Latest news with #WillTullos
New York Times
15-04-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
2025 MLB Draft top 50 prospects rankings: Ethan Holliday, Liam Doyle leading the way
We're now past the midpoint of the college baseball regular season, when just about every high school prospect of note has begun his spring season as well, making it a good time to update the rankings of the best players in this year's draft class. As I said in the first ranking in March, this is a deep class, but it's weaker than ever at the very top, rivaling the 2016 draft for the worst top echelon of any draft I've ever covered. That's going to mean we see a lot of well-under-slot deals this year, maybe right at the very first pick, to make up for the fact that none of these players would have gone first or second in a typical year, probably not even in the top five picks in the loaded 2023 class. Advertisement There is real depth in this draft, though: There's a huge group of high school shortstops, many of whom project to stay there for the long term, along with a strong set of college left-handed starters and at least an average group of hard-hitting college outfielders. The college catching crop isn't bad, either, although the high school group is almost nonexistent; the two best ones are probably going to end up in the outfield. It's a good year to pick later in the first round, and still a good year to have an extra pick or two. The SEC and ACC remain the powerhouses of talent they've always been. The California high school group is the best it's been in several years. The Pacific Northwest has four high schoolers on this top 50 plus two college hitters; the Chicago area has two guys on this list, and could see two more on the top 100 that we'll release next month. The Mid-Atlantic and Northeast are down, and Georgia is weak for the second year in a row. I'll do a full top 100 Big Board at some point in early May; it'll be easier to do that than it has been to figure out who goes in the top 10 here and in what order. As a reminder, this is a ranking, not a prediction of who'll be drafted where (I'll start doing that in May as well). I've seen 31 of the players on this list myself this spring, and I add my own scouting notes on those players to what I've learned from talking to scouts and directors, reviewing video and looking at data on these players where available. This ranking is my best attempt to say in what order I'd draft these players if I were a scouting director for an MLB team, based on the best information I have right now. (Notes: Scouting grades are on a traditional 20-80 scale; 'the shadow' refers to space just past the strike zone, usually measured by the size of one baseball.) (Top photo illustration by Will Tullos / The Athletic; photos left to right of Liam Doyle, Ethan Holliday, Jamie Arnold — Isaiah Vazquez, Aaron M. Sprecher, Dustin Bradford / Getty Images)
New York Times
15-04-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
2025 NFL Draft consensus Big Board: Cam Ward still outside top 10; Will Campbell moves up
The Athletic's The Beast guide, ranking the top 2025 NFL Draft prospects, is now live. As the 2025 NFL Draft class continues to take shape, it's time again to take stock of which prospects are standing out ahead of Round 1 on April 24. Our consensus Big Board combines rankings from a wide range of NFL Draft experts to identify how the top prospects are viewed relative to the rest of their class. In theory, by the time we reach draft weekend, these rankings should help give us a handle on how the picks could (or, at least, should) play out. How does the current top 100 look? (Illustration: Will Tullos / The Athletic; Photos: Michael Hickey, Brooke Sutton, Stacy Revere / Getty Images)
New York Times
06-02-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Super Bowl guests love a great party game. Our ultimate prop sheet delivers the fun
You have before you The Athletic's fifth annual Super Bowl party prop sheet. This year's version for Super Bowl LIX is, frankly, better than ever. If you've played along with our party prop sheet in the past, you'll notice we've streamlined the layout to provide a more visually pleasing experience (hat tip to the creative vision of Skye Gould and our design team). The makeup of the questions remain a mix of real or re-shaped props and ones we conjured up, along with some commentary along the way to help add context. Our goal is to provide fun for the entire spectrum of football fans, from the weekly die-hards to the one-timers who check in only for the Super Bowl. Advertisement If you want to use our party prop sheet for your own Super Bowl gathering, we offer a PDF that can be downloaded, printed out, or emailed to friends and family. But if you want to take things to the next level, we encourage you to play along with us live and give the online Q&A form a try. Your answers will be tracked by us and your results sent to you via email when the game is over! The top 10 scores will get a one-year gift subscription to The Athletic on us. Before kickoff, we also encourage you to get your competitive juices flowing by testing your sports knowledge with our Super Bowl quiz and Connections: Sports Edition. (Illustration: Will Tullos / The Athletic);(Photos: Getty Images — Michael Blackshire, Andy Lewis, Grant Halverson, Matt Winkelmeyer)
