11 Rising 2025 MLB Draft Prospects Entering The Winter
Image credit: Nolan Schubart (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
While we’ve been focused on minor league prospects in recent weeks at Baseball America, the draft is always on our mind as well. This year’s draft lottery is approaching—it takes place on Dec. 10 this year at the Winter Meetings—and before we know it the calendar will turn and college baseball will be underway.
As a bit of an appetizer for the upcoming spring draft cycle, here’s a look back at 11 players who made significant up-arrow moves up draft boards in 2024.
For more 2025 draft coverage see our most recent draft rankings and scouting reports here.
Cameron Appenzeller, LHP, Glenwood HS, Chatham, Ill.
Draft Age: 18.5
Appenzeller is a skinny lefthander with a 6-foot-5, 180-pound frame that screams projection and has plenty of room to add more physicality and mass in the coming years. He began taking huge steps forward with his velocity during the 2024 season, which has moved him up draft boards.
After pitching in the mid 80s prior to the 2024 season, Appenzeller showed a fastball that was consistently around 90 mph and up to 94 this summer. He pitched off the fastball around 70% of the time but also flashed feel for both a slider and a changeup. The slider is his most advanced secondary at the moment—perhaps his best overall pitch—and features solid spin and plenty of gloveside sweeping action. It’s a low-80s breaking ball and swing-and-miss pitch to lefties currently that should become a weapon against batters of either hand with better command and more power.
Appenzeller primarily works off the fastball-slider combination but showed enough of a mid-80s changeup to be confident in a legitimate three-pitch mix moving forward. Projection is a key piece of the report with Appenzeller, but between his loose, free and easy delivery and obvious strength potential he checks plenty of boxes. He’s already put himself into day one consideration for many teams. A strong offseason and more velocity gains next spring will only cement that.
Nick Dumesnil, OF, California Baptist
Draft Age: 21.3
Dumesnil is a product of SoCal prep powerhouse Huntington Beach, but played in just 20 games for California Baptist as a freshman in 2023. He hit well for the program (.844 OPS) but took a huge step forward as a sophomore in 2024 as a full-time starter when he hit 19 home runs and 19 doubles with a 1.142 OPS in 61 games. His performance continued over the summer in the Cape Cod League when he hit .311/.378/.489 with four home runs and 12 doubles in 36 games with Brewster.
The uptick in power was the most obvious year-over-year change for the 6-foot-2, 205-pound outfielder. He went from a .444 slugging percentage in 2023 to a .702 slugging percentage in 2024—the best mark in the Western Athletic Conference. Dumesnil employed a higher handset as a sophomore, which perhaps allowed him to get into better positions to get the ball into the air with more frequency.
| Year | GB% | LD% | FB% | PU% | HR | SLG% |
| 2023 | 55.20% | 12.80% | 31% | 3.40% | 0 | 0.444 |
| 2024 | 43.70% | 17.80% | 38.60% | 4.60% | 19 | 0.702 |
He remains an aggressive, free-swinging hitter who will need to cut down on his swings out of the zone. He chased at a 38% rate in 2023 and a marginally better but still overly aggressive 36% rate in 2024, and also showed plenty of swing-and-miss tendencies against secondaries in the Cape Cod League.
His newfound power, plus speed and center field profile will give him a chance to become the highest-ever drafted player out of Cal Baptist if he can continue building on his 2024 performance next spring.
Eli Willits, SS, Fort Cobb-Broxton (Okla.) HS
Draft Age: 17.6
Willits entered the summer as one of the highest-ranking players in the 2026 prep draft class. After reclassifying into the 2025 class in May he’ll now be regarded as one of the better prospects in the 2025 class.
Willits only turns 17 in early December and will be one of the younger players in the class, with pro bloodlines as the son of former Angels outfielder Reggie Willits—now an associate head coach at Oklahoma. He was six months younger than the next-youngest player on USA Baseball’s 18U national team. While his performance with Team USA was unspectacular (.174/.304/.345, 3 K, 3 BB in 23 at-bats) he has a polished and well-rounded skill set to go with his plus biographic markers.
