Scouting Buzz On 9 MLB Draft Prospects To Know From The 2025 National High School Invitational

Billy Carlson, SS, Corona (Calif.) HS

• Draft Rank: 10
• Commit: Tennessee

Carlson ranked behind only Seth Hernandez among the prospects in attendance at this year’s NHSI. Based on the chatter around the fields, he’s going to fly off the draft board. His defensive profile is highly coveted around the league, and scouts most enthusiastic about his offensive upside cite excellent contact ability, bat speed and physical projection.

Carlson’s defensive actions are a joy to watch. He floats around the infield with fluidity and grace, showing deft footwork in all phases of the game and exceptional hands and arm strength. He’s a high IQ baseball player who knows when to let loose with arm strength that is among the best in class and a legitimate 70-grade tool. He also boasts strong slot versatility and can throw from multiple angles with ease and accuracy.

At the plate, Carlson tallied just a pair of hits (both singles) in his four games, but he did drive a handful of balls hard in the air to the opposite field. Though he isn’t ever expected to be a big home run threat, scouts were generally positive about the pop he showed in batting practice. Carlson has a narrow, upright stance with a high handset and takes a leg kick and decent sized stride into the ball on his swings. He can look stiff at times, and he’ll also get out heavily on his front side, but scouts highest on him always come back to his track record as a high-contact hitter. 

Carlson turned in solid-average run times out of the box. He’s just an average runner, but he’s a savvy baserunner who knows when to pick his spots and should provide value on the bases without being a true burner.

On top of being a first-round shortstop prospect, Carlson is also a talented pitcher in his own right. He hopped on the mound in relief and threw a fastball in the 91-93 mph range and a high-spin curveball at 75-78 generating around 2,700-,2800 rpm. He generates tons of depth with the curve and also mixes in an 82 mph fading changeup. 

Brady Ebel, 3B, Corona (Calif.) HS

• Draft Rank: 26
• Commit: LSU

Ebel hits out of the three-hole for Corona and plays third base alongside Carlson at shortstop. He slides over to shortstop when Carlson toes the rubber, and he should get an opportunity to play the position at the next level. Listed at 6-foot-3, 190 pounds, Ebel has excellent size and physicality for a player who won’t turn 18 until just after the draft.

More than any physical tools, Ebel stands out for his pure hitting ability. His performance track record is among the best in the class, and he steps to the plate with a patient, selective approach and strong bat-to-ball skills. In four games, he went 3-for-11 with three singles, four walks and four strikeouts. Ebel’s most impressive hit might have been when he turned around a 97 mph fastball from Miguel Sime Jr. for a soft line drive single to center field.

His loudest contact of the event came when he got a hanging 79 mph changeup over the heart of the plate and hammered it on a line to right field. More of a line drive hitter now, Ebel has the sort of physicality to expect more game power in the future, and his offensive profile should be buoyed by solid on-base ability, as well. 

Josh Hammond, SS/RHP, Wesleyan Christian Academy, High Point, N.C.

• Draft Rank: 39
• Commit: Wake Forest

Hammond entered the spring as one of the better high school pitchers in the class. He prefers hitting, though, and could still push his way towards the first round as a shortstop and powerful righthanded bat. At 6-foot-1, 215 pounds, Hammond has tremendous physicality with lots of strength throughout his lower and upper halves. That strength leads to impressive bat speed and plus raw power. He launched balls over the left field scoreboard at USA Baseball’s back fields in batting practice and, in games, he doubled, tripled and hit a handful of other deep fly ball outs to both outfield gaps.

Hammond stacks his weight over his back leg in his stance, with a quiet setup that leads to a soft hand press in his load and a standard leg kick in his lower half. While he’ll get out on his front side a bit too much at times and has shown a tendency to lunge at soft stuff and get pull happy, he has the sort of bat speed that should be able to handle high-end velocity. Tons of high-level scouts have been running in to see Hammond swing the bat this spring because the thinking last summer was that his future was on the mound.

At the moment, Hammond is viewed as a power-over-hit offensive profile with a chance for an average bat and better power production. Defensively, he’ll get every opportunity to stick at shortstop where his big arm is an asset, but most view him as a likely third or second baseman in the long run. 

