CHARLOTTE – Three Charlotte Baseball players were selected in the 2025 MLB Draft on Monday (July 14) for the most selections the Niners have had since having four players drafted in 2023.
Blake Gillespie was the first Niner to hear his name called on Monday when the New York Yankees selected him in the ninth round with the 284th overall pick. Logan Poteet was the next 49er taken when the Chicago Cubs selected him in the 17th round with the 511th overall pick. Two spots later made it three Diamond Niners selected when Joel Sarver was taken in the 17th round with the 513th overall selection by the Arizona Diamondbacks. The three selections now give Charlotte 71 total draft picks in program history while Gillespie became the 19th Charlotte player to go in the top 10 rounds and is the 18th-highest selection in program history.
All three players are also joining organizations that currently feature former 49ers, part of the program record of 17 former players in MLB Organizations at the time of the draft. Gillespie joins former reliever Tony Rossi (High-A) in the Yankees organization while Poteet joins last year’s Friday starter Cole Reynolds (Single-A) with the Cubs. Sarver joins Spencer Giesting (Triple-A) in the Diamondbacks organization, who currently sits as the No. 18-ranked prospect for the Dbacks, according to MLB.com.
Charlotte has now had multiple players drafted in each of the last five MLB Drafts and has had one in eight of the last nine iterations, missing only in the shortened five-round draft of 2020. The trio give head coach Robert Woodard 15 total selections across the last five drafts and make it 68 total players selected in the MLB Draft that Woodard has coached in his career.
Blake Gillespie • RHP • Rd. 9, Pick 284 • New York Yankees
A four-time All-American selection this season, Gillespie became the 13th All-American in program history and just the second CLT pitcher to earn multiple citations, along with consensus First Team All-American Adam Mills. The 2025 American Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Year and Newcomer Pitcher of the Year, Gillespie turned in one of the best seasons the American Athletic Conference has seen on the mound. He posted a 2.42 ERA with 131 strikeouts in 100.1 innings pitched this year, tied for the third-most strikeouts any pitcher in conference history has had and the third-most in the country this year heading into the start of NCAA Regionals. Gillespie’s 131 strikeouts were the fourth-most in a single season in program history and the most since Mills fanned 141 in 2007. A unanimous First Team All-Conference selection, Gillespie tossed the second no-hitter in program history this season with 11 strikeouts and only one walk issued against James Madison on March 7 in his first Friday start of the season. Gillespie fanned more batters than that twice, collecting a pair of 13-strikeout games, including punching out 13 batters in the American Athletic Conference Championships against Wichita State to tie the conference record for most strikeouts by a single pitcher in a tournament game. His 13-K game in Clearwater propelled him from sixth to fourth place on Charlotte’s single-season strikeout list and made him the single-season strikeout leader for Canadians in American collegiate baseball.
New York Yankees Draft Pick History
1988 – Jeff Johnson, Rd. 6, Pick 157
2009 – Rob Lyerly, Rd. 6, Pick 195
2018 – Josh Maciejewski, Rd. 10, Pick 307
2025 – Blake Gillespie, Rd. 9, Pick 284
New York Yankees Farm System
Level
Team Name
Location
Triple-A
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders
Moosic, Pa.
Double-A
Somerset Patriots
Bridgewater Township, N.J.
High-A
Hudson Valley Renegades
Wappingers Falls, N.Y.
Single-A
Tampa Tarpons
Tampa, Fla.
Rookie
FCL Yankees
Tampa, Fla.
Logan Poteet • C • Rd. 17, Pick 511 • Chicago Cubs
Poteet turned in one of the best defensive catching performances in recent history for the 49ers, throwing out 22 runners trying to steal this year. That ties for the fourth-most runners thrown out in a single season, most recently accomplished by Harris Yett in 2019, for the most since Alex Derhak’s program record of 29 runners thrown out during the 2002 campaign. Poteet caught the majority of Charlotte’s games this season and helped backstop the 49ers to only two passed balls and 23 wild pitches allowed – tying for the fewest passed balls surrendered and the third-fewest wild pitches allowed in a single season as a team in program history. Poteet was also a key contributor to Charlotte’s program-record .984 fielding percentage with only 32 errors committed to lead the country in fielding percentage while becoming just one of 16 teams since statistics were officially tracked in 1956 to end the season with a fielding percentage of .984 or better. A Second Team All-Conference selection, Poteet batted .282 with 51 hits for the fifth-best average and seventh-most hits on the team this year. He drove in 40 runs for third on the team and was one of four Charlotte batsmen to hit double-digit home runs this year as he tied for fourth on the team with 10 homers hit.
Chicago Cubs Draft Pick History
1983 – James Dickerson, Rd. 19, Pick 476
1988 – Eric Williams, Rd. 41, Pick 1052
2025 – Logan Poteet, Rd. 17, Pick 511
Chicago Cubs Farm System
Level
Team Name
Location
Triple-A
Iowa Cubs
Des Moines, Iowa
Double-A
Knoxville Smokies
Knoxville, Tenn.
High-A
South Bend Cubs
South Bend, Ind.
Single-A
Myrtle Beach Pelicans
Myrtle Beach, S.C.
Rookie
ACL Cubs
Mesa, Ariz.
Joel Sarver • RHP • Rd. 17, Pick 513 • Arizona Diamondbacks
Sarver pitched in 19 games for the 49ers this season, logging the sixth-most appearances for the Green and White. After missing most of the last two seasons recovering from an injury, Sarver turned in his best season in the Queen City yet. He pitched in two of the team’s six shutouts, tying for the third-most shutouts the 49ers have tossed in a single season. He fanned 32 batters in 22.2 innings of work while issuing only five walks for a 6.4 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Sarver also picked up a pair of winning decisions for the 9 Across The Chest this year, notching his first win as a Niner in Kannapolis in a 9-4 win over Gardner-Webb at Atrium Health Ballpark thanks to 2.2 innings of shutout relief. He struck out five batters in that win, one of three times he fanned five batters in 2025. Sarver’s other win came in the final weekend of the regular season as he was the pitcher of record in Charlotte’s 20-16 victory over Tulane in New Orleans with four strikeouts in 2.2 innings while issuing only one hit.
Arizona Diamondbacks Draft Pick History
2022 – Spencer Giesting, Rd. 11, Pick 318
2025 – Joel Sarver, Rd. 17, Pick 513
Arizona Diamondbacks Farm System
Level
Team Name
Location
Triple-A
Reno Aces
Reno, Nev.
Double-A
Amarillo Sod Poodles
Amarillo, Texas
High-A
Hillsboro Hops
Hillsboro, Ore.
Single-A
Visalia Rawhide
Visalia, Calif.
Rookie
ACL D-backs
Scottsdale, Ariz.