13 MLB Draft Prospects To Know From A Loaded College Baseball Opening Weekend In Texas

A hoard of scouts descended on Arlington, Texas, to see a six-team tournament that featured seven top 100 draft prospects, plus another who will be joining that tier shortly and no shortage of talented underclassmen.

Below are in-person notes and video on the draft prospects you need to know about from the weekend’s action. While the focus is on the 2025 draftees, there are two members of the 2026 class and a 2027 draft prospect who made big impressions, as well.

Players are listed below with their weekend statistics and current draft ranking. You can find our preseason top 200 draft board here.

Three Names Trending Up 

Patrick Forbes, RHP, Louisville

• Draft Rank: 178
• Weekend Stats: 5 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 11 K 

It took exactly three games to discover the first prospect we have severely under ranked in the 2025 class. Forbes checked in at No. 178 on our preseason draft board, but after an electric outing vs. Texas, it’s clear he belongs much higher. 

In his first two seasons with Louisville, Forbes pitched mostly out of the bullpen. In 2024, he posted a 3.72 ERA over 29 innings before a strong four-start effort in the Cape Cod League. Now Louisville’s ace, Forbes has a lean frame with further strength potential at 6-foot-3, 220 pounds while throwing with a loose and quick arm action from low three-quarters slot. He’s a good mover on the mound with whippy arm speed and a bit of recoil in his finish, but nothing egregious. 

In this outing, Forbes pitched with a 93-97 mph fastball that touched 98 and exploded out of his hand with tons of armside running life. He averaged 95-96 over five innings and was still touching 96 in his final frame in the 70-84 pitch range. Forbes attacked the top of the zone consistently and generated 11 whiffs with his fastball, including a number of chases up above the zone. 

He paired his heater with a low-to-mid-80s slider that featured hard-biting action and tight shape at the bottom of the zone. It was effective against both righties and lefties with a bit more sweeping action when he landed it to the glove side. On several occasions, he used the pitch as a lethal backfoot swing-and-miss breaking ball against lefthanded hitters.

Forbes’ fastball and slider both profiled as plus pitches in this look. He also mixed in a few upper-80s cutters and 89-90 mph changeups, but the fastball/slider combo was his main offering. He’s likely to fit as a top 60 prospect in our next draft update.

Luke Hill, 3B/2B, Ole Miss

• Draft Rank: Not ranked
• Weekend Stats: 5-for-9 (.556), 2 HR, 1 3B, 2 BB, 0 K

Hill entered the season on the outside looking in on our top 200 draft list, but had an extremely loud weekend with the bat. A Baton Rouge native, Hill started his career with Arizona State, where he slashed .314/.389/.456 in 54 games as a freshman and everyday shortstop. He transferred to Ole Miss the following season and hit well with sound plate discipline, though his power took a step back with just three home runs in 54 games. 

Hill is nearly at that 2024 home run total already with two homers in his first three games. The first was against an 89 mph fastball up and away that he backspun out to right field at 100 mph off the barrel. His second came in his next plate appearance when he yanked a hanging, 79 mph breaking ball to left at 107 mph and an estimated 393 feet.

Even when he wasn’t homering, Hill was barreling the ball and driving it hard all over the field. He had four other balls in play that were at least 100 mph off the barrel, including one hard single up the middle against an elevated 93 mph fastball on which he did an excellent job getting on plane with and timing up. 

Listed at 6-foot-1, 200 pounds, Hill is well-developed and strong with quick hands, impressive bat speed and a mechanically-sound righthanded swing that starts with a slight leg kick. Hill seemed to fire off his “A” swing early and often in this three-game look, and he was aggressive in a positive manner on early-count pitches to hit. He had a few strong takes in two-strike counts against pitches just out of the zone and seems to do a nice job picking up spin out of the hand. 

Hill played shortstop and second base in 2024, but started one game at third base and two at second base this weekend. 

