Image credit:
Eli Willits (Photo by Tom DiPace)

On this week’s episode of the Baseball America Draft Podcast, Carlos Collazo and Peter Flaherty review their preseason draft teams for the 2025 class.

Who did well, who did poorly, which picks do we love and which do we regret with the benefit of hindsight? Perhaps more importantly, what are the lessons we can learn from this exercise and put toward the 2026 class?

You can see each of the three teams drafted below, as well as the “best of the rest” of the highest draft bonus players who went unpicked.

Time Stamps

(0:00) Intro

(4:00) Macro team analysis

(6:00) Biggest misses

(9:00) The risks of HS pitchers in this exercise

(14:00) Players who have leverage in the spring

(18:00) Will Stanford continue to recruit like they have?

(24:00) Long term view for Ben’s picks

(26:00) Jacob’s picks he liked and picks he would take back

(31:00) Carlos’s picks he liked and picks he would take back

(35:20) How do agents influence this process?

(37:00) Closing thoughts

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Carlos’ Team

C — Ike Irish, 4418400

CIF — Dean Curley, 1733905

CIF — Xavier Neyens, 4120000

MIF — Eli Willits, 8200000

MIF — Marek Houson, 4497500

OF — Nick Dumesnil, 214300

OF — Slater de Brun, 4000000

OF — Kane Kepley, 1400000

P — Jamie Arnold, 5985100

P — Seth Hernandez, 7250000

P — Landon Harmon, 2500000

P — Cameron Appenzeller, 0

UTL — Aiva Arquette, 7149900

Total Bonus Value: $51,469,105

Jacob’s Team

C — Luke Stevenson, 2800000

CIF — Gavin Fien, 4800000

CIF — Boston Kellner, 0

MIF — Kayson Cunningham, 4581900

MIF — Brady Ebel, 2750000

OF — Devin Taylor, 2500000

OF — Henry Ford, 0

OF — Dean Moss, 1733905

P — Tyler Bremner, 7689525

P — Kruz Schoolcraft, 3606600

P — Kyson Witherspoon, 5000000

P — Cam Leiter, 1346600

UTL — Brandon Compton, 2000000

Total Bonus Value: $38,808,530

Ben’s Team

C — Caden Bodine, 3110800

CIF — Tre Phelps, 0

CIF — Ethan Holliday, 9000000

MIF — Billy Carlson, 6235900

MIF — Lucas Franco, 0

OF — Jace LaViolette, 4000000

OF — Cam Cannarella, 2277425

OF — Brendan Summerhill, 1997500

P — Matt Scott, 0

P — Justice De Jong, 0

P — Josh Hammond, 3197500

P — Angel Cervantes, 0

UTL — Brock Sell, 0

Total Bonus Value: $29,819,125

Best of the Rest

C — Michael Oliveto, 2447500

CIF — Andrew Fischer, 3500000

CIF — Ethan Petry, 2090000

MIF — JoJo Parker, 6197500

MIF — Steele Hall, 5747500

OF — Sean Gamble, 3997500

OF — Ethan Conrad, 3563100

OF — Jaden Fauske, 2997500

P — Kade Anderson, 8800000

P — Liam Doyle, 7250000

P — Gage Wood, 3000000

P — Patrick Forbes, 3000000

UTL — Gavin Kilen, 5247500

Total Bonus Value: $57,838,100