Paul Skenes and former SEC stars ready for MLB Opening Day
03/27/2025
By Chris Marler
There are few things the SEC has dominated more in the last 3-5 years than the Major League Baseball Draft.
A season ago, there were 88 former SEC players on MLB Opening Day Rosters. Not only did all 14 teams in the league have at least one player on an opening day roster, each team had at least three.
While the final numbers aren’t out for the 2025 rosters, this year should be no different. Here are the top five former SEC players I am most excited to watch on MLB Opening Day.
Paul Skenes | LSU | Pittsburgh Pirates
Where else did you think we’d start? We have watched Paul Skenes be dominant at LSU for a full college season. We have seen Skenes be dominant for two-thirds of a major league season. Now, it’s time to watch him compete for a full season at the highest level and see just how dominant he can be against the world’s best players.
Skenes is a 1-of-1 prospect that has, arguably, the best arsenal of pitches and power of anyone we’ve ever seen. In his rookie season he appeared in 23 games and finished with an 11-3 record, 1.96 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, and 170 strikeouts in 133 innings.
Despite that, he spent the offseason developing a new cutter and, to the surprise of absolutely no one, it’s filthy.
Paul Skenes, Fastball & Cutter Overlay.
Why that NEW Cutter makes hitting even more unfair. pic.twitter.com/pWUIpOAFe3
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) March 2, 2025
Jack Leiter | Vanderbilt | Texas Ranger
Leiter has always been electrifying, emerging as one of the SEC’s most exciting prospects from the moment he first took the mound for Vanderbilt. He has electric stuff and routinely sits around 99 to 100 mph with his fastball. However, he has struggled to put it all together at the highest level, so far.
Jack Leiter with 4 Consecutives 100 mph Heaters. 😳
T101 mph pic.twitter.com/DQ9umQ2RHF
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) March 22, 2025
Leiter’s most frequent and consistent issues are command and control. He has stuff similar to Paul Skenes. Similar, not identical. However, it doesn’t matter how hard you throw in the show if you can’t locate it and locate it consistently. Leiter finished his first season with the Rangers 0-3 in six starts with an 8.83 ERA and 1.71 WHIP.
Leiter was exceptional in spring training. He pitched in six games, allowing more than two runs only once and issuing one walk or fewer in four of those outings. After a strong spring, Leiter is expected to be a starter in the backend of the Rangers rotation.
Wyatt Langford | Florida | Texas Rangers
Last season, Langford played in 74 games as a rookie, finishing his debut year with a .253 batting average, 16 Home Runs, and 19 stolen bases. What was most impressive wasn’t the power or speed, it was the impact he made. He had 74 RBIs and 74 runs in 74 games as a rookie.
He’ll need to reduce his strikeouts (115 in 499 at-bats last year), but he has the potential to be a 30-home run, 30-stolen base player—possibly as soon as this season. He should go into the season with some confidence after hitting .424 with 2 HRs, and an OPS of 1.183 this spring.
Brent Rooker | Mississippi State | Oakland A’s
It makes sense that Rooker plays near Napa Valley because he also has gotten better with age. Rooker was drafted out of Mississippi State in 2017 and got called up to the bigs in 2020. Over his first three seasons, he hit just .200 with a total of 10 home runs.
Getting signed by Oakland was the best thing that ever happened to him. In fact, he might be one of the few non-A’s fans disappointed about the team’s upcoming relocation. Over the past two seasons, Rooker has hit .271 with 69 home runs and 181 RBIs, surpassing 30 homers each year.
Brent Rooker (+2000) has the largest handle at 17.5% to lead MLB in home runs at #BetMGM pic.twitter.com/h4myvgZMEb
— Just Baseball (@JustBB_Media) March 26, 2025
Casey Mize | Auburn | Detroit Tigers
Mize feels like one of the most forgotten No. 1 draft picks, maybe ever. The former Auburn Tiger was the No. 1 pick of the 2018 Draft and made his debut in 2020. It felt like he was finally living up to his hype in 2021 when he made 30 starts and had a 3.77 ERA on the season. Opponents hit just .234 off him and he had a career low WHIP of just 1.14.
However, he threw ten innings in 2022 and 2023 because of Tommy John surgery. Mize appeared in 26 games last season, but failed to ever string several successful outings together, as opposing batters hit over .290 against him. This season looks to be the one where Tigers fans—both in Auburn and Detroit—finally get to see the Casey Mize they’ve been waiting for. Mize finished spring training with a 1.89 ERA and may be the No. 2 guy in this year’s starting rotation.
Casey Mize this spring…
11.1 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 5 BB, 14 K
Splitter velocity up around 3 mph.pic.twitter.com/CcIu6DWgmh— Eric Cross (@EricCrossMLB) March 13, 2025