Jared Spencer, LHP, Texas

• Draft Rank: Not ranked
• Weekend Stats: 5.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K

Spencer was an exciting fastball/slider lefthander who ranked No. 194 in the 2024 draft class and was selected by the Phillies in the 14th round. He didn’t sign and opted to return to college but after three seasons with Indiana State, he transferred to Texas this spring. In Austin, Spencer will work with one of the most respected pitching coaches in the country: Max Weiner.

Spencer earned the night one nod as a starter for the Longhorns against Louisville, and looked quite different from his 2024 self. While Spencer’s delivery still features a sharp stabbing arm action and a bit of effort, his pitch mix made him more intriguing as a potential future starter.

In 2024, Spencer was a two-pitch lefty who threw his fastball 65% of the time and his slider 34% of the time. In this game, Spencer threw an 82-86 mph changeup 13 times among his 66 total pitches—good for a 20% rate.

It wasn’t just that Spencer threw the changeup more often. It was also quite effective. He generated four whiffs with the pitch and also used it to induce weak contact and avoid the barrel on three other occasions while consistently spotting it at the bottom of the zone for strikes. It looked like a legitimate secondary option that could help him attack righthanded hitters and turn over lineups. 

He also averaged 95 mph and touched 97 a few times with his fastball while continuing to show the same hard-biting, upper-80s slider that generates lots of ugly chase swings against lefties.

While Spencer will be a year older in 2025, the version we saw on Friday was a more complete starter profile. If the changeup continues to be a real piece in his arsenal and his control ticks up, it’d be easy to see him moving into a priority senior sign range on draft day. 

Reports On The Top-Ranked Names

Cam Cannarella, OF, Clemson

• Draft Rank: 6
• Weekend Stats: 4-for-12 (.333), 3 2B, 1 BB, 4 K

Cannarella was the highest-ranked draft prospect in the six-team field at Globe Life Park. After playing through a right shoulder injury in 2024, Cannarella is still not quite 100% with his throwing arm. He wasn’t a full participant in Clemson’s pregame infield and outfield, and during warmups between innings, he would throw from only about 60 feet to get loose. It sounds like he’s making normal progress in the wake of his right labrum surgery.

Offensively, Cannarella had a fine weekend with four hits and three doubles, though he didn’t look quite up to game speed and showed more swing-and-miss than expected for someone with his hitting track record and collegiate miss rates. A 6-foot, 185-pound lefthanded hitter, Cannarella has a neutral and relaxed setup in the box with a standard leg kick and solid rhythm with loose and easy hands. There’s some noise in his load, including a pre-pitch bat waggle, a bit of a hand hitch and press back towards the catcher, but at his best, Cannarella has shown an ability to maneuver the barrel around the zone and make contact vs. all pitch types. 

This weekend specifically, Cannarella seemed to be finding his timing against fastballs. He also showed some vulnerability against right-on-left changeups and breaking balls down in the zone. He swung through a pair of middle-middle 95 mph fastballs that he probably would love another crack at and struck out four times compared to just one walk. 

His speed allows him to turn singles into doubles, and on one occasion, he drove a 91 mph fastball on the ground through a shifted infield to left-center and used a 4.26-second turn around the first base bag (a 65-grade run time) to beat a throw to second base. In center field, Cannarella showed his typical strong instincts and range and had one impressive athletic play tracking a ball hit to straight center at the warning track.

Brendan Summerhill, OF, Arizona

• Draft Rank: 22
• Weekend Stats: 3-for-11 (.273), 1 HR, 3 BB, 2 K, 1 SB

Summerhill joined Cannarella as a first-team outfielder on our preseason college All-American teams and had a solid three-game debut to the season that featured a home run, three hits, three walks and a stolen base. A 6-foot-3, 205-pound outfielder and lefthanded hitter, Summerhill has a well-rounded game but a bit of a tweener outfield profile. Scouts want to see him either play center field or show more power this spring, and in all three games for Arizona on opening weekend, he led off and handled right field.

