Arizona has three picks on the first day.
The 2025 MLB draft is about to get under way in Atlanta. As discussed previously, there will be three picks for Arizona today. They will be active in slots #18 (1st round), #29 (free-agent comp), and #92 (third round). They lost their second round pick for signing Corbin Burnes, but gained one because they lost Christian Walker after making a qualifying offer. While they pick in the lower-half, it still offers opportunities to get a really nice player. It’s also significantly higher than last year. Courtesy of winning the NL pennant, they didn’t pick until #29, choosing Slade Caldwell – pictured above, making a really nice catch to end the All-Star Futures game yesterday.
He was our #3 prospect coming into the season, according to MLB Pipeline. While he didn’t play last year, he got off to a fast start with A-ball Visalia, hitting .294/.460/.454 for a .914 OPS, earning a promotion to High-A Hillsboro laat month. The transition has been a bit rough, Caldwell batting just .191. But he’s taking almost as many walks as strikeouts, with a K:BB there of 26:20. It’s also worth noting that Slade was promoted while still only aged eighteen, making him the youngest position player in the entire Northwest League. So the potential remains undisputed, and the Diamondbacks will be picking more than ten places higher than last year.
Interestingly, three mock drafts all have the team going after the same player. Arizona Sports reports, “All three of the major national mocks (ESPN, The Athletic and MLB.com) have the D-backs taking the same player with the 18th pick in Coastal Carolina’s Caden Bodine, the top-rated true catcher in this draft.” It’s certainly a position where the team could use some help. Adrian del Castillo is the only catcher listed by MLB Pipeline among Arizona’s top 25 prospects, and he may not stick at the position. We all saw the problems there in 2024, when 27 of 29 base-stealers succeeded against him. And one of the two who didn’t, was actually due much more to the pitcher.
Of course, a lot will depend on whether Bodine is still on the board when it’s the D-backs’ turn. After that, the team will again have the #29 pick, and there’s a lot less unanimity about who they might pick there. ESPN has us going for CF Slater de Brun out of high-school, while MLB go for corner infielder Andrew Fischer from Tennessee. But by that point, to be honest, it’s largely guesswork. I suspect the D-backs will adhere to their general practice of the last few years, and pick the best player still available. But we will see how it goes, and here will be the place to discuss everything, as it happens!
We’ll have more detailed analysis in due course, so for now I’ll just list the players involved.
#18, Round 1 – SS Kayson Cunningham – Lady Bird Johnson HS, San Antonio, Texas.