An injury-plagued junior year may have cost Brendan Summerhill some money and draft clout, but in the end he still counts as another first round pick for the Arizona Wildcats.
Summerhill was picked 42nd overall by the Tampa Bay Rays in the 2025 MLB Draft on Sunday. The pick, as part of the Competitive Balance Round A, is technically part of the first round and makes Summerhjill the fourth Wildcat to go in the first round in the past six drafts.
It’s always Summer in the Sunshine State! ☀️ @BrendanSummerh1 is the 14th first round pick in Arizona Baseball history! pic.twitter.com/taNe2QRkch
— Arizona Baseball (@ArizonaBaseball) July 14, 2025
The No. 42 pick—which Tampa earned as compensation for trading pitcher Jeffrey Springs to the Athletics in the offseason—comes with a ‘bonus slot value’ of $2.331 million, though teams can go above or below that. Last year the No. 42 pick, outfielder Jared Thomas, signed with Colorado Rockies for $2 million.
In three seasons at Arizona, Summerhill hit .323 in 124 games with 14 home runs and 99 RBI. As a junior he batted .343 and 1.055 OPS with four homers, six triples and 34 RBI in 44 games, missing a month with a fracture in his right hand and additional time due to a hamstring injury.
Summerhill had been listed by MLB.com as the No. 16 draft prospect, which would have earned him a bonus slot value of more than $4.9 million.
A Chicago native, Summerhill signed with the Wildcats as part of the 2022 recruiting class that included fellow 2025 starters Maddox Mihalakis and Mason White and pitchers Casey Hintz and Tony Pluta.
After playing in 22 games as a freshman, with 18 starts, the 2024 season was when Summerhill first made his mark. That year that saw him produce a pair of walkoff hits including the game-winning 2-run double to beat Oregon State to clinch the Pac-12’s final regular season title.
Happy 1-year anniversary of this moment pic.twitter.com/RgRn3BgEkY
— Arizona Baseball (@ArizonaBaseball) May 19, 2025
With Tampa, Summerhill is joining a franchise that has a pedigree for developing its young talent. The Rays’ current roster includes third baseman Junior Caminero, a 21-year-old All-Star who has hit 23 homers.
Summerhill is the first Wildcat drafted by the Rays since pitcher TJ Nichols in the sixth round in 2023. Nichols, who was a UA teammate of Summerhill’s two years ago, is 8-3 with a 3.84 ERA as a starter for Single-A+ Bowling Green. Other ex-Wildcats to get drafted by Tampa include Johnny Field in 2013 and Joey Rickard in 2012.