MLB Draft Picks Are Reaching The Majors Faster Than Ever
Image credit: Blue Jays RHP Trey Yesavage (Photo by Mark Blinch/Getty Images)
East Carolina needed Trey Yesavage to pitch like the ace he’d been all season on June 1, 2024, less than 24 hours after being stunned in its home regional opener by Evansville.
The Pirates’ First Team All-American took the mound facing elimination against Wake Forest, which countered with fellow First Team All-American Chase Burns on the mound and Nick Kurtz hitting second. Yesavage delivered 7.1 superb innings of one-run ball with six strikeouts and four walks on 112 pitches, helping East Carolina stay alive with a 7-6 victory.
He fared even better against the Yankees just 492 days later.
On Sunday night, Yesavage became the first pitcher in baseball history to strike out 11 or more batters without allowing a hit through the first five innings of a postseason start. With Toronto’s offense soaring behind him, the 22-year-old pushed the Blue Jays within a win of the ALCS.
Yesavage’s rise from college ace to postseason centerpiece in barely a year isn’t an anomaly—it’s the new pace of progress. Across baseball, the once-gradual climb from draft night to the big leagues has collapsed from years into months, reshaping how teams build and how fans follow the sport.
In 2025, 27 players made their major league debuts within two years of their draft season. That group included Yesavage, Burns and Kurtz, Baseball America’s Rookie of the Year. That trio was among eight 2024 draft picks who have already reached the majors.
The year before, 28 players climbed the same accelerated path, including nine from the 2023 draft class. Among them was Paul Skenes, now a 2025 Cy Young lock less than two years removed from Pittsburgh drafting him first overall out of LSU. Skenes this year became the first pitcher in the live-ball era to post a qualified sub-2.00 ERA, 25% strikeout rate or batter and sub-6.0% walk rate in their age-23 season or younger.
And in 2023, 29 players reached the big leagues within two years of being drafted—the most in at least 25 years.
From 2023-25, 84 players reached the majors within two years of their draft season. Across the entire eight-year stretch from 2015-22, that number was just 87.
| Year | Debuts Within Two Seasons Of Draft Year |
| 2025 | 27 |
| 2024 | 28 |
| 2023 | 29 |
| 2022 | 7 |
| 2021 | 4 |
| 2020 | 15 |
| 2019 | 9 |
| 2018 | 10 |
| 2017 | 12 |
| 2016 | 14 |
| 2015 | 16 |
| 2014 | 19 |
| 2013 | 20 |
| 2012 | 26 |
| 2011 | 22 |
The data is staggering, but it reflects what player development personnel have seen coming for years: a generation of players who arrive physically and mentally sharper than ever before.
“Today’s player is completely different than he was even six, seven, eight years ago,” one player development official told Baseball America. “These guys are just so advanced now and that’s in part due to just how good baseball training has become at large. So this is like even before they get to [college] and over the summer in development houses, but also when they’re on campus.”
College baseball, which has never been deeper or more competitive, deserves much of the credit. The overwhelming majority of players fast-tracking to the majors are college draft picks.
Facilities once reserved for pro complexes are now standard across Division I programs. Strength coaches, pitch design labs and hitting coordinators mirror what players will see in the minors. The transition to pro ball no longer feels like a leap, but a continuation.
Even high school and junior college draftees are arriving better prepared. Jackson Holliday, drafted out of Stillwater High first overall in 2022, reached the majors less than two years later at 20 years old. Nacho Alvarez, a 2022 fifth-round selection out of Riverside (Calif.) CC, climbed on a similar trajectory.
Together, they represent the sport’s new rhythm: players who are stronger, savvier and more polished than any generation before them. Organizations are ready to trust players faster. What used to be a developmental marathon has become a sprint, blurring the line between amateur baseball and the highest level of the professional game.
For front offices, that means rethinking risk tolerance and reimagining how to keep windows of contention open when elite players no longer need years to ripen. For fans, it means something simpler but no less profound: the stars of next October might have been on this July’s draft board.
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“Colleges are very invested, especially at the highest level, in optimizing these guys so that by the time we get our hands on them,” one front office official said, “they have a rock-solid foundation.”
The most telling part isn’t just how quickly players are reaching the big leagues—it’s how immediately they’re shaping them. Teams aren’t simply testing young players anymore; they’re building around them.
In 2025, three players—Kurtz (5.4), Cubs infielder Matt Shaw (3.1) and Twins infielder Luke Keaschall (2.0)—each produced at least 2.0 bWAR in their first major league season after being drafted in the last two years. White Sox catcher Kyle Teel (1.9), Astros outfielder Cam Smith (1.9) and Mets righty Nolan McLean (1.8) weren’t far behind.
The 2024 group proved just as impactful. Skenes led all rookies with 5.9 WAR, while Rangers outfielder Wyatt Langford (3.1), Reds righty Rhett Lowder (1.9) and White Sox righty Jonathan Cannon (1.9) joined him in making immediate, measurable differences.
From 2023-25, 10 players produced at least 2.0 WAR in their debut seasons after being drafted within the previous two years, marking the first time in the bonus-pool era that multiple players reached the threshold in three-straight seasons.
| Year | Number Of Players With 2+ WAR In Debut Season Within Two Years of Draft |
| 2025 | 3 |
| 2024 | 2 |
| 2023 | 5 |
| 2022 | 0 |
| 2021 | 1 |
| 2020 | 0 |
| 2019 | 0 |
| 2018 | 0 |
| 2017 | 1 |
| 2016 | 1 |
| 2015 | 2 |
| 2014 | 0 |
| 2013 | 2 |
| 2012 | 4 |
| 2011 | 1 |
The acceleration isn’t slowing down.
With more advanced training, richer technology and deeper college competition, the next wave will only move faster. Organizations no longer view development as a ladder. It’s a runway, and the best prospects are taking off as soon as they’re cleared.
For players like Yesavage, Burns and Kurtz, that runway has stretched from the NCAA Tournament to October in less than two years and they aren’t outliers.
The sport has never been younger, or more immediate. The gap between college stars and the major league spotlight has shrunk, collapsing an era when the future required more patience.
