In that preseason analysis, we looked at 2024 batted-ball data for college hitters who ranked inside our top 100 list at the time. With the 2025 college season now wrapped and the NCAA tournament soon to be underway, it’s time to revisit our findings.
Below, we’ll be looking at the same chart, but updated with 2025 batted-ball data for 122 college hitters who are set to rank on our upcoming BA 500 draft board. The data featured includes games through April 18.
In the chart below, you can tab over each plot point to get 90th percentile exit velocity, contact rates and chase rates for each of our 122 players. We have 90th percentile exit velocity plotted on the Y axis (the higher the dot the higher the EVs), contact rate on the X axis (further right is more contact, further left is less) and chase rate visualized by color (darker blue is less chase, darker red is more chase).
For a bit more context on the data below, here are the averages in each category within this 122-player sample:
- 90th percentile EV: 105.6 mph
- Contact%: 78.1%
- Chase%: 23.1%
Above-Average Across The Board
There were 10 hitters in this sample who had average-or-better batted-ball data across all three categories, making this group the most well-rounded. Players are sorted in descending order of 90th percentile exit velocity:
| player | pos | school | contact | chase | 90th% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| James Quinn-Irons | OF | George Mason | 80.50% | 21.20% | 110.9 |
| Ike Irish | C | Auburn | 80.30% | 22.50% | 108.1 |
| Antonio Jimenez | SS | Central Florida | 80.90% | 22.60% | 108 |
| Dean Curley | SS | Tennessee | 78.70% | 16.60% | 107.9 |
| Jack Arcamone | C | Richmond | 80.30% | 18.60% | 107.9 |
| Matthew Bucciero | OF | Fairfield | 82.40% | 16.50% | 107.8 |
| Andrew Fischer | 1B | Tennessee | 78.60% | 15.10% | 106.8 |
| Devin Taylor | OF | Indiana | 83.10% | 16.20% | 106.3 |
| Mitch Voit | 2B | Michigan | 79.80% | 22.40% | 106.1 |
| Kade Snell | OF | Alabama | 90.10% | 20.40% | 105.8 |
It’s unsurprising that this group contains a number of corner-oriented profiles who will need hit for average, power and on-base value to be productive players at the next level. That group includes Andrew Fischer, Devin Taylor, Kade Snell, Matthew Bucciero, Dean Curley and Ike Irish—if he’s forced to move off the catching position as many scouts think he might.
It also includes a handful of players who at least have a chance to profile at premium, up-the-middle defensive positions and can boast a fairly impressive all-around profile on draft day: James Quinn-Irons, Antonio Jimenez, Jack Arcamone and Mitch Voit.
Irish is potentially the name to monitor here. He’s one of four players to rank inside this well-rounded group of 10 from the SEC, and he’s also currently the highest-ranking college hitter in the group. In a draft class that’s been heavily criticized for lacking top-tier college hitters, Irish could be a sleeper candidate to push inside the first 10 picks and perhaps even be the first college hitter off the board. If a team buys into his hitting ingredients and also thinks he has a good shot to stick at catcher, he has a compelling top-of-the-class argument.
Curley has been slipping on draft boards but still has a proven offensive profile, while Taylor makes plenty of sense as a first-round option despite a surprising lack of chatter surrounding his name.
The Contact Hitters
One of the biggest critiques of this year’s college class is the lack of polished, high-confidence hit tools at the very top. Many of the top-ranked college bats stand out for their flaws in the contact department, but there were 15 players in this sample who managed an 85% contact rate or better. The group is listed below in descending order by contact rate:
| player | pos | school | contact | chase | 90th% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charles Davalan | OF | Arkansas | 91.90% | 20.00% | 103.7 |
| Michael Lombardi | RHP/OF | Tulane | 91.30% | 23.80% | 99.8 |
| Jake Cook | OF | Southern Miss | 90.90% | 20.30% | 100.1 |
| Kade Snell | OF | Alabama | 90.10% | 20.40% | 105.8 |
| Caden Bodine | C | Coastal Carolina | 89.50% | 23.40% | 103.4 |
| Owen Prince | OF | Virginia Military Institute | 89.30% | 16.30% | 95.1 |
| Eric Snow | INF | Auburn | 88.30% | 20.30% | 104.8 |
| Henry Godbout | 2B | Virginia | 88.10% | 21.20% | 103.7 |
| Kane Kepley | OF | North Carolina | 88.10% | 13.70% | 101.5 |
| Dylan Palmer | 2B | Hofstra | 87.50% | 25.50% | 95.4 |
| Sam White | UTL | West Virginia | 87.30% | 20.70% | 103.8 |
| Brendan Summerhill | OF | Arizona | 86.90% | 16.00% | 103.6 |
| Logan Braunschweig | OF | Alabama-Birmingham | 86.90% | 21.90% | 101.1 |
| Juan Cruz | 1B | Alabama State | 85.80% | 39.00% | 103.5 |
| Josh Tate | OF | Georgia Southern | 85.70% | 19.30% | 103.8 |
This bat-to-ball specialist group is led by Arkansas outfielder Charles Davalan, who has used an excellent season to shoot up draft boards. Notably, the other three players who managed 90% or better contact rates all play the outfield: Michael Lombardi (who’s also a talented righthanded pitcher), Jake Cook and Kade Snell.