For many scouts, Hammond’s bat is now ahead of his pitching. He still has special arm talent and got on the mound in relief where he threw a 95-97 mph fastball and a sharp biting slider at 82-83. His command and pitchability have been scattered throughout the spring according to scouts who have seen him, partly because pitching simply hasn’t been the priority for Hammond. 

Aaron Watson, RHP, Trinity Christian Academy, Jacksonville

• Draft Rank: 64
• Commit: Virginia

If Seth Hernandez had the most impressive outing of the tournament, Watson was a close second. At 6-foot-5, 205 pounds, Watson has a great pitcher’s frame with lean strength and more room to add mass. He has a smooth, loose arm action and a polished delivery overall with little head movement, good balance in his finish and a low three-quarters arm slot. 

Pitching in Trinity Christian’s opening game against Stony Brook High from New York, Watson threw a seven-inning complete game with 10 strikeouts and one walk while scattering five hits and a pair of earned runs. He worked impressive control and showed a three-pitch mix that featured a fastball, slider and changeup.

The fastball averaged 93 mph in this look and touched 96, with what looked like both a four-seam and two-seam variant and solid running life. He generated whiffs with all three pitches, but his mid-80s slider was his most consistent swing-and-miss offering. The pitch was a consistent breaking ball throughout, showing an impressive power/movement combination from a high school righty. It looked like at least an above-average offering and flashed plus plenty with 12 whiffs in total.

While Watson pitched off his fastball/slider most of the time, his 86-89 mph changeup was a legit third piece to his arsenal. He used it exclusively against lefthanded hitters, and at its best, he spotted it down in the zone with solid fading life. He seemed much more comfortable landing his fastball and slider compared to the change, which at times was left too high or wide to his arm side. 

Justice De Jong, RHP, Poly Prep Country Day HS, Brooklyn, N.Y.

• Draft Rank: 67
• Commit: Duke

De Jong has a track record as a two-way player and entered the spring as one of the most accomplished prep strike throwers in the class. He threw in Poly Prep’s first game of the tournament against SoCal powerhouse Huntington Beach, tossing seven innings with four strikeouts, no walks, five hits and just one earned run. 

It was a competitive outing, but De Jong’s stuff was a bit lighter than what he’s flashed at his best. He threw his fastball in the 89-92 mph range in the first few innings but dropped more into the upper 80s as the start progressed. De Jong showed the ability to pitch to his arm and glove side with his fastball, and he consistently got ahead in counts.

In addition to the fastball, De Jong threw a breaking ball in the 77-85 mph range that blended in shape between a slider and curveball. While the pitch lacked much in the way of biting action, like his fastball, he did locate it well for the most part. Still, it was more erratic than his fastball control, and there were occasions where he would fight his release point with the pitch or see the breaking ball pop up early out of his hand.

Trent Grindlinger, C, Huntington Beach (Calif.) HS

• Draft Rank: 94
• Commit: Mississippi State

Grindlinger is one of the better high school catchers in this year’s draft class. He’s a physical righthanded hitter listed at 6-foot-3, 210 pounds with above-average raw power and solid defensive skills behind the plate. 

Hitting in the middle of Huntington Beach’s lineup, Grindlinger had four hits, including a pair of doubles in his four games in Cary. His best batted-ball outcome came when he turned around a lazy, hanging breaking ball at 72 mph and launched it deep to left-center for an easy stand up double. Grindlinger has solid bat speed that comes with some moving parts in his swing. He has a bat waggle that’s synced up with a rocking front foot in his load, then uses a toe tap into a leg kick in his lower half while he loads the barrel with a slight hand hitch before firing through the zone.

Grindlinger has the tools to catch with solid actions behind the plate and an arm that’s shown plus in the past. Most of the pop times clocked on Baseball America’s stopwatch this week had him right around the 2.00-second mark—major league average times—and he paired those throws with a quick exchange, good footwork and solid accuracy. Grindlinger hunted opportunities to back pick runners straying too far off the first base bag. He varied his setup behind the plate and would move between a standard, old school-style approach with both feet on the ground and a one-knee setup with his right knee grounded.

