Prospect News: Notes From The Razz 30 First-Year-Player Draft
The Razz 30 off-season is a tradition like no other. Owners slowly trim their rosters from 50-something players (43 spots with unlimited IL) down to the required 25 total, bartering over mid-round draft picks and borderline droppable players. It’s quite the party, and after a couple hundred trades have been made, we begin the First-Year-Player Draft.
Click here to read how the first round went down.
Results From Round Two:
31. Diamondbacks SS Kayson Cunningham
Nice windfall here as the Razz-affiliated team that landed Cunningham was the Diamondbacks.
32. Twins SS Marek Houston
33. Padres LHP Kruz Schoolcraft
34. Orioles LHP Luis De Leon
35. Giants SS Gavin Kilen
36. Brewers LHP Robert Gasser
37. Mets SS Wandy Asigen
We’re officially into the best part of this draft, during which a guy who’ll turn 27 in March gets drafted right before a 16-year-old who signed for $3.9 million in January. Gasser looked like a really good pick until the Brewers traded Caleb Durbin for two Triple-A lefties in Kyle Harrison and Shane Drohan. He might still turn quite a profit at that spot, but I drafted Brewers RHP Coleman Crow a few rounds later, and I know I wouldn’t have done that if I’d been selecting after the Durbin deal. I still like Crow and would still want him at some point. It’s just discouraging when proximity plays a big factor in your decision making just before a guy drops down the organizational depth chart due to a new signing or trade.
38. Dodgers SS Aiden West
39. Rays OF Slater de Brun
40. Rays OF Brendan Summerhill
Congrats if you had back-to-back Rays outfielders on your bingo card. West hasn’t played yet but has untapped upside as an 18-year-old switch-hitting fourth rounder at 6’2″ 205 pounds. Tough to go broke betting on the Dodgers.
41. Cardinals LHP Brandon Clarke
The Clarke owner tried to trade him before cut-down today and would’ve taken a later pick than this one, I think, but the keeper rules are tricky. Would I rather trade a third-rounder for Clarke and drop my least-favorite guy among seven minor leaguers or just keep those guys, keep my picks and take Clarke if I can? Not a simple equation.
42. Rockies 2B Roldy Brito
43. Royals SS Angeibel Gomez
This pick hurt. First one that did, really. I knew it was a longshot for Gomez to get to me at 56, but it’s hard to keep hope dampened for days and days, so it grew where darkness had been only be banished again. I felt better about it after drafting Drew Anderson and slightly better again when after landing Brewers SS Ricki Moneys in the ninth round. I’m not sure I’d hold roster space for multiple players who won’t see the field until midsummer, considering I’m already keeping Blue Jays 3B Juan Sanchez and Athletics SS Edgar Montero who might not play until the complex leagues open. By May, I’ll already be cutting guys who are playing pretty well in hopes of finding someone playing better and developing faster. I like the churn.
44. Twins OF Quentin Young
45. Cubs OF Kane Kepley
These picks make for an interesting duo. Kepley is a college hitter drafted in the 2nd round of the MLB draft on the strength of his speed, defense and plate skills at 5’8″ 180 pounds. Young is a high school prospect drafted in the 2nd round of the MLB draft due to his prodigious power and projection at 6’6″ 225 pounds. They’re like DeVito and Schwarzenegger in Twins. Or Judge and Altuve in that viral photo. Let’s get these guys in a frame together!
46. Athletics P Wei-En Lin
47. Mets 2B Mitch Voit
48. Astros RHP Ethan Pecko
49. Rays 1B Tre Morgan
50. Astros OF Zach Cole
Here we find three straight Triple-A types who should get some big league playing time this season. Cole was on an extremely short list of guys in this draft who might open the major league season in a starting lineup after hitting four homers in just 47 MLB at bats in 2025.
51. Rays C Nathan Flewelling
52. Rays SS Daniel Pierce
The Rays are gathering. Keep Robert Irwin away from this portion of the draft. Pierce went 14th overall in the MLB draft, making his gap between real-life price and Razz 30 price among the widest for first-rounders this year.
53. Phillies OF Gabriel Rincones
54. Orioles SS Wehiwa Aloy
55. Twins RHP Riley Quick
56. Tigers RHP Drew Anderson
Been a roller coaster since I drafted this guy. I thought he had an inside lane on a rotation spot given that he signed for $7 million out of Korea. I suspect a chance to start was part of that negotiation.
57. Cardinals OF Emanuel Luna
58. Pirates RHP Antwone Kelly
59. Athletics OF Devin Taylor
60. Nationals SS Luke Dickerson
Round Three
61. Reds RHP Chase Petty
62. Royals SS Sean Gamble
63. Mariners SS Nicky Becker
64. Brewers SS Brady Ebel
65. Rays SS Jadher Areinamo
66. Nationals LHP Foster Griffin
Fun group here. Proximity in Petty, Areinamo and Griffin. Distant upside in Gamble, Becker and Ebel. Inside you, two wolves are arguing about whether you’re betting on long-term upside or short-term contributions in the categories. That’s kind of the whole vibe of a Razz 30 draft.
67. Rangers 3B Elian Rosario
68. Marlins OF Brandon Compton
69. Mets LHP Jonathan Santucci
Santucci feels like a nice find this late in this organization. The Mets aren’t terribly deep in starting pitchers, and Santucci has been impressive with New York since they selected him in the second round out of Duke in 2024. He was near the top of my board when this pick happened. Probably would’ve been on top if the news about Spencer Schwellenbach heading to the 60-day injured list had been revealed a few days sooner. I needed his innings this season and might be scrambling for a while.
70. Cardinals SS Ryan Mitchell
71. Marlins RHP Kevin DeFrank
72. White Sox OF Jaden Fauske
73. Orioles RHP Levi Wells
74. Astros RHP Ryan Weiss
75. Dodgers RHP Cam Leiter
76. Rangers RHP AJ Russell
77. Angels RHP Ryan Johnson
78. Marlins RHP Josh White
79. Blue Jays RHP Braydon Fisher
80. Dodgers RHP Edgardo Henriquez
Henriquez is my pick, acquired via trading Ryan Helsley before cutdown day. I’m thrilled with acquiring perhaps the game’s hardest thrower on perhaps the game’s best team, but I’m a little worried the Dodgers have too many guys to use them all.
81. Rangers RHP David Davalillo
Excellent pick here and one I might’ve made at 80 if I had future vision of the incoming Schwellenbach news.
82. Rays SS Fabricio Blanco
83. Diamondbacks P Patrick Forbes
84. Brewers 1B Blake Burke
85. Red Sox RHP Anthony Eyanson
Boston hasn’t missed much with pitchers. LSU hasn’t missed much with pitchers. Eyanson went 12-and-2 with a 3.00 ERA in 108 SEC innings after two seasons with UC San Diego. I wish I had him on my team but thought he might make it back to me in round four.
86. Reds RHP Connor Phillips
Phillips was my other pick this round. He converted to relief in 2025 and posted a 0.70 WHIP and 1.80 ERA with 28 strikeouts in 20 MLB innings after returning from the minors on August 18.
87. Dodgers P Zachary Root
88. Blue Jays 2B Roc Riggio
89. Brewers C Marco Dinges
90. Dodgers 3B Chase Harlan
Thanks for reading!