Summerhill has an upright stance in the box and takes a slight toe tap that leads to a leg kick and long stride with a fairly direct hand path to the ball. His lower half move can cause him to get a bit lungy at times, which leaves him out in front of offspeed or just underneath elevated fastballs, but in general, he shows a strong understanding of the zone with good contact ability. Summerhill showed a patient approach with a nice ability to read spin out of the hand and generally made loud contact all weekend.

Summerhill’s best result came in a 1-0 count when he got a righthanded cutter at 87 mph middle-in. He did a nice job getting the bat head out and pulled the ball into the second row of the right field stands at 103 mph off the bat. 

Nolan Schubart, OF, Oklahoma State

• Draft Rank: 25
• Weekend Stats: 4-for-10 (.400), 2 2B, 4 BB, 3 K

In a tournament where seemingly every hitter in all six lineups was lighting up the exit velocity board, one of college baseball’s most fearsome sluggers went homerless. While Oklahoma State fans in attendance would beg to differ after a titanic blast pulled down the line in game one against Clemson was called foul, Schubart ended up going 4-for-10 with a pair of doubles, four walks and three strikeouts. 

Schubart is a hulking, 6-foot-5, 235-pound lefthanded hitter who generates some of the best exit velocities in the class. He pairs that strength and excellent bat speed with a steep and uphill path that leads to plenty of crushed fly balls but also a ton of swing-and-miss. To help counteract the miss tendencies, Schubart brings a strong batting eye and understanding of the strike zone to the table. He rarely expands the zone, and in two-strike counts, he ditches his leg kick and spreads out in a wide stance that lets his hands and natural strength do the work. 

While Schubart has huge power, his secondary tools are lacking, and he’ll need to sharpen his defensive game if possible to avoid a future move to first base. He’s a slower runner who’s not likely to take an extra base too often. He’ll make the routine play in right field, but his range could become more of a question mark at the next level. Schubart had one tough foul ball opportunity at the right field fence on which he came up just short.

Mason White, SS, Arizona

• Draft Rank: 43
• Weekend Stats: 2-for-10 (.200), 2 HR, 1 BB, 6 K

White joins Arizona teammate Brendan Summerhill as a potential top-two round pick this July on the back of his lefthanded power. He’s a lefthanded-hitting shortstop who has hit over .300 with 10+ home runs in back-to-back seasons with Arizona. He showed his power by way of a pair of homers on opening weekend—though that power did come with six strikeouts and a good amount of swing-and-miss. 

At 5-foot-11, 186 pounds, White looks like a fairly finished product from a physical standpoint. He has a neutral stance in the box and starts his swing with a sizable leg kick and a soft hand press back towards the catcher before firing through the zone with an uphill path and plenty of bat speed. It’s enough to handle quality velocity—his first home run of the weekend was against a 94 mph fastball down-in that he pulled 404 feet to right field—and also enough for him to yank balls out of the yard even when he’s unbalanced or not making perfectly-flush contact.

White does have miss tendencies, and this weekend he was susceptible to spin, particularly at the bottom and below the strike zone. He struck out in six of his 12 plate appearances and whiffed on sliders below the belt six different times. Those contact questions vs. spin and his general tendencies to expand the zone at times could lead to him being a below-average pure hitter, albeit one with enough power to do plenty of damage when he does connect.

White has played shortstop, second base and third base in college. He’s the everyday shortstop for Arizona this spring, but he’ll need to sharpen his actions to stick there long term. His actions and hands seem solid, but his first step and range could be a tick light for the position, and he also had a few errant throws over the weekend.  

Max Belyeu, OF, Texas

• Draft Rank: 46
• Weekend Stats: 8-for-14 (.571), 2 HR, 2 2B, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 SB

Belyeu (pronounced “buh-loo”) is poised to give Texas back-to-back top 50 picks in the draft after the Rockies picked Jared Thomas at No. 42 in 2024. He currently ranks in that range at No. 46 overall and is coming off a Big 12 player of the year season in which he hit .329/.423/.667 with 18 home runs. 

