Plethora of Diamond Hogs likely to be taken in MLB Draft beginning on Sunday

BY DUDLEY E. DAWSON

FAYETTEVILLE – One can expect plenty of Diamond Hogs to have their names called in the 2025 Major League Baseball draft over the next couple of days.

The event begins Sunday night at 5 p.m. at the Coca Cola Roxy in the Atlanta suburb of Cumberland with the first three rounds while rounds 4-20 will happen on Monday beginning at 10:30 a.m.

Both days of the draft will televised by the MLB Network while ESPN will carry Sunday’s first 43 selections.

Both Arkansas shortstop Wehiwa Aloy and pitcher Gage Wood are projected to go in the first round while pitcher Zach Root and outfielder Charles Davalan are also likely first-day selections.

Razorback head coach Dave Van Horn said he expects several of his current players to be taken early in he draft.

“”I’d say eight to 10 of them will be drafted — pretty high,” Van Horn said Wednesday. “So that’s exciting. Makes you proud.”

Razorback pitching coach Matt Hobbs was on ESPN 99.5 Friday’s Halftime radiio show with Phil Elson and Matt Jones.

“Outside of playing in the postseason at Arkansas, my favorite day of the year is watching these guys get picked, because I know how much went into all that,” Hobbs said . “We’ve been there for the stories of our players who get picked and have spent time with us…and I just can’t wait to watch these guys get to realize their dreams.” 

Hobbs was asked about what kind of idea Arkansas had on what its roster would look like after the draft, which is a 20-round for the fifth straight year.

“I think we have decent idea of the incoming freshman of who is going and who is not, you would think,” Hobbs said. “But you get surprised all the time the time on draft day.

“You know in my mind last year said bye to Carson Wiggins thinking he is going to sign, he is going to get enough money and he ended up with us.

“So I guess you never really know how it is going to end up, but you have a pretty good idea about the majority of our roster that is going to sign.

Aloy won the Golden Spikes Award as the nation’s best college player and is viewed as the likely first Razorback off the board.

He is projected as the 13th overall pick to the San Francisco Giants by The Athletic’s Keith Law and 17th to the Chicago Cubs by ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel and MLB.com’s Jim Callis.

Aloy is also ranked as the 16th-best prospect draft by Baseball America, which has 8 Arkansas players among its top 258.

Wood, who raised his stock with a no-hitter at the College World Series, is projected to go 16th to the Minnesota Twins by McDaniel, 22nd to the Atlanta Braves by both Law and Callis and Baseball America’s 16th-best prospect.

Davalan is McDaniel’s 36th overall pick to the Twins and Callis’ 43rd to the Miami Marlins.

Law views Root as the 29th best prospect.

More of the 21 current draft eligible Razorbacks most likely to hear their names called in the draft are third baseman Brent Iredale, outfielders Justin Thomas, first baseman Brent Iredale and Logan Maxwell and pitchers Aiden Jimenex, Landon Beidelschies, Parker Coil, Christian Foutch and Ben Bybee.

MLB Pipeline has Aloy as its 17th-best prospect and has Wood at 23, Root 42, Davalan 54, Iredale 177 and Beidelschies 208 in the rankings of high school and college prospects.

The two Arkansas high school signees most likely to get drafted high are Fayetteville infielder Landon Schaefer and Edmond (Okla.) North shortstop Carson Brumbaugh.

Schafer is No. 125 and Brumbaugh 222 on MLB Pipeline’s list while Baseball America has Schaefer 138th and Brumbaugh 156th

Fort Smith Northside pitcher McLane Moody and Jefferson City (Mo.) hurler Jordan Martin, Louisiana prep outfielder Christian Turner and University School of Nashville (Tenn.) infielder Alexander Peck are all also among Baseball America’s top 500 draft prospects.

The Razorbacks have landed 8 players out of the transfer portal with the most likely to be drafted being former Ball State shortstop Dylan Grego, former Marshall outfielder Maika Niu and former Lamar outfielder Damian Ruiz, but none of those are listed in Baseball America’s top 300 prospects.

Photo by John D. James