The North Carolina baseball team has been on fire this season. Currently, they are the No. 4-ranked team on D1Baseball with their sights set on a championship. However, one of their players has received a special future recognition.
In the most recent rendition of the 2025 MLB mock draft, USA TODAY has one UNC baseball player going in the first round. In the mock draft, Tar Heels catcher Luke Stevenson was selected with the No. 26 overall pick in the first round by the Philadelphia Phillies, a team with one of the best catchers in all of baseball in JT Realmuto.
Here is what Gabe Lacques from USA TODAY Sports had to say:
“The best catcher available falls here, though Stevenson’s throwing ability is his biggest carrying tool at the moment. Can join Cal Raleigh, Patrick Bailey, and Ryan Jeffers as big league backstops grown in the Tar Heel State.”
Lacques points out two major components in his analysis. The first is the dominance of Luke Stevenson, calling him the top catcher in the 2025 MLB Draft.
Stevenson is batting .280 this season with a .457 on-base percentage. In 164 at-bats, he had 46 hits, eight doubles, 15 home runs, and 44 RBIs. His plate appearances have been getting stronger and stronger as he is able to close out long, professional innings that just get him on base no matter how.
The other thing that Lacques pointed out was the prestigious history that Carolina has of producing some of the best catchers in the MLB. He specifically labeled Cal Raleigh from the Seattle Mariners, who is tied for the lead in the MLB with 12 home runs and 25 RBIs this season, Patrick Bailey from the San Francisco Giants, and Ryan Jeffers from the Minnesota Twins.
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