A number of the most prominent contact hitters entering the year remain in the elite contact territory today: Caden Bodine, Kane Kepley and Henry Godbout. Each of these three players has impressive ability to put the barrel on the ball and play at up-the-middle positions in relatively strong conferences. Hypothetically, this should outweigh the lack of impact they all bring to the table.
In addition to Brendan Summerhill—who is being viewed as one of the most polished bats in the class and a slam dunk first rounder—there are some intriguing sleeper targets in this tier that teams might be excited about if they’re able to add a bit more power. Smaller conference names like Owen Prince, Dylan Palmer and Logan Braunschweig could be interesting to keep an eye on.
The Power Hitters
There’s plenty of power to go around in college baseball these days. However, despite an extreme opening weekend for exit velocity, the home run rate in Division-I baseball actually dipped this year compared to the 2024 season. Perhaps we have entered the post-peak phase of this offensive-oriented post-pandemic era of college baseball. Below are the 15 players in this sample who managed a 109 mph or better 90th percentile exit velocity:
| player | pos | school | contact | chase | 90th% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jack Moroknek | OF | Butler | 81.20% | 31.10% | 111.2 |
| Landyn Vidourek | OF | Cincinnati | 72.60% | 12.30% | 111.1 |
| James Quinn-Irons | OF | George Mason | 80.50% | 21.20% | 110.9 |
| Jacob Krieg | 1B | Oregon State | 69.40% | 21.80% | 110.7 |
| Jacob Walsh | 1B | Oregon | 78.20% | 25.70% | 110.3 |
| Ethan Petry | OF | South Carolina | 73.30% | 27.10% | 110.1 |
| Dominic Hellman | 1B | Oregon | 76.70% | 24.00% | 110 |
| Grant Jay | C | Dallas Baptist | 67.40% | 24.00% | 109.8 |
| Judd Utermark | 3B/OF | Ole Miss | 62.60% | 31.60% | 109.8 |
| Brandon Compton | OF | Arizona State | 77.30% | 21.90% | 109.7 |
| Jared Jones | 1B | Louisiana State | 74.70% | 26.70% | 109.6 |
| Max Williams | OF | Florida State | 75.30% | 32.30% | 109.5 |
| Michael Gupton | OF | Samford | 69.20% | 40.70% | 109.5 |
| Nolan Schubart | OF | Oklahoma State | 69.80% | 22.30% | 109.1 |
| Beau Ankeney | 1B | Loyola Marymount | 73.10% | 25.10% | 109.1 |
It’s typical to find plenty of physical, corner defenders who swing far too much and miss far too frequently in this tier of hitter. That’s true this year. Players like Jack Moroknek, Jacob Krieg, Grant Jay, Judd Utermark, Michael Gupton and Nolan Schubart all can hit the ball out of any park. But they also all have real hit tool questions that stem from their bat-to-ball skills, swing decisions or both.
While Moroknek has aggressive swing decisions, he does stand out as the best contact hitter of this group with an 81.2% overall contact rate. Other sluggers with a contact rate north of 75% in this group include James Quinn-Irons, Jacob Walsh, Brandon Compton, Dominic Hellman and Max Williams.
It’s also possible to be an extremely-productive hitter by pairing big power with savvy swing decisions. The group that has a better than 109 mph 90th percentile EV and a sub 23% chase rate includes Landyn Vidourek, James Quinn-Irons, Jacob Krieg, Brandon Compton and Nolan Schubart.
It seems notable that both Arizona outfielder Brandon Compton and George Mason outfielder James Quinn-Irons appeared in both of those last two paragraphs.
Other Names I’m Intrigued By
Below are thoughts on a pair of players who stood out to me, either by their placement on the graph visually, how their numbers stack up to others who are near them on our rankings or for any other nebulous reason.
Jace LaViolette, OF, Texas A&M
When looking at a chart like this, it’s common to look at the extremes and search for the players you expect to see there. Because LaViolette is such an unusual profile, I immediately scanned the top of the graph to see where his 90th percentile exit velocity stacked up with the other sluggers in the class. After all, his 2024 exit velocities were some of the best we could see from our preseason look at the data.
