Braves 2025 MLB Draft Preview: Scouting the MLB Draft League

As the 2025 MLB Draft approaches, it is time to take a look at some of the standouts in the MLB Draft League – a spot the Braves are know to look for talent.

We are approaching a week out from the 2025 MLB Draft at this point and looking at some players who the Atlanta Braves could target. With the MLB Draft League underway, now is a good time to see who some of the standouts are there considering the Braves have heavily scouted and picked from the league in recent years.

For this exercise I will look at each of the six teams in the league and dive into the performance for one player per team, in addition to the biggest standout from the Canadian Junior National Team – which plays against those teams. In addition I will look at three more players who have stood out to take it to an even 10, and list the other players on each team who have opened some eyes.

While most of the players in the league are college players, there are some talented high school players participating this year as well. Some of those players will also be included on this list.

As a reminder the MLB Draft League started play in 2021. The Braves selected Andrew Hoffmann and Samuel Strickland from there in 2021, Cedric De Grandpre, EJ Exposito, and Keshawn Ogans from there in 2022, Isaiah Drake and Riley Gowens in 2023, and in 2024 selected Jacob Kroeger. In addition Top 30 prospect Hayden Harris is an undrafted free agent who played there, and 2023 pick Sabin Ceballos played there the year prior to being drafted by the Braves. That’s 10 Braves draftees over the four year period the league has existed.

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Truitt Madonna, C, Frederick

Truitt Madonna is a 6’3, 215-pound catcher from a Seattle high school who is committed to UCLA. He came into the league looking like he was likely to head to school, but has really opened some eyes with his performance here. Through seven games he is 10-24 with two homers and three triples, walking once and striking out five times.

That’s good for a 1.236 OPS. On top of the numbers he has been hitting the ball hard, regularly going over 100 MPH with the exit velocity. For an 18-year-old high schooler to be going up against 21/22 year old college players and performing in this way, it is definitely making teams take a hard look and considering what it would take to sign him away from UCLA. He also went 1-1 with a run scored in the Draft League vs Cape Cod League All Star Game.

Other Frederick standouts: Bruin Agbayani, Grant Gallagher, Eddie Hacopian, Trey Lipsey, Matthew Becker, Jake Hunter

Chase Heath, C, Mahoning Valley

Chase Heath is the catcher for Central Missouri, which is a Division II school. He actually had a slightly down year for them this year posting a 1.088 OPS with nine homers, though 20 walks to just 12 strikeouts in 187 plate appearances. I say a down year because last year he posted a 1.235 OPS with 16 homers, walking 25 times to just 15 strikeouts. However he has since helped his stock in the Draft league by hitting .345/.500/.631 with two homers in 38 plate appearances, and against better competition than he faced in the regular season he has drawn as many walks as he has strikeouts (six).

He’s got a 20% barrel percentage here with a 16.7% chase percentage. Heath not only has real power, but gets on base at a high clip and really doesn’t strike out much. For a team that not only loves to draft catchers, but high on base guys who don’t strike out, Heath feels like a prospect on their radar.

Other Mahoning Valley standouts: Max Hartman, Khi Holliday, Cardell Thibodeaux, Zion Theophilus

*If the name Max Hartman sounds maybe slightly familiar to you, that would be because he is the older brother of Braves prospect Eric Hartman. Eric was the Braves 20th round selection from a Canadian high school last year, and they went overslot to sign him away from Michigan. He has been with Low-A Augusta all year, minus a little missed time due to injury. Max is a Washington State outfielder who posted a .955 OPS this spring, and has a .845 OPS through 56 plate appearances here.

Landen Johnson, 1B, State College

Landen Johnson is a prospect with an interesting connection to a Braves draft target. He transferred to High Point this year, where his head coach is the father of rumored first round candidate Josh Hammond. The big first baseman hit well there, posting a slash of .362/.449/.656 with 16 homers and 36 walks to 43 strikeouts in 272 plate appearances. He has continued that success here in State College, hitting .339/.462/.452 with a homer and 14 walks to 16 strikeouts over 78 plate appearances. Johnson has hit the ball hard and drawn a ton of walks, things that make him the type of player that the Braves may look at next week.

Dayne Pengelly, RHP, State College

In two years at New Mexico, Dayne Pengelly has not been good. He has posted 7.56 and 8.50 ERAs over the past two seasons, making 11 starts in each of those seasons as his command has been shaky. That has led to plenty of walks and hits allowed. Things have changed here though through 15.2 innings in three starts and a relief appearance he has posted a 2.87 ERA and 1.47 WHIP with 20 strikeouts to just six walks. For reference his 3.4 BB/9 is way below his 6+ that he has allowed in every college season.

Pengelly has a sinker he can get above 97 MPH with very good life coming from a bit of a deceptive release, and it has generated very high whiff percentages of 37.5% overall and in-zone whiff of 42.1%. Then he mixes in his low RPM splitter and a slider. He probably doesn’t have the command to keep starting as a pro, but we have seen enough to see an interesting relief prospect – especially if he can pitch with the command he has shown in the DL. The Braves have often targeted pitchers with low release heights and Pengelly fits that bill perfectly with more velocity than many of those prior picks.