Listed at 6-foot-1, 175 pounds, Willits is a lean switch-hitter who has a loose, easy, rhythmic swing from both sides of the plate and solid-average bat speed. He pairs a strong batting eye with solid bat control and contact skills, and has the ability to spray line drives to all fields. In 22 logged games with Synergy this year, Willits hit .323/.425/.484 with a 16% miss rate and 20% chase rate. He’s done more damage from the left side of the plate, where his swing is a bit more uphill, and makes two-strike adjustments from both sides of the plate by quieting his load and spreading out into a wider setup.
He’s a solid athlete and above-average runner who pairs speed and strong instincts on the bases and should have the tools to stick at shortstop with reliable hands, decent actions and arm strength.
Nolan Schubart, OF, Oklahoma State
Draft Age: 21.2
Schubart was a big power, big swing-and-miss prospect out of high school who has proven his hitting chops over two seasons with Oklahoma State in college. He’s a .352/.480/.743 hitter in college with 40 home runs in 110 games, though that production has also come with a 28% strikeout rate that will be off-putting to some clubs.
His tremendous summer performance in 2024 will perhaps reassure those skeptical of that high strikeout rate. Schubart played nine games with Brewster in the Cape Cod League, hit .300/.476/.667 with three home runs and two doubles in nine games and ranked as the No. 8 prospect in the league. He also played with Team USA where he was second in average, slashed .429/.704/1.000 and perhaps most importantly managed a 13:3 walk-to-strikeout ratio.
At 6-foot-5, 233 pounds, Schubart has tremendous power that comes from his strength, plus bat speed and a high-effort, uphill swing that he’s looking to do damage with every time he pulls the trigger. Among the 1,692 college players with more than 50 batted ball events in 2024, Schubart’s 111.6 mph 90th percentile exit velocity was good for seventh, behind players like Charlie Condon, Christian Moore and Jac Caglianone and ahead of Dakota Jordan, Cam Smith and Braden Montgomery.
Making more contact will be crucial in 2025. Schubart had a 32% overall miss rate between the Cape and with Team USA this summer, and a 36% miss rate with Oklahoma State during the 2024 spring season. His contact skills are below-average against each pitch type, but especially secondaries. The chart below shows his results vs. various pitch types during the 2024 spring season with Oklahoma State:
| Pitch Type | OPS | Chase% | Miss% |
| Fastball | 1.761 | 18% | 28% |
| Slider | 0.790 | 20% | 41% |
| Changeup | 1.377 | 24% | 49% |
| Curveball | 0.659 | 22% | 44% |
| All Pitches | 1.376 | 20% | 28% |
Schubart’s ability to take a walk—he has an 18.8% career walk rate—helps create some stability to his profile, but scouts will certainly be questioning how his contact skills will translate to pro next spring.
Still, it’s hard to knock his overall performance in the last two years.
Ethan Conrad, OF, Wake Forest
Draft Age: 21.0
A year ago, Wake Forest transfer Seaver King was the buzziest college player throughout the summer and fall periods. Former Marist product and current Wake Forest outfielder Ethan Conrad doesn’t have quite that level of hype, but he has impressed and elevated his stock throughout 2024.
A 6-foot-4, 215-pound outfielder and first baseman, Conrad posted an .813 OPS with three home runs in 2023 then jumped to a 1.171 OPS with nine home runs, 13 triples and 18 doubles in 2024. He then played 30 games with Bourne in the Cape Cod League where he slashed .385/.433/.486 with two home runs, five doubles and 19 stolen bases.
Conrad has a simple operation in the lefthanded batter’s box without much pre-pitch rhythm, a standard leg kick to get started and a quick bat with an uphill path. He showed a solid blend of aggression and decent plate discipline in the Cape, and he’s been a hitter who has trounced fastballs but has some miss tendencies vs. spin. He’s got the build of a corner outfielder but is a good runner for his size who might be able to play some center field next spring with Wake Forest.