It’s more difficult to find LaViolette’s name than you might expect. That’s because this year his 90th percentile exit velocity is down 2.2 mph. In 2024, he managed a 108.8 mph 90th percentile exit velocity, and through April 18 in 2025, that’s down to 106.6 mph. Perhaps you noticed that he didn’t surface in the “power hitter” category above.
LaViolette had a notably slow start to the season. He then seemed to rebound before once again scuffling down the stretch and putting together a gutsy performance in the SEC tournament by hitting (and hitting well) after breaking a finger on his left hand from getting hit by a pitch. His home run total (18) and home run rate (6.9%) were both down in 2025 compared to a tremendous 2024 campaign. With Texas A&M missing out on the NCAA Tournament, he won’t have the opportunity to add to those numbers.
He could be a test case for how teams are handling low batting average college hitters at the top of the class.
Devin Taylor, OF, Indiana
As mentioned on a recent draft podcast, I wonder why we aren’t hearing as much about Taylor in a class bemoaned for its lack of high-confidence college bats. What’s there to not be confident about with the switch-hitting Indiana slugger?
Taylor’s college performance was tremendous in 2025. It was also tremendous in 2024 and 2023. He’s hit over .315 in each season and has progressively upped that average year after year. The same is true of his on-base percentage and slugging percentage. He has never hit for an OPS below 1.080, he’s homered 16 times or more in each season and he’s never had a strikeout rate higher than 18.9%.
He’s not a metal bat merchant, either. He has a high-quality wood bat track record that includes an eight-homer campaign in the New England Collegiate League in 2023 and a five-homer campaign in the Cape Cod League in 2024—in addition to a stint with USA Baseball’s college national team.
Taylor also entered the year highly-regarded by major league scouting directors. He was voted a second-team preseason All-American and tabbed as the second-best pure hitter in the class behind only Clemson’s Cam Cannarella. Yes, he’s not the best athlete or runner or defender or thrower in the world. He’s probably going to have to play left field in pro ball. But that was the understanding coming into the season, and it seems like worse athletes and defenders have gone higher in the draft than where his name is being mentioned.
I won’t be at all surprised to see Taylor go in a good spot on draft day. His entire collegiate track record—plus his placement at the top right of this batted ball chart—stands out in this year’s class.
Below are notable up/down movement profiles among players for whom we had data in both our preseason exercise and this updated version.
90th Percentile Gainers (+2 mph Or More)
| player | pos | school | 2025 90th | 2024 90th | 90th diff |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gage Harrelson | OF | Florida State | 103.8 | 98.7 | 5.1 |
| Korbyn Dickerson | OF | Indiana | 108.9 | 104.1 | 4.8 |
| Eric Snow | INF | Auburn | 104.8 | 100.1 | 4.7 |
| Trent Caraway | 3B | Oregon State | 107.6 | 102.9 | 4.7 |
| Maximus Martin | SS | Kansas State | 108.4 | 103.9 | 4.5 |
| Adonys Guzman | C | Arizona | 105.4 | 101.9 | 3.5 |
| Anthony Martinez | 1B | UC Irvine | 105 | 101.6 | 3.4 |
| Marek Houston | SS | Wake Forest | 102.5 | 99.4 | 3.1 |
| Henry Godbout | 2B | Virginia | 103.7 | 101 | 2.7 |
| Murf Gray | 3B | Fresno State | 106.4 | 103.8 | 2.6 |
| Isaiah Jackson | OF | Arizona State | 107.5 | 104.9 | 2.6 |
| Dominic Hellman | 1B | Oregon | 110 | 107.7 | 2.3 |
| Tyler Albright | OF | Duke | 105.1 | 103 | 2.1 |
90th Percentile Losers (-2 mph Or More)
| player | pos | school | 2025 90th | 2024 90th | 90th diff |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Garrett Michel | 1B | Virginia Tech | 108.4 | 112.6 | -4.2 |
