2025 MLB Draft Report: New mocks and a look at Wehiwa Aloy

As I received my NCWBA awards ballot this week, it served as a great reminder that the college baseball regular season is almost over. The three months of action leading up to conference tournament play have done little to answer questions about which college bats could be available to the Chicago White Sox with the 10th pick, or if they are even worthwhile to pursue. 

College pitching continues to dominate and gain steam as we inch closer to July. After writing about LSU’s Kade Anderson contemplating if he could be an option for the White Sox, the draft gossip now has Anderson as an option within the top five selections. While Florida State’s Jamie Arnold was once considered the best college pitcher, it's now more of a three-way debate between him, Anderson, and Tennessee’s Liam Doyle. All three could go high as the second overall pick to the Los Angeles Angels. 

What helps in my analysis is Prospects Live’s Mock Draft Simulator. Free to use until May 15, users can decide how many teams they want to draft for and how many rounds. These tools are used extensively leading up to the NFL Draft, and now baseball fans have one of their own. 

Playing with the simulator, my picks are below after running a five-round mock for the White Sox.

Latest Mock Drafts from Jim Callis, Keith Law, and Baseball America

Speaking of mock drafts, the latest editions from two stalwarts of the MLB Draft were released this week -- one from Jim Callis of MLB.com and one from Keith Law of The Athletic. Both went in the direction of prep shortstops for the White Sox. Texas prep shortstop Kayson Cunningham was Callis’ pick. Hailing from San Antonio and a University of Texas commit, Cunningham is an athletic middle infielder who performed well for Team USA last summer, batting .417/.483/.542 and leading the team with 12 RBIs.

Joseph “JoJo” Parker and his twin brother, Jacob, have been tormenting prep pitching in Mississippi for years. Law picked JoJo to the White Sox in his mock, as he’s the primary shortstop for Purvis. Both Parker brothers are Mississippi State commits. In 32 games, Parker is hitting .494/.676/1.069 with 12 home runs against prep pitching.

2024 Prep Baseball All-America Game Hitting Data

Baseball America released its Mock Draft 3.0, and instead of picking Parker, they went with Corona High’s Billy Carlson. As someone on the Watch Board since preseason, Carlson is having a fine offensive season, batting .390/.538/.701 with six homers and 34 RBIs in 28 games. Of the trio prep shortstops, Carlson is the best defensively and most likely to stick at shortstop. However, he’s the weakest at the plate and will need some adjustments when taking the next step playing pro ball.

A look at Arkansas SS Wehiwa Aloy

One position group that could be at some disconnect from the MLB Draft analysts and scouting departments is the college shortstop class. It’s expected that Oregon State’s Aiva Arquette will be selected in the first five picks, but at 6’5”, he’s pretty big for the position, and I wonder if his range forces a move to either third base or the outfield. Arquette is hitting well, however, and that power potential is more of the reason why he’ll be one of the first college bats taken in July. 

Wake Forest’s Marek Houston has flashed brilliance defensively at shortstop this season, and I think most agree that he’ll get a shot to stick at the position professionally. But it’s a bit confounding how Houston recently snapped a 22-game home run drought on Friday against Pitt. Houston had 10 home runs on March 25 and was batting .417. Since then, Houston has one home run and is batting .258. There are serious questions about his hitting potential, which might be why he falls out of the Top 10 picks. 

So, while searching for college shortstop options, this is where Arkansas’s Wehiwa Aloy gains more attention. Playing his freshman season at Sacramento State, where Aloy batted .376/.427/.662, he transferred to Arkansas last year, and the step up in competition was noticeable. Aloy hit .270/.355/.485 in 60 games and carried a strikeout rate of 20.1 percent. However, Aloy did hit 14 home runs despite the contact issues and demonstrated good defense at shortstop. 

A year later, Aloy has picked up his potential across the board. In 52 games this season, Aloy is batting .364/.450/.687 with 17 home runs and 16 doubles. These past two weeks have been major tests for Arkansas, having a home series against Texas and traveling to Baton Rouge this past weekend to face LSU. It was a good opportunity to see what Aloy could do against the premier competition.

Wehiwa Aloy Hitting Profile

The first thing you notice watching Aloy hit is the stance, which is reminiscent of an Eloy. His front foot has a half twist like that of ex-White Sox Eloy Jiménez, but it’s not as pronounced, and as the pitch approaches, Aloy’s front foot steps towards home plate, giving him a more closed stance. It’s a bit of a long swing for Aloy, but he does a good job driving pitches on the outer third, as evidenced in his double against Texas. 

Aloy is deceptively strong. In 168 college games, Aloy has 45 home runs and a career .273 ISO. I imagine Aloy will be a fastball masher in pro ball. He’s pretty aggressive and has the power potential to make pitchers pay for missing their location with heat. If breaking pitches hang in the lower part of the zone, Aloy has displayed the ability to keep his hands back long enough to make solid contact. 

But what Aloy’s achilles heel will be is his Z-contact rate. There’s a lot of swing-and-miss when Aloy offers at pitches in the strike zone, which is why strikeouts have been an issue for Aloy (it’s a career 19 percent strikeout rate and an 8.4 percent walk rate). That will give some MLB teams some pause about taking Aloy in the first round . With Aloy’s front step closing off his stance, I also wonder about his ability to make contact on inside pitches. He’ll need to shorten the swing to pull his hands through quickly enough to barrel up velocity.

Wehiwa Aloy Fielding Profile

Watching the film from the Texas and LSU series, I’m impressed with Aloy’s range and throwing strength. Against Texas, with runners in scoring position and two outs, a slow grounder was hit into the hole between third base and short. Instead of trying to backhand the grounder, Aloy rounded off the slow roller and, with his momentum, made a jump throw to first base. It was so smooth that Aloy made the play look a lot easier than it was.

Aloy gets into good throwing positions on double-play attempts and makes quick transitions. The only misplay I saw Aloy have was against LSU when charging on a two-hopper chopper. Instead of gloving the bouncer, Aloy tried to barehand scoop and throw to first base. Instead, Aloy completely whiffed on the scoop part.

Wehiwa Aloy Hitting Comparison and MLB Player Comp

After watching the last six Arkansas SEC games, I think Aloy’s defense is better than his offense. This is another way of saying that I believe Aloy will stick at shortstop when in the minors. I’m worried about strikeouts being a significant factor in Alloy’s professional development. I wouldn’t be surprised if he carried a strikeout rate of 25 percent or higher while rarely taking walks. To me, Aloy is a 40-grade contact / 50-grade power-hitting shortstop. In some ways, Aloy reminds me of Javy Baez. 

When comparing Aloy to the other college shortstops, his production this season is not far off from Arquette’s despite facing stiffer competition in the SEC. Florida State’s Alex Lodise is getting some first-round hype for his BABIP-fueled fever dream season in 2025.

Maybe I would get some pushback from scouting departments, but I’m comfortable ranking Aloy ahead of Houston in the college shortstop ranks. Both should stick defensively at the position, but I like Aloy’s power potential more despite knowing that it will be a lopsided K-BB% ratio. 

Would I take Aloy over the prep shortstops? From a White Sox point of view, there needs to be some consideration, knowing that the top position player prospects will be joining Chicago soon, if not already. Suppose Chris Getz intends to build a wave of prospect player talent to take advantage of arb seasons in keeping the payroll down while the ownership box figures out the business situation. In that case, he might need to select a player in the first round who only needs two minor league seasons to be ready for the majors. 

In that case, Aloy could be a fit for the White Sox. But if it’s about taking the best player available with the highest ceiling, it becomes a debate of Aloy, Houston, or the prep shortstops.