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2025 Overall Rankings Updated & Expanded

September 2, 2022
Shooter Hunt
Vice President, Scouting

The summer circuit provided ample time for all of PBR’s boots-on-the-ground staff to evaluate and discover the budding talent that the 2025 class offered. From practices and workouts, events and tournaments – ultimately leading to the PBR Future Games at LakePoint – our nationwide staff was on a persistent pursuit to provide the most up-to-date and credible information in the amateur baseball space, and we have enough intel to expand the list of rising sophomores to 400 players overall.

From afar, this group looks poised to produce another substantial helping of premium prospects, and while they are still a year away from being called such, it does not negate the fact that the talent is already beginning to blossom.

+ CLICK FOR THE TOP 400

IF Ethan Holliday (Stillwater HS, OK) maintains his residency as the top overall player in the class. That moniker is equal parts present performance and future potential, as the brother of this year’s first overall pick Jackson Holliday, and the son of former MLB All-Star Matt Holliday. The next Holliday in line simply continues to get better with each look.

LHP/OF Cam Caminiti (Saguaro HS, AZ) also remains at No. 2. The 6-foot-2, 200-pound southpaw has crept his fastball into the mid-90s, but it’s hardly built from arm strength alone. The LSU recruit’s full arsenal makes him the preeminent arm in the class, though he also shows advanced skills at the plate as a left-handed slugger with full plate coverage and considerable power potential.

OF/RHP Xavier Neyens’ (Mount Vernon HS, WA) rise inside this update is the biggest movement within this top-10. It’s easy to dream of his future as either a big left-handed stick or power arm because Neyens presents multiple carrying tools already, and he should have a strong chance of elevating his two-way skill set to new heights in the coming years. His present ability to stand out among fellow elite peers only adds to his allure and upside. The Oregon State recruit moves up to No. 7 in the class overall.

Below, we’ve rounded up previously published material on the top performers in this class, helping identify where and when these talents established themselves as the best ‘25s in the country:

+ Future Games Top Prospects (2025)
+ Fab 50: ARea Code Underclass Games
+ NPI: Impact Underclassmen
+ NPI: Uncommitted 2025s

Dynamic Upside in Cali
SS Billy Carlson’s (Corona HS, CA) exploded on the national scene at the PBR Future Games leaving little doubt as to his immense upside and potential. The wiry-athletic, 6-foot-1, 165-pound shortstop gracefully moves around the infield with the same polish that so many ultra-talented SoCal shortstops of the past have done. A magnet is built into the glove along with an innate sense of timing with advanced capabilities for slowing the game down. The defensive work is outpaced by what shows as a future impact bat thanks to fluid rhythm to quick hands, and the ability to get off his best cuts in all counts. Amplifying his his ascension to the top spot in California’s 2025 Rankings, and #4 Overall, is Carlson’s equally as impressive work on the mound where he is already into the low 90s with a hammer breaking ball. The dynamic two-way prospect committed to Vanderbilt at the end of the summer.

Billy Carlson (July 2022)

Perhaps Carlson’s greatest asset that signals his substantial potential lies in the long list of Golden State prospects in the class that are sure to push each other over the next two years. SS Brady Ebel (Etiwanda HS, CA), who’s also ranked inside the top-10 overall, already appears to be one of the top hitters in the country, and not just in his own class. He’s a 6-foot-2, 180-pound left-handed-hitting slugger with natural balance and an impactful batted-ball profile, and Ebel’s present ability to handle elite, older arms stands out.

Referring to high-end California arms, RHP Seth Hernandez (Rancho Cucamonga HS, CA) is one to highlight in this end-of-summer update. Hernandez is a lean and athletic 6-foot-3, 180-pound right-hander who closed out the summer in electric fashion by showcasing a fastball that worked 91-92 mph with top-of-the-scale spin metrics, and he has the makings of a future swing-and-miss breaking ball.

With 17 players ranked within the top-100 – and 41 on the top-400 overall – California is ready, once again, to make its mark on amateur baseball in 2025.

NORTH CAROLINA'S DOMINANT CLASS

While the Big 4 (CA-FL-GA-TX) get talked about regularly, given how much talent resides in each state on a perennial basis, North Carolina (quietly) keeps churning out first-round picks and impact college players. With nearly 20 Division I programs, most stocked with in-state talent, it would be wise to consider the Big 4 being renamed as a Premier 5. The state’s 2025 class, in particular, is shaping up to be one of North Carolina’s finest ever.

Big arms headline the state’s ‘25 class: LHP Briggs McKenzie (Corinth Holders HS, NC) and RHP Sam Cozart (Wesleyan Christian Academy, NC), ranked on the overall board next to one another at Nos. 9 and 10. However, the talent level extends much further as five North Carolina sophomores are featured in the top-25 overall, eight in the top-100 – and the skill in this class extends even beyond the top-400 overall. OF Coy James (Davie HS, NC), 3B Kelvyn Paulino Jr. (Ledford HS, NC), and OF Everett Johnson (Wayne Country Day HS, NC) have all presented themselves early as premier hitters in the class, and each of the three could certainly challenge for the top spot in the state over time. Adding to the intrigue of this group is RHP Tyler Baird (William A. Hough HS, NC), who’s listed at 6-foot-4, 165 pounds, fit with a loose, quick arm that is already running fastballs into the low-90s, and he might just yet have the highest upside of this bunch.

The Florida Influx
The Sunshine State most definitely does not need an assist from others when being mentioned as one of the top places in the country to find talent, but this 2025 class undeniably deserves mentioning. Do-it-all athlete OF/LHP Noah Franco (IMG Academy, FL), a California native, ascends to the top spot in the state after a strong summer that saw steady development raise an electric all-around game. The square-shouldered 6-foot-3, 185-pounder is an elite athlete with strong bat-to-ball skills from the left side with big power potential. He’s an easy mover in the outfield, and that athleticism carries over to the mound where he holds near-identical upside because of his whippy left arm that unleashes fastballs in the low-90s supported by the feel for secondaries. Another fellow transplant, Iowan SS Sean Gamble (IMG Academy, FL) and Californian OF Dean Moss (IMG Academy) also look the part of future run-producing, middle-of-the-order, left-handed bats. Each does not get cheated at the plate, rather, they look to impact the ball with authority on every swing. Finally, C Drew Freeman (Stoneman Douglas HS, FL), who is a South Carolina native and Louisville recruit, takes his talent south to one of the state’s, and country’s, premier programs.

The list goes on, as per usual. SS Jacob Kendall (Bartram Trail HS, FL) could very well be the top player in the country before this class graduates, and he checks in at No. 5 overall. There’s an ease in which the game comes to him, and the natural lift his left-handed stroke effortlessly produces, should only help provide even bigger advancements in the coming years. RHP Carter Smith (Bishop Verot HS, FL), who is also a stellar quarterback, appears poised to blossom into one of the top arms in the country. Uber-athletic on the mound with moxie and supreme presence, Smith should see significant jumps as a pitching prospect over the next few years.

Beyond those few names, history would suggest that there are always more talented players ready to rise in the state of Florida.

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