With their top selections in the July 13-14 draft, the Diamondbacks went back to the well with familiar demographics — and are hoping, in a way, that history repeats itself.
Team officials say they wound up with the players they got in part because that is how the draft shook out. If other players were available, perhaps the club would have gone different directions.
But the executives admit there is a comfort of sorts in taking players who share similarities with others from the past – not just knowing that those players have had success, but, they say, in knowing that your organization can develop them and turn them into big leaguers.
“I think there is some degree of trying to figure out what you’re good at,” Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen said, “and trying to replicate that process.”
D-backs’ No. 1 pick in the 2025 MLB Draft
Their top pick, prep shortstop Kayson Cunningham, fits the archetype of several who have come before him. He is left-handed and athletic. He makes a lot of contact, plays an up-the-middle position and runs well. And, of course, he is undersized. The same could be said of Corbin Carroll, Alek Thomas and Slade Caldwell in their draft years.
As far back as last summer, the D-backs had Cunningham pegged as the best pure hitter of his class. The more they dug in the more they found he had other qualities they liked, as well. They saw him show above-average power on the showcase circuit. They liked his approach at the plate. They liked his makeup and work ethic.
And they grew convinced he had a chance to remain a shortstop long-term based on his arm, hands and athleticism at the position. They believe it is worth noting that on an 18U Team USA roster last year that included several other shortstops who were taken high in the draft this week, it was Cunningham who was tabbed to play the position while others shifted in deference to him.
“If you go watch, he played it pretty well,” Diamondbacks scouting director Ian Rebhan said. “He’s got a real chance to stick at shortstop.”
So, yes, Cunningham might share some attributes the D-backs have felt comfortable drafting in the past, but team executives say it was more than that.
“As we spent more time with him, all the things we look for in a first-round pick, he ultimately had,” Arizona assistant general manager Amiel Sawdaye said. “It wasn’t just that profile and if we didn’t get that profile, we were going to force it. We weren’t going to do that.”
D-backs’ 2nd pick in the 2025 MLB Draft
Louisville pitcher Patrick Forbes (1) throws a pitch during aCollege World Series game on June 13, 2025 in Omaha, Neb.
Louisville right-hander Patrick Forbes, the team’s second selection, is a former two-way college player who recently shifted his focus full-time to pitching. He has big stuff, good athleticism, low mileage on his arm and some developmental runway.
That was more or less the same background of Diamondbacks right-hander Ryne Nelson when the club drafted him out of Oregon in 2019. The organization took another such pitcher, Clemson lefty Caden Grice, in the second round in 2023.
That the D-backs have stuck with what has worked for them is not unique.
The Seattle Mariners, who have a rotation filled with homegrown arms they drafted out of college, took a college starter, Louisiana State lefty Kade Anderson, with the third overall pick.
The Detroit Tigers’ system is loaded with left-handed-hitting prep position players; they took another with their top pick this week.
The Los Angeles Angels have taken quick-to-the-majors college players in recent years; they likely believe they found another in UC Santa Barbara right-hander Tyler Bremner, whom they took second overall.
“I think you have to think pretty probabilistically,” Rebhan said. “This is something I say to our guys all the time: ‘Which bucket should we drop our line into? Which pond should we fish in?’
“If you fish in the ponds that have historically had success — we’re never going to be right every time — but you’re going to be right more often than if you’re just hunting the outliers.”
