The MLB Draft League has a strong history with pitching prospects and the 2025 season is no different. Two arms have touched triple digits this summer and a total of eight arms are up to 98 mph. With three weeks now in the books, starting pitchers have begun amassing some innings while relief arms have lengthened their sample sizes.

Here’s 13 pitchers who have increased their stock through the first half of the collegiate portion of the MLB Draft League season:

Frederick: Dax Dathe demonstrated feel and the ability to manipulate the baseball. The 6-foot-3, 215-pound right-hander continues to build draft value after two seasons at Angelo State where he struck out 208 batters in 157.2 innings. Possessing starter traits with three distinct pitches which is led by a sinker/slider combo, an on-line delivery and repeatable arm action, the 24-year-old Dathe has emerged as a potential top 10 round pick from the league who also has value as a bonus pool saver.

The Keys have also seen great performances to date from East Carolina’s Jake Hunter and South Carolina’s Matthew Becker. The lefty Becker sits 89-91 with his four-seamer (19.5” IVB), spins two breakers in a 78-80 mph curve and an 81-85 mph slider and mixes in an occasional firm changeup with good horizontal life. Becker has struck out 16 in 10 innings to date over three starts. The right-handed Hunter leads the staff with a 0.96 ERA (minimum two appearances). Features a high-spin (2700 rpm max) breaker at 80-83 mph, with a 91-93 mph four-seamer that carries up to 17.6” IVB and a 90-92 mph sinker, Hunter’s three games (one start) have seen 10 batters retired via strikeout over 9.1 innings.

Mahoning Valley: Right-hander Adam Falinski faced the minimum nine batters over his three inning debut. The fastball topped at 97.2 mph and averaged 95 en route to six strikeouts. His late-actioned upper-80s cutter was also a weapon. The 22 year-old did struggle a bit with his control at Troy this spring (23 BB/46 IP), he’s shown improvement by only walking three in his total five innings of work with 62% of pitches thrown for strikes. Falinski’s obvious arm strength makes for a role in the bullpen at the pro level.

State College: Landon O’Donnell pitched just one inning in his 2025 Spikes’ debut and lit up the radar gun, touching 98 with his heater and sat 96-97 mph. A power-armed 6-foot-4, 230-pound right-hander, he misses bats with a high vertical fastball that averaged 20” IVB and 7.8” HB. The JUCO talent from Florida SouthWestern threw 31 pitches total, 30 of which were fastballs.

The Spikes pitching staff has another hard-throwing right-hander in Carter Holjes. Standing 6-foot-6, 230 pounds, he touched 95.6 mph, yet it was his plus changeup with up to 19.6” HB that opened scouts’ eyes. Holjes leads the State College staff with a 0.00 ERA over four appearances and six innings pitched. He has struck out seven.

Trenton: 18 year-old Miguel Sime continued to impress during the third week of Draft League play. With four shutout innings, Sime lowered his ERA to 4.15 and has now struck out 11 in 8.2 innings pitched.

Noah Edders departed the Thunder for a club workout and won’t return to the Draft League, but he posted a 0.00 ERA through his first four appearances covering 10.2 innings pitched. He struck out nine without issuing a walk. The polished, just-turned 22-year-old right-hander throws both a four-seam and two-seam fastball in the 91-94 mph range, backed up by an 82-85 mph slider with strong whiff rates both in the Draft League and for Troy this past spring. Staff workhorse Jude Abbadessa has struck out 18 in 14.1 innings. The UConn right-hander has averaged 93.5 mph with his 18.5” IVB fastball and he can also sink it with his low-90s two-seamer with 16” HB. Abbadessa also spins one of the top sliders in the league with a 100th percentile whiff rate of 60% to date this summer.

West Virginia: Will Rogers' conversion to the mound continues to go well. The right-hander from Michigan pitched 58 innings for the Wolverines this spring and he’s yet to allow an earned run over three games and 8.2 innings pitched for the Black Bears this summer. A former catcher who was drafted in the 17th round by Milwaukee in 2021, Rogers has great feel for his limited experience on the mound. He mixes four pitches that include a 90-92 mph four-seam fastball, 73-77 mph curve, 82-84 mph changeup and 87-88 mph cutter. With a heater that’s reached 99 mph, Aiden Moffett (Texas) has struck out 10 in 5.2 innings, highlighted by his first and only save at this point in the season when he struck out the final three batters in 1.1 innings without allowing a baserunner on the road.

Williamsport: The Draft League saw another hundy hurler when Williamsport’s Tyler Dietz fired a 100.1 mph bullet Thursday, June 12. The 6-foot-2, 195-pound right-hander from Florida Tech has yet to allow a hit over four appearances and 3.1 innings pitched.

Bailey Matela leads the Crosscutters’ pitching staff with 14 innings pitched and 19 strikeouts. The 6-foot-5, 240-pound left-hander from Old Dominion is a slider specialist who has thrown the pitch 48% of the time to date in the league. At 76-77 mph, it has produced a 99th percentile in-zone whiff rate of 40% and opponents are batting just .053 against the offering.

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.