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Alhambra pitcher Cameron Millar highlights a diverse group of Bay Area baseball players selected in the 2025 MLB draft, including high school, junior college and Division I picks.

Originally Published: July 14, 2025 at 4:59 PM PDT

Alhambra pitcher Cameron Millar highlights a diverse group of Bay Area baseball players selected in the 2025 MLB draft, including high school, junior college and Division I picks.

Originally Published: July 14, 2025 at 4:59 PM PDT

MileSplit is proud to present the 2025 All-National Track & Field Honors. As part of a nationwide initiative, these honors recognize the top high school athletes in the country based on verified performances from the outdoor season. Athletes have been selected through a data-driven process to highlight excellence across every event, grade level, and team tier – from First Team through Honorable Mention, as well as All-Freshman to All-Senior teams. Congratulations to all of the athletes who took their performances to the next level this season.

The 2025 MLB Draft took place across Sunday and Monday in Atlanta. The Athletics added BLANK players to their system, headlined by their first-round selection, Jamie Arnold. ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel had the A’s Day 1 tandem (Arnold and Devin Taylor) as one of his five favorite moves. Of the 19 selections, 11 are pitchers, two outfielders, three infielders, and three catchers. The A’s went with just two high school selections compared to 17 college players.

Round 1, 11th overall: Jamie Arnold, LHP, Florida State

The Athletics came away with one of the most talented arms in the draft, one that most thought would be gone by the time they selected. In three seasons at Florida State, he racked up 327 Ks in 234.1 innings with a 3.61 ERA. In his final collegiate season, he made 15 starts, threw 84.2 innings, and finished with a 2.98 ERA to go with an 8-2 record and 119 Ks.

With his unorthodox arm angle from the left side, the former Seminole star has drawn comparisons to Chris Sale. Arnold’s fastball sits mid-90s and can touch 97 MPH and his slider is devastating from his unique delivery.

Jordan Shusterman of Yahoo Sports compiled a spreadsheet of 14 mock drafts to track the accuracy of the picks. The final tally for Arnold’s predicted landing spot were: 2nd twice, 5th, 6th twice, 8th five times, 9th three times, and 11th (kudos to Eric Longenhagen). For a team that desperately needs high-end pitching, getting to select the 21-year-old at #11 is a huge win for the A’s.

Round 2, 48th overall: Devin Taylor, OF, Indiana

Ranked 30th on MLB Pipeline’s list of draft prospects, the Athletics again were able to get great value with their selection of Taylor. The career leader in home runs for the Hoosiers, Taylor was regarded as one of the most well-rounded college hitters in the draft.

For the 2025 season, he slashed .374/.494/.706 with 18 home runs and 12 steals.

(No 3rd round selection due to signing Luis Severino)

Round 4, 110th overall: Gavin Turley, OF, Oregon State

Drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks in Round 19 out of high school in 2022, he has now been drafted again after a successful three seasons with the Beavers. This season was his best as he hit 20 HRs, 13 doubles, and slashed .351/.472/.649. He finished his college career with 53 HRs and was ranked the 78th best prospect by MLB Pipeline.

Round 5, 141st overall: Zane Taylor, RHP, UNC Wilmington

Here are Taylor’s 2025 ranks in NCAA Division-1 baseball: 1st in WHIP, 3rd in ERA, and 1st in K/BB ratio. MLB Pipeline’s #174 prospect, he struck out 105 batters (only 11 walks) in 95.2 innings with a 1.98 ERA. He’s already 23 years old, so there might be less upside than other pitchers, but he limited baserunners in college and the Athletics need reliable arms.

6th: Grant Richardson, LHP, Grand Canyon

7th: Logan Sauve, C, West Virginia

8th: Corey Braun, LHP, South Florida

9th: Daniel Bucciero, 3B, Fordham

10th: Samuel Dutton, RHP, Auburn

11th: Bobby Boser, SS, Florida

12th: Alex Barr, LHP, Kankakee Valley (HS)

13th: Bryan Arendt, C, UNC Wilmington

14th: Griffin Kim, LHP, West Virginia

15th: Diego Rosa, C, International Baseball Academy & High School (Puerto Rico)

16th: Jackson Phipps, LHP, Jacksonville State

17th: Jared Davis, SS, Virginia Tech

18th: Jay Dill, RHP, Troy

19th: Itsuki Takemoto, RHP, Hawaii

20th: Kade Brown, RHP, Sacramento State

(Top photo courtesy of Eric Nguyen)

ATLANTA — Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey said Monday that despite frequent conversations with Big Ten counterpart Tony Petitti, the two leagues have yet to agree on the College Football Playoff format after this coming season and could leave it at 12 teams.

The disagreement doesn’t stem from a lack of communication. Sankey said he spoke with Petitti four times last week.

“We had a different view coming out of Destin around the notion of allocations,” Sankey said. “The Big Ten has a different view. That’s fine. We have a 12-team playoff, five conference champions. That could stay if we can’t agree.”

The Big Ten, which has won the last two national championships, favors a 4-4-2-2-1 format, giving four automatic bids to the SEC and Big Ten and awarding the ACC and Big 12 two bids apiece. The SEC, originally thought to be on the same page, switched gears at its spring meetings in Destin, Florida. The SEC favors five conference champions and 11 at-large bids, which would presumably favor the top conferences most seasons.

The CFP announced in May that teams in the upcoming playoff will be seeded strictly on where they are ranked instead of moving pieces around to reward conference champions. Last season’s jumbled bracket, the first with 12 teams, gave byes to Big 12 champion Arizona State and Mountain West champion Boise State, even though they were ranked 12th and ninth, respectively, by the playoff selection committee.

That system made the rankings and the seedings in the tournament two different things. The five highest-ranked conference champions will still be guaranteed spots in the playoff.

While the CFP contract from 2026 through the 2031 season requires the SEC and Big Ten to consult other leagues about prospective changes to the playoff system, it also provides them with the ability to impose changes they both want.

Now it’s a matter of getting on the same page.

“I think there’s this notion that there has to be this magic moment and something has to happen with expansion and it has to be forced — no,” Sankey said. “When you’re given authority, you want to be responsible in using that authority. I think both of us are prepared to do so. The upfront responsibility in this, maybe where some of the confusion lies, is we have the ability to present a format or format ideas, gather information, see if we can all agree within that room. We don’t need unanimity.”