A Great Closer for a Bad Team… and a Bad Closer for a Great Team!

Root pitched as a reliable starter for two seasons for East Carolina in 2023 and 2024 before transferring to Arkansas for his 2025 junior year. The jump from American Athletic to Southeastern Conference competition didn’t phase him. Root was a consistent starter all year for one of the best pitching staffs in the country and posted a 3.62 ERA over 19 starts and 99.1 innings with a career-high 30% strikeout rate and an 8.3% walk rate. At 6-foot-2, 210 pounds, Root has a filled-out physique and a funky delivery that features a steep tilt in his leg lift and a three-quarters arm slot. He has a deep arsenal and impressive feel to land his secondaries. He added a tick of velocity to his fastball in 2025 and sits around 93 mph but will touch 98. The fastball has never been a consistent swing-and-miss pitch for Root. Instead he goes to curveball, changeup and slider to miss barrels. Root’s 78-82 mph curveball has solid depth and 1-to-7 shape that he uses at a high clip versus lefthanded and righthanded hitters alike. He favors his mid-80s changeup as a third piece against righthanded hitters and a harder, mid-80s slider that has a cutter look in the upper 80s against lefties. Each of his secondaries are at least average, and Root ties together the entire mix with above-average control. Root is a high-probability starter with back-of-the-rotation upside and fits solidly inside the first two rounds.

Scouting Grades: Fastball: 50 | Slider: 50 | Curveball: 55 | Changeup: 55 | Control: 55.

–Baseball America

Davalan showed positive flashes as a freshman at Florida Gulf Coast in 2024. He transferred to Arkansas for his draft-eligible 2025 season and continued to impress with standout bat-to-ball skills and a .346/.433/.561 line with 14 home runs. Listed at just 5-foot-9, 190 pounds, Davalan packs impressive strength onto his compact frame. He has tweaked his setup in the box and starts with a lower handset, an almost wide-open stance and is doing a better job of getting into his lower half. His bat speed looked quicker in 2025, and his contact as well as contact quality have improved with exit velocities upward of 110 mph. Davalan is an advanced, well-rounded hitter who has a knack for finding the barrel. His 91% overall contact rate and 94% in-zone contact rate are some of the better marks in the college class. He doesn’t have standout raw power, but his contact ability and strength could be enough to supply 14-18 home runs a season. Davalan is an above-average runner who has played all three outfield positions and second base. In 2025 he was a primary left fielder and leadoff hitter. His fringy arm might make left field or second base his most likely pro positions. Davalan could go inside the first two rounds with his top-of-the-order profile.

Scouting Grades: Hit: 55 | Power: 45 | Run:55 | Field: 50 | Arm: 45.

–Baseball America

Leiter pitched to a 4.92 ERA and 80 strikeouts over 56.2 innings as a true freshman at Central Florida in 2023, then transferred to Florida State where he flashed immense upside and racked up 56 strikeouts over just seven starts and 35 innings until a shoulder injury ended his season prematurely. After initially trying to rehab the injury, Leiter later underwent surgery that kept him out of the 2025 season entirely. When healthy, Leiter has shown one of the more explosive pitch mixes in the class. His 94-96 mph fastball has touched 99 with strong running and riding life through the zone that led to a 30% miss rate in 2024. He has two breaking balls that flash plus potential. He favors a 78-82 mph hammer breaking ball with great spin and downward biting action, while his high-spin, high-80s power slider also looks like a consistent swing-and-miss offering. The slider will often blend into more of a cutter look at the top of its velocity band. Leiter also mixes an upper-80s changeup that becomes a bigger piece of his mix when facing lefthanded hitters. At 6-foot-5, 235 pounds, Leiter has a pro body to go with his exciting pure stuff. His father, Kurt, played four seasons in the Orioles minor league system and his cousin, Jack, currently pitches for the Rangers.

–Baseball America

Vidourek is a 6-foot-1, 190-pound outfielder and lefthanded hitter with some of the loudest exit velocity data in the country. Vidourek hit just 10 homers over his first two college seasons, but as a junior in 2025 he hit 14 home runs and slashed .304/.434/.576 as Cincinnati’s everyday right fielder. While Vidourek’s power is probably his loudest tool, he’s also a strong runner and has a good throwing arm in the outfield—both tools could grade out as plus. But Vidourek’s career 27.5% strikeout rate holds him back and creates some skepticism in his draft profile regarding his pure hitting chops. His wood bat track record is relatively light in a handful of games between the Cape Cod League and the Future Collegiate League, but a team could be interested in his tools and upside in the back half of the draft given his three potentially plus grades on the scouting card.

–Baseball America