Latest news with #AlexLodise
USA Today
19-07-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Alex Lodise signs with Atlanta Braves
Alex Lodise is officially an Atlanta Brave. Jonathan Mayo of announced that the former Florida State Seminole had signed with the Braves for $1,297,500. It is an underslot deal, as the No. 60 pick had a value of $1.52 million. Lodise will have a chance to move quickly in the Braves system, which is light on position players, and they desperately need help at shortstop in Atlanta. He is coming off a breakout season in Tallahassee, where he won the Dick Howser Trophy after hitting .394 with 17 home runs, 18 doubles, 68 RBI, and 62 runs scored. He was also a consensus All-American and the ACC Defensive and Player of the Year. He made just five errors in 216 chances, posting a .977 fielding percentage and helping turn 34 double plays. He started all 58 of FSU's games, finishing with 31 multi-hit games and 13 three-hit games against 10 hitless games. Lodise was the first FSU shortstop drafted since Mike Salvatore in 2019 and the highest drafted since Stephen Drew went to the Arizona Diamondbacks with the 15th overall pick in the 2004 draft. He is the 14th Seminole that the Braves have selected, and the first since 2011. Follow us @FSUWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida State news, notes, and opinions.
Yahoo
14-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
2025 MLB Draft: Atlanta Braves draft trio of shortstops on Day 1
The Atlanta Braves selected not one, not two, but three shortstops on Day 1 of the 2025 MLB Draft. MLB hosted the draft at the Coca-Cola Roxy, just a few feet away from where Atlanta will host the 2025 MLB All-Star Game at Truist Park. Advertisement [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] The Braves selected Tate Southisene, Alex Lodise and Cody Miller in the first, second and third rounds respectively. Southisene graduated from Basic Academy, where he led the Wolves to 2025 Nevada state championship. ranked Southisene as the No. 39 best prospect in the draft. The scouting report for says Southisene has 'outstanding bat control' and takes aggressive swings. Lodise just finished his junior year at Florida State, where he won the 2025 Dick Howser Trophy. The award is given to the top college player in the country every year. Lodise also won the 2025 ACC Defensive Player of the Year for the Seminoles. Advertisement ranked Lodise as the No. 43 best prospect who has 'developed into a solid middle infielder prospect' and 'shown improved defense as a shortstop in college.' Miller also finished his junior season at East Tennessee State University, where he had a .330 batting average during his three years in Johnson City. The Southern Conference named Miller to the All-SoCon Defensive Team and the All-SoCon Second Team this season. The MLB Draft will pick up Monday with Round 4 through Round 20. RELATED STORIES: [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
New York Times
14-07-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Braves draft 3 shortstops on Day 1, led by Las Vegas high schooler Tate Southisene
ATLANTA — After taking pitchers with their top draft pick for five consecutive years and nine of the past 10, the Atlanta Braves took shortstops with all three of their first-day picks Sunday on the opening day of the condensed MLB Draft. Atlanta selected Nevada high schooler Tate Southisene with the No. 22 pick in the first round, then followed by taking Florida State slugger Alex Lodise in the second round at No. 60. Southisene, 18, a speedster with impressive tools and upside potential, is probably at least a few years from the majors, while ACC Player of the Year Lodise, 21, could arrive much sooner. Advertisement The Braves made it a clean first-day shortstop sweep by taking East Tennessee State's Cody Miller in the third round (96th overall) with their final pick of the night. Determined to strengthen a minor league system thin on position players in the upper minors, the Braves went all-in at shortstop, addressing a position where they've also been offensively challenged in the majors this season with slick-fielding, light-hitting Nick Allen. 'Shortstops are always in demand if you look at the draft,' said Ronit Shah, Braves vice president in charge of amateur scouting. 'They're going higher and higher each year. Definitely something to that, I'm sure.' Of his first-round pick, Shah said, 'Tate's just an unbelievable athlete with twitch and looseness and explosiveness to the swing. That really stood out to us. A little bit unorthodox how he does it, but we love the freedom that he plays with, especially in the batter's box.' Southisene, whose older brother Ty Southisene was a fourth-round pick of the Chicago Cubs last season, was thrilled when informed a few selections earlier that the Braves were likely to take him at No. 22. He'd been projected as an early second-rounder by most pundits. 'I talked to my agent, I was really excited about it,' said Southisene, whose first in-home visit last fall was with Braves area scout Alan Hull. 'Their player development side is great, and they're a winning organization. And they're going to continue to win. I just want to win, really.' In seven previous drafts since Alex Anthopoulos took over as Braves general manager, the team had only once taken a position player with its first pick: catcher Shea Langeliers, No. 9 in 2019. The last one before him was Braxton Davidson with the No. 35 pick in 2014. Southisene, a 5-foot-11, 182-pounder, is a Las Vegas native who grew up playing baseball in the family basement with his three brothers. If things got a little rough, their dad is a chiropractor. Advertisement Besides Ty, another brother, Tee, is a pitcher at Southern Cal. Tate has also committed to USC, but made clear he will be calling to notify them he'll be signing a pro contract instead. A younger brother is a year behind him at the school they all attended, Basic Academy in the Vegas suburb of Henderson. Tate became Basic's earliest player drafted, moving ahead of pitcher Andrew Church, a second-rounder with the New York Mets in 2013. This was Tate's first season at shortstop for Basic, because Ty manned the position on all the teams they played on together growing up. But he adapted quickly to the position with his speed, athleticism and a strong arm. He was clocked at 96 mph in a recent showcase event. 