The MLB Draft League wrapped up Week 2 of the 2025 season and the sample size for positional players continues to grow. Early on in the 2025 season, it’s been a healthy mix of prep players, junior college players and four-year juniors and seniors elevating their MLB Draft stock, now less than one month out.
A strong group of catchers has been a major theme so far and we highlight three of them below, as well as four other positional prospects who will draw attention from pro scouts over the next month:
If Williamsport‘s Boston Smith didn’t gain draft value late in his college season at Wright State, including the NCAA Regional at Vanderbilt where he homered three times in four games, then the left-handed hitting catcher did during his first week in the Draft League. In his first at-bat, he sent one deep for the Crosscutters. This spring, Smith finished second in the country with 26 home runs and drove in 71. With an upright stance and good leverage, Smith uses his lower half extremely well in his swing and consistently gets to his juice. His max exit velocity of 116.2 mph this spring grades out as plus-plus on the pro scale. An athletic catcher who is most adept at framing the corners, he can also play the outfield. Look for Smith to be selected in the top ten rounds as a bonus pool-saving prospect.
Another college senior swinging it in the league is Frederick’s Eddie Hacopian. The infielder has tallied ten hits in his first nine games, resulting in a .303 batting average. He’s also stolen six bases in six attempts. This production comes on the heels of a successful season for Maryland where Hacopian belted ten home runs to go along with 11 doubles and seven stolen bases. There’s some length to his swing with average bat speed and good strength and he consistently puts the ball in play with good control of the strike zone. He also showed plus raw power during the collegiate spring season with a max exit velocity of 114.4 mph. The 6-foot-1, 180-pound, athletic-bodied prospect is also a versatile defender who has settled in at second base in the Draft League after seeing time at third and across the diamond at first base during the spring for the Terrapins.
Williamsport’s Matthew Graveline is doing it all for the Crosscutters. The strong-armed catcher is gunning opposing base runners and hitting with power at the plate. He’s collected six hits in his first 21 at-bats (.286) with four of those hits going for extra bases. With his league leading two triples, the first came in a clutch moment, tying the game in the seventh to score two with two outs. His .667 SLG leads Williamsport, while his 1.198 OPS is second in the league. Defensively he has added to a stacked catchers room leading the league in caught steals with seven. Entering the 2025 spring season Graveline was considered a top five round draft follow as an athlete behind the plate for Ohio State. He also showed above average raw power with a max exit velocity of 112.2 mph this spring, but scuffled a bit with a 24.5% strikeout rate. Seven games into the Draft League season he has shown better control of the strike zone with ten walks in 31 plate appearances and is well on his way to boosting his draft stock.
Mahoning Valley’s Cardell Thibodeaux will make his way to the MLB Draft Combine this week, and for good reason. The outfielder leads the league in most every statistical category including batting average (.478), on-base (.571), slugging (.739) and OPS 1.310. Although small in stature at 5-foot-8, 175 pounds, the left-handed hitter has good pop in his stick while also possessing the ability to hit for average and steal bases. After slugging 18 home runs, driving in 71 and swiping 24 bags for Southern University this past spring, Thibodeaux continues to put the bat to the ball for the Scrappers and has stolen four bases in six games played.
Trenton’s JuJu Stevens ended his 2025 spring season in hit mode with a 6-for-6 tally during the Sun Belt Tournament for Georgia Southern and he hasn’t stopped hitting since. He’s the current league leader in hits with 13, over half of which have gone for doubles (7). An aggressive righthanded hitter, Stevens is wired for swing mode and looking to pull at the plate. He unleashes a compact swing with pop that has resulted in consistent, hard contact. His .361 average currently ranks ninth in the league and his seven doubles lead the circuit. He’s also driven in eight in and stole five bases in his first ten games. A part-time player at Georgia Southern this spring, he’s opened some fresh eyes in the Draft League in just the first two weeks of the season.
Fresh on the heels of his brother’s MLB Debut in late March, catcher Connor Hicks has been a difficult out during his first two weeks in the MLB Draft League. The Black Bears backstop led the national NAIA runner-up, Southeastern University, in OPS (1.176) and has flashed the same power and knowledge of the strike zone early on this summer. The strong left-handed hitter is 5-for-7 with four extra-base hits, four walks, just one strikeout and leads the Draft League with two home runs. Hicks, a 23–year-old senior, checks the box as a left-handed hitting catcher and has proven the ability to drive the ball this summer as he looks to elevate his stock.
Ranked No. 125 on MLB Pipeline’s draft board last summer as an eligible sophomore, Harrison Didawick went undrafted and returned to the University of Virginia where he fell short this spring of the results he produced in 2024. Through six games in State College, the outfielder has been playing on a mission with a respectable .868 OPS and loud contact. Early in the past week, Didawick played his best game so far in a Spikes uniform with a 3-for-5 day, a double, and two RBI with the go-ahead single in the ninth inning. While the power production took a hit over the spring, he’s shown early improvement with a current .500 SLG. He’s demonstrated an ability to drive the ball to all fields, splitting evenly 33.3/33.3/33.3 with his extra base hits to center and left. Now a year older, the lefty swinging outfielder is continuing to make his case to MLB organizations ahead of the July draft.
For more information about the MLB Draft League, visit mlbdraftleague.com or follow @mlbdraftleague and @draftleaguedata on X, and @mlbdraftleague on Instagram.
David Seifert is the current Scouting Director for D1Baseball and the Director of College Scouting for Prep Baseball. Seifert is a former college coach and crosschecker and scout for the Philadelphia Phillies.
