ESPN baseball insiders Alden Gonzalez, Jesse Rogers and Dave Schoenfield are sharing their favorite and most head-scratching moves of the draft’s first night, as well as their picks for the players who’ll bring the most to their teams long-term. And Kiley McDaniel shares his best names available for the next 18 rounds, which will continue Monday and Tuesday.
There were three clear favorites at the top of this draft — did the Pirates make the right decision in drafting Paul Skenes?
Gonzalez: I’m mildly surprised, both because some of the latest rumors linked them to Florida outfielder Wyatt Langford and because of the attrition rate for pitchers in general — but I think they made the right choice. The draft is the best and perhaps the only chance for an organization like the Pirates to get an arm of this caliber, and looking back, it would have been foolish to pass up on the combination of winning the No. 1 overall pick in the lottery and having one of the best pitching prospects of this century available to them. Skenes’ stuff is nasty, as we all know by now, but he also has the athleticism and the work ethic for it to translate at the highest level. His workload has also been relatively light. Pitchers can often be a crapshoot, but this is as safe as it can get at that position.
Rogers: Yeah, they did. Some organizations don’t like taking pitchers this high considering the potential for injury, but Skenes isn’t exactly an unproven prospect in need of years of seasoning while the Pirates hold their breath that he stays healthy. More importantly, where else is Pittsburgh going to find an ace if not the draft? In the end, this might have been a no-brainer.
Schoenfield: OK, here’s the short list of best college pitching prospects ever: Stephen Strasburg, Mark Prior and Ben McDonald, and now Skenes — with Strasburg and Skenes the consensus top two. It’s worth noting that Strasburg, Prior and McDonald all had major league success — and all had injuries that ultimately shortened their careers. But if Strasburg’s career is merely a worst-case scenario; imagine what the best case might be for Skenes. Maybe he’s the next Justin Verlander or Max Scherzer. And, as an added bonus, he’s so advanced that he has a legitimate shot to win Rookie of the Year by next season, which would give the Pirates a bonus first-round pick. I think it was the right pick.
Outside of Skenes, what was your favorite pick of the night — and what was one that had you scratching your head?
Gonzalez: I’ll go with two favorites — a high-floor prospect and a high-ceiling one. The former is Jacob Gonzalez, who was ranked sixth in Kiley McDaniel’s latest rankings and fell to the Chicago White Sox at 15. He’s a 6-foot-2, left-handed-hitting shortstop who will be good enough defensively to stay at the position and makes a lot of contact. The pick I’m really intrigued by, though, came right after, when the Giants took 6-foot-7 aspiring two-way player Bryce Eldridge at 16. It’s a perfect fit.
My head-scratcher came a little later — the Los Angeles Dodgers selecting undersized high school outfielder Kendall George at No. 36, snagging him two to three rounds earlier than most projections expected him to go.
Rogers: The Oakland Athletics taking Jacob Wilson was a good one. He comes ready-made, with his dad, Jack (a former major leaguer), coaching him up throughout his young career so far — any rebuild the A’s undertake starts with Wilson at shortstop. He was also the toughest player in college baseball to strike out this season.
The Detroit Tigers passing up Langford for high schooler Max Clark was curious. Of course, it’ll be years before we know if it was the right or wrong pick, but it’s surprising Langford dropped out of the top three — especially since college bats are usually the most reliable picks.
Schoenfield: I actually love that the Tigers instead went with Clark. By all accounts, Clark is a 1-1 type of talent in another draft — one that wasn’t as top-loaded as this one — and I think the upside over Langford is clear: Clark has a more well-rounded game thanks to his blazing speed and defense in center field. That’s going to create a lot of added value that Langford, who is likely limited to an outfield corner, probably won’t possess. Langford has more raw power, but give me the complete player.
As for my least favorite, hard to believe, but it’s the Kansas City Royals. Taking a prep catcher in the top 10? No, thank you. Blake Mitchell is the first one taken that high since Kyle Skipworth in 2008. Never heard of Skipworth? That’s because he never reached the majors. There’s a reason teams rarely select high school catchers that high anymore: History says most of them don’t pan out. No matter the scouting grades, it’s an extremely risky selection.
Which player drafted tonight has the best chance to win an MVP or Cy Young award someday?
