Dodgers draft Arkansas prospects Zach Root, Charles Davalan in first round of 2025 MLB Draft

New York Times

14-07-2025

The future the Los Angeles Dodgers are envisioning with their first two picks in this year's MLB Draft played out in real time just less than a month ago, when their pick at No. 40, left-hander Zach Root, started on the mound and delivered five scoreless innings for the University of Arkansas.
Their pick at No. 41, outfielder Charles Davalan, led off the game with a single as the Razorbacks knocked off UCLA to advance to the College World Series semifinals.
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The Dodgers had to wait to make their first selection in the draft due to their spending against the competitive balance tax. But after leaning heavily into high school talents early in the last two drafts, they went not just with a pair of college players, but teammates, with consecutive choices. Their last time taking a college player with their first pick was Dalton Rushing in the second round in 2022, and their last time doing so in the first round was Bobby Miller in 2020.
'It was pretty special,' Root said of getting picked alongside his college teammate.
'I guess I'm going to have to live with him in a couple more years,' Davalan quipped.
Root, a former East Carolina transfer, projects as a sturdy option whose revamped curveball and changeup figure to be a more integral part of his arsenal than his sinker profile suggests and who Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello raved about on the MLB Network broadcast for his pitch ability.
'I'm able to throw multiple pitches into the zone in any count, and that's a big part of keeping hitters off-balance, not falling into patterns where the hitter can guess what's coming,' Root said. 'So, just working to throw multiple pitches in the zone in any count, is the kind of pitcher I am, to keep the hitter off guard and really be tough to hit against.'
With the 40th and 41st pick of the MLB Draft, the Los Angeles Dodgers select pitcher Zachary Root and outfielder Charles Davalan from the University of Arkansas. pic.twitter.com/u84vq5C4kL
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) July 14, 2025
The 21-year-old left-hander transferred to the SEC powerhouse, he said, to revamp his body and work directly with pitching coach Matt Hobbs. Sharing a rotation with fellow first-rounder Gage Wood, Root made 19 starts, posting a 3.26 ERA in 99 1/3 innings while striking out 126 hitters. The Florida native said he grew up a Dodgers fan, idolizing Clayton Kershaw, and that the organization had expressed interest in him dating back to when he was eligible as a high schooler.
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'I've just been watching Dodger baseball ever since I can remember because of Kershaw,' Root said.
Davalan's background is much more complex. Raised in Canada as a hockey player, the 21-year-old moved to Florida as a high school junior looking to keep his baseball career going during COVID restrictions. The bat-first outfielder — who has some brief experience at second base — still managed one Division I scholarship offer, but parlayed a strong freshman season at Florida Gulf Coast (.927 OPS in 276 plate appearances) into the ability to transfer to the SEC powerhouse.
Given the school's bounty of resources and analytical power, he emphasized training to improve his bat speed, tweaked his bat path and swapped out his high leg kick for a toe tap to try to keep his swing, describing it as 'adaptable.'
It resulted in a .346 batting average in his lone season with the Razorbacks, slugging 14 home runs and walking more often (35) than he struck out (27). Despite his willingness to push into modern technology – something that will surely continue with his new organization, Davalan put his game into simpler terms.
'I'm an old-school ball player,' Davalan said. 'I like to win. I like to play hard. So that's what I'm going to try to do. And I'm sure that knowing the organization, it's filled with players like that, so I'm super excited just to get to meet new people and just kind of compete with them.
'I feel I have a good balance just knowing myself, that I'm still a hard-nosed player and I'm an old-school player, but the game has changed, so you gotta adjust. If no, you're gonna get kind of eaten up alive. So you always gotta be ready to adjust.'
Davalan's selection at No. 41 ties a bow on an offseason transaction the Dodgers hoped would turn an infidel surplus into a chance to restock their farm system – even with the penalties that their spending against the competitive balance tax would incur. Gavin Lux has produced essentially a league-average offensive output (100 OPS+) in his first season with the Cincinnati Reds after the Dodgers traded him in December for minor league outfielder Mike Sirota and the competitive balance round pick that wound up being Davalan.
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Sirota has had a standout offensive season to date, with a 1.068 OPS in 270 plate appearances between Low A and High A.
The added pick also gave the Dodgers some level of flexibility in their bonus pool. The combined slot value of those first two picks was around $4.83 million.
The Dodgers chose college players with their other two selections through the draft's first three rounds on Sunday night, selecting Florida State right-hander Cam Leiter at No. 65 overall and Cincinnati outfielder Landyn Vidourek at No. 104.
Leiter is the nephew of former big league pitchers Mark and Al Leiter, as well as the cousin of current major leaguers Jack and Mark Leiter Jr. He struck out 56 hitters in 35 innings in his lone season at the school after transferring from Central Florida, but didn't pitch at all in 2025. Vidourek produced a 1.010 OPS in his final year of school and produced strong exit velocities.