Brett Crossland, RHP, Corona del Sol HS, Tempe, Ariz.

• Draft Rank: 111
• Commit: Texas

Crossland is an extra-large righthander with a big league body listed at 6-foot-5, 240 pounds. He got the start for Corona del Sol on Thursday in a matchup vs. Venice High and threw eight innings on 103 total pitches. Crossland works from the middle of the rubber and throws with a higher three-quarters arm slot.

In this outing, he pitched in the 90-95 mph range but has been up to 97 in the past. While Crossland has a reputation as a big-stuff righty with inconsistent control, in Cary he was around the zone with all three of his pitches. Even so, he managed just a single strikeout and two whiffs in total. 

Crossland spotted his fastball at the bottom of the zone throughout his eight innings and pitched off the heater at a 76% clip. His go-to secondary was a low-to-mid-80s changeup that was responsible for one of his two whiffs (the fastball earned the other). He threw a few sliders and curveballs that blended together in shape. They lacked teeth in the upper 70s and low 80s and were without the sort of power he flashed with his breaking ball last summer. 

Ethin Bingaman, RHP/OF, Corona (Calif.) HS

• Draft Rank: 132
• Commit: Auburn

Bingaman is the fourth notable prospect on Corona’s loaded team this year. He spent the week playing right field and hitting out of the two-hole while also pitching Friday in a semifinal matchup against Venica (Fla.) High. He entered the year as a pitcher for most scouts, but he has gotten enough interest as a hitter that it wouldn’t be surprising to see someone draft him on that side of the ball. 

In his Friday start, Bingaman threw five innings, allowing seven hits and five earned runs while striking out four batters and walking one. He’s a strong and filled-out righthander with a high three-quarters slot who works from the first base side of the rubber.

He worked with a three-pitch mix including a low-90s fastball that peaked at 94 mph, an upper-70s curveball and a mid-80s changeup. While generating whiffs was a bit of a struggle in this look—he had nine total, including four on his fastball and four on his changeup—Bingaman showed advanced feel for all three pitches. He established his fastball in the zone for strikes at a 73% clip and also showed an ability to land his downer, 12-to-6 curveball with consistency. His changeup was an effective miss offering vs. lefties, but adding a cutter or slider to give him a gloveside option vs. righties might help him in the future. 

In the box, Bingaman employs a crouched setup with a low handset and a laid back barrel before his swing gets started. Showing an aggressive approach and willingness to expand the zone, he managed just a pair of hits in his 16 plate appearances. Bingaman made enough contact, but he also was under the ball all week, which led to a number of fly outs and pop outs.

Miguel Sime Jr., RHP, Poly Prep Country Day HS, Brooklyn, N.Y.

• Draft Rank: 140
• Commit: LSU

Sime Jr. joins De Jong as a top-five round talent, and he pitched multiple times this week at the NHSI. He had an abbreviated relief appearance on Thursday in which he threw just a third of an inning but he later wowed scouts in a matchup with Corona on Saturday. In that outing, he threw 6.2 innings, struck out seven and walked two while. He shut the California team down for his first six innings before letting up three runs in his final frame.

Sime is one of the hardest-throwing pitchers in the class. He pitched in the 94-100 mph range in his start and held his velocity tremendously over his 107 pitches. Out of the stretch, he pitched in the 93-96 range, but in the full windup he was consistently 95-99 and touched 100. Sime inadvertently gets around his fastball at release at times, which adds a bit of cutting action that scouts don’t believe is intentional.

In addition to the fastball, Sime mixed in a low-80s curveball with big shape that would pop out of his hand and a mid-80s changeup that flashed above-average against a few lefthanders with spin rates around 1,700 rpm. 

There are some differences in body type and breaking ball quality, but Sime has some similarities to 2024 high school flamethrower Carson Wiggins, who was also a power-over-finesse righty. Wiggins ranked as a top 100 draft prospect out of high school and is now lighting up the radar gun as a reliever for Arkansas.