Perfect MLB Draft Fits: 4 Player-Team Matches We’d Love To See

With the baseball season now entering the month of May, this year’s MLB draft is just over a couple of months away. College baseball is winding down, high school baseball is almost finished, and teams will begin finalizing their draft boards within the coming weeks.

This year’s draft pool is filled with plenty of promising and exciting talent, but it appears this year’s draft will be quite hectic. We’re just over 65 days away from the draft, and industry experts still haven’t agreed upon a clear number one overall pick or most picks to follow.

This means that for the first time in a few years, the MLB draft is wide open. However, there are plenty of pairings that make perfect sense, as a lot of the earlier teams have clear needs they could address.

Let’s take a look at four pairings we’d love to see on draft day.

Jamie Arnold and the Washington Nationals

Back at the beginning of February, I wrote a story on why I thought Jamie Arnold made perfect sense for the Nationals with the first pick in the draft. Now, in May, I still think this would be one of the better pairings we could see take place.

Arnold currently ranks as our number one prospect in this year’s draft, and he’s shown why he deserves this title all season at FSU. Through 10 starts this season, Arnold has pitched to a 2.29 ERA, striking out 73 batters, walking 19, and recording a WHIP under 1.00 in 55 innings pitched.

He’s been a dominant force as the ace of one of the best college teams in the country, impressing everyone no matter where he pitches. His release point allows for a lot of deception, making him one of the tougher pitchers to face in college baseball.

Over the past few seasons, the Washington Nationals have built one of the most lethal young cores in the sport. One defect of this group is that it consists almost entirely of offensive players. James Wood, Dylan Crews, CJ Abrams, Brady House, and Seaver King are some of these players.

The Nationals do have some pitching coming in: Jarlin Susana, Travis Sykora, and Alex Clemmey. The only problem is that none of these players possesses true ace upside.

Given their lack of a true ace in the farm system, Arnold is the perfect player for the Nationals to select with the number one overall pick. He brings an ace-level upside, as well as the ability to fly through the minor leagues.

With most of the Nationals’ young core either at the MLB level or close to it, they need pitching help as soon as possible. If Arnold can join them quickly, this team becomes far scarier moving forward.

Eli Willits and the Seattle Mariners

During the buildup to this year’s draft, the consensus among most people has been that Ethan Holliday is the top high schooler in the class. However, over the past few months, evaluators have begun to take notice of Eli Willits, a switch-hitting shortstop who gives Holliday a serious run for his money.

Willits has all of the tools to become a great big leaguer. He’s shown a polished swing from both sides of the plate, giving scouts faith in his switch-hitting ability at the next level. He regularly hits the ball into the gap, giving him plenty of upside at the dish.

Willits is also going to be one of the younger players in this year’s draft, as he reclassified from the 2026 class to become eligible this season.

The Seattle Mariners have proved they know how to identify and develop pitching, as they’ve put together one of the best rotations in the sport. At full strength, all but one of their starting pitchers, Luis Castillo, were drafted by the team.

Due to their pitching-heavy focus, the Mariners have severely struggled to put together a competent offense in the big leagues. While they’ve succeeded early this season, this is out of the norm for how the team has usually performed at the plate.

They’ve got a solid young core on the way, which includes Colt Emerson, Lazaro Montes, Cole Young, Harry Ford, Felnin Celesten, and more. However, they could always use more offensive help, and Willits is the perfect player to assist them.

Not only this, but most of their current crop of young hitters were all drafted out of high school, or signed at a young age. This shows that the Mariners know what they’re doing in terms of developing young talent.

If the Mariners are able to add Willits to their already dangerous young group of prospects, watch out, as they’re shaping up to build a future dynasty.

Ethan Holliday and the Colorado Rockies

This year, a third member of the Holliday family is set to make his way into professional baseball, as Ethan Holliday profiles to be one of the better players in this year’s draft.

A lot of people still believe Holliday has the best odds to be drafted number one overall, but I think he makes a lot more sense for the Colorado Rockies at pick number four.

To put it simply, Holliday currently possesses one of the best bats in the entire draft, especially for a high school prospect. Unlike his brother Jackson, Ethan’s power is far more developed at this stage in his career. He’s often able to hit the ball extremely hard to all fields, especially over the fence.

He does have a tendency to swing and miss, which could hurt him early in his career. He’s also more likely to stick in the corner infield, rather than at shortstop, which could hurt his draft stock.

However, this doesn’t change how talented he is overall. With many people still considering him the top name in the class, he’ll be a slam-dunk pick for whoever decides to take the chance on him.

To me, the Rockies seem like a great landing spot for Holliday. They are not only the worst team in the sport, but they have little to look forward to in the future, as their farm is very weak overall.

The Rockies drafted another power threat last year in Charlie Condon, a player who profiles extremely well in the Coors Field run environment. He’s also the top offensive player they have coming, as things look pretty bleak for their offensive future.

Given Holliday’s elite power coming out of high school, he strikes me as the perfect player for the Rockies to take a chance on if he’s available. There’s always the possibility that Holliday will be drafted sooner, but if not, the Rockies could have a legitimate 40-homer potential bat on the way.

The fact that Holliday is on the younger side will also work to the team’s benefit. Since their offensive core isn’t very strong, there’s no reason to rush him, allowing him to be one of the main pieces of their future.

Jace LaViolette and the Pittsburgh Pirates

Heading into this year’s college season, Jace LaViolette was in consideration, along with a few others, to be selected with the first pick in the draft. However, after a slower start to the season, he’s fallen on nearly every single draft board.

LaViolette has some of the best tools in the entire draft, as his approach at the plate is reminiscent of other top college players in past seasons. His power is electric, giving him the ability to regularly blast balls over the wall extremely far.

The one main question scouts have regarding his play is that the hit tool is far from elite, as it really needs some work when he enters professional baseball. However, it could still be profiled as a 50-55 grade in the near future.

This isn’t to discredit LaViolette by any means, though, as he’s still one of the more talented hitters in college baseball. This season, he’s hit 15 homers and slashed .276/.437/.594 with a 122 wRC+ in 47 games. While this is a step back from last season, he’s still very good.

As for the Pittsburgh Pirates, they arguably have the clearest need of any team in this year’s draft: offense. The Pirates haven’t just been focused on pitching over the last few seasons, but they’ve nearly only selected pitchers in the last few drafts.

Due to this pitching-heavy way of drafting, the Pirates have nearly no offensive talent coming to help them in the next few seasons, outside of Konnor Griffin and Termarr Johnson. 

This is extremely concerning due to how much of their pitching talent is in the big leagues or close to reaching the big leagues, and how poorly their offense has performed this season. Their team wRC+ of 76 is just 12 points above the Rockies for last in MLB.

The Pirates need to find impactful hitters this year and players who could reach the big leagues as fast as possible. To me, the perfect answer for them is Jace LaViolette.

LaViolette falling due to his early struggles might just work to the Pirates’ benefit, as all indications show that he’ll be available at pick number six on draft day. If he is, the Pirates shouldn’t think twice about selecting him with their pick.