with hard run and sink. He shows an above average slider that misses plenty of bats, though his changeup is a distant third pitch to this point and needs further development. The 6'5", 240 pound lefty is extremely physical, already looking the part of a power SEC arm. He previously looked raw on the mound and struggled with command, but he came out in 2023 looking much more fluid and balanced to work closer to average in that regard. Johnson can still yank his release point a bit when he gets tired and the LSU staff will look to help keep him on the positive trajectory he had been on in that regard. Of note, the Washington, DC-area product did miss time at the end of the season with elbow trouble, which may have been what scared teams off from giving him the multi-million dollar signing bonus his talent warranted. Beyond the injury, given the primarily two pitch arsenal and his still-developing command, there also remains considerable relief risk that he'll want to shed as he settles in in Baton Rouge. The Tigers' pitching staff is always incredibly deep and he'll join a youth movement alongside many other former prep studs like Gavin Guidry, Jaden Noot, Chase Shores, and Jake Brown (also on this list), all of whom were famous high school pitching prospects.

2. (#57) RHP Joey Volchko, Stanford.
Stanford is known throughout the West Coast as one of toughest schools to sign kids away from, and in 2023 they picked up the top unsigned pitcher west of the Mississippi. Similar to Cam Johnson above him on this list, Joey Volchko brings a power arm and then some. His fastball sits in the low to mid 90's and touches 97 for now, coming in with tough overhead angle and even more explosive riding action that makes it a plus pitch. Volchko can also rip through a breaking ball with the best of them, showing a distinct curveball and slider that both look like above average pitches. He was trending up hard after a huge spring season at Redwood High School in Visalia, with all of his stuff showing a little extra hop, and at Stanford it will immediately be enough to get Pac-12 (then ACC?) hitters out. For now, the 6'4" righty has a lot of movement in his delivery, using his long limbs heavily to generate explosion off the mound. That impacts his command at this point and leads to relief questions in the long run, but for now, Stanford will look to compose him a little more fluidly. There is true Friday night upside here, and the Central Valley has done Stanford well recently with names like Brock Jones (Clovis) and Malcolm Moore (Sacramento). The Cardinal also lost four pitchers in the draft in Quinn Matthews (Cardinals, 4th round), Ryan Bruno (Diamondbacks, 7th), Joey Dixon (Astros, 7th), and Drew Dowd (Rays, 8th), so Volchko will be a welcome addition to a program that always pitches well.

3. (#81) RHP Liam Peterson, Florida.
Florida is another school that never hurts for pitching depth, but Liam Peterson has the upside to step to the forefront of that lauded staff. While Cam Johnson and Joey Volchko had loud springs that pushed their stock up, Peterson is the opposite. A member of the most talented high school pitching staff in the country at Calvary Christian in Clearwater alongside Blue Jays (way over slot) fourth rounder Landen Maroudis and fellow top prospect/brand new Arkansas Razorback Hunter Dietz, he established himself as the top prospect of the bunch in the summer of 2022. At the time, he was up to 97 with his fastball with plenty of hop while showing an above average sweeping slider and a newer changeup he was developing. Extremely projectable at 6'5", he moved well on the mound and looked like he had all the ingredients to turn into a frontline starter. However, his 2023 spring was much more up and down as he looked to be overthrowing at times and his breaking ball got slurvy. While the command was never pinpoint, with his uptempo delivery in the spring his strikes were sporadic and he looked much more like a reliever than a starter. Still, Florida is excellent at developing pitching and should know exactly how to get the best out of him. He still has the arm strength and the projectable, athletic frame, so if he can calm that delivery back down and find more consistency with his offspeed stuff, he can absolutely become a Friday night starter in Gainesville.

4. (#90) LHP Adam Hachman, Arkansas.
Adam Hachman finds himself in a similar position to Liam Peterson on this list. Last summer, he established himself as one of the best left handed pitchers in the class, perhaps second only to eventual Marlins CBA pick Thomas White, who signed for first round money. When he's healthy and on, he shows one of the most electric operations in the class. The fastball was up to 99 over the summer with serious hop from a vertical slot, with big time arm speed promising that one day he could live closer to that peak more consistently. The curveball and changeup have always been a bit behind, still searching for their identities a bit, though the curveball flashes above average and the changeup shows signs of becoming a solid pitch in its own right. Ultra projectable at 6'5", he's a great athlete on the mound with a very elastic delivery, though he's still growing into his body and can yank his release point. Unfortunately, his spring went about as poorly as you could imagine. He came out of the gate looking much more rigid, with his fastball sitting closer to 90, his offspeed stuff losing the progress it had made over the summer, and his command backing up significantly. Soon we found out why, as he went down with Tommy John surgery in April and missed the rest of the season. That means he may not pitch at all in his true freshman season in Fayetteville either, but the upside is tremendous when he hopefully comes back fully healthy in 2025. If it was truly just the injury that was holding him back this spring, the St. Louis-area product could front the rotation by his draft year. The stock may be down right now, but we're still talking about an explosive 6'5" lefty that has touched 99 in the past, which does not come around every year.

