2025 MLB Draft Combine: 11 Notable Prospects From Day One

Statcast Standouts

Bullpen Velocity (mph)

1. Dean Livingston, 97.6
2. CJ Gray, 96.5
3. Mason Estrada, 96.3
4. Gavin Lauridsen, 94.9
5. Gabe Davis, 94.3

Bullpen IVB (inches)

1. Vaughn Neckar, 21.7
2. Gabe Davis, 20.4
3. Gavin Lauridsen, 19.9
4. Pierce Coppola, 18.9
5. Joe Ariola, 18.6

Bullpen Spin Rate (rpm)

1. Reid Worley, 3,201 (SL)
2. Joe Ariola, 2,892 (CB)
3. Mason Estrada, 2,761 (SL)
4. Dominick Reid, 2,578 (CB)
5. Gabe Davis, 2,546 (SI)

Batting Practice Average Exit Velocity (mph)

1. Brandon Compton, 110.1
2. Taitn Gray, 102.0
3. Josiah Hartshorn, 101.1
4. Jacob Parker, 101.1
5. Quentin Young, 100.5

Batting Practice Max Exit Velocity (mph)

1. Brandon Compton, 116.9
2. Quentin Young, 115.4
3. Taitn Gray, 114.5
4. James Quinn-Irons, 112.1
5. Josiah Hartshorn, 111.8

Batting Practice Max Projected Distance (feet)

1. Brandon Compton, 459.8
2. Josh Hammond, 438.5
3. Nick Dumesnil, 435.5
4. Taitn Gray, 434.2
5. Tate Southisene, 430.7

11 Notable Prospects

Brandon Compton, OF, Arizona State

BA Rank: No. 42

A year ago, PJ Morlando lit up Chase Field with the most electric batting practice session of the 2024 draft combine. After a full first day of 2025, the batting practice crown easily belongs to Compton. 

Compton was in one of the final batting practice groups of the day, but left a mark by barreling the ball over and over again, with towering home runs hit to the pull side and consistent standout exit velocities.

He’s a broad-shouldered lefthanded hitter with plenty of strength, obvious bat speed and an uphill path that’s geared to launch balls in the air. If the sound of the bat and the sight of balls flying into the right field stands weren’t enough, the batted ball data paints a strong image, too.

Compton led all hitters with a max exit velocity of 116.9 mph, a max projected distance of 459.8 feet and an average exit velocity of 110.1 mph. It was an eye-opening effort, and while all of the scouts in attendance had a clear idea of Compton’s impact potential, his draft combine BP showing was certainly a good reminder in the lead up to draft day. 

Quentin Young, 3B/OF, Oaks Christian HS, Westlake Village, Calif.

BA Rank: No. 55

Young has the toolset to thrive in a workout environment like the draft combine. He’s an ultra-physical high school hitter with a 6-foot-5, 215-pound frame and raw power that matches it. Young is a righthanded hitter who has some moving parts in his swing—including a bat tip, an early load with his hands and a steep path that can lead to some inconsistent contact at times—but when he’s synced up and on the barrel, his contact is exceptionally loud. He had the highest average launch angle (33 degrees) of any hitter on day one.

Young hit a few balls that were shocking to see for a high school hitter, including one straightaway homer into the Chase Field batter’s eye. He has easy plus raw power now and could grow into 70-grade juice in the future. 

His 115.4 mph max exit velocity was second behind only Brandon Compton, and that mark was good for best among all high school hitters. Young hit six different balls harder than 110 mph and six balls further than a projected 400 feet.

In addition to having some of the best raw power in the class, Young has one of the better throwing arms. He took infield at shortstop where he didn’t fully let loose with his 70-grade arm strength, but moved around reasonably well for a player of his size. 

Taitn Gray, C, Dallas Center-Grimes Community HS, Dallas Center, Iowa

BA Rank: No. 126

Gray jumped up draft boards this spring by showing huge raw power for a switch hitter and high school catcher. He doubled down on his reputation as an impact bat with a strong showing in the morning batting practice session. 

Gray is a 6-foot-3, 215-pound hitter who has a more fluid and dangerous looking swing from the left side. As a lefty, Gray sets up with an open stance and takes a big stride to get back to a closed position. He was ultra pull-heavy in this look with tons of balls yanked down the right field line, but his strength and ability to backspin the ball were impressive. 

Only Compton and Young topped Gray’s 114.5 mph max exit velocity, and his 102.0 mph average exit velocity was good for second of the day—behind only Compton’s 110.1 mph average.