This weekend, Belyeu was dealing with an illness, but you wouldn’t have known it from his production, as he tallied multi-hit efforts in all three games, finishing 8-for-14 (.571) with a pair of doubles. Listed at 6-foot-2, 210 pounds, Belyeu has a well-developed and muscular physique and employs a simple operation at the plate. He has a neutral stance and standard leg kick in his lower half, with quiet hands and solid bat speed.

He’s an aggressive hitter whose pure contact skills are good enough for him to get away with expanding the zone against college arms, though his selectivity might need to be dialed in at the next level. Belyeu’s ability to put the barrel on the ball in a number of different areas allows him to minimize his strikeouts, but at times, he gets overly trigger happy on bad pitches in neutral or hitter’s counts.

When Belyeu does connect, he is able to put a charge into the baseball with solid power, and his ability to drive the ball the other way was on display this weekend. He homered twice: one against a 92 mph fastball at the bottom of the zone that he drove out to straight center and another on an 86 mph slider that he yanked on the outer half to the right-center bullpen. Belyeu is a high-effort runner who busts it out of the box consistently, but he’s not a burner and will more frequently turn in average run times from home-to-first. That speed could keep him in an outfield corner, where his plus throwing arm will be an asset, but it will put more pressure on his ability to hit and hit for power. 

Gabe Davis, RHP, Oklahoma State

• Draft Rank: 53
• Weekend Stats: 4.1 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 6 K

Davis was the highest-ranked arm entering this tournament at No. 53 overall, and he put up a solid performance against a strong Clemson team despite a line that might not indicate it. Davis has a huge presence on the mound at 6-foot-9, 235 pounds and will likely be one of the most imposing pitchers in this draft class. He works from the first base side of the rubber and throws from a three-quarters slot with a bit of stiffness in his arm action, but fairly minimal effort. 

Davis opened up in the 94-96 mph range and touched a few 97s before ticking down to 91-94 in the third inning. He’s been up to 99-100 mph at peak velocity in the past. Despite the solid power of the pitch, Davis did see his fastball get hit hard a few times in this outing, and he was also a bit scattered with his command, which meant he was pitching from behind more frequently than he would have liked. 

In addition to the fastball, Davis threw a low-80s slider with tight gyro shape that was his best swing-and-miss offering (six whiffs) while also working in a mid-80s changeup and a slower, top-down curveball that was well behind his slider. Davis has pitched primarily as a reliever in his first two seasons with Oklahoma State and hasn’t had an issue missing bats, but he’ll need to sharpen his command and improve the consistency of his secondaries in order to consistently turn over a lineup. 

On size and arm strength alone, he’ll be extremely appealing to big league clubs. 

James Ellwanger, RHP, Dallas Baptist

• Draft Rank: 99
• Weekend Stats: 3 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K

Dallas Baptist is just a few minutes down the road from Globe Life Park, so when Ellwanger took the bump on Saturday against North Dakota State at Horner Ballpark, there were plenty of radar guns pointed his way. Ellwanger was a top 200 prospect coming out of high school who was already touching 97-98 mph and dominated as a high school senior in Texas, but he made it to campus at DBU where he’s now a draft-eligible sophomore.

Ellwanger pitched just 17.2 innings across eight starts in 2024, but he also threw in the Cape Cod League and last fall with DBU. Building a bigger workload over the course of this spring will be key for the lanky and highly-projectable 6-foot-4 righthander, though he eased into the 2025 season with just three innings and 49 pitches. 

While it wasn’t a flawless outing, Ellwanger flashed the upside that scouts are excited about. He threw his fastball in the 94-97 mph range and touched 98 several times xwhile also flashing a plus slider at 86-89. In addition to the fastball/slider combo, Ellwanger mixed in a 12-to-6 curveball at 81-82 that was less of a bat-misser but a solid change-of-pace strike offering. 

Both Ellwanger’s fastball command and slider consistency need to be improved. Occasionally, he yanked the fastball into the dirt below the zone and both the bite and location of the slider would come and go. It’s a hard pitch to barrel when he keeps it down, but North Dakota State hitters did manage to make solid contact when he left the breaking ball up in the zone.