'That's what's exciting about him — he's got the tools to play just about anywhere on the field, because he's got an above-average arm,' Shah said. 'He's a plus runner. And just the athleticism and the looseness, the twitch that you need to play — whether it's shortstop, second, or center. But we're definitely going to send him out (to begin his pro career) at shortstop.' Hearing that the Braves planned to keep him at shortstop, while some teams projected him as a center fielder, only added to Southisene's excitement. 'Yeah, I want to play shortstop,' he said. 'I want to stay in the dirt as long as I can. I know hitting's the thing that's going to get me to the big leagues, so I just want to be in the lineup. I want to play every single day, whether it's shortstop or center field. But knowing I'm starting off at shortstop is good for me.' He added, 'My older brother, he's always been playing shortstop, so I've always been playing second base my whole life. But last year he graduated, so I was able to take over the shortstop position.' Asked who's the best player among the brothers, Southisene smiled and said, 'I would say me. Of course I would say me. (He laughed.) But I truly believe it's me.' Southisene was picked sooner than projected and could possibly be signed for under his pick's slot value ($3,983,900) while Lodise was selected a little later than projected and might get a little more than his slot ($1,523,200). Lodise hit .394 with 17 homers, 68 RBIs and a 1.167 OPS in 58 games and won the Dick Howser Trophy as national player of the year. He also won ACC Defensive Player of the Year honors along with his conference POY award, though he may need to smooth out some rough edges defensively in pro ball. Lodise is 6-1 and 190 pounds. Advertisement 'He's really impressive,' Shah said. 'Speed, athleticism, power, and just the production he's had in a big conference.' In the end, the Braves get two legit shortstop prospects rated within about five spots of one another in pre-draft prospects lists — Southisene in the late 30s and Lodise in the early 40s — and probably end up paying them around the projected value of those two slots, though perhaps each a bit closer to the middle. The Braves made no indications along those lines, but signs point to it. Miller, 21, did not appear on any pre-draft prospect rankings lists — including 250-man rankings — but was on the Braves' radar early in a career-best 2025 season in which he hit .331 with a 1.052 OPS and had 15 doubles, 18 homers and 58 RBIs in 58 games. He had three more homers (and four doubles) in 20 games in the Cape Cod League, a venerable wood-bat prospect league. 'This spring, with our area scout Will Rich living close by, he's seen him a ton,' Shah said. 'He's been on him the whole year as one of his gut-feel guys, for sure. And then he also went out to the Cape, had a couple of home runs there. We continued to scout him up over there with a wood bat in his hands and we still saw the power come off. 'And he's a top-of-the-scale runner that can play short.'
New York Times
14-07-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Atlanta Braves second-rounder Alex Lodise went from barely recruited to college baseball's ‘Heisman'
Not long after Alex Lodise and the Florida State Seminoles suffered a heartbreaking end to their season in the Super Regionals against Oregon State, FSU head coach Link Jarrett called Lodise into the coaches' suite at the team hotel. He had some good news to share. Lodise, the newest second-round pick of the Atlanta Braves had been named the Dick Howser award winner, given to the top college baseball player in the country. A player who had only one college offer coming out of high school had just won what Jarrett calls the 'Heisman trophy of college baseball.' Advertisement 'It was a surreal moment,' Lodise said last month at the MLB Draft Combine. 'I'll never forget saying that to him and the look on his face,' Jarrett said. 'Watching him win that and knowing how hard he worked — nobody understands in that room when they're giving out the award the hours and hours and hours that goes into it and probably what he felt like he was when he left high school to what he was when he was sitting on that stage to get that award. It's just remarkable.' It was a storybook ending for Lodise, who transferred to FSU from North Florida after his freshman season and helped guide the Seminoles to a College World Series appearance in 2024 and a Super Regionals berth this season. Once overlooked at Bartram Trail High School in St. Johns, Fla., Lodise, who was a co-captain for the Seminoles this season, leaves Tallahassee with a significant legacy. 'I had one offer out of a high school. Was never really recruited, never recruited by any MLB teams,' Lodise said. 'It was something I would tell myself, it's like, 'Believe in yourself, it's going to come, you're going to grow, you're going to be a late bloomer, it's OK, just work your way through.'' It didn't take long for Lodise to start to realize that dream once he enrolled at North Florida. As a freshman, he hit 16 homers in 55 games and posted a .976 OPS. Florida State faced Lodise as an opponent that season and Jarrett saw the traits of a player who could be a strong addition to his team. 'You just saw a good young player that you thought you could help move along,' Jarrett said. Lodise transferred to Florida State as a sophomore and began work on improving a swing that Jarrett says had a little too much lift. It took some time and there were bumpy moments early in his sophomore season, but Lodise eventually found the right swing and rhythm and finished his first year at FSU batting .281/.363/.479 in 62 games. Advertisement Buoyed by the strong finish to his regular season and a solid stint in the wood bat Cape Cod League over the summer, when he hit .295 in 15 games while matched up with some of the top collegiate talent in the country, Lodise came into his junior season fully confident in his abilities. That confidence quickly translated into on-field success. 