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Orioles’ Gunnar Henderson reveals how Jackson Holliday prepares for MLB season<\/p>\n
Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson has been sidelined with an injury, but he reveals how his young teammate, Jackson Holliday, has been training in the offseason.<\/p>\n
With collegiate conference play entering the home stretch and high school playoffs underway or shortly commencing in most states, the window has narrowed for top prospects aiming to improve their position for July\u2019s Major League Baseball<\/a> draft.<\/p>\n This spring season has largely confirmed the feelings of evaluators on the large pool of players aiming to get chosen in the first round, although there has been significant movement within that group. Once again, this draft feels light on potential franchise players but is plenty deep on difference makers \u2013 and features a nearly surefire first-round troika from what could be considered the greatest high school team of all time.<\/p>\n With roughly a month of ball remaining for the majority of players and nearly two months out from the July 13 selection party in Atlanta, USA TODAY Sports throws some darts and takes aim at a mock draft for the first round:<\/p>\n 1. Washington Nationals: Ethan Holliday<\/a>, INF, Stillwater (Okla.) HS<\/p>\n It will be a fascinating home stretch for Holliday, the Nationals and a handful of pitchers bullying their way to the top of draft boards. Washington GM Mike Rizzo\u2019s pitching-first chops will be challenged by the everyday excellence Holliday \u2013 bigger and with more projectable power than 2022 1\/1 and older brother Jackson \u2013 can provide.<\/p>\n 2. Los Angeles Angels: Jamie Arnold, LHP, Florida State<\/p>\n The Angels\u2019 ever-dire need for pitching and GM Perry Minasian\u2019s penchant for quick-to-the-majors guys intersects with Arnold, a 6-foot-1 lefty who has dominated ACC competition with a WHIP of less than 1.00 and just three homers allowed in 55 innings. Not your prototypical top five power pitcher, but a lefty who can pitch off his fastball and has the profile of a rotation anchor.<\/p>\n 3. Seattle Mariners: Aiva Arquette, SS, Oregon State<\/p>\n This might already be too far for monster prep right-hander Seth Hernandez to fall, but the Mariners have made their bones drafting and promptly developing college pitchers. This time, they roll with Arquette<\/a>, a 6-foot-5 shortstop with considerable power (16 homers, 1.173 OPS) and discipline. Recently inspired an opponent to play a four-man outfield against him.<\/p>\n 4. Colorado Rockies: Seth Hernandez, RHP, Corona (Calif.) HS<\/p>\n Will Hernandez make history and become the first prep right-hander chosen No. 1 overall? It seems unlikely, but the Vanderbilt commit couldn\u2019t have done much more to balloon his stock \u2013 and ensure he\u2019s the first of the Corona lads to come off the board. Hernandez gave up one earned run in 42 \u2153 innings, struck out 88, and walked just three. The Rockies will wager that his 98 mph fastball and excellent changeup can tame Coors Field.<\/p>\n 5. St. Louis Cardinals: Billy Carlson, SS, Corona (Calif.) HS<\/p>\n Make it back-to-back Panthers as the Cardinals add another impact middle infielder after stealing J.J. Wetherholt with the seventh overall pick last year. Carlson has enviable tools \u2013 he hits the mid-90s with his fastball on the mound \u2013 and banged out 30 hits this season, 11 going for extra bases. Signed with Tennessee but not likely to get to Knoxville.<\/p>\n 6. Pittsburgh Pirates: Eli Willits, SS, Fort Cobb-Broxton (Okla.) HS<\/p>\n Ethan Holliday\u2019s pal<\/a> won\u2019t wait too long to hear his name called. Willits embodies the grinder ethos that his father, former big league outfielder Reggie Willits, displayed but adds a nice set of tools from a 6-1 frame. At 17, he already towers over his father and likely won\u2019t make it to Norman, where Reggie is the associate head coach at Oklahoma.<\/p>\n 7. Miami Marlins: Kruz Schoolcraft, LHP, Sunset (Ore.) HS<\/p>\n The 2024 draft lasted eight picks before a high schooler was selected, an unprecedented run<\/a> of collegians. This year, the teenagers take the power back. Schoolcraft just turned 18 last month and at 6-8, can touch 97 mph on his fastball. He\u2019s an excellent two-way player but his projectability on the mound is obvious and the Marlins swing big here.<\/p>\n 8. Toronto Blue Jays: Jace LaViolette, OF, Texas A&M<\/p>\n LaViolette started the year as 1A to Holliday, but a less than overwhelming SEC campaign has dampened the ceiling a bit. He\u2019s hitting .276 with 48 strikeouts in 47 games \u2013 a 21.4% K rate \u2013 but has smacked 15 homers and reached base at a .437 clip. That\u2019s all down from a sophomore year where he hit 29 homers, with six multi-homer games, and posted a .449 OBP. But the overall track record for the 6-foot-6 lefty slugger.