Ellwanger fields his position well and showed off a bit of the athleticism that made him a multi-sport athlete in high school.

Three Underclassmen Worth Watching

Aidan Knaak, RHP, Clemson (2026)

• Weekend Stats: 4 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 7 K

Knaak (pronounced “kuh-knock”) had an excellent 2024 freshman season with Clemson in which he posted a 3.35 ERA over 15 starts with 108 strikeouts and 29 walks. Over the weekend, he earned the opening day start for Clemson against Oklahoma State and struck out the first six batters he faced before running into a bit more trouble in the third and fourth innings. 

Listed at 6-feet, 205 pounds, Knaak is a physical righthander with a strong lower half who works from the first base side of the rubber and features a short, compact arm action while throwing from a high three-quarters slot. He showed above-average control for a three-pitch mix that includes a 90-95 mph fastball, a 78-81 mph changeup that falls off the table and a tight downer curveball in the low 80s. 

Knaak used those three pitches to cruise through his first three frames. In one at-bat against the lefthanded-hitting Colin Brueggemann, he tripled down on the changeup for three straight pitches to record a three-pitch strikeout. The movement and significant velocity gap between the changeup and fastball—as well as his arm speed—make it a knockout pitch that in 2024 generated a 57% miss rate on 31% usage. 

Will Gasparino, OF, Texas (2026)

• Weekend Stats: 5-for-14 (.357), 2 HR, 1 3B, 2 2B, 1 BB, 3 K

Gasparino is a tooled-up, 6-foot-6, 225-pound righthanded hitter and center fielder who ranked as a top 100 prospect coming out of Harvard-Westlake High in 2023. A broken hand limited him during his senior season in high school, and he made it to campus at Texas. As a freshman in 2024, Gasparino hit .252 with 12 home runs and a 32.9% strikeout rate.

He looked locked in at the plate in his debut this weekend, logging five extra-base hits and plenty of scorched baseballs to all fields.

Gasparino’s setup has changed from the 2024 season. He’s quieted the moving parts in his pre-pitch stance and instead is implementing an extremely early (and high) handset and front foot plant before the opposing pitcher even gets to his leg lift. The lower half in his new setup has shorter leg kick and stride during his swing, and a hand hitch from the previous season is almost entirely gone. 

So far, so good. He smashed an 88 mph cutter middle-away to the opposite field in his first plate appearance of the weekend and then two days later pulled a nearly identical pitch over the fence to left-center. It’s not a conventional setup or swing, but Gasparino also doesn’t have a conventional build, tools or athleticism. 

Adrian Rodriguez, 3B, Texas (2027)

Weekend Stats: 6-for-14 (.429), 2 HR, 3 2B, 1 BB, 5 K

Rodriguez’s bat speed and advanced physicality stood out this weekend amid college hitters much older and more advanced in their careers. Listed at 6-foot-2, 210 pounds, Rodriguez is a switch-hitter and corner infielder whose present strength and lightning quick hands give him tremendous power upside and have already placed him in the No. 2 spot of the Texas lineup as a freshman. 

He has a crouched and slightly-open setup with his lower half, but keeps his front shoulder tucked in and then makes an early move to get his front foot planted before firing his hands with tremendous torque and hip/shoulder separation with a swing that’s reasonably compact and direct to the ball with an uphill finish. He hit a pair of home runs—one off a 92 mph fastball and another off an 87 mph slider—and three doubles, all of which came when he was hitting from the left side of the plate.

His lefty swing does seem a bit more advanced and fluid than his righthanded swing, but there are real swing-and-miss questions vs. secondaries that he’ll need to address moving forward as he gets more reps against quality arms. The same is true of his defensive work at third base. Rodriguez has the requisite arm strength for the position, but his hands were stiff and unreliable, and the game appeared to speed up on him at times. 

Even if he has to move to first base in the future, his hit/power combination makes him a freshman to keep tabs on.