2025 MLB Draft Room ~ Thread, Mocks, Discussion, Draft Boards

[Adam2]

Gage Wood, RHP, Arkansas....25-35 ranked pick....5 IP, 11 K, 0 H, 0 R....so far vs. Murray St. Gage has been better than the teams ace, Zach Root. Gage might've upped his rank to mid 1st round with this last 30 day effort .

6 IP, 13 K....no-no still intact...I think it's 6 IP Perfecto. I haven't see a box score with HBP or Error...no type of interference

He's a 16 K/9, 2 BB/9.....ERA is 5+, but that K/BB ratio is eye popping

Some team will overreact to his postseason and draft him mid 1st round. Think Will Bednar, Giants in 2021....MSU stud pitcher who went wild in the post season and outshined Rocker and Leiter

8 IP, 16 K no-no still going, HBP happened in the 8th.....105 pitches, 73 strikes

Ark 3, Murray St. 0 ***FINAL***

Gage Wood ~ 9 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 19 K, 1 HBP

Nice time to have a breakout like this right before the draft

[TomTreebow]

I've really come back around on wanting Jamie Arnold at 5. I believe he's a victim of prospect fatigue as he's had back-to-back sub 3.00 ERA years now. He just doesn't have the fastball of Doyle or the 4 pitch mix of Anderson. But Doyle and Anderson (while talented) blew up this year and are the hot ticket item getting all the buzz but I still have this thought that Arnold is a very good, almost overlooked pitcher now.

Some things I like about Arnold:

• Two MLB level pitches already in the fastball and slider. Wish he had a higher whiff rate on the FB but it will play, was up to 97 late in 2024 and saw it 95/96 at the end of 2025

• Has shown he can handle a workload with top level results in back-to-back years

• Two great performances to close this year out against MSU and Oregon State

• I liked his performance against Tennessee last year - he battled and had FSU in a position for the win but his defense really let him down (skewing his stats for the game - missed pop up in the first inning, he had a throwing error, etc) and then the bullpen collapsed

I think he's a guy that moves quickly, especially if he can quickly develop his 3rd pitch changeup. The way I've been leaning lately is Arnold at 5, grabbing a RHP in round 2 such as Marcus Phillips or Anthony Eyanson and then a toolsy OF in the supplemental 2nd like Max Williams, Gavin Turley, or Ethan Frey. Not sure if the money works out as they all would be around slot or above slot, but I like that thought process.

If Arnold is a no go, I like Willits at 5 or also the thought of going underslot with Kyson Witherspoon (bad taste in the mouth with that last performance but I like him a lot otherwise) or JoJo Parker to take some bigger risks in the middle rounds.

[82birds]

nice interview with Arnold at the Draft Combine.
sounded grounded.