Many outlets have teams on their staff that discuss college prospects and generate mock MLB drafts in the weeks and months leading up to the actual draft in July. We’re just a small team of two at Yankees Savant, so we decided to outsource our mock draft to AI to see what they would generate. We used Google’s Gemini and ChatGPT to see what they would generate and created the best draft of both AI worlds. The prompt we used is “The Yankees have picks #39, 103, 134 and 164 in the 2025 MLB Draft. How do you think they will draft?”.
The text below is copied and pasted from the ChatGPT prompt:
As the 2025 MLB Draft approaches, the New York Yankees find themselves in a strategic but challenging position. Armed with four early-to-mid round picks—#39, 103, 134, and 164 overall—they’ll look to continue a recent trend of prioritizing size, power, and projection while sprinkling in high baseball IQ and under-the-radar athleticism.
Their draft board may be loaded with upside. But as always, the Yankees will be targeting a blend of risk and readiness—and there are several 2025 names who match that mold.
📍 Yankees Draft Position
- #39 overall (Competitive Balance A)
- #103 overall (3rd Round)
- #134 overall (4th Round)
- #164 overall (5th Round)
🧠 Draft Strategy Snapshot
Over the last 5 years, the Yankees have made clear they value:
- Toolsy high school outfielders (e.g., Jasson Domínguez)
- Physical, athletic college hitters (e.g., Spencer Jones, Austin Wells)
- Spin-rate dominant pitchers, both college and prep
- Players with makeup and leadership—especially catchers and middle infielders
With that in mind, here are some high-upside players who might match up with each of their key selections:
🔍 Pick #39 Overall – High-Upside Priority Pick
🎯 Target Type: College bat or athletic prep player
Potential Fits:
- Tommy Splaine (C/1B, Los Gatos HS – CA): At 6’5″, 210 lbs, Splaine fits the Yankees’ mold of projectable size, clean mechanics, and advanced leadership. A high-IQ player who hits for average with developing power, he could become the long-term answer behind the plate or at 1B. His Arizona commitment could make him signable with the right bonus.
- Cam Leiter (RHP, UCF): If Leiter is still on the board, he fits perfectly. Bloodlines, advanced pitchability, and solid velocity could make him a Spencer Schwellenbach-type grab for a team needing rotation depth in 2–3 years.
- Seaver King (INF/OF, Wake Forest): An ultra-versatile defender with speed and some pop. Could be gone by #39, but fits if he slides.
🧲 Pick #103 Overall – Tools and Projection Time
🎯 Target Type: Toolsy prep bat or two-way project
Potential Fits:
- Quentin Young (OF, HS): High-risk, high-reward outfielder with 5-tool upside. Raw at the plate but runs a sub-6.5 60-yard dash and flashes 100+ mph exit velos. Yankees love this profile—reminds some of a young Spencer Jones.
- Jayden Stroman (SS/RHP, The Heights School – NY): A switch-hitting shortstop and mid-90s righty, Stroman is the brother of Marcus Stroman and a New York-area talent. He could intrigue the Yankees as a two-way project or developmental reliever with plus athleticism.
🔬 Picks #134 and #164 – Sleeper Territory
🎯 Target Type: Metrics-based arms and overlooked bats
Yankees Typical Picks Here:
- Mid-major or JUCO pitchers with elite spin
- Cold-weather prep arms with projection
- College performers who dominated analytically but lack pedigree
Potential Fits:
- A draft-eligible sophomore with a breakout summer performance
- A New England or Northeast prep arm that’s under-scouted
- A bat-first college catcher or corner bat with exit velocity data
🧩 Organizational Fit
The Yankees system is evolving. With young talent like Jasson Domínguez, Anthony Volpe, and Spencer Jones moving closer to everyday roles, the club may double down on college readiness—or swing for ceiling with projectable preps.