Other State College standouts: Quinn Bentley, Carter Holjes

Juju Stevens, OF, Trenton

If the name Juju Stevens sounds familiar that would be because he was a name to watch in the draft out of high school, making the combine leaderboard for exit velocity. He passed on the draft to head to Missouri, but had just 129 plate appearances there over three years. He transferred to Georgia Southern for this year and only got 36 plate appearances, though with a 1.056 OPS as he missed time injured. So he’s a talented player that hasn’t seen the field all that much, as evidence by his 98 plate appearances here being more than his total in three of his four college seasons.

You’d never guess that based on how he’s performed for scouts with Trenton. All he’s done is hit .321/.418/.494 with a homer among his 12 extra base hits, eight steals, and 10 walks to 18 strikeouts. If that line isn’t impressive enough, he is the owner of the league’s hardest hit percentage rate and has been productive the whole way through.

Miguel Sime, RHP, Trenton

Miguel Sime is easily the top rated prospect playing in the MLB Draft League this year. The New York City prep arm ranks in the Top 90 on both Pipeline and Baseball America to give you reference. That’s not why he’s in the write-ups however, as he has looked special while going up against hitters three and four years older than him – remember he just turned 18 at the start of May. In two starts he has gone 8.2 innings and allowed four earned runs on five hits, four walks, and 11 strikeouts.

He was going nearly 101 MPH with the fastball and keeping hitters off balance with his breaking ball, leading to very high whiff rates. In addition he also started the MLB Draft League versus Cape Cod League All Star Game at Citi Field, and brought that fire against the top hitters in the Cape. He wasn’t just stuff, he actually threw first pitch strikes to 15 of the 22 hitters he faced in his first game, and even showed more of a changeup than what was initially thought – even if it was lightly used.

Other Trenton standouts: Harry Genth, John Schroeder, Michael Whooley, Joe Ariola, Nick Frusco

Judah Morris, 1B, West Virginia

Judah Morris is another large first baseman. He had a strong year at Illinois State last year, hitting 14 homers among his 34 extra base hits and posting a .959 OPS. Then he broke out there this year with 19 homers among his 35 extra base hits and posting a slash line of .298/.466/.667. That increase is because he has increased his patience, seeing his walk total rise from 22 last year to 51 this year – which is more than his 45 strikeouts. Through his first 83 plate appearances here he has continued that, slashing .288/.422/.515 with two homers among 11 extra base hits, and 14 walks to 15 strikeouts.

Sam Cozart, RHP, West Virginia

If North Carolina prep arm Sam Cozart’s name sounds familiar, that would be because his family has made a name for themselves. Sam himself was the early #1 player in this high school class years ago, previously committing to Mississippi State and Texas A&M before switching to Texas. Brother Jacob was the NC State catcher until he became Cleveland’s second round pick last year. Brother Caleb was a pitcher for North Carolina and later a first baseman at UNC Greensboro.

Father Craig is the former head coach at High Point – meaning along with Josh Hammond, the last two High Point head coaches could have their son’s drafted this year. Anyway Cozart has dominated this year despite being a high schooler pitching against college kids three and four years older – though Cozart is old for the high school class, turning 19 already this month. In four starts he has gone 19 innings, posting a 2.37 ERA and 1.05 WHIP with 26 strikeouts against just two walks. That earned him two Pitcher of the Week Awards and a spot in the DL vs CC All Star Game this past week, where he went a third of an inning in relief and forced a fly out.

Other West Virginia standouts: Tyler Cerny, Mario Magana, Scott Rienguette

Boston Smith, Hitter, Williamsport

I labeled Boston Smith as hitter even though he has only played catcher in college in 2025 and here in the Draft League, except one game. That is because the former Cincinnati to Wright State transfer has played everywhere on the diamond in his college career outside of first base and pitcher, even getting in 10 games at shortstop in 2024. He didn’t do much at Cincy as a freshman then posted an .858 OPS with six homers and 28 extra base hits in his first year at Wright State in 2023.

Last year he broke out and hit 19 homers among his 33 extra base knocks, posting a 1.101 OPS. This year, his senior year, he added extra discipline to his game slashing .330/.498/.770 with 26 homers among his 38 extra base hits and even stole 16 bases. The plate discipline saw his walks rise from 29 last year to 57 this year, five more than his 52 strikeouts.

So far in the Draft League he is hitting .279/.439/.535 with three homers, three steals, and 12 walks to nine strikeouts in 57 plate appearances. Those totals don’t include his one for three game with a stolen base and run scored in the DL vs CC All Star Game this past week. He has played 11 games in the field here, with 10 at catcher and his other game at third base.

Other Williamsport standouts: Merit Jones

Tim Piasentin, 3B, Canadian Junior Team

The Canadian Junior National Team came to the DL to play six exhibition games in six days. They got five in before being rained out on the final day. This team doesn’t just have high school seniors on it, but juniors who are apart of next year’s draft – one that looks strong for Canada early on. Still the biggest standout in these five games was the top player in Canada, Tim Piasentin.

Coming off a strong showing that backed up his draft ranking at the combine, Piasentin ended up going 6-18 with a double, steal, four runs scored, three walks, and four strikeouts. That came out to a .333 average with an .867 OPS.

Other CNT standouts: Shane Brinham, Justin Rompre, Jordan Jacob

2026 CNT standouts: Easton Kitura, Robert Omidi, Elliot Lescalles, Sean Duncan