Diamonds in the Rough | 2025 MLB Draft | Arizona Diamondbacks

Diamonds in the Rough | 2025 MLB Draft | Arizona Diamondbacks

With the 18th pick of the 2025 MLB draft, the Arizona Diamondbacks select. Hello, Case. Yeah, sorry. All right. Now, I got I got Ian and Mike here, too. Man, we’re we are so The Arizona Diamondbacks select Kase Cunningham. A shortstop from Ladybird Johnson High School in San Antonio, Texas. Select draft ID 4373. Patrick Forbes, a right-handed starter from It was really all about the pitching Forbes and I think the word that comes to mind is family. Like as soon as we draft them, they’re they’re part of our family. it it’s the best part of it. Um, you know, it’s a long process and we get this draft class in here and every year, you know, you bring these players in and we’re super excited about it. I think the personal aspect is the part that we all love about it. you know, you get to see the emotion and um you know, you get to meet their families and it just it makes it that much sweeter when they end up playing in the major leagues or making their major league debut and you can remember, you know, meeting their family, seeing their moms and dad’s reactions when they sign their first major league contract. And um that’s a really cool part of it, the personal part of it, the the relationship building that we do all year long. And not just me, our area scouts are, you know, the first ones in these guys’ houses and, you know, meeting with them and their parents, you know, years before the draft. And to see that kind of come to fruition when they signed, put pen to paper on that first pro contract was really cool. I’m Dean Livingston. I’m from Atlanta, Georgia. I’m a pitcher. I was at high school uh here Christian Academy. How are you? How’s it going? How you? Nice to meet you. Hey, Kurt Livingston. Nice to meet you. We’ll have you have a seat here. Um, what size hat do you wear? Um, seven and a half. Okay, that one fits. Uh, yeah. All right, good. We’ll put it on the table for now. And then what we’ll do, we’ll go through the contract. We’ll take some pictures, have you take some pictures of the contract, then we’ll get pictures with everybody. Okay. All right. I sat down. I wasn’t even paying attention to the t the the draft. And then my agent called me. He’s like, “Yep, if you got drafted, you’re going next pick.” I was like, I I didn’t even I was shocked. I didn’t know what to feel. I went over to my parents. I was like, “Yeah, I’m getting I’m getting drafted, guys.” I mean, it kind of just kind of flooded me all at once. I didn’t really know what to feel, but after the fact, it was like, you know, that’s it. Like, I I worked 18 years for this and it’s it happened. Thank you so much. that off. It was pretty crazy. I mean, just s basically signing my my life to baseball. That’s kind of how I thought about it and I was a little nervous. Got my hands shaking a little bit, but it was awesome. There it is, man. Hey, Chris, contractor. Nice to meet you. How you doing, Rick Shore? Nice to meet you. rest of the week with the goal of getting you settled in. So yeah, number 34. Pretty sick. Oh, it’s so exciting. all accomplished here is no small feat, right? There’s a lot of hard work that you guys have all put into getting here and and that hard work’s paid off. All right? So, take a moment to enjoy that. Celebrate that. You guys have earned that. All right? That being said, journey is just getting started. Okay? So, let’s be clear from the start. You guys are stepping into a winning culture. That’s the standard here. All right. Our mission is to develop you into winning major league players. There’s a difference. Yeah, it it’s not as intensive. You know, draft camp for us is a soft landing into pro ball for these guys. It’s really important that they get to know their teammates, but they also get to know our staff and our coaches that are going to help them along their way because the reality is is they’re going to grow up in this organization and we have to we have to develop good players. We have to develop good men as well. Play a little bit of the pitching stuff. Um first couple days we’ve been pretty straightforward basic intro stuff. My name is Kyle. You guys can call me KG. if you have any hobbies and the hobbies are not baseball. Okay. I’m Patrick Forbes. I’m from Bowling Green, Kentucky. I went to University of Louisville. Fun fact, I can do a Rubik’s Cube in 30 seconds. Lots of meetings. Just kind of starting to meet people, get acquainted. So, not playing any games soon. kind of just working out, getting the throwing program, you know, getting used to things. Um, but it’s been fun, you know, meeting the new people. Already got some great relationships going, so it’s been cool. Uh, really anything competing. And fun fact, I’ll probably beat any of y’all pickle ball or ping pong. I’m Murphy. I’m from Shula, Georgia. going to Walmart and uh my hobbies are hunting, fishing, and fun fact, I farmed growing up. There’s only two high school kids and everyone else went to college, so we we have a lot of connections. Some of us played against each other, so uh it’s it’s cool to be on the same team now. I feel my highs and lows and the whole world knows and through the wind and rainise my friend again I’m Yeah. Yeah. Um Nathan Hall. I’m from Lexington, South Carolina. I went to the University of South Carolina and I play Oh, that’s drill off the bat of Hall. Goodbying. Did he get it? Yeah, for me it’s uh so far it’s the attention to detail. I mean, a big important a big thing that has been talked about here so far is win the inch 1% better every day. And it’s attention to detail off the field. you know, how you carry yourself and on the field, like little things like cutting bases the right way and hitting bases with the right foot and analyzing the defense in a way that I’ve never done before. How you feeling today? Great. Not too sore after yesterday. In the game review stuff, how much time we talk about base running? I think half of that is base running and and talking about winning the inch and you guys heard um different departments talking about winning