Expect them to:
- Target a bat-first catcher (like Splaine)
- Take a shot on a prep athlete with power/speed (like Quentin Young)
- Bring in a pitcher with bloodlines or fastball metrics (like Cam Leiter)
🔮 Final Thoughts
The 2025 Draft could be a defining class for the Yankees, especially if they find impact outside of the first round. With names like Tommy Splaine and Cam Leiter as early fits—and raw athletes like Quentin Young or Jayden Stroman potentially on the board—the Yankees have a chance to reload with the kind of size, athleticism, and upside they’ve increasingly prioritized.
If they play their cards right, this could be another class that turns heads at Yankee Stadium by 2028.
Our take: I actually really like this, as after doing my own research, I was looking at all of these players, except for Seaver King.
I think Splaine would drop to their 4th round pick at #139, and I think that of the kids listed, Leiter is the way they may go for the CB-A pick. They seem to be a bit more pitching-forward lately, especially with how pitchers are used nowadays, and I think they go with the bloodlines. Leiter’s best pitches are a plus fastball (65) and plus slider (65).
It’s rare to see a pitcher with that kind of quality pitches coming out of college, especially to be ranked this low, but Leiter has had some health issues, with a shoulder injury limiting his innings in 2025. MLB Pipeline notes that his fastball sits in the mid-90s but can get up to 98 MPH, and his “upper-80s slider is a true out pitch”.
Cam Leiter is the nephew of former Yankees pitcher Al Leiter, and cousins with current Yankees reliever, Mark Leiter, Jr. I don’t know how much the Yankees consider the familial aspect (they did originally draft Jack Leiter out of Delbarton, a teammate of Volpe’s, in 2019 as the 20th round pick, but he ultimately signed with Texas in 2021 as the 2nd overall pick).
I think the Yankees lean towards Quentin Young over Jayden Stroman for their 3rd round pick at #103. I don’t know if the Yankees would draft two consecutive family members, but the 2024 MLB Draft will prove that they will definitely do some unexpected things.
Young’s build is something the Yankees seem to like, and I think considering the fact that he plays both 3B and the outfield means he’s agile enough, despite the size. He throws mid-90s fastballs, so a move to the outfield would likely make the most sense, but having an Elly de la Cruz-type prospect would be a ton of fun to follow. MLB Pipeline notes that he has plus power and arm (60), which fits the Yankees’ profile.
Also, stop me if you’ve heard this before: a first-round pick that’s 6-foot-6, plays the outfield and is from California. It should be noted that Young is committed to LSU, so I would expect that whichever team ends up signing him will likely go over-slot. (This article is a great read about Young and his family history with baseball).
For the 4th round, the Yankees pick at #134, and as noted above, I think the Yankees go with a prospect like Tommy Splaine, a C/1B out of Arizona. The Yankees have drafted out of Arizona well, with Austin Wells going 1st round in 2020 and Rob Refsnyder going in the 5th round in 2012. His 6-5, 210 lb frame would work well at first base where the Yankees do not have a lot of good depth.
There’s a lot to like about Splaine, a long-levered power hitter who is unranked but instantly caught my attention while watching a College World Series game versus Coastal Carolina recently. Ultimately, Arizona lost the game, but the double helped the Wildcats get some momentum.
ChatGPT noted that the Yankees may go with “a New England or Northeast prep arm that’s under-scouted”, and I think prep right-handed pitcher John Paone could be a good fit as their 5th round pick at #164.
The Yankees have done well drafting out of Massachusetts (Mass native Ben Rice quickly comes to mind, but also RHP Cam Schlittler and RHP Sebastian Keane), but they haven’t drafted a kid as a prep prospect out of New England, never mind Massachusetts, in over a decade. The Yankees drafted two kids, Austin DeCarr (3rd Rd.) and Will Toffey (23rd Rd.) out of the Salisbury School in CT in 2014.
Paone’s fastball sits in the upper-80s to low-90s, hitting 94 per the video above. He also has two off-speed pitches: an upper-70s to low-80s slider and a mid-80s change-up. This 3-pitch arsenal sounds kind of like what they were getting with Will Warren when he was chosen in the 8th Round of the 2021 MLB Draft.
Tomorrow, we’ll analyze both LLMs and see which of the two seems more likely. We’ll also merge the both drafts together to create our “ultimate” mock draft.
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