Texas A&M star OF selected 10th overall in latest USA TODAY 2025 MLB mock draft
Texas A&M star OF selected 10th overall in latest USA TODAY 2025 MLB mock draft
Texas A&M's 2025 baseball season fell short of its lofty preseason expectations, finishing 30-26 with just 11 wins in SEC play and missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2006 season. This led to Texas A&M Athletic Director Trev Alberts deciding to keep head coach Michael Earley, which split the fan base 50/50. However, Earley doesn't deserve all the blame for what went down last season.
However, despite his midseason struggles at the plate, junior outfielder Jace LaViolette sealed his legendary status in College Station after playing with a broken hand against LSU in the SEC Tournament, producing two of the Aggies' three runs in the 4-3 loss, eliminating A&M's playoff hopes. Still, LaViolette is now Texas A&M's career home run leader and is more than likely departing the program this summer ahead of the 2025 MLB Draft.
While returning for a final season is not out of the question, especially to help fix his strikeout issues, it's assumed that LaViolette will forego his collegiate eligibility due to his standing in the latest USA TODAY MLB mock draft, predicted to be selected 10th overall by the Chicago White Sox.
"From 1/1 favorite to who knows, LaViolette's slide stops with the White Sox, whose revamped hitting program could be the panacea for a slugger whose platform junior year fizzled. LaViolette regressed from .305, 29 homers, 1.175 OPS to .257, 18 and 1.003, and his K rate nudged upward, to 25.2."
This is not out of the realm of realistic possibility, and would be somewhat comical given that former Texas A&M star outfielder Braden Montgomery is currently a rising star in the White Sox organization. LaViolette's 6'6" frame and elite power are the primary reasons that he won't slide past the Top 10 or 15 in the draft.
Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes and opinions. Follow Cameron on X: @CameronOhnysty.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
18 minutes ago
- USA Today
Key contract detail suggests Adam Nightingale will be with MSU hockey for long haul
Key contract detail suggests Adam Nightingale will be with MSU hockey for long haul Michigan State hockey head coach Adam Nightingale officially signed a new deal with the program on Friday, and there's a new detail in the contract that should help keep in East Lansing, Mich. for the long haul. Nightingale has experienced a ton of success in a short amount of time at Michigan State, winning the Big Ten regular season and conference tournament titles in back-to-back seasons, which resulted in No. 1 seeds in each of the last two NCAA Tournaments as well. That kind of success has resulted in some (including myself) worrying he may be a target for a NHL coaching position in the near future. Good news for Michigan State, though, is that his new contract extension (which is through 2030) has a greatly increased buyout should someone want to poach him away. Connor Earegood of The Detroit News posted on social media platform X on Friday that Nightingale's buyout over the next three years has more than doubled to $2 million. The buyout from there will drop but still a notable amount throughout most of his contract. You can see the exact numbers in Earegood's post below: This is the type of move from both Michigan State and Nightingale that shows he plans to be with the Spartans hockey program for a longtime. Which is really good news for Spartans everywhere. Michigan State will enter next season as a preseason top five team, with some already pegging them as the No. 1 team in way-too-early rankings. So, it's safe to say things are great for Michigan State hockey right now, and the news out of Friday only furthered those positive vibes for the Spartans. Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan State news, notes and opinion. You can also follow Robert Bondy on X @RobertBondy5.