Gonzalez: I’ll go with Crews, the guy who slashed .380/.498/.689 in three seasons in the nation’s best baseball conference. He’s the best, most complete hitter in this draft and he brings plus defense, the type that could have him debut in the major leagues as a center fielder. He won’t run a ton — though his speed has improved since high school — but he could win multiple Silver Sluggers when his career is set and done … and perhaps an MVP or two.
Rogers: I’ll take the easy route and say Skenes. I don’t care in what level you’re pitching, when you record 209 strikeouts in 122.2 innings, you have my vote for most likely to win a Cy Young. Cy Young candidates lead their teams and dominate to the point they can’t be denied — Skenes has that written all over him. Talent evaluators don’t deny the elite talent — so now it’s about staying healthy and having that big year in the majors to garner him an award someday.
Schoenfield: Skenes is the easy call there — although of the 18 previous pitchers to go No. 1 overall, only David Price has won a Cy Young Award (Gerrit Cole has finished second twice and Strasburg had a third-place result). My sleeper: Hurston Waldrep, the Braves’ selection. Big-time stuff and the Braves have certainly had some success in developing pitchers. For MVP, Crews makes sense, but I’ll toss out Clark here as well — I’m getting Corbin Carroll vibes with his hit/power/speed skill set, and Carroll already looks like a potential MVP candidate as a rookie.
What’s your biggest overall takeaway from Day 1 of this draft?
Gonzalez: How clearly defined the first tier was, consistent with basically every projection coming in. Skenes, Crews, Langford, Clark and Walker Jenkins were so obviously the five best players available — in whatever order you wanted to rank them — but we knew everything beyond them was pretty unpredictable. It played out precisely that way, with Kyle Teel in particular going a little lower than I would have expected (14th to the Boston Red Sox) given the relative lack of talent at catcher in this draft. Gonzalez went lower, too, as I noted, but shortstop was a major strength this year; 14 of the 39 picks that encompassed Round 1 and Competitive Balance Round A were shortstops.
Rogers: When in doubt, take an OF or a SS. Teams love athleticism and flexibility. Shortstops, in particular, automatically qualify in those departments. For example, the Chicago Cubs passed on a positional need at third base in order to take shortstop Matt Shaw from Maryland. If he stays in their organization, it won’t be at shortstop, where Dansby Swanson just signed a seven-year deal. But bottom line, middle-infield guys and outfielders can play anywhere. Shaw said as much after being drafted.
Schoenfield: Only one high school pitcher went in the first round (the first 28 picks). This more or less follows recent trends as high school pitchers — like high school catchers — are viewed as risky selections. It also speaks not just to the reliance on draft models but the importance of all the pitch-tracking and hitting data now available at the college level. Scouting departments can better analyze college players than ever before — and thus have a better level of confidence when drafting them. But it might also mean teams are underrating high school players, so there could be some hidden gems selected in the comp or second/third rounds when we look back at this draft in four or five years.
Kiley McDaniel’s best available players for Day 2
(Listed by top 300 draft prospects ranking)
32. Roch Cholowsky, SS, Hamilton (Ariz.) HS, UCLA commit
The sea of white in Winnipeg chanted “M-V-P!” in unison during the Jets‘ Game 2 win over the Dallas Stars on Friday night. Goalie Connor Hellebuyck heard and appreciated those chants.
“It means a whole lot. I love this crowd. I love this city,” said Hellebuyck, who stopped 21 shots in Winnipeg’s 4-0 victory that evened their Western Conference semifinal series at 1-1.
It was Hellebuyck’s first playoff shutout since a 1-0 blanking of the Edmonton Oilers in the first round in 2021, and the fourth postseason shutout of his career. Hellebuyck led the NHL with eight shutouts in the regular season, which helped him become a finalist for the Hart Trophy as league MVP and for the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goaltender, an award he won last season and in 2020.
Prior to Friday night, he had not been that same goaltender in the postseason.
Considered by many the best netminder in the world, Hellebuyck was the worst goalie statistically in the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs entering Game 2. He was 4-4 with an .836 save percentage, the lowest for any goalie with at least three postseason games played. He was last in the playoffs through eight games with a minus-9.68 goals saved above expected. He had a 3.75 goals-against average as well, after sporting a GAA of 2.00 and a .925 save percentage in the regular season.
Yet the Jets’ faith in their goaltender never wavered.
