Alabama Shortstop Steele Hall Leads Early High School Helium Names To Know For 2025 MLB Draft

Steele Hall, SS, Hewitt-Trussville (Ala.) HS

There’s arguably no buzzier high school player in the country than Hall. 

Originally a member of the 2026 class, Hall reclassified to be a member of the 2025 class last November. He will turn 18 only a few days after the draft. Hall entered the spring with an excellent reputation as a quick-twitch defender with tons of speed but has been drawing effusive praise for his offensive transformation this spring.

Hall is listed at 5-foot-11, 175 pounds but has reportedly made significant strength gains over the offseason and looks noticeably more filled out and physical early this year. He hits from a wide, spread stance in the righthanded batter’s box and employs a relatively simple and direct line-drive-oriented swing. As an underclassman, Hall had an aggressive approach that featured some swing-and-miss tendencies, but he’s been making a lot of contact and also hitting for more power in 2025.

Layering more confidence on the offensive side of his game has sent him flying up draft boards, because his defensive profile and supplemental tools were already extremely loud. He’s at least a double-plus runner and has turned in enough 80-grade run times that many scouts will surely put a top-of-the-scale grade on his run tool. At shortstop, he pairs quick-twitch, middle infield actions with a high-energy play style and more than enough arm strength for the position. There are some scouts who view him as a plus defender, while others think he’s more of an above-average defender. 

Either way, he’s got a well-rounded toolset and skillset with a profile and age on draft day that every team will be intrigued by. He’s earning Kellon Lindsey comparisons, and some scouts have him confidently stuffed inside the first round already, while others have him trending in the direction. He went No. 34 in our first mock draft of the season and it seems more likely he’ll be higher than lower in our next one. 

Aaron Watson, RHP, Trinity Christian Academy, Jacksonville

Watson now seems a lot closer to fellow prep righthander Landon Harmon than our current rankings indicate. At No. 88 overall, we currently have Watson placed in the middle of the third round, but scouts who have seen him this spring view him as a likely top-two round selection. 

In his first four games this spring in Florida’s 2A classification with Trinity Christian Academy, Watson has posted a 0.95 ERA with 43 strikeouts and seven walks in 22 innings. In terms of pure stuff, Watson’s profile hasn’t changed dramatically from what he flashed last spring. He throws a fastball that is consistently in the mid 90s and will bump a 95 or 96 at peak velocity. Watson throws both a four- and two-seam variant while also mixing in a low-80s slider and firm, upper-80s changeup that give him a well-rounded arsenal.

What scouts seemingly appreciate with Watson is his polish. He has peers in this 2025 class who pop louder numbers on the radar gun or are currently showing more big-time breaking stuff. But at 6-foot-5, 205 pounds, Watson has a great pitcher’s frame with more room to add strength while showing starter command and a deep four-pitch mix that creates a lot of confidence moving forward. 

Myles Upchurch, RHP, St. Albans HS, Washington D.C.

Upchurch has been trending in the right direction with his velocity over the last two years. He touched 95 mph last summer, and, early this February at PBR’s annual Super 60 showcase, he was one of the hardest-throwing pitchers at the event when he touched 97 in an indoor bullpen. 

During his early games this spring with Alban’s High, he has pitched more in the 90-95 mph range, but in some looks, he’s been sitting closer to 95 than 90. While the fastball velocity alone is impressive, Upchurch has always shown quality running action on the pitch. In addition to the fastball, Upchurch has three solid secondaries, including a mid-80s slider with spin rates up to 2,600 rpm, a curveball a few ticks slower in the low 80s and a changeup that’s also in the mid 80s.

Upchurch has plenty of physicality and arm speed. He’s listed at 6-foot-4, 215 pounds with tons of strength in his lower half and throws from the first base side of the rubber with some effort and head whack in his finish. He fits more in the top-three round range on the board than the top-six round range he’s currently placed.

Cameron Millar, RHP, Alhambra HS, Martinez, Calif.

Miller is a young-for-the-class righthander who has used a big velo spike early this year to jump into the second- and third-round range for scouts. Listed at 6-foot-2, 180 pounds, Millar threw his fastball in the 90-92 mph range last summer and touched 93. At the 2024 Area Code Games, he averaged 92 mph in a brief, 22-pitch outing in which he also threw a slurvy slider at 78-80 and a changeup at 78-81. 

So far in 2025, he’s been sitting in the mid 90s with his fastball, and more power has come with both of his secondaries, as well. 

At the Area Code Select in early February, Millar averaged 94-95 mph on his fastball in another brief outing and touched 96 while also throwing a handful of sharper sliders in the 82-84 mph range. He looks like he’s added good weight over the offseason, and his delivery looks a bit more balanced and streamlined than it did last summer. 

Millar is committed to Arizona, but there’s been enough scouting heat on him this spring to wonder if he’ll actually make it to campus. 

Josh Jannicelli, RHP, Cardinal Newman HS, Santa Rosa, Calif.

Another NorCal helium high school pitcher is Jannicelli. He isn’t showing the same sort of present velocity as Millar, but he could be nearing the same top-three round range on draft boards. 

Jannicelli struck out 116 batters as a junior with Cardinal Newman in 2024, and through his first four outings in 2025, he has struck out 25 batters and walked five in just 14.2 innings. Jannicelli has a massively projectable, high-waisted frame with long levers at 6-foot-5, 175 pounds. 

He throws a fastball that will sit in the low 90s early in outings before tapering off into the upper 80s as he works deeper. He also shows a 78-80 mph breaking ball that flashes late-biting action and a changeup in the 78-82 range that looks like a solid-average or better pitch already. 

Jannicelli is committed to the pitching factory of UC Santa Barbara and has all the traits to be a huge up-arrow arm if he gets to college and adds strength over the next few years. 

Jordan Yost, SS, Sickles HS, Tampa

At the moment, Yost doesn’t rank on our top 200 draft board. That will change in our next update later this month. Among scouts in the Southeast part of the country, Yost was “the talk of the town” early this spring, though he does seem to be a more split-camp prospect than someone like Steele Hall.

At 6-feet, 170 pounds, Yost lacks physicality, and a large part of where scouts have him lined up on their pref lists has to do with how much strength and impact they believe he’ll grow into in the next few years—as well as whether or not they view him as a long-term shortstop. 

The calling card with Yost is his contact skills and hitting upside. While Yost doesn’t have the track record of some of the top hitters in the 2025 class, he has always stood out for his impressive bat-to-ball skills. He understands the zone and puts the barrel on the ball at a high clip with a crouched and wide stance that features good rhythm and a simple, direct lefthanded swing. 

Yost is a plus runner who has solid hands at shortstop with an accurate arm that will give him a chance to stick at the position. Some scouts, though, believe his actions and lateral mobility could push him to second base or potentially center field. 

While Yost seems to be viewed as a safe top-five round talent on the back of his hitting ability, he’s also expected to be an extremely difficult sign out of his Florida commitment. His older brother, Hayden, is currently a sophomore outfielder with the Gators.