Gray also made a few throws from behind the plate in catcher drills. He popped in the 1.97-2.08 second range on Baseball America’s stopwatch, with one errant throw that he sailed too high, but a few other balls that were thrown with solid carry and accuracy to the second base bag. 

Dax Kilby, SS, Newnan (Ga.) HS

BA Rank: No. 75

Batting practice isn’t always about huge power and big exit velocities. Showing a professional hitting approach and a consistent ability to make high quality contact is just as important—if not more so. Kilby’s batting practice stood out for its consistency, fluidity and an ease of operation that screams advanced pure hitter. 

He entered the combine with a reputation for having good rhythm, balance, a sound approach and an easy lefthanded swing that’s led to plenty of hard-hit line drives across the entire field. His batting practice backed up that reputation. At 6-foot-2, 190 pounds, Kilby has a lean and projectable frame and was consistently on the barrel with plenty of well-struck, low line drives. 

He snuck a few balls over the fence to his pull side, and it’s easy to see how he could layer on more strength in the future as he fills out and adds more raw power to what seems like an excellent foundation to hit. 

In Kilby’s batting practice session, he had a 99.1 mph average exit velocity, a 107.5 mph max exit velocity, a 399-foot max projected distance and a 19.9 degree average launch angle. 

Gustavo Melendez, SS, Colegio La Merced HS, Cayey, P.R.

BA Rank: No. 119

Melendez is the top Puerto Rican prospect in the class and is also exceptionally young for the draft. He’s 17 years old now and doesn’t turn 18 until October. Like many Puerto Rican shortstop prospects, Melendez stands out for his work on the defensive end. 

His shortstop session was one of the sharpest of the day, and he has obvious tools and skills that should allow him to stick at the position and be quite good there. Listed at just 5-foot-9, 160 pounds, Melendez makes the most of his smaller size by playing low to the ground and getting the ball in and out of his glove extremely quickly. 

He’s a sure-footed defender who takes good angles to the ball and does a nice job resetting his feet to position himself to make strong throws from different angles. His reliable hands stood out on a few different ground balls that took sneaky sharp hops. Melendez was unfazed throughout his infield session and showed the sort of glove work and soft hands that give him a chance to be an above-average defender at the position. 

Melendez has enough arm strength for the position—and his exchange should allow it to consistently play up—when his feet are set, though on one tough backhand in the hole, his arm strength was exposed more while throwing on the run away from the first base bag. He could add more arm strength as he gains physicality, though his frame doesn’t suggest a significant amount of more strength to come. 

Offensively, Melendez is light on power but has an uphill swing from a crouched setup and a lower handset. His 101.2 mph max exit velocity was the third-lowest of the 38 hitters who took part in BPs. 

Kayson Cunningham, SS, Johnson HS, San Antonio

BA Rank: No. 12

Cunningham was one of the top-ranked players to take part in on-field action on the first day of the combine. He and Jojo Parker—ranked No. 11 overall—are both solid middle-of-the-first-round talents, which makes their appearance in the workout setting of the combine notable in and of itself. 

For those who know Cunningham, his batting practice performance would be unsurprising. The draft’s best pure hitter continued to look the part with a minimal operation that’s simple, easy and repeatable with quick and snappy hands that consistently put the barrel on the ball in all sorts of hitting zones. He takes his hands directly to the ball with very little wasted movement and always seems to finish his swing with great balance.

Cunningham has the ability to spray hard line drives to all fields, and while he’s very much a hit-over-power lefty bat now, he did hit one ball a projected 419.9 feet and pushed his max exit velocity up to more than respectable 107.2 mph. 

He also took grounders at shortstop. Many in the industry expect him to slide off the position eventually, but he has the quickness, hands and actions to get a shot at shortstop to start his professional career.

CJ Gray, RHP, Brown HS, Kannapolis, N.C.

BA Rank: No. 112

Gray is one of the most exciting projection arms in the class. He took the mound first among the pitchers throwing bullpens on Tuesday and woke the radar gun up quickly. 

Listed at 6-foot-1, 180 pounds, Gray works from the first base side of the rubber and has a long arm action with some of the best pure arm speed in the class. He averaged just over 95 mph with his sinking fastball and ran the pitch up to 96.5 mph at peak velocity—the second-best mark of day one pitchers. 