the inch and frustration to motivate you to run hard down the line. Is that fair? Pretty easy. And that’s the standard throughout the orientation. Like so once we come through first base, right, I’m safe. Break it down nice and easy. There’s no need to like veer off to the right. Oh man, that’s in college or high school, wherever you came from, you guys did did a certain way. Um, we don’t like to take too much away from you, but in this case, we’re not going to talk. first base. It’s really learning to love um watching and learning from people who are so who are really experienced. there’s a reason they’re here. And to have a hitting guy like Mars here telling us like things to look in look for in our swings and you know thing like these different numbers that I didn’t know what they meant but you know um getting here and finding out what they meant like it’s it’s pretty awesome the resources that that are here. Yeah. No, thank you guys for coming and listening to me. Yeah, I was drafted in 2016 out of St. Mary’s. Things kind of changed for me. Um, I made a decision at the end of that year, which was probably about the only decision I had, um, was to kind of dive into the mental side of the game. Up until that point, like a lot of you guys, I had never faced adversity. I never sucked before. Um, so I was on top of the world getting guys out in the big leagues. Was demoted and promoted, I think, seven times that year. Um, after 2019, I I dug into the mental mental side of the game. Um, for me, I had physically I was still the same guy as I was in 18. I just didn’t know what I was doing on the mount. Um, and I think that’s kind of where I realized that the big leagues was a lot different than the minor leagues in college. You We got some couple high school guys in here. It’s way different than that. Finding the routines, finding the process. Um, everything in the big leagues is preparation. Get to the big leagues if you have the stuff and you have the opportunity to do it. I played with guys that are 30 something pounders. So, it doesn’t really matter where you’re at. Once you get in this room, you’re here in Pro Bowl. It’s about the work you put in, preparing yourself, and getting the opportunity to get to the big leagues. Big leagues is tough. Uh there’s a lot of coaches in here that can tell you that the grind of 162 games, you got about 20 off days throughout the course of the season. You’re flying all all across the United States. So, it’s just one of those things you got to put your head down. You work hard, you prepare. Got you guys all got the stuff to do it. Once you get the opportunity, you got to take your you got to run with it. Got to keep grinding, keep your head down, keep working. When you get that chance, take it and run with it. Here we go, kid. Ah, how you going to do that one? So, you had to find ways to to continue to motivate yourself. You guys played at SEC schools. You played in front of 15 or 20,000 people every night, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Uh, your ACL game, you’re you might have your your parents out there. That’s going to be about it. Do I really want to do this? You’ll find out really quick if you if you want to. I think every kid’s dream is to play baseball and have no school. So, we’re all everyone that I’ve been around has been really excited about the the structure that it’s been that it’s built and especially with the Diamondbacks. I think the the opening camp for us has been really good and it’s been a really good introduction to professional baseball. A little adjustment. Um, I’d say just kind of your whole day revolves around baseball. Whether when high school you had school and baseball, hearing from different perspectives and seeing guys who’ve done done it and been where I want to be and just being able to follow in their footsteps and learn from them is something that we’re all looking forward to way back in the day. That’s out the stadium, too, by the way. Hey, how many of you chumps like baseball? Raise your hand if you like baseball. You scared to raise your hand. How many look at baseball? CD see that’s the problem. See, we drafted some guys that look at baseball and not watch it. Like baseball but don’t love it. Now you want us to help these guys. If you ain’t listening, you ain’t getting it. And you hearing and not listening. What you learning? Nothing. Kase, you come out of high school program, pay team USA. Matter of fact, best shortstop probably in the country. If Hoe tells you to get in the cage and this is what your swing is doing and you are not listening to him, what are you going to learn? What do you want to do with this opportunity you got? What’s different between you and the Seattle Mariners draft pick, Cincinnati Reds draft pick, Chicago White? What makes you different? Now you’re here. You’re here. Now see, but the dream ain’t over to be a top whatever CEO in this. You have a have a different mentality. It’s a every day grind and you got to go get it. Ain’t nobody going to give it to you. 60,000 people, 400 million watching. What you going to do? You feel any pressure? Oh, now you’re here. Now you’re here. Now mind you now. Another draft coming now. So if you think because you got this uniform on now that you are secure, sadly mistake what it takes. Push yourself. Just like being a great teammate. Root them on. Cheer them on. Whether you got a 9 erra or you hitting a buck 25. It don’t take much caring about where you got drafted at. Caring about no first round or nothing. You got a want. And it’s every goddamn day. Hold each other accountable. Play the game the right way. Respect the game. Respect the staff. And play baseball. No, there’s no pressure at the end of the day. It’s just a kids game. And um you know, it’s part of it.

Take a look at the Arizona Diamondbacks draft process like you’ve never seen it before. 

From General Manager Mike Hazen calling first-round pick Kayson Cunningham to starter Corbin Burnes talking to the 2025 Draft Class, Diamonds in the Rough takes you through the first week as a D-back at Draft Camp. 

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