<\/p>\n 9. Cincinnati Reds: Liam Doyle, LHP, Tennessee<\/p>\n The parade of SEC talent continues. Doyle is second in the nation with 15.3 strikeouts per nine innings, thanks to an \u201cinvisiball\u201d four-seamer<\/a> that has helped him punch out 115 in 67 \u2154 innings. The former Coastal Carolina and Ole Miss hurler will need to refine his secondary offerings at the next level, but his fastball is a rare weapon, especially coming from the left hand.<\/p>\n 10. Chicago White Sox: Kade Anderson, LHP, LSU<\/p>\n Just a tick behind Doyle statistically \u2013 he\u2019s fourth in the nation with 14.5 strikeouts per nine \u2013 and could be joined at the hip with his SEC rival on draft day. Anderson is a draft-eligible sophomore \u2013 he turns 21 in July \u2013 whose polished repertoire could make him a fast mover, giving Chicago a solid pitching foundation on the heels of 2024 first-rounder Hagen Smith.<\/p>\n 11. Athletics: Marek Houston, SS, Wake Forest<\/p>\n Make it back-to-back first-round Demon Deacons for the Athletics and Houston could join slugger Nick Kurtz (No. 4 overall in 2024) in Yolo County well before the club\u2019s decampment to Las Vegas. Houston is terrific defensively and has grown stronger with the bat each season, finally pairing elite contact skills with some slug. A middle-infield combo of Houston and Rookie of the Year candidate Jacob Wilson is worth dreaming on.<\/p>\n 12. Texas Rangers: Kyson Witherspoon, RHP, Oklahoma<\/p>\n He breaks up the parade of lefties with a fastball that touches 98 mph and sets the stage for his 100 punchouts in 72 innings this season. A 0.89 WHIP \u2013 seventh in the nation \u2013 against SEC hitters is startling.<\/p>\n 13. San Francisco Giants: Daniel Pierce, SS, Mill Creek (Ga.) HS<\/p>\n Pierce, a Georgia commit, fits the profile of the new Giants regime \u2013 toolsy but also excelling at attention to detail and the so-called little things. He\u2019s gradually added more slug to his game, although he\u2019s slightly old \u2013 turning 19 in August \u2013 for his graduating class.<\/p>\n 14. Tampa Bay Rays: JoJo Parker, SS, Purvis (Miss.) HS<\/p>\n Perhaps the Rays can draft twin brother Jacob, as well, to keep both away from Mississippi State. Parker brings a physical presence to the middle infield and, if Jacob is any indication, could blossom into further power as he ages.<\/p>\n 15. Boston Red Sox: Kayson Cunningham, SS, Johnson (Texas) HS<\/p>\n His 5-9, 175-pound frame produces an excellent hitting profile, both from a bat-to-ball and surprising pop standpoint. Will figure in the middle of the diamond somewhere professionally.<\/p>\n 16. Minnesota Twins: Tyler Bremner, RHP, UC Santa Barbara<\/p>\n Like LaViolette, Bremner was in the early spring convo as a top four pick but his first year as a full-time starter has been uneven, with a 4.08 ERA in 12 starts for the Big West Conference school. Still, with a fastball that touches the upper 90s, he\u2019s a moldable talent in the proper pitching program.<\/p>\n 17. Chicago Cubs: Wehiwa Aloy, SS, Arkansas<\/p>\n He\u2019s looking remarkably comfortable in his second season in the SEC, ranking second with 17 home runs, fifth with a 1.182 OPS and fourth in average (.376). \u00a0At 6-foot-2, 200 pounds, he should stick on shortstop and fits the Cubs\u2019 draft pattern of selecting polished collegians.<\/p>\n 18. Arizona Diamondbacks: Steele Hall, SS, Hewitt-Trussville (Ala.) HS<\/p>\n Remarkably fast and incredibly young, Hall reclassified for 2025, his 5-foot-11, 165-pound frame offering plenty of room to grow, given he\u2019ll stil be 17 on draft day. Hall has excellent bat-to-ball skills, and could rise higher in the first round if evaluators trust those skills will translate from three years of Alabama prep ball to the professional ranks.<\/p>\n 19. Baltimore Orioles: Ethan Conrad, OF, Wake Forest<\/p>\n The sky is blue, rain is wet, an ACC or SEC lefty-swinging outfielder is headed to Baltimore. Enter Conrad. He underwent season-ending shoulder surgery after an outfield dive yet has been coming on strongly from his sophomore year at Marist to the Cape Cod League to a seven-homer, .372 21-game burst before he got hurt.<\/p>\n 20. Milwaukee Brewers: Dean Curley, INF, Tennessee<\/p>\n Will need a little more polish, as the Volunteers moved him from shortstop to third base in his second year in Knoxville. But he has excellent strike zone control and at 6-4, the frame to add more power to an offensive profile that\u2019s produced 11 homers and a .420 OBP.<\/p>\n 21. Houston Astros: Sean Gamble, INF-OF, IMG (Fla.) Academy<\/p>\n