Could Chase Burns, Hagen Smith Or Trey Yesavage Make MLB Debut In 2025?
Image credit: Chase Burns (Photo by Isaiah Vazquez/Getty Images)
Pirates ace Paul Skenes heard his name called as the top pick in the 2023 MLB draft just over a year ago. Since that time, Skenes has rocketed to the major leagues and superstardom. It’s unusual for even the most polished of college pitching prospects to ascend to the game’s highest level in such a short window of time. While this year’s draft has no transcendent talent on the level of the Pirates all-star, there is a triumvirate of polished talented pitchers at the top of the draft with the ability to reach the major leagues in 2025.
Wake Forest’s Chase Burns, Arkansas’ Hagen Smith and East Carolina’s Trey Yesavage are all talented pitchers with a high level of collegiate success. With the onslaught of pitching injuries in recent years a lane has opened for advanced, polished college pitchers to move quickly to MLB.
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Each of these pitchers has a combination of good raw stuff, a track record of success at college baseball’s highest level and a chance to move quickly in their respective organizations. Wherever these players end up on Sunday, it should be an exciting time for each fanbase, as all of these pitchers are capable of ascending to top-of-the-rotation roles at peak.
Of the trio, Chase Burns is the fire-breathing dragon, sitting upper 90s with his cut-ride four-seam fastball, mixing in a hard low-90s slider with heavy cut. In the right organization, Burns could follow the Garrett Crochet path of moving to the major leagues this season as a high-octane bullpen option. Make no mistake, Burns’ future for whichever team selects him will be as a starter, but his versatility and outlier stuff provides multiple pathways to a major league role in the next year.
Burns had success in the two best conferences in college baseball first in his two seasons with Tennessee and in his one season as Wake Forest’s ace. His ability to dominate the lower levels and ascend to the majors next summer is a very real possibility.
Arkansas ace lefthander Hagen Smith brings elite characteristics to the table that could play in a variety of roles. Smith has the best release traits of the trio with a low-launch fastball from the left side with a difficult angle for hitters to barrel. Smith relies heavily on his fastball and slider. He’s the only player among the three with a full career in college baseball’s premier conference.
Smith’s changeup development is key to his ability to ascend to the majors. He threw it just 125 times this year with Arkansas. However, he does possess unique traits and as a lefthander can be more heavily dominant on his fastball and slider combination particularly with a low-release fastball. Smith is the top lefty in the draft and one the top college lefties since Carlos Rodon.
Finally, you have the third-ranked college hurler in the draft Trey Yesavage. While Yesavage spent his collegiate career in a mid-major conference, he might provide the highest level of pitchability among the three. Yesavage doesn’t throw as hard as either Smith or Burns but he does have the best fastball shape of the three.
A higher release righthander with outlier induced vertical break numbers, Yesavage can ride his four-seam fastball at a level few can reach. Yesavage had some of the best IVB data in college baseball in 2024 averaging an outlandish 22 inches of induced vertical break. That number is surely to decrease in pro ball where ball-tracking systems have a higher degree of accuracy. Regardless, Yesavage has an outlier four-seam shape with a trio of secondaries he can land for strikes.
The reality is based on recent trends at least one pitcher from this draft will debut before the all-star break in 2025. Will it be one of the talented first-round trio or another arm accelerated to the majors on a reliever track? Only time will tell.