5. (#97) RHP Justin Lee, UCLA.
Two years ago, UCLA got the top unsigned high schooler in the class, Gage Jump, to campus. Unfortunately injuries completely derailed his time in Westwood and he wound up throwing just 16.1 innings in his two seasons, then transferred to LSU this year like everybody else. Two years after pulling Jump through the draft, UCLA is getting another metric outlier pitcher to campus, also from the Southern California private school ranks. Justin Lee may not come in with quite the same fanfare, but he's very interesting. The fastball velocity isn't overwhelming, sitting in the low 90's and touching 95, but that will tick up. Interestingly, it has near-perfect spin efficiency (meaning no spin is lost to gyro, or football-like, rotation) so as he adds velocity it will be very conducive to adding riding life. His splitter is his best offspeed pitch right now, diving off the plate and looking more advanced than the vast majority of prep changeups, while his slider is a tick behind but flashes some promise. The 6'3" righty moves extremely well on the mound, getting great extension and a low release while maintaining that extremely clean release contributing to that perfectly efficient fastball. I'd be very interested to see if the UCLA coaching staff decides to get creative with Lee, whose stuff works just a little differently than most other pitchers. He's very projectable and figures to add at least a few ticks of velocity as he fills out. The command is improving but it is still fringy for now, as he doesn't always repeat his delivery right and can get off line. If he can figure out his breaking ball and his command, he could come out a first round pick in three years.

6. (#110) RHP Chance Mako, North Carolina State.

One of the better prospects NC State has pulled through to campus in recent years, Chance Mako has a chance to do some special things in Raleigh even if he still has a few things to iron out. At his best, he already shows a low 90's fastball touching 96 with riding life while flashing above average with his slider and working in a tertiary changeup. At an extremely projectable 6'6", he figures to add a ton of strength in the near future as well, likely pushing the whole arsenal even further. However, there are some things he needs to work on. Presently, he tends to fade deeper into starts or into busy pitching schedules, losing a tick off his fastball and dipping closer to 90. While the slider is extremely promising and looks like it could be a plus pitch in time, it's presently very inconsistent and can get loopy. Mako needs to focus on filling out that massive frame, which will hopefully help him not only maintain but increase his peak velocity and become a true power pitcher. He's already made strides with his delivery, smoothing out most of the violence and becoming a better strike thrower in the process. The NC State coaching staff will want to continue to streamline him in that regard, and as he gets more consistent with his offspeed stuff in addition to his command, he could become the next Wolfpack ace. I like the way the Salisbury, NC native is trending and I think he'll be able to make the necessary adjustments to reach that ceiling and become an early pick in 2025, when he'll be just barely eligible as a sophomore.

7. (#114) RHP James Ellwanger, Dallas Baptist.
Dallas Baptist has turned itself into a real juggernaut lately as one of the best mid major programs in the country, and now we're starting to see them pull big time recruits through the draft. James Ellwanger is not too dissimilar a prospect to Chance Mako with a deeper arsenal and a tick less projection. His fastball velocity is currently all over the place, as he can touch 98 on his best days but can also dip into the upper 80's when he doesn't quite have it, though it's trending in the right direction. His slider is currently his best offspeed pitch, looking comfortably above average, while his distinct curveball is more of an average pitch and his promising splitter, although inconsistent, could be above average in time. Like Mako, he needs to grow into his large, 6'5" frame and maintain his fastball velocity a bit better, but he does have the benefit of more consistent offspeed stuff. At this point, his delivery can get a bit stiff at times, leading to fringy command, but he's athletic on the mound for the most part and that should get ironed out. Dallas Baptist just had six pitchers drafted and signed, an incredible feat for a school that does not compete at the Division I level for any other sport, giving him some room to earn meaningful innings quickly. He'll certainly want to do so because he's extremely old for an incoming freshman, already having turned 19 before he graduated high school, and he'll be draft eligible as a sophomore in 2025.

8. (#126) LHP Zane Adams, Alabama.
We'll stick in the far northern Houston suburbs with Zane Adams, who played high school ball in the same county as James Ellwanger and is two days from sharing a birthday with him. He reminds me a bit of a left handed Will Sanders, who was just drafted by the Cubs in the fourth round out of South Carolina in this past draft, and even a natural, median progression at Alabama could make him a similar prospect in three years. Adams presently sits in the low 90's, touching 95 with some downhill plane and moderate life. Like Sanders, who also works downhill, he stands out more for his offspeed stuff than his heater. The Porter, Texas native has great feel for his above average curveball, effectively locating it to both sides of the plate. That's a separator for a high school lefty. He also shows off a quality changeup, giving him a very advanced three pitch mix from the left side. Adams is very projectable at 6'4" with a springy, athletic delivery, though he's still learning to keep it in sync consistently. His overall command is average despite his strong ability to spot his curveball. Adams is an advanced lefty that should be able to grab innings quickly in Tuscaloosa, and like Ellwanger, he'll certainly want to do so because he turned 19 as a high school senior and will be draft eligible as a sophomore in 2025.