Gray also mixed in a firm changeup at 88 mph and an 85-86 mph slider with spin rates in the 2,400-2,500 rpm range. Gray got around a few of the sliders he threw and lacks command with the pitch—as well as his arsenal at large—and is more stuff-over-polish at the moment. 

He’s a tremendous athlete and dynamic mover on the mound who could be a monster in a few seasons with more reps and some refinement with his delivery and feel to repeat his arm slot. 

Dean Livingston, RHP, Hebron Christian Academy, Dacula, Ga.

BA Rank: 173

Livingston was the velocity king from the first day of the combine. His 97.6 mph heater was the hardest of the day and the lone pitch that could boast the 98 mph mark when rounding. 

Livingston has a projectable frame at 6-foot-4, 195 pounds and throws with excellent arm speed. Both of those traits should lead to fairly easy triple-digit velocity projections in the near future. He averaged 96.1 mph in this brief bullpen session with fairly modest life that could cause the pitch to play down from its velocity at the next level. 

Livingston mixed in one firm 88 mph changeup where his arm trailed a bit, and he spun a slurvy breaking ball in the 79-83 mph range that looked like a true curveball at times and more of sweeping slider at the 83 mph velocity range.

Gavin Lauridsen, RHP, Foothill HS, Santa Ana, Calif.

BA Rank: NR

Lauridsen entered the combine not ranked on the BA 500, but he put together a bullpen session that was very much deserving of being on the board. Lauridsen has a great pitcher’s frame at 6-foot-4, 200 pounds with plenty of room to add more weight. He works from the third base side of the rubber with solid arm speed from a higher three-quarters slot and has a tick of a head snap with some effort in his finish. 

He threw a four-pitch mix that was led by a 94-95 mph fastball with strong riding life. The pitch averaged 18.4 inches of induced vertical break, which was one of the better riding fastballs of the first day of bullpens. He also showed two distinct breaking balls. The first a 75-78 mph curveball with impressive depth that he kept low in the zone, and the second an 82-83 mph slider with more of a gyro look.

Lauridsen did mix in an 83-84 mph changeup, but he needs to improve his ability to sell the pitch with more fastball-like arm speed. 

Reid Worley, RHP, Cherokee HS, Canton, Ga.

BA Rank: No. 139

Worley has long had a reputation as one of the better breaking-ball pitchers in the class. He has an innate feel to spin the baseball and showed some of the best pure spin in Tuesday’s bullpen session. Worley was the only player to generate a 3,000 rpm or better breaking ball—and he did so with three different breaking balls in the 82-83 mph range. 

A 6-foot-2, 180-pound righthander, Worley showed a four-pitch mix that included a 90-92 mph fastball, an 85-86 mph changeup, one 87-mph cutter and his hammer breaking ball in the low 80s. The pitch was tagged as both a slider and a curveball on Chase Field’s pitch-tracking unit, but it mostly looks like one breaking ball that he’s able to manipulate a bit with great depth, snappy action and tons of horizontal movement. 

It’s an easy plus pitch that might only be limited by Worley’s ability to consistently land it for strikes. He was around the zone enough in this bullpen session but doesn’t have precise command or advanced touch and feel just yet. 

Joe Ariola, LHP, Wake Forest

BA Rank: 163

At the 2024 combine, Brandon Clarke showed better control in his bullpen session than might be expected given his scattered strike-throwing history. That improved control has translated for Clarke early in his pro career after signing with the Red Sox in the fifth round. Perhaps Ariola is the next lefthander with big stuff and scattered strikes to begin his transformation at the combine.

Ariola’s Tuesday bullpen session didn’t look like a pitcher who consistently struggled to throw strikes in college and posted a career-high 23% walk rate with Wake Forest this spring. The 6-foot-2, 190-pound lefty looked as dialed in as any pitcher who threw in terms of consistency and command.

He works from the middle of the rubber and throws from an over-the-top arm slot that he repeated nicely, and he consistently hit his spots with the entirety of his four-pitch mix. After sitting at 93.3 mph this spring, Ariola threw his fastball a bit more than a tick slower in this bullpen session. He averaged 91.8 mph and topped out at 92.8 mph but showed solid control with the pitch.

He also spotted an 82-83 mph changeup with fading life, an 82-86 mph short slider and a consistent 79-81 mph curveball with late downard bite. The curveball looked like Ariola’s best pitch in a vacuum, with impressive movement and spin rates in the 2,700-2,900 rpm range—making it the highest spin pitch from someone not named Reid Worley.