'I came in last year new to the program, and I was putting a bunch of stress on myself, telling myself I gotta do so good, and I was just overthinking a lot of things,' Lodise said. 'I think I did a lot better this year just going and having fun.' In a year where power numbers were down throughout Division I, Lodise posted an eye-opening .705 SLG and a career-best 17 homers in 58 games this season. He achieved those numbers while increasing his walk rate and cutting down on his strikeouts. Lodise made some subtle changes at the plate, focusing on being more on-time. 'I wanted to start my load earlier, be slow and more in control and in my legs,' he said. A career highlight for Lodise came on March 25 when he hit a walkoff grand slam to complete the cycle against rival Florida. The game was played in Jacksonville at the home of the Double-A Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp and roughly 40 members of his family were in the crowd. 'I blacked out,' Lodise said of the immediate aftermath of his home run. 'Honestly, it was just crazy. I couldn't hear anything. All I heard was people yelling. And then I look and there's the bullpens … running down the third base line to get the home plate. It was just awesome.' Lodise didn't only grow as a hitter during his two years at FSU. He also improved significantly as a shortstop. Improving his defense was a big part of why Lodise chose to play at FSU. He recalls during his recruiting call with Jarrett that defense was a significant part of their conversation. Advertisement 'I was like, 'Alright, I'm ready for you to teach me to play defense. I'm ready to learn from you,'' Lodise said of Jarrett. 'He's historically had great teams. Just to be able to play for a coach like that who has so much pull in the game and has been around it for so long, it was awesome.' Jarrett says Lodise was always a hard-nosed defensive player but he was also able to improve his internal game clock and ability to his use feet to increase his range. He was very diligent in the weight room, as well. 'He likes to work at it,' Jarrett said. 'He's very focused. Lodise also credits his time playing on the Cape Cod League fields, which are often a bit rough, for helping him improve his defense significantly. When Lodise accepted the Dick Howser award, his defensive play was cited as one of the reasons the committee gave it to him. 'The recognition of the defense as part of his game, I thought that stood out for him in that award,' Jarrett said. 'We don't have some of the metrics that you might have in the major-league stadiums that grab the defensive range and those sort of things. But the people that evaluated that award, they recognized it, which was cool.' Although he grew up near Jacksonville, Lodise's dad raised him as a New York Yankees fan, so getting to be a shortstop like his childhood favorite player, Derek Jeter, is a thrill. 'I would be lying to you if I said I didn't practice the jump throw,' he said with a laugh. Lodise isn't the only shortstop in his family whose life is expected to change during the draft. His first cousin, Kyle, was the starting shortstop for Georgia Tech this past season and he is projected to be a top-three round draft pick. Though the two lived about an hour-and-a-half apart, they grew up together both as people and as baseball players. Advertisement Both Lodise families had two boys and were highly competitive. They'd team up against each other for epic inter-family whiffle ball, football and basketball battles, with each family taking home their share of the bragging rights. That atmosphere helped shape both Alex and Kyle into top athletes. Alex says the cousins talk regularly after games. 'It's just been awesome to have somebody like that that I can go to and trust with everything I have,' he said. As Lodise gets ready to take the next step in his career, Jarrett believes the kid who went from overlooked to the top player in college baseball in just three years has even more room to get better. He says Lodise has more power potential and that his pitch recognition — which improved significantly the last two years — will only continue to get better. Mostly, Jarrett is excited for the organization that will get to add Lodise to their mix. 'He's just an exceptional person, great family, works hard, and stays focused,' Jarrett said.
San Francisco Chronicle
13-06-2025
- Sport
- San Francisco Chronicle
Florida State SS Alex Lodise wins the Dick Howser Trophy as the top college player in the nation
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Florida State shortstop Alex Lodise has been named winner of the Dick Howser Trophy as the national player of the year, the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association announced Friday. Lodise is the third player in program history to win the Howser, joining J.D. Drew in 1997 and Buster Posey in 2008. The award has been presented annually since 1987 and is named after former FSU All-American and head coach Dick Howser. Lodise was named Atlantic Coast Conference player and defensive player of the year, and he also is a finalist for the Golden Spikes Award as the top amateur player in the nation and Brooks Wallace Award as the nation's top shortstop. Lodise ranked among the national leaders with a .394 batting average, 17 home runs, 18 doubles, 68 RBIs and .705 slugging percentage. He committed only five errors on 216 fielding chances (.977) and was part of 34 double plays. The junior from Jacksonville, Florida, had at least one hit in 48 of his 58 games. He had 31 multi-hit games and 13 games with three or more hits. Among his season highlights was hitting for the cycle in a March 25 game against Florida — finishing it with a walk-off grand slam.
