Kiley McDaniel unveiled his first mock draft on Wednesday at ESPN, in which he projected the first 40 picks. That was just enough to include the Dodgers’ first selection, and McDaniel projected the Dodgers to take Clemson center fielder Cam Cannarella at No. 40.
The Dodgers pick both 40th and 41st in the 2025 MLB Draft, which begins on Sunday, July 13 in Atlanta, fueling a draft bonus pool of $9.03 million, the second-most the team will have to spend in the 14 years of the current recommended slotting system.
In ESPN draft rankings, Cannarella rates as the 34th-best prospect available with a future value tier of 45, and McDaniel noted the unlikeliness that the Clemson outfielder would even be available to pick by the time the Dodgers first pick.
“Cannarella hasn’t looked quite the same as he did last spring and scouts seem to think he won’t go in the top 20-30 picks,” McDaniel wrote Wednesday. “I think this drop is too far for his talent and would be another draft coup for the Dodgers.”
Cannarella is a junior outfielder for Clemson who bats left, throws right and hit .339/.473/.491 with 20 doubles, three home runs, six stolen bases, and more walks (51) than strikeouts (40) in 58 games this season.
He stole 24 bases in 29 tries as a freshman in 2023, but has only six steals in 12 attempts in the two years since, with Baseball America noting that Cannarella “played through a shoulder injury in 2024 and had labrum surgery after the season.”
Baseball America rates Cannarella the 27th-best prospect in the draft, while MLB Pipeline has the outfielder 38th. From MLB Pipeline’s scouting report:
“Cannarella possesses some of the best bat-to-ball skills in the Draft, making line-drive contact to all fields from the left side of the plate, and it’s almost impossible to get a fastball or slider by him. He does venture out of the strike zone too often and gets himself out on suboptimal groundball contact more than he should. He has some bat speed but lacks physicality, so there’s some question if he’ll have more than modest pull power and max out at 12-15 homers per season.”