Newsweek
43 minutes ago
- Newsweek
Tigers Make Big Announcement to Celebrate Historic Start to Season
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. The Detroit Tigers are off to their best start after 70 games — slightly more than 40 percent of the season — since 2006. That was the year the Tigers returned to the World Series after a 21-year absence. Despite losing to the St. Louis Cardinals 4-1 in the Fall Classic, the Tigers won 95 games that season. After 70 they stood at 46-24. This year, the Tigers are just one game behind that 2006 pace, one of two teams with a 45-25 record, the best in MLB. That's also 11 games ahead of where the Tigers were last year, at 34-36. DETROIT, MICHIGAN - JUNE 08: Gleyber Torres #25, Wenceel Pérez #46, Riley Greene #31 and Parker Meadows #22 of the Detroit Tigers celebrate their win against the Chicago Cubs at Comerica Park on June 08,... DETROIT, MICHIGAN - JUNE 08: Gleyber Torres #25, Wenceel Pérez #46, Riley Greene #31 and Parker Meadows #22 of the Detroit Tigers celebrate their win against the Chicago Cubs at Comerica Park on June 08, 2025 in Detroit, Michigan. MoreThe only other 45-25 team after 70 games is the New York Mets. But there is one big difference between the two teams. The Mets are paying heavily for their 45 wins, with a payroll of $324.2 million — second highest in MLB, roughly $12.6 million behind the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Tigers payroll? At $144.1 million, Detroit ranks 18th of all big league clubs and pays out just 44 percent of what the Mets are spending. What accounts for the Tigers' surprising success? Any number of factors, of course, but the most important has to be pitching. At 3.22 Detroit boasts the fourth-best ERA in MLB and second-lowest in the American League. Led by 28-year-old lefty Tarik Skubal, last season's AL Cy Young Award winner with a 1.99 ERA in a league-leading 90 1/3 innings pitched, Tigers starters have the second-best ERA in the majors, at 3.03, behind only the Mets (2.79). And while their overall bullpen ERA is an 11th-ranked 3.54, the Tigers have three relievers who have thrown at least 30 innings with an ERA under 2.00. They are Will Vest (1.83), Tommy Kahnle (1.50), and Brant Hurter (1.75). More MLB: Tigers Urged To Reunite With Familiar Face By Former MLB Executive The Tigers' success extends beyond the baseball field, according to an announcement by the team on Friday. The red-hot club is drawing big TV numbers. "Tigers games on FanDuel Sports Network Detroit rank as some of the most-watched programming across baseball this year," the team said in the announcement. "Through June 9, average household impressions on our linear television broadcasts have jumped 82 percent compared to the same point last season, the largest such increase for any MLB team (excluding Toronto)." The Tigers' local TV ratings, an average of 4.46 per game, rank second among all MLB teams. Streaming numbers are also up — way up — according to the Tigers' announcement, with a jump of 93 percent compared to last season. The Tigers open a three-game inter-league series against the Cincinnati Reds on Friday at Comerica Park. Hurter will get the start, only his third of the season, in what is slated as a bullpen game for Detroit. More MLB: Brewers Sensational Pitching Prospect Has Bizarre, Mind-Blowing MLB Debut
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
MLB to Celebrate Shohei Ohtani, Other Japanese Players with Custom Manhole Covers
MLB to Celebrate Shohei Ohtani, Other Japanese Players with Custom Manhole Covers originally appeared on Athlon Sports. Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani and Chicago Cubs slugger Seiya Suzuki are among 12 active Japanese MLB players that will be celebrated with custom manhole covers in Japan beginning June 16. Advertisement Per an article, the 12 custom manhole covers featuring one player in each design, will be installed at locations in Japan associated with that's player's roots in baseball. St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Lars Nootbaar, who represented the Japan National team in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, will also be one of the 12 players celebrated. Nootbaar, whose mother is of Japanese descent, will have his cover installed on Monday, June 23 in Higashimatsuyama City, Saitama Prefecture. In seven games for Team Japan during their 2023 WBC title run, Nootbaar slashed .269/.424/.269 with four RBIs, six walks and two stolen bases. Advertisement This season with the Cardinals, Nootbaar got off to a hot start but has cooled off this month. He's hitting just .128 in June with 15 strikeouts, and is marred in a 1-for-27 slump in his last seven games. Japan center fielder Lars Nootbaar (23) and team Japan celebrate after defeating the USA in the World Baseball ClassicRhona Wise-Imagn Images Each of the manhole covers were designed by different artists and a video depicting how they were made can be seen here. The full installation schedule and locations for the custom manhole covers are as follows: June 16 – Shohei Ohtani: Oshu City, Iwate Prefecture June 16 – Yusei Kikuchi: Morioka City, Iwate Prefecture June 16 – Roki Sasaki: Rikuzentakata City, Iwate Prefecture June 17 – Yu Darvish: Habikino City, Osaka Prefecture Advertisement June 18 – Yuki Matsui: Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture June 19 – Shota Imanaga: Kitakyushu City, Fukuoka Prefecture June 23 – Lars Nootbaar: Higashimatsuyama City, Saitama Prefecture June 24 – Seiya Suzuki: Arakawa Ward, Tokyo June 25 – Yoshinobu Yamamoto: Bizen City, Okayama Prefecture June 26 – Masataka Yoshida: Fukui City, Fukui Prefecture June 27 – Kodai Senga: Gamagori City, Aichi Prefecture June 29 – Tomoyuki Sugano: Sagamihara City, Kanagawa Prefecture This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 13, 2025, where it first appeared.
