Latest news with #shortstops
Yahoo
3 days ago
- 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
3 days ago
- 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.'