Proving his hitting chops against ACC pitching while continuing to build on his in-game power performance will keep him moving in the right direction in 2025.
Charlie Willcox, RHP, South Walton HS, Santa Rosa Beach, Fla.
Draft Age: 19.0
Willcox is a 6-foot-3, 210-pound righthander with a starter look who pitched in the mid 80s in 2023 and has creeped up to the 90 mph range in 2024, touching as high as 94 at his best. He struck out three of the nine batters he faced at the East Coast Pro showcase during the summer and got a decent number of whiffs with his heater up and to the arm side, then was one of the standout pitcher’s at this year’s Perfect Game Jupiter tournament.
Willcox has a well-developed frame currently with strength in both his lower and upper halves, as well as a balanced delivery with a fast arm from a three-quarters slot and a direct stride to the plate. His fastball is his best pitch currently, with bat-missing traits at the top of the zone and velocity trending in the right direction, and he’s also added power to a slurvy breaking ball in the 78-81 mph range with 2,300-2,500 rpm spin.
While a mid-80s changeup isn’t a key piece of his arsenal at the moment, he’s shown enough of the offering to project a solid third piece in the future with more reps. The change is relatively straight without significant tumble or fading life, but he throws it with solid arm speed and puts it around the zone enough to give lefties a change-of-pace.
Some scouts are already slotting Willcox as a top-three round talent. If he continues to make strides with his velocity and adds consistency to his breaking ball next spring in Florida that could become more of a consensus opinion.
Brett Crossland, RHP, Mountain Pointe HS, Phoenix
Draft Age: 19.0
In 2023, Crossland pitched around 90 mph and would reach back for 95, but during 2024 he sat in the 93-94 mph range and touched 97 with some of the best pure stuff in the class. He’s a powerfully built, physical righthander with a pro-looking body already at 6-foot-5, 241 pounds and fooled hitters consistently with his fastball-slider combination.
Crossland’s 80-85 mph slider is a hard and tight breaking ball with late, biting action that earns plus grades and should be a swing-and-miss pitch against both lefties and righties. He also throws a mid-70s curveball with 12-to-6 shape and a mid-80s fading changeup that could become solid-average pieces in the future and give him a diverse, four-pitch mix.
He’s a control over command pitcher at the moment who will need to clean up his delivery and do a better job spotting his fastball in the zone. He has a tendency to miss up and to his arm side with the pitch and it has more than enough power to challenge high school hitters in the zone.
Gavin Fien, 3B/1B, Great Oak HS, Temecula, Calif.
Draft Age: 18.4
Fien’s performance during the 2024 showcase period was second to none. After pairing with his brother Dylan—who the A’s signed for $550,000 in the 7th round of the 2024 draft—to lead Great Oak High in most offensive categories this spring, Fien hit essentially everywhere he played during the summer.
In 13 logged games with Synergy he slashed .471/.537/.882 with two home runs, eight doubles, six walks and four strikeouts and with USA Baseball’s 18U National team he hit .400/.429/.680 with three doubles and two triples in eight games. Fien has plenty of strength in his 6-foot-3, 200-pound frame, but he has an unusual swing that features a high handset, a hitch and a bit of rigidity throughout his operation. While his athleticism and bat speed don’t jump out as immediately impressive traits, Fien consistently showed some of the best feel for the barrel of any hitter in the class.
He managed an 83% overall contact rate and 91% in-zone contact rate in that 13-game Synergy sample with solid power to the pull side when he catches a ball out front and gets his hands extended. He controls the zone well and has some of the best righthanded quality of contact in the class, which will make him appealing to teams who prioritize performance.