“We rely on him. Sometimes too much. But he was incredible tonight,” said defenseman Josh Morrissey, who missed Game 1 against Dallas and most of Game 7 against St. Louis with an injury. “That’s what he does every night for us. He’s an incredible goaltender. He makes very difficult saves look very easy, routinely and often. You could tell he was feeling it tonight. When he’s feeling it like that, it gives the players in front of him a lot of confidence.”
Jets coach Scott Arniel said his goalie was “fantastic” in Game 2.
“Sometimes we take him for granted because he makes the hard look easy, but he had some acrobatic ones tonight,” Arniel said.
That was especially true in the second period. The Jets built a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Gabriel Vilardi and Nik Ehlers, whose shot deflected off the skate of Dallas defenseman Esa Lindell. Hellebuyck made nine saves in that opening frame.
“We pushed hard in the second to try and climb back in the game,” said Dallas coach Peter DeBoer. “Hellebuyck made some saves. We get one there, maybe the momentum shifts. But that was the game. He was a good. He was really good. We can always make it more difficult on him, but he was really good.”
After the game, Hellebuyck told Sportsnet that he believed he was back on his game after the shutout win.
“Now it’s locked in. We broke it down to build it back together,” he said. “I like where it’s at. I like where the team’s playing. I’m really excited for the series. It’s been fun.”
Whether the fun continues on the road for Sunday’s Game 3 is anyone’s guess.
Hellebuyck was a disaster in the Jets’ three games in St. Louis, giving up 16 goals on 66 shots (.758 save percentage) and getting pulled in each loss. In his past eight postseason road games, Hellebuyck is 1-7 with a .838 save percentage and a 5.19 goals-against average.
“We’re still playing hockey, and it’s May. That’s fun. It’s the best time of year, because you’ve dialed your game in all year long,” Hellebuyck said.
The Jets said they need to be better in front of their goalie on the road.
“It’s going to be a tough building. They grabbed home ice from us by winning Game 1,” Arniel said. “It’s [about] lessons learned. Take some of the things from that series. We know we have to do a lot of what we did tonight.”
Ohtani, who doubled twice, fell into a 1-2 hole before launching his 12th homer near the pool deck in right to put the Dodgers up 14-11. He finished with four RBIs.
Tanner Scott worked a perfect ninth save in 11 chances.
The Dodgers roughed up Eduardo Rodriguez to take an 8-3 lead through three innings, but couldn’t hold it.
SUNRISE, Fla. — Brad Marchand scored on a deflected shot at 15:27 of overtime and the Florida Panthers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-4 on Friday night to cut their deficit in the Eastern Conference semifinal series to 2-1.
Florida erased deficits of 2-0 and 3-1, and that’s been almost impossible to do against Toronto this season.
By the numbers, it was all looking good for the Maple Leafs.
They were 30-3-0 when leading after the first period, including playoffs, the second-best record in the league.
They were 38-8-2, the league’s third-best record when scoring first.
They had blown only 11 leads all season, none in the playoffs.
They were 44-3-1 in games where they led by two goals or more.
Combine all that with Toronto having won all 11 of its previous best-of-seven series when taking a 2-0 lead at home, Florida being 0-5 in series where it dropped both Games 1 and 2, and leaguewide, teams facing 0-2 deficits come back to win those series only about 14% of the time.
But Marchand — a longtime Toronto playoff nemesis from his days in Boston — got the biggest goal of Florida’s season, rendering all those numbers moot for now.
The Leafs got two goals that deflected in off of Panthers defensemen: Tavares’ second goal nicked the glove of Gustav Forsling on its way past Bobrovsky for a 3-1 lead, and Rielly’s goal redirected off Seth Jones’ leg to tie it with 9:04 left in the third.
Knies scored 23 seconds into the game, the second time Toronto had a 1-0 lead in the first minute of this series. Tavares made it 2-0 at 5:57 and just like that, the Panthers were in trouble.
A diving Barkov threw the puck at the night and saw it carom in off a Toronto stick to get Florida on the board — only for Tavares to score again early in the second for a 3-1 Leafs lead.
Florida needed a break. It came.
Reinhart was credited with a goal after Woll thought he covered up the puck following a scrum in front of the net. But after review, it was determined the puck had crossed the line. Florida had life, the building was loud again and about a minute later, Verhaeghe tied it at 3-3.
Gadjovich made it 4-3 late in the second, before Rielly tied it midway through the third.