| Nolan Schubart | OF | Oklahoma State | 109.1 | 111.6 | -2.5 |
| Henry Ford | OF | Virginia | 103.7 | 106.2 | -2.5 |
| Jace LaViolette | OF | Texas A&M | 106.6 | 108.8 | -2.2 |
| Tre Phelps | OF | Georgia | 103.2 | 105.4 | -2.2 |
| Daniel Dickinson | 2B | LSU | 102.6 | 104.7 | -2.1 |
Contact Gainers (+5% Or More)
| player | pos | school | 2025 contact% | 2024 Contact% | contact% diff |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dominic Hellman | 1B | Oregon | 76.70% | 57.50% | 19.20% |
| Jared Jones | 1B | Louisiana State | 74.70% | 62.20% | 12.50% |
| Brady Neal | C | Alabama | 81.40% | 69.00% | 12.40% |
| Garrett Michel | 1B | Virginia Tech | 73.40% | 62.50% | 10.90% |
| Tanner Thach | 1B | UNC Wilmington | 82.00% | 71.20% | 10.80% |
| Trent Caraway | 3B | Oregon State | 73.50% | 63.90% | 9.60% |
| Ethan Petry | OF | South Carolina | 73.30% | 64.50% | 8.80% |
| Mason Neville | OF | Oregon | 76.10% | 67.70% | 8.40% |
| Colby Shelton | SS | Florida | 78.50% | 70.70% | 7.80% |
| Mitch Voit | 2B | Michigan | 79.80% | 72.30% | 7.50% |
| Gavin Turley | OF | Oregon State | 71.60% | 65.00% | 6.60% |
| Nolan Schubart | OF | Oklahoma State | 69.80% | 63.30% | 6.50% |
| Brandon Compton | OF | Arizona State | 77.30% | 71.20% | 6.10% |
| Kien Vu | OF | Arizona State | 75.10% | 69.70% | 5.40% |
| Andrew Fischer | 1B | Tennessee | 78.60% | 73.50% | 5.10% |
Contact Losers (-3% Or More)
| player | pos | school | 2025 contact% | 2024 Contact% | contact% diff |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Henry Kaczmar | SS | South Carolina | 71.50% | 80.30% | -8.80% |
| Alex Duffey | C | Elon | 73.30% | 80.90% | -7.60% |
| Nick Dumesnil | OF | California Baptist | 72.10% | 79.10% | -7.00% |
| Tre Phelps | OF | Georgia | 72.60% | 79.30% | -6.70% |
| Adonys Guzman | C | Arizona | 78.00% | 83.20% | -5.20% |
| Ryan Sprock | 3B/RHP | Elon | 81.60% | 86.50% | -4.90% |
| Cam Cannarella | OF | Clemson | 78.10% | 82.20% | -4.10% |
| Max Belyeu | OF | Texas | 73.30% | 77.20% | -3.90% |
| Aiva Arquette | SS | Oregon State | 76.40% | 79.70% | -3.30% |
Chase Gainers (-6% Or More)
| player | pos | school | 2025 chase% | 2024 chase% | chase DIFF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dominic Hellman | 1B | Oregon | 24.00% | 49.20% | -25.20% |
| Gavin Kilen | 2B | Tennessee | 19.50% | 35.80% | -16.30% |
| Garrett Michel | 1B | Virginia Tech | 18.60% | 31.80% | -13.20% |
| Drew Faurot | 2B | Florida State | 25.10% | 37.70% | -12.60% |
| Brady Neal | C | Alabama | 13.10% | 24.60% | -11.50% |
| Cam Cannarella | OF | Clemson | 15.30% | 26.60% | -11.30% |
| Andrew Fischer | 1B | Tennessee | 15.10% | 26.30% | -11.20% |
| Tyler Albright | OF | Duke | 15.60% | 24.80% | -9.20% |
| Mitch Voit | 2B | Michigan | 22.40% | 31.60% | -9.20% |
| Brendan Summerhill | OF | Arizona | 16.00% | 23.60% | -7.60% |
| Devin Taylor | OF | Indiana | 16.20% | 23.40% | -7.20% |
| Brandon Compton | OF | Arizona State | 21.90% | 28.40% | -6.50% |
| Luke Stevenson | C | North Carolina | 13.20% | 19.40% | -6.20% |
Chase Losers (+3% Or More)
| player | pos | school | 2025 Chase% | 2024 chase% | chase diff |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gage Harrelson | OF | Florida State | 24.90% | 16.10% | 8.80% |
| Colby Shelton | SS | Florida | 36.10% | 28.80% | 7.30% |
| Maximus Martin | SS | Kansas State | 24.80% | 18.00% | 6.80% |
| Blake Cyr | OF | Florida | 25.60% | 19.80% | 5.80% |
| Jared Jones | 1B | Louisiana State | 26.70% | 21.40% | 5.30% |
| Brooks Bryan | C/OF | Troy | 29.30% | 24.30% | 5.00% |
| Korbyn Dickerson | OF | Indiana | 25.50% | 20.80% | 4.70% |
| Luke Hill | 3B/2B | Ole Miss | 19.10% | 14.70% | 4.40% |
| Nolan Schubart | OF | Oklahoma State | 22.30% | 18.70% | 3.60% |
| Marek Houston | SS | Wake Forest | 21.30% | 18.00% | 3.30% |