Omar Serna, C, Lutheran South Academy, Houston
Draft Age: 18.5
Teams consistently view high school catcher as one of the riskiest demographics in the draft. Many are perfectly content to let those players go prove their chops in college and circle back two or three years later. The top-end prep catching in the 2025 class seems a bit down, but if there’s someone making a push for a day one selection at the position it is Serna who jumped to No. 55 in our most recent ranking update and now leads all high school catchers in the class.
Listed at 6-foot-2, 225 pounds, Serna is an imposing righthanded hitter with big power and arm strength. Many scouts got a first look at Serna at the 2023 Baseball Factory All-Star game in Globe Life Field where he was one of two underclassmen at the event, along with Ethan Holliday.
Serna went ballistic at this summer’s Area Code Games where he hit .444/.583/1.444 with two home runs, one triple and one double (all four of his hits were extra-bases) at Long Beach’s Blair Field—typically a difficult hitting environment for prep hitters swinging wood. There are some comparisons to be made with 2023 catcher Cade Arrambide: both are Texas-based catchers and righthanded hitters with power-over-hit offensive profiles and plus-plus throwing arms who performed at a high level at the Area Code Games during their draft summers. Both are LSU commits. Arrambide reached campus in Baton Rouge, but if Serna shows a better ability to tap into his power in games next spring than Arrambide did this past year his tools fit as a top-two rounder.
Aiva Arquette, SS, Oregon State
Draft Age: 21.8
Arquette was the top-ranked Hawaiian prospect in the 2022 class out of high school when he landed at No. 109 overall. At the time he was a glove-first prospect who stood out for his actions, arm strength and multi-sport athleticism—he also played basketball. Arquette made it to campus at Washington where he dealt with injuries as a freshman in 2023 but had a strong 2024 campaign where he slashed .325/.384/.574 with 12 home runs and 14 doubles.
After playing second base during the spring, Arquette went to the Cape Cod League during the summer where he got regular reps at shortstop, hit .291/.357/.437 with three home runs, made the Cape All-Star team and ranked as the top overall draft prospect in the league.
In his time at Washington, Arquette showed a solid blend of contact ability, positive swing decisions and pull-side power, which largely remained the case in the Cape, though he did swing-and-miss plenty vs. changeups—a 43% miss rate. Arquette has long levers which can create length in his swing at times, but he has hit well against 92+mph velocity and has shown the ability to drive the ball hard to all fields.
He’s big for shortstop and might not have the sort of short-range quickness to stick there long term—particularly given the physical projection remaining on his 6-foot-4, 220-pound frame—but has the actions and above-average arm strength to earn a shot and should definitely be able to stick third base if he needs to slide down the defensive spectrum. He’ll play his 2025 draft season with Oregon State and will enter the year as a top-two round talent by most.
Cooper Flemming, SS, Ganesha HS, Pomona, Calif.
Draft Age: 19.0
Flemming is a projectable shortstop and lefthanded-hitter with a well-rounded game that is anchored by baseball instincts and a gamer mentality on the field. Scouts were impressed with his versatility and performance as a hitter, defender and baserunner throughout the summer and he also got on the mound and touched 92 mph, though he’s appealing at the next level as a hitter.
Flemming has a crouched setup at the field with a simple operation that includes a short stride and fairly direct path to the baseball. He has length to his levers which might create some holes, but in general he’s shown both a solid approach and strong bat-to-ball skills, though his performance against breaking balls is an area that could use some improvement.
At 6-foot-3, 190 pounds, Flemming lacks strength and home run power now, but it’s easy to see him filling out in the next several years and finding more impact. He’s not a burner, but he moves well defensively and has above-average arm strength that should help mitigate any potential range issues and should allow him to stick at either shortstop or third base where he has a chance to be an above-average defender.
He won the MVP award at Perfect Game’s WWBA 17U National Championship in Georgia where he hit .486 (17-for-35) with two home runs, two triples, five doubles and six stolen bases. Flemming will turn 19 a few weeks after the draft, which puts him on the older side of the class, but it would be unsurprising for him to make a physical leap and take a huge step forward either next spring or if he makes it to campus at Vanderbilt.