9. (#131) RHP Cameron Flukey, Coastal Carolina.
For the second year in a row, Coastal Carolina will land a huge pitching recruit from this list. A year ago, they brought down Levi Huesman from the Richmond area after he ranked #110 on my list, though he struggled to a 9.36 ERA as a freshman and transferred to Vanderbilt for his sophomore season. They'll hope for better with Cameron Flukey, a very, very different prospect from Huesman. At this point, Flukey needs a lot of work and might not immediately take on a big role as Coastal went largely untouched through the draft, though they did lose a pair of important lefties (Huesman and the Ole Miss-bound Liam Doyle) to the transfer portal. He touches sits in the low 90's and touches 97 with great riding action at best, velocity which is trending up quickly. His curveball is still searching for its identity a bit, showing nice power and depth at times but at others humping early out of his hand. The changeup is a bit firm at this point, but that's not uncommon for prep pitchers from the northeast. The 6'6" righty stands out most for his physicality, already having begun to fill out his towering frame with more room yet to go. He moves very well on the mound, getting great extension towards the plate and putting extra hop on his stuff in the process. The arm action is a bit long right now, impacting his command, and the Coastal Carolina pitching staff may look to shorten that up a bit to simplify things. There is a lot to like here and Flukey could turn into an ace for the Chanticleers.

10. (#132) LHP Ethan McElvain, Vanderbilt.
Chris McElvain had a nice career at Vanderbilt, working his way into the weekend rotation by his junior year and overall putting up a 4.33 ERA over 44 appearances (17 start) from 2020-2022. In 2022, he found himself drafted in the eighth round by the Reds and in 2023 worked his way up to High A. Now, his brother Ethan will look to continue the family legacy in Nashville and has a shot to be drafted even earlier than Chris in a few years. While Chris was a 6', 205 pound right hander, Ethan is a 6'4" lefty who brings louder stuff and more upside to Nashville. His fastball sits in the low 90's and touches 96, coming in with hard running action from a higher slot. His slider has steadily improved and now looks like an above average pitch, giving him a power two pitch mix to attack with. The changeup is a distant third pitch and certainly something he'll want to work on quickly when he gets to Vanderbilt. McElvain is very physical for his age with tons of arm strength and a durable frame. The delivery is a bit stiff at this time, but he doesn't have to work terribly hard to reach his velocity and he should be able to smooth that out a little in no time. If he can find a changeup and take the next step with his delivery, he has a workhorse starter profile that could work his way into Vanderbilt's crowded weekend rotation.

11. (#133) RHP Parker Detmers, Louisville.
Just like Ethan McElvain, Parker Detmers is also following a brother to school. Reid Detmers was untouchable during his sophomore and junior seasons at Louisville, went tenth overall to the Angels in 2020, reached the majors just a year later, and is now closing in on Chad Green as he looks to become the greatest pitcher ever to come out of the school. Those are massive shoes to fill, but Parker arrives on campus looking to establish his own legacy. Presently standing out more for his polish than his stuff, the stuff has begun to tick up and he's becoming a more complete prospect. The fastball has comfortably pushed above 90, now sitting in the low 90's and touching 94-95. Much like his brother, his curveball is his best pitch with sharp bite and grades out as plus. The changeup is coming along nicely as well, giving him a nice three pitch mix with a present strikeout pitch. The 6'4" righty repeats his clean, easy delivery very consistently, giving him above average command of both his fastball and his offspeed stuff and boding well for his potential to earn innings quickly at Louisville. You'd still like to see the fastball gain another tick or two, but it's a really nice foundation coming in so he won't have to divert his focus too much. There is certainly louder stuff on this list, but Detmers is the most polished.

12. (#134) LHP Jake Brown, Louisiana State.
Right at the end, LSU will sneak in another pitcher and become the only school with two names on this list. Like Parker Detmers, he stands out more for his pitchability than his stuff, though he has the benefit of throwing left handed. The fastball presently sits around 90, touching 94 at peak and coming in with flat plane from a lower slot. He shows a solid average slider and changeup, so there's no standout pitch in this arsenal. However, he commands everything well to all four quadrants of the zone, including the offspeed stuff, the latter of which is not common for incoming freshmen. The slider is also particularly promising given his feel for it and it should be an above average pitch soon. Standing 6'2", he has some projection but he's a skinny kid that will likely always be on the thinner side, so he's certainly going to be leaning on that command and pitchability going forward. While his average physicality and explosiveness may limit his upside a bit, the polish will give him a shot to earn meaningful innings quickly even on a staff like LSU that figures to be absolutely loaded once again. The Lake Charles-area native will also get a chance to hit for his home state team, adding to his potential impact in Baton Rouge.

Honorable Mentions

#143 RHP Luke McNeillie, Florida
#159 LHP Colton Hartman, Louisville
#160 RHP Gabe Gaeckle, Arkansas
#168 RHP Cameron Tilly, Auburn
#173 RHP Cole Stokes, Oregon