Bolstering our Draft Board through the in-season identification of some more under the radar hitting prospects for the 2025 MLB Draft, we take a look at those college hitters who combine control of the strike zone with a high contact rate and strong exit velocities.

Each MLB team’s model is a bit different, but these four statistics are widely recognized by analysts as key components when evaluating college positional draft prospects.

BB rate: Total walks / Total Plate Appearances
SO rate: Total strikeouts / Total Plate Appearances
Max EV: Highest recorded exit velocity of the current season
Z-Contact: Total pitches inside the zone on which contact was made / Total pitches inside the zone that were swung at.

Using a minimum of 500 pitches seen and 50 batted balls, there is an elite group of nine hitters in all of Division I college baseball who have ALL of the following: BB rate > 10%, SO rate < 17%, Max Exit Velocity > 109 mph, 90th percentile Z-Contact.

Keep in mind that this data is not adjusted for the level of competition. It goes without saying that it just means more with the hitter from the SEC with identical data to one from a lesser conference.

 

Milam is not eligible for this year’s draft, but he is a day one prospect for 2026 and will be ranked high on our preseason draft board when the time comes.

With an eye-popping traditional stat line of .436/.534/.777 and max EV of 116.4 Quinn-Irons has quickly become a household name this spring, despite playing in a mid-major conference.

Nor is Davalan hidden from exposure. He’s a major producer on one of the top teams in the country. The sophomore-eligible outfielder has Day One draft buzz much do to a miniscule 7.6% SO rate combined with a 110.5 max EV.

Snell was the 2023 NJCAA D1 Player-of-the-Year and a Cape Cod All-Star before transferring to Alabama. He was featured as one of our top impact juco transfers before batting .324 for the Crimson Tide as a junior last spring. It’s not surprising what he’s done this season, but his 5.6% SO rate is out of this world. His 111.3 max EV is also above average. He’ll likely be rewarded as a top five round pick this time around.

Watson and Perron are performing at a high level for their respective teams, but both are 24 year old graduate students.

This leaves three players who draw attention: Hayden Friese, Kai Wagner, Dominic Longo.

Friese has progressed each season with his bat-to-ball and power production. His average has grown from .214 as a freshman, .290 as a sophomore and .330 this spring, while his XBHs have improved from 9 to 17 this year over last. The leftfielder has a loose lefthanded swing with good balance and a max EV this season of 111.6 mph. He stays behind the baseball and uses all fields. There’s also physical projection to his 6-foot-1, 210-pound frame and the best looks yet to come.

The last two potential prospects in this initial group are from out of the way locations of Greeley, Colorado and Orem, Utah. Most area scouts who cover the Four Corners reside near the Phoenix area, making Northern Colorado and Utah Valley not often visited. Instead scouts may wait for them to become a “home game” when visiting Grand Canyon or Arizona State.

Longo, a draft-eligible sophomore for UVU this year, is a Juco transfer from Spokane CC (Wash.). At 6-foot-3 and 210 pounds, the righthanded hitter is a very good athlete who possesses speed (18 stolen bases) and power (110.4 max EV). Earlier this season in the batter’s box he tended to turn and burn, looking to lift, but has recently shown a flatter swing with a more up the middle approach. He also has a quiet lower half and balanced setup to go along with a high contact rate. There’s nothing to suggest that more time and experience shouldn’t progress him into a highly valued prospect.

Wagner is a lefthanded hitting third baseman at NCU with good present size and some projection at 6-foot, 190-pounds. He’s long through the zone for an extended point of contact which helps him hit for a high average (.351). He uses all fields and can backspin it to his backside for opposite field power. Wagner also has great balance in the box with a strong two-strike approach. He’s received looks by many area scouts this spring, and more to come as he continues to produce big-time numbers at the plate.

In search of additional under the radar hitters, we loosened our variables a bit to the 85th percentile Z-Contact and a Max EV of 107+, while keeping the SO (<17%) and BB (>10%) rates the same, the data found an additional 23 hitters. Of those, two are not eligible for the 2025 draft (Derek Curiel- LSU, William Maginnis- Georgia State) and four others are already highly valued prospects: Caden Bodine- Coastal Carolina, Henry Godbout- Virginia, Jake Munroe- Louisville, Skylar King- West Virginia. Munroe was recently featured in Former Juco Hitters Building Draft Buzz.

This leaves us with 17 to further explore.

Nine are college seniors or grad students: Dominic Listi- Clemson, Brylan West- FIU, Eddie Hacopian- Maryland, Justin DeCriscio- NC State, Trey Lipsey- Ohio State, Cooper Combs- Oral Roberts, Brandon Anderson- Purdue, DJ Perron- Rhode Island, LeTrey McCollum- UC Santa Barbara. As a senior/grad, this does not exclude any of them from having draft value, but their age does lessen the likelihood of future ceiling at the professional level. The most interesting of that group would be the middle of the diamond players – DeCriscio and McCollum.

Another two play at P4s, highly scouted conferences. No “secrets” here: Kyle Walker- Arizona State, AJ Nessler- Pittsburgh.

Our final seven for further review: 

Lee Amedee, Louisiana- Has doubled 16 times this season, but has hit just one home run as corner infielder. I’ll be bearing down on him when I travel to the Sun Belt Conference Tourney once again this May.

Michael Dattalo, Dallas Baptist- Dattalo was one of the most consistent hitters for Hyannis in the Cape last summer, finishing with a .295/.358/.388 slash. He has a gap-to-gap line drive swing and stays inside the baseball well. He's listed at 6-foot and 205 pounds and has plenty of present strength with a max EV of 108.4 mph this spring.

Jaylen Hernandez, Winthrop- Sophomore-eligible for this year’s draft, the Eagles leftfielder combines a high Z-contact rate of 92.7 with a max EV of 108.6 mph. There isn’t a ton of projection at 5-foot-11, 210 pounds but Hernandez can put the bat to the ball with some thump and is an average runner underway. He’s stolen seven bases in eight attempts this spring.

Nick Hollifield, UAB- Catchers with strong hitting analytics quickly jump to the top of list. Hollifield has struck out at just an 8.6% clip with a max EV of 107.4 mph. Those numbers are similar to Caden Bodine’s 6.3% and 107.6.

Jordy Oriach, New Mexico- A Juco transfer from Frank Phillips (Tex.), Oriach has seen time in left field and DH this spring. Standing 6-foot-5 and 225 pounds, the lefthanded hitter is currently batting .410 with 13 home runs and has more walks (25) than strikeouts (23). He’s shown in-game power to all fields and has a max EV of 112 mph.

Josh Tate, Georgia Southern- Tate originally opened my eyes at last year’s Sun Belt Conference Tourney and I’ll see him again this year. The centerfielder had a strong summer in the Cape, batting .294 with a .390 on-base percentage and seven stolen bases. He can run, he can bunt, he puts together good at-bats and he can handle all three outfield positions. He has struck out just 11.7% of his plate appearances and has a max EV of 107.5 mph.

Raymond Velazquez, Austin Peay- Junior transfer from Vanderbilt who is putting together a career year (.375/.483/.717) for the Governors. The third baseman will be 22.8 years old on draft day, but with a 91.2 Z-Contact and a max EV of 110 mph, he’s worth an in-person look.

Of these seven, the middle-of-the-diamond players must be given first consideration. Hollified as a catcher and Tate in the big field would be my first looks and the size and power of Oriach would be worth a